TODAY'S ISSUE
Grayson Institute helped bring medical college to Gwinnett
By Barry Doublestein
President, Osteopathic Institute of the South
Special to GwinnettForum.com

(Editor's note: a little-known institute located in Grayson was most instrumental in helping locate a medical college in Gwinnett. Here the head of that Institute tells the background. -eeb)

NOV. 18, 2005 -- In 1985, Doctor's Hospital (in Tucker, Ga.) Board of Directors sold certain assets to Hospital Corporation of America, forming the not-for-profit institution known as Georgia Osteopathic Institute (now known as Osteopathic Institute of the South). The purpose of the organization is to promote osteopathic medicine in the Southeastern United States.

In its infancy, the organization's focus was to oversee the family practice residency program at the replacement hospital, Northlake Regional Medical Center. After a significant amount of effort, the Board decided to close the residency and implement a plan to develop a quality osteopathic medical education program from the ground up, culminating with the development of an osteopathic medical school in Georgia. Basic to this purpose was the need to create a medical education network of volunteer physicians, both MD and DO, who would train third and fourth-year osteopathic medical students in Georgia and the surrounding states.

In the ten years of the program's operation, over 2,500 students have been served. In fact, a brief study was done showing that the Institute was responsible for 24 percent of the new osteopathic physicians licensed in the State of Georgia in the last 10 years, a testament to the success of the Board's plan.

Three years ago, Matthew Schure, Ph. D, president of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM), was investigating the possibility of establishing a branch campus in the South. Since the local Osteopathic Institute of the South's clinical education network had served a large number of their students in the past, it was natural to begin discussions on how both organizations might partner to create this school.

Although the Grayon Institute has accomplished its goal of bringing an osteopathic medical school to Georgia, it is far from meeting its overall mission, that of making osteopathic medicine a household word. In fact, recently the leadership of the Institute, the Georgia Osteopathic Medical Association, and the Georgia Campus of PCOM, met to plot out a strategic plan for the profession in Georgia. With plans moving forward, one would expect to see more health promotions, education programs (for medical students, practicing physicians and the general public) and faculty development programs focused on quality.

The profession owes its gratitude to the volunteer faculty in Gwinnett County, Metro-Atlanta and the state, who have given of their time and talents to see that future physicians are trained to meet the ever-increasing needs of Georgia's citizenry. Without the steadfast vision of Neil Nickelsen, DO, pediatrician and former chairman of the board of the Institute, and Donnie Houston, certified public accountant and present chairman of the board, there would be no medical school in Gwinnett County. In addition, Paul Evans, DO, vice dean of the Georgia Campus and John Fleishman, Ed. D, campus operating officer, have built a medical school that will be the dedicated leader for osteopathic medical education in the South.

The Osteopathic Institute of the South is pleased to have a hand in establishing a medical college here in Gwinnett. For more information, please contact the Osteopathic Institute of the South, 2037 Grayson Highway, Grayson, Ga. 30017. (770) 908-3200.

ELLIOTT BRACK
Three-week visit to China finds amazing people, country
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com

NOV. 18, 2005 -- "Eat you food, son. Remember the poor starving people in China." --Many an American mom's admonition.

After a three week trip to China, there are no doubt still poor starving people in China, yet from the hustle, bustle and downright entrepreneurship going on, they would be hard to find. China is entirely different in mind and manner from the United States, but it is no doubt now a formidable power, with every indication of being the next major super power.

The country will surprise you at every turn. There is so much vibrancy in its cities, with people working in what they now call a market economy, that in many ways it puts the American business mode to shame. Everyone is a small businessperson, intent on making money, and going about it with relentlessness.

Some 42 of us, all with Atlanta connections save two Australians, were together. Amazingly, we all got along nicely the entire trip. Forty of us left San Francisco for Shanghai for three days, flew 600 miles to the Yangtze River for a four day riverboat trip, spent a day in Chungking (now called Chongqing), flew some 500 miles to Xian for two days to see the Terra Cotta Warriors, and then flew about 1.5 hours to Beijing (Peking) for another four days, including visiting the Great Wall. At this point, 20 returned home, and another 22 flew three hours to Hong Kong, spending the final three days there.

Cleanliness is important in China.

Over the next few weeks, I'll write of different impressions of China. Today, some overall impressions.

• Before leaving, we recognized that we would see lots of people. And somehow, whether a city has 15 million or 30 million people doesn't really matter much. You are crowded most of the time, in traffic jams, from people in the streets, to bicycles in their very own lanes.
  
  
• One early impression: in general, their cities are cleaner than ours. You see lots of people sweeping the streets with home-made brooms, apparently employed there to keep the area clean, which they do diligently.
  
  
• You may not know it, but you have friends in China. They are called the "Hello people," who descend on you when you visit tourist sites, or when you alight from your bus at your hotel. Operating entirely in the street, they offer you caps, jewelry, watches, hats, scarves…anything easily mobile, saying "Hello, hello, fiv dollah, fiv dollah." Soon their prices are down to a dollar, or even two for one dollar. Bargaining is essential. They were ever-present.
  
  
• We stayed at superior hotels, four and five star accommodations, better than we probably would have picked in the USA. It was all part of the tour, which former J.M. Tull exec Hugh Ragsdale, who went last year, suggested, He told us: "It was the best and least expensive trip I have ever been on, and we stayed at the best hotels, and had great food." We agree. We had an American-style breakfast each morning, then big Chinese meals for lunch and dinner. I gained four pounds.

A San Francisco travel group (Cambridge Tours) put the trip together. All went smoothly and on schedule. We had the same two tour guides with us the whole trip, plus had a local guide for each city. All ran with split-second precision.

More on China later. We suspect today in China, some mother is saying: "Eat your food. Remember the poor starving people in other nations."

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McLEMORE'S WORLD
11/18: Needs a prescription

Another great cartoon from Bill McLemore:

FEEDBACK
Feels letter writer was off base with his comments

Editor, the Forum:

I must take issue with Mr. Malone's comments (GwinnettForum, November 8, 2005) about Melvin Everson. His letter said: "The State and County Republicans are trying to do their part to help the Democrats as evidenced by their support of the politically correct candidate over the most competent candidate in the recent House District 106 runoff. Maybe we won't have to wait another 100 years after all."

Mr. Everson was a two term Snellville City Councilman, serving most of that time as Mayor Pro-Tem. He has been active in Gwinnett politics for a number of years before and during his time on the City Council.

His involvement in the local Republican Party earned him many friends and he campaigned on behalf of most of the elected officials who endorsed him. To say Mr. Everson was the "politically correct" candidate is to ignore his prior public service and to pretend he has no friends. If Mr. Malone preferred the other candidate in the House District 106 runoff, he was certainly free to support that gentleman. But there is no need to insult the man the majority of the voters preferred.

-- Buzz Brockway, Campaign Manager for Everson for State House and former Gwinnett GOP Chairman

Dear Buzz: We looked back over Mr. Malone's comments, and find no reference to an individual per se. You make that determination, which perhaps others did not take the same way you did. We appreciate you sharing your views. --eeb

Remembers Scott Hudges for work on Vets' cemetery

Editor, the Forum:

Your recent comments about Scott Hudgens did not mention his contribution of land for the Veteran's Cemetery in Cherokee County. Leaving it out was, I feel, an oversight.

Mr. Hudgen's offer couldn't have been more timely. I think Cherokee County will be a much more attractive site as well.

According to Dr. Dean Holt, the Veteran's Administration had initially decided on Fort Gilliam as the site of a new cemetery, but a political decision placed it in Southeast Alabama instead.

-- Bob Douglass, Lilburn

Dear Mr. Douglass: You are right. The Veteran's Cemetery was a keen priority with Mr. Hudgens, and an apex in his life. Many times I saw him tear up when talking about World War II and his buddies. Watching him planning on the cemetery and taking pride in his work for it told you a lot about this man. And we should remember the yeoman's work of former Sen. Max Cleland in pushing this through the Congress! --eeb

UPCOMING
Santa to be at Railroad Museum next five Saturdays

The Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth is accepting reservations for breakfast with Santa Claus.

The museum will host a light breakfast with Santa on Saturdays November 19 and 26, plus December 3, 10 and 17. Admission to the event will be $3 per person in addition to museum admission.

Reservations are required and may be made any time at the front gate or by calling 770-476-2013 on Thursdays, Fridays or Saturdays, between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Breakfast consists of a granola type bar or regular donut with juice box, coffee or tea. Breakfast attendees will have priority seating on the 10 and 11 a.m. train ride with Santa. Children will be given a souvenir Santa postcard. Prepayment is required for groups of 10 or more. Bring your camera.

Three senators to hold joint meeting on natural gas prices

State Sens. Curt Thompson (D-Norcross), Gloria Butler (D-Stone Mountain) and Steve Henson (D-Tucker) will hold a joint meeting of their respective Citizens Advisory Councils on Saturday, November 19, at 9 a.m. at the Mountain Park Aquatic Center Activity Building located at 1063 Rockbridge Road, Stone Mountain.

Georgia Public Service Commissioner David Burgess will be the guest speaker on the subject of the expected increase in natural gas rates and its effect on Georgians'‚ ability to stay warm.

Senator Thompson said: "With natural gas prices expected to skyrocket this winter, Sen. Butler, Sen. Henson and I want to make sure the folks in our communities are prepared. I also hope that by listening to the concerns of our constituents, we can better address the problems associated with high energy costs."

The meeting will begin with a meet-and-greet breakfast at 9 a.m., followed by the program from 9:30 to noon. For more information, contact Sharon Wilder at 404-656-0075.

Thompson, who represents parts of Gwinnett and DeKalb counties in District 5, is serving his first term in the Senate after two years in the House of Representatives. For more information, visit Thompson's web site at www.becauseyourvoicecounts.com.

NOTABLE
Health Center, Burger King team up for health care

Centurion Foods, Inc and the Good Samaritan Health Center of Gwinnett have partnered to provide quality health care to those in need in the Gwinnett county community.

For the next three weeks, the following eight Burger King restaurants will participate in a fundraising effort, giving customers an opportunity to donate to Good Samaritan Gwinnett.

The restaurants are located at 4724 Highway 29 in Lilburn; 2111 and 1690 Pleasant Hill Road in Duluth; 3994 Pleasantdale Road, Doraville; 2925 Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road in Suwanee; 2770 Buford Highway in Duluth; 1840 Cruse Road in Lawrenceville; and 3625 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard in Duluth.

RECOMMENDATION
From Howard Fowler, Lawrenceville

"Get In The Empire of Ghengis Kahn. This is by Stanley Stewart, and is a great read."

• 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
Carpetbagger, scalawag reign in state after Civil War

In 1868, the terms carpetbagger and scalawag became preeminent in Georgia politics. Coined by white conservatives, the terms were used to describe the two major groups of white Republicans allied with the far more numerous black Republicans. Carpetbaggers were northerners who came South after the war to seek their fortune through politics, under a system in which a one-year residence in any southern state brought voting and office-holding rights. Scalawags were southern-born white Republicans or, by a broader definition, any white Republicans who had lived in the South before the war.

Bullock

By these definitions, Georgia's Republican government was more scalawag than carpetbagger, particularly since it sent scalawags, rather than carpetbaggers, to Congress. Governor Rufus Bullock, though a New York native, was not a carpetbagger, having moved to Augusta in 1859 and having served as a Confederate quartermaster officer. Former Democratic governor Joseph E. Brown, became a Republican in 1868 and exercised much power in his new party. Georgia's major carpetbagger, Union veteran John Emory Bryant of Maine, had come south as a Freedmen's Bureau official and newspaper publisher.

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

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Evangelist addresses question of the measure of life

"The measure of a life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation."

-- Dutch Evangelist Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983), 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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