TODAY'S ISSUE
New early education center to bear name of Scott Hudgens
By Lauren Anderson
For Gwinnett Technical College
Special to GwinnettForum.com

AUGUST 23, 2005 -- With the Thursday 10 a.m. groundbreaking of the D. Scott Hudgens, Jr. Early Education Center on the campus of Gwinnett Technical College, standards of quality care in childhood education centers are going to get a much-needed boost, which will, in turn, bolster the business outlook in the region as well.

Children are born learning. In fact, studies confirm that the greatest period of a child's brain development occurs by age two or three. Research also indicates that children who are exposed to high quality early education environments ones in which teachers are well educated and child-to-teacher ratios are low perform better in kindergarten and are more successful throughout their entire lives.

Over the long haul, that has significant implications for the region's business forecast. Business leaders may be surprised to learn how poor-quality child care can affect workplace productivity. The Child Care Action Council found that absenteeism caused by poor-quality child care costs American businesses more than $3 billion a year.

Mary Beth Byerly, executive director, institutional advancement, Gwinnett Tech, says: "Research indicates that when you invest in providing quality education for teachers through certifications and training, you impact not only education overall at all levels throughout the system but also provide opportunities for students to succeed in the classroom and in the workforce. And what you end up with is a win-win-win solution for the region with students excelling, school systems strengthening and businesses being attracted to the area for a sought-after workforce."

The groundbreaking for the 26,000+ square foot, state-of-the-art facility is scheduled for Thursday, August 25, on the Lawrenceville campus.

Following National Association for the Education of the Young Child (NAEYC) accreditation standards, the Center, which will be located next to The Busbee Center on Gwinnett Tech's campus, will be able to accommodate up to 220 children. The center is scheduled to open July 2006.

The D. Scott Hudgens, Jr. Early Education Center, which will be located next to The Busbee Center (in photo) on Gwinnett Tech¹s campus, will be able to accommodate up to 220 children. The center is scheduled to open July 2006.

To date, the privately-funded $6.7 million project, has received its major source of contributions from the Scott Hudgens Family foundation, as well as other individuals, businesses, foundations, corporations and education-focused entities like Smart Start Georgia and Early Learning Property Management.

Gwinnett Tech began offering a two-year associate's degree in early childhood care and education in 2003. The addition of the early education center will further develop the college's role as a leader in training the early childhood workforce of Gwinnett County. It will serve as a model with a number of purposes, including simulating a E-lab for giving students hands-on experiences in a quality center, as well as providing a research site for learning and understanding children. Equipped with observation facilities, the center will also be used as a model for other centers in the community, and will provide a safe, quality learning environment for Gwinnett's youngest citizens.

The education center will also remove barriers to education for some of the students who are attending Gwinnett Tech. "Students can enroll their children in the center while they complete their studies, so they can secure the skills and training necessary for them to become economically self-sufficient," said Byerly.

For more information about the D. Scott Hudgens, Jr. Early Education Center at Gwinnett Tech, or how you or your organization can contribute to the project, contact the institutional advancement office at 678-226-6738.

ELLIOTT BRACK
Not from the South? List of books will help understand area
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com

AUG. 23, 2005 -- There are as many unique stories about Southerners as there are Southerners. And they are so different! They cannot be lumped together easily as a homogeneous group.

Here are some books which non-Southerners might use to learn more in depth about the paths of Southern thinking.

The classic: The Mind of the South by W.J.Cash.

The Year the Lights Came on in Georgia---Terry Kay. One of the best storytellers of today.

Run with the Horseman, by Ferrol Sams. A physician near Fayetterville, he tells stories with glee. Still living but now near age 80.

The Nashville Sound, by Paul Hemphill. Tales of country music by another of the good southern writers. Has new book coming out soon about Hank Williams. Lives in Atlanta. This book has been out of print, but just reissued.

The Heart of a Distant Forest, by Philip Lee Williams of Athens is a unique story. It's well worth a read, and is one of my favorites. A new paperback edition is out.

A Confederacy of Dunces. Wonderful story out of New Orleans by John Kennedy Toole. Only book he ever published; died before in print; his mother worked to get it done; a masterpiece.

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. Insights into race relations in previous South. Movie, staring Gregory Peck, was critically acclaimed, and won him Academy Award.

Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, by Janisse Ray. First book, with glimpses into lives of un-typical southern family, counterpointed with story of ecology of yellow pine and how this tree is nearing extinction.

Any of Lewis Grizzard's books. He's been dead 15 years, but people still quote this AJC columnist, who was red neck before it was fashionable. Consider: Kathy Sue Loudermilk, I Love You, A Good Beer Joint Is Hard to Find and Other Facts of Life

Raney, by Clyde Edgerton.. Gifted southern writer has many good books.

Praying for Sheetrock by Melissa Faye Greene.
About corruption in the south, and how blacks learned how from whites. Another masterpiece by same author: The Temple Bombing, set in Atlanta, about city and state race relations. Author's husband is prominent defense attorney in Atlanta.

Driving Miss Daisy, by Alred Uhry. Wonderful tale, beautifully portrayed in movie by both the lead white and black characters, a lady and her driver, in 1950s south. Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman in lead roles.

Sleeping at the Starlight Motel, by Bailey White. Thomasville, Ga. writer spins simple yarns, and gives great insights. National Public Radio commentator with the distinctive voice.

Secret Formula, by Frederick "Rick" Allen. About a religion of many Georgians, Coca Cola.

An Hour Before Daylight, by Jimmy Carter. We think it's his best book.

A Childhood: The Biography of a Place, by Harry Crews. Tough, original writer, who shows another layer of society.

Of course, just to be able to converse with some Georgians, you want to have read Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell. It's good history, for the most part, about the plight of the South has a memorable line in the movie from Clark Gable.

My favorite current author speaks in long sentences, and you have to "get with" the syntax to understand T.R. Pearson. Try A Short History of a Small Place for what I find is side-splitting humor at times, always in the Southern vernacular.

Pat Conroy is one of our best authors today. To understand the south, you need to know about what southern stomachs like. His latest, The Pat Conroy Cookbook, helps you understand this. His novels are powerful. I also liked The Losing Season, about his senior year at The Citadel.

Read through this list, and you'll understand more about the South. What would you add to this list?

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FEEDBACK
8/23: Remembers, and misses, political flowers sprouting in state

Editor, the Forum:

Jim Boyd, Hoke O'Kelley, Jack Dorsey----they were political flowers that came up every election year. Their spunk and individualism is rare these days. Hosea, Lester..I miss them all. It's too bad that everyone wants to be alike now.

-- Mike Jones, Loganville

8/23: Loganville mom seeks to form car pool to Five Forks school

Editor, the Forum:

Several students have transferred from Snellville Middle School to Five Forks Middle School under "No Child Left Behind." The county is not providing transportation, so we are having to drive our children to and from school. They can't even get on the bus from a sitter's home even if it is in the district.

Therefore I am trying to form a carpool with other parents. I live in Loganville but Snellville Middle School district includes both Loganville, Snellville, and Norris Lake. So I am willing to organize carpools from any of those areas to Five Forks Middle School. Transportation is a nightmare for working parents since middle school doesn't start until 9 a.m. each morning.

Please contact me at deeannmetz@yahoo.com or by phone at is 770-554-8709 or 678-697-1988 if interested.

-- Deeann Metzinger, Loganville

8/23: Dem bones, dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones?

Editor, the Forum:

Any organization has four types of bones:

1. Wish bones, who spend all their time wishing someone else will do all the work: ----liberals.

2. Jaw Bones, who do all the talking and very little else: ----Liberals.

3. Knuckle Bones, who knock everything that everybody else tries to do" ----liberals.

4. Back Bones, who get under the load and do all the work: ----conservatives.

-- Roy McCreary, Dacula

(Dear Roy: You a little bit obsessive about liberals? Now, assuming you are not, but if you were liberal, would you say the same thing about conservatives? --eeb)

8/23: Figures that North Dakota is least visited of the states

Editor, the Forum:

Regarding your South Dakota visit, I've heard South Dakota is more scenic than people think and that all should go to Mount Rushmore. I can't believe I haven't been there yet! That carving took a lot of determination to create, an incredible feat.

Isn't North Dakota statistically the least visited state ? I seem to remember reading that somewhere. If so, it's probably because South Dakota pulls most of the tourists headed that direction.

People out west are great - very polite and helpful. I don't remember meeting a rude person anywhere out that way. I never had a bad trip to the west. Colorado is beautiful also - have been there ten times or so. A good time to go west is late September, for the fall color change, usually perfect temperatures

Recommended website : ghosttowns.com. I've been to many of them. You can live William Least Heat Moon's Blue Highways, a fine book.

-- Marshall Miller, Lilburn.

(Dear Marshall: One thing for sure: Delta doesn't go to North Dakota! eeb)

UPCOMING
Forum on possibility of city of Peachtree Corners is Monday

A forum on the possibility of a City of Peachtree Corners will be sponsored by the United Peachtree Corners Civic Association on Monday, August 29. The event will be held at 7:30 at the Simpsonwood Conference and Retreat Center, at 4511 Jones Bridge Circle. It will be in the North Georgia Room of the Rollins Lodge at the facility.

Panel members include Rep. Tom Rice; Sens. David J. Shafer and Dan J. Weber ; Gwinnett Commissioner Bert Nasuti; Mayor Lillian Webb, Norcross; Mayor Lois Salter, Berkeley Lake; and Eva Galambos, Committee for Sandy Springs.

REVIEW

• An invitation: What Web sites, books or restaurants have you enjoyed? Send us your best recent visit to a restaurant or most recent book you have read along with a short paragraph as to why you liked it, plus what book you plan to read next. --eeb
  
  
  

GEORGIA TIDBIT
Augusta, Louisville were second, third capitols of state

As large inland areas neighboring the coastal area of the state had been obtained from Native American groups and opened to white settlers, the center of population began shifting from Savannah and the coast. The frontier settlers discovered the convenience of the capital's location in Augusta, for in those days, many matters handled by courts today, such as divorces and name changes, had to be enacted by the legislature.

Georgia's current capitol

By 1784 the agitation for a new capital became so great that when the General Assembly adjourned its last meeting in Savannah on February 22, 1785, it resolved that "all future meetings of the Legislature shall be and continue at that place (Augusta) until otherwise ordered by the General Assembly."

Augusta thus became the official capital, and the first session of the legislature convened there on January 3, 1786. However, for many, Augusta was situated too far east, and on January 26, 1786, the legislature appointed a commission to find a "proper and convenient place" for a new capital‹one that would be centrally located and accessible to all (white) residents of the occupied sections of Georgia.

The commission appointed by the legislature in 1786 to find a new site for the capital was not entirely unbridled in its task, for the legislature's mandate also stipulated that the commission select a location within twenty miles of an Indian trading post known as Galphin's Old Town, or Galphinton, on the Ogeechee River in what is now Jefferson County.

Despite the designation of the new capital city, Augusta continued to serve as the state capital for ten more years, until 1796. The building of the capital at Louisville was delayed by a lack of funds, the death of the contractor, and the rush to obtain and disburse Creek and Cherokee lands.

By March 1796 a new capitol building designed in the red-brick Georgian architectural style was completed, and Georgia's state government soon occupied it. There are no known paintings or sketches of the building, except for several artists' renderings of the burning of the Yazoo Act on the grounds of the Louisville capitol.

• To access the Georgia Encyclopedia, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
  
  

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Recognize that everyone has their own thoughts, situation

"Be kind. Everyone you meet is having a hard time."

-- Author Rick Warren, via Elsie Hogan Maloy, Cleveland.

• Another invitation: What's your favorite saying? Share with others through GwinnettForum. Send to elliott@gwinnettforum.com.
  

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