TODAY'S ISSUE
Benefits abound when students wear uniforms to school
By Mani Krishnaswamy
Special to GwinnettForum.com

(Editor's Note: Knowing that Mani Krishnaswamy grew up in India and attended school there, we asked him to write an account of wearing uniforms to school. Here is his account. Mr. Krishnaswamy is founder and CEO of Synergy America), a technology staffing and executive search company located in Duluth from its inception.---eeb)

OCT. 11, 2005 -- All my life I went to school wearing uniforms, and never gave it a thought. Being the fifth child (second son), I automatically got the cast-off clothes that my older brother had worn, as did my friends in the town of Mumbai in Western India. The same was the case with my three sisters and with my younger brother.

Krishnaswamy

Uniforms of white shirt and khaki pants for boys, and blue skirt and white blouse for girls, were normal through elementary and middle school in India. In high school, boys wore long pants and white shirts, and the girls wore white saris, the traditional Indian dress and blue and white combination.

Uniforms are common in schools throughout Asia, in Europe and in the Caribbean. When I came to this country in 1986, I was somewhat surprised to find that school uniforms are not common here.

A country grows through unity of the community. The same applies to the school system too. It starts with the kids, the foundation of our future. The starting point is the uniforms. They need acceptance from the whole community. It's easy to accept and adapt. Kids are open minded and most flexible and they conform to any standards set without arguments as a disciplinary measure.

When students wear uniforms, there are major benefits to students, parents and the school system. Let me point out some of them.

• Discipline: Administrators will tell you that wearing uniforms helps instill discipline in students. After all, a uniform is a form of conformity. There is no bizarre costume worn to class to try to shock others, or stand out from the crowd. And any student who is a cheerleader or athlete dresses out in uniform, just as people in the military or policemen wear uniforms.
  
  
• Code of conduct: Similarly to discipline, the person wearing a uniform accepts a certain understanding when wearing a uniform. They are easily identified as being from a certain school by the colors or style of uniform. They stand out. And they accept the status, eventually without question.
  
  
• Respect: Students wearing uniforms find that those coming before them have given the institution a certain respect by their conduct. New students have to earn this.
  
  
• Economy: Schools insist that the uniforms they require are made from high quality material, which lasts a long time. But mainly, students are not dressing from the latest fad, but wearing classic clothing that will stand the test of time. Uniforms in the long run are far cheaper than conventional clothing.
  
  
• Environment: Uniforms are very powerful . They create an acceptance of regulations. They change behavior once a student dons them.

There are other benefits from students wearing uniforms. Each morning there is no question what the student will wear to school, taking some aggravation out of the student (and parents). It also helps the student save time and the working parents are thankful .

There is a certain self-image and pride that uniforms project, giving students more self confidence.

And no matter what the station in life, all students show up at schools dressed similarly. It insures that students do not grow an inferiority complex because of clothing. (Schools can provide grants for needy families.)

Once the students get back home, they change into home clothes and will be in a home environment.

Uniforms will not solve every school problem. But it would go a long way in reducing the gap between rich and poor, enhance the identity of the school itself, promote self confidence and pride among students, close the gap between different cultures, solve safety issues, and identify schools with the color of the uniform.

ELLIOTT BRACK
Looks like more tall buildings will be constructed here
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com

OCT. 11, 2005 -- One element that has not been a part of the Gwinnett landscape in the recent fast growth years has been tall buildings. While you see the taller structures in built-up areas of Fulton, DeKalb and Cobb Counties, not so in Gwinnett.

But times are changing, with indications that the tall structures, up to 25 stories, may be in early stages of planning. New regulations about such structures will be discussed at the Planning and Zoning meeting October 18, with possible adoption by the county commission on October 25.

The proposed regulations that would allow the tall towers would limit their location to major road corridors. That would include Interstate 85, along Highway 316, and the most southern portions of Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.

Anticipated to be the target of such locations would be areas of Jimmy Carter Boulevard, Gwinnett Place, Sugarloaf Parkway, the Mall of Georgia and Hamilton Mill. Such high-rises would be allowed also on the northern side of Highway 316 between Interstate 85 and Highway 120 in Lawrenceville, and on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard between the DeKalb County line and Holcomb Bridge Road.

Allowing such structures in the county will be a major benefit to the Gwinnett County tax digest. When you stack more steel and concrete onto a small parcel of land, the result is a fairly expensive structure. For the tax digest, that means a significant increase in the valuation of the land for tax purposes, and in the long run, more tax revenue for the county.

What is envisioned in the taller buildings for Gwinnett will be living units on the higher floors, and the first three stories used for businesses. Developers could mix and mingle shops, offices, restaurants and residences on the same parcel. The way the regulations are envisioned, there could be up to 32 residences per acre in these higher buildings. The maximum density now allowed for standard zoning in unincorporated areas of the county is 13 units per acre. It's also expected that such high-rise buildings would also be located near public transit.

Gwinnett's first "high-rise" building was built by Dick Myrick at the intersection of Holcomb Bridge Road and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard back in 1974. It was known later as the "DAV" building, since it was owned by German interests. Today it is the Jefferson Plaza, with Kimley Horne, a civil engineering firm, as the major tenant.

Interestingly, this building caused the Gwinnett Fire Department to buy a long-ladder fire truck, back in 1974. It was at first stationed at the fire station on Spalding Drive, since it had to be west of the Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks, to get to the first high rise in case of fire. Later, when Jimmy Carter Boulevard was built, which tunneled under the railroad, the ladder truck was moved to the fire station at I-85 and Jimmy Carter, to be more centrally located. (Gwinnett now has seven long ladder trucks, located throughout the county.)

Gwinnett's tallest building at present is the 17 story Gwinnett Place Marriott Hotel on Pleasant Hill Road. It was erected in 1986. The second tallest in Gwinnett, at 10 stories, are the Hilton Atlanta Northeast in Peachtree Corners and Gwinnett Commerce Center, near the Marriott. The Gwinnett Hospital System tower in Lawrenceville is nine stories, while the Safeco Insurance building on Satellite Boulevard is also a seven story building.

With these anticipated regulations, you'll see more high rise buildings coming on line in Gwinnett in a few years!

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FEEDBACK
10/11: Suggests views on wars would find agreement at other sites

Editor, the Forum:

You made good points about similarities between Iraq war and the war in the colonies in Revolutionary times. I'm no historian though I enjoy reading it and I'll bet few have thought about the things you said. They should do so.

To me what you wrote is astute and should be read by all. You have the proper angle on it. We seem to get into these foreign excursions piecemeal and stay far longer than proponents advertise at the outset. "Only for a little while" always seems to drag on for years. Someone pulled a con job on GWB!

Steve Forbes would have been a lot better as president. I believe my favorite politician, "rightwinger" physician/congressman Ron Paul (ronpaul.org) would agree with every word you said. Others on the right, notably on the website lewrockwell.com, express similar views. In fact, Lew Rockwell was formerly Dr. Paul's chief of staff

-- Marshall Miller, Lilburn

UPCOMING
Duluth rail museum offers 'haunted train' starting Oct. 14

The Southeastern Railway Museum is inviting ghosts, goblins and ghouls to visit the museum's second annual "Haunted Train."

The event will feature ghosting in various coaches and mailing nightmares in the Railway Post Office car. The addition of an evening hay ride aboard the museum's restored caboose train will let everyone experience haunting on the rail. Refreshments will be available as well.

Admission will be $10 and proceeds from the event will support both the museum and the Foster Children's Foundation, Inc. Each organization is a non-profit, 501(c)3, organization operated by volunteers from throughout the community.

Hours for the event are: Friday and Saturday evenings October 14, 15, 21, 22, 28 and 29 from 7 p.m. until 11 p.m.

Volunteers needed to thank Katrina workers properly

Profits in Progress, a firm offering handwritten note card services, is seeking people to volunteer to recognize those who have contributed to the Hurricane Relief Efforts. On Saturday, October 15, 2005 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Community Recreation building at the East Roswell Park, hundreds of people will sign, address and stamp 5,000 Thank You notes to Hurricane Katrina volunteers as a way of showing their appreciation.

Vanessa Lowry of Profits in Progress says: "A handwritten note is a simple way to show our appreciation to the thousands of volunteers that are helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina and Rita." Many people are needed to accomplish this task. To get directions to the event, go to www.profitsinprogress.com/katrina.

NOTABLE
First property tax installment due in Gwinnett on Oct. 15

Gwinnett County 2005 property tax bills were mailed Aug. 15, 2005. As in the past, this billing will be the only one mailed. It included two payment coupons and two reply envelopes for both installment payments.

Taxpayers should retain the payment coupons to submit with their payments. Taxpayers making installment payments should pay the first installment amount indicated on the bill by October15. The second installment is due November 15.

Installments not paid by the stated due dates will have a five percent penalty added to the installment amount. In addition, interest will begin to accrue at the rate of one percent per month beginning on November 16.

For assistance, taxpayers should call the Tax Commissioner's 24-hour customer service line at (770) 822-8800, or e-mail the Tax Commissioner's Property Tax Department at PropertyTax@gwinnettcounty.com .

County to take over operations of Lions Club Park in Lilburn

"Take Me Out to the Ball Game" will take on a whole new meaning when Gwinnett County assumes responsibility for operating Lilburn Lions Club Park in November under a 50-year lease agreement with the Lilburn City Council approved by the Board of Commissioners recently. The County will lease the park for $10 a year.

The park is likely to close temporarily for safety upgrades and renovations beginning in November.

The 20-acre park near the intersection of Highway 29 and Rockbridge Road has been home for about 30 years to the Greater Lilburn Athletic Association (GLAA) that currently offers youth football, cheerleading and softball programs there. The County plans to work with GLAA to offer year-round programs including recreational baseball for the area. County parks serve more than 40,000 youths each year in partnership with 20 youth athletic associations.

Three other County parks will get extensive playground renovations under a contract the Board of Commissioners awarded to Astra Group, Inc. for $520,000, of which more than $92,000 will come from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. Lenora Park, Rhodes Jordan Park and Shorty Howell Park are slated for the upgrades including new playground equipment, improved drainage and accessibility, seat walls and other improvements.

RECOMMENDATION

• 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
Pat Conroy writes about "coming of age" in his books

Contemporary Southern author Pat Conroy has written a number of highly popular books, including The Water Is Wide, The Great Santini, The Lords of Discipline, The Prince of Tides, and Beach Music. Conroy also has achieved considerable success as a screenwriter.

Conroy

Donald Patrick Conroy was born in Atlanta on October 26, 1945, the eldest of seven children of Donald Conroy, a career U.S. Marine Corps pilot from Chicago, and Frances "Peggy" Peek Conroy, described by her son as "a north-Georgia beauty full of love and beauty." Conroy credits his mother for instilling in him a love of language and literature.

A "military brat," Conroy moved with his family numerous times during his childhood and youth-by his count 23 times before he turned 15. During his last two years of high school, however, the family settled in Beaufort, S.C., the town and state that figure so prominently in the settings of his novels.

Beginning with the publication of The Water Is Wide in 1972, Conroy produced a succession of critically acclaimed works, many of which have been adapted into popular and commercially successful motion pictures.. He was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in 2005..

Conroy's first novel, The Great Santini (1976), depicts a chaotic household ruled by the egotistical and despotic Bull Meecham, a highly decorated Marine fighter pilot known to his family and others as "the Great Santini." The book led to a protracted estrangement between Conroy and his father-an estrangement that did not end until Robert Duvall's portrayal of Bull Meecham in the 1979 film version of the novel made Colonel Conroy into a national celebrity.

Conroy's second work of nonfiction, My Losing Season (2002), focuses on his senior year at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, and the basketball season of 1966-67, in which he and his college teammates lost 13 of 21 games played. Inspired by renewed acquaintances with several members of that team, Conroy came to realize that the experience had been as important to them as it had been to him. Conroy draws on aspects of his youth laid out in his earlier work, most notably his strained relationship with his father.

Conroy and his third wife, Sandra, also a writer, maintain residences in South Carolina and San Francisco.

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

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Here's why it is good for every household to have visitors

"God created company so the house would get cleaned."

-- From The Procrastinator's Handbook by Rita Emmett, via Cindy Evans, Duluth.

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

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