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Loganville firm scoots to top builder in USA in four years
By Jennifer Norman
Special to GwinnettForum.com

LOGANVILLE, Ga., Nov. 10, 2006 -- In less than four years, Loganville-based Presidio Homes has earned one of the home building industry's most honorable awards. In the September issue, Builder magazine ranked Presidio Homes as the "Fastest Growing Home Builder in the United States." Placed at the top of the list, Presidio Homes ranked Number One among over 100,000 home builders across the United States.

Builder magazine's Fast Track 100 List examines the secrets of fast-growing builders' successes - and what they are doing to keep the pace. The list was determined by the percentage of gross revenue change from 2003 to 2005. Builder magazine has published its annual Fast Track 100 List for the last eight years.

Jeremy York, President of Presidio Homes, says: "We are very proud of this achievement. All of the hard work has paid off for everyone. It is awesome to see our people get the recognition they deserve. We have grown from a company that built three homes its first year in business to 95 homes just two years later. We truly are on the "fast track" and are well on our way to meeting our goal of 200 homes next year, and hopefully we will continue on this track."

York contributes all this success to the company's faith in God and doing what He wants the employees to do. In addition, the positive work environment York promotes has also allowed him to have good people working with him. This, he believes, helps get the job done. York also credits Gwinnett County with helping make Presidio Homes the success it is.

"Gwinnett County has done a really good job of infrastructure and planning for growth, as well as preparing for the future" says York. "We build in a lot of different counties and there is not another one that has prepared itself for the future like Gwinnett has."

York describes one of the difficulties he has encountered as keeping himself and his employees humble. He doesn't see it as a problem but it is something that they work on and focus their attention. York wants for his employees to be as respectful and honorable to everyone who walks through the door. Presidio Homes believes in building affordable, quality homes of which the owners can be proud.

With more than 15 years of experience in the industry, York founded Presidio Homes with the idea to build homes at affordable prices. Tailored to young and first-time home buyers, Presidio Homes communities can be found in Gwinnett, Walton, DeKalb and Rockdale counties.

Striving to exceed expectations, Presidio Homes seeks to foster a strong commitment to customer care, working to ensure that homeowners will be satisfied after living in the house. For more information on Presidio Homes, call (770) HOMES-4-U or visit www.presidiohomes.com.

Election officials right on the money in election day prediction
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com

NOV. 14, 2006 -- The election totals give us a little insight into just how far the Republicans have come in Georgia. After all, the GOP won all but three statewide races, and came close to winning two more seats in Congress from Georgia.

While the big race was for governor, the Republicans scored their biggest victory with a Gwinnett candidate. Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine scored a higher percentage of votes than any other polled well in elections. This should give him a sense of job security, much like it did down-tickets Democratic office holders for years.

Being down on the ticket didn't hurt one guy. Tommy Irvin, the agricultural commissioner who is the longest serving in the nation, still resonates well with Georgians, even in a banner Republican year. Mr. Irvin had 56.1 percent of the vote.

Yet the Democrat who did best with the voters was Attorney General Thurbert Baker, who found 57.2 percent of the people endorsing his continuing to serve. This would make Baker, we presume, the highest ranking Democrat in the state now. Could his vote totals suggest that he might be a candidate for higher office?

Another Democrat winning easily in the GOP year was Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond, himself the victor with a 54.9 percent of the vote.

Gov. Dr. Sonny Perdue scored with 57.9 percent of the voter, no doubt reduced a little by the 3.8 per cent of the Libertarian candidate Garrett Michael Hayes. Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor had a measly 38.3 percent of the vote. However, The "Big Guy" did well downstate, and actually won 29 counties. If we still had the county unit system around, he would have had a better chance of being called governor today.

For lieutenant governor, Jim Martin at 42.3 percent of the votes did 4 percent better than Taylor did in the governor's race (38.3 percent,) yet fell to Casey Cagle who had 54.1 percent.

The other statewide race, that for school superintendent, saw Kathy Cox score well, 59.9 percent, to lead all Republicans except Oxendine.

Interestingly enough, the highly-visible race for the Supreme Court, saw Justice Carol Hunstein score a higher percentage of voters than any opposed candidate except Oxendine. Judge Hunstein thrashed her opponent with 63.1 percent of the vote. Interestingly, she did not lose a single county in her victory. That's a major victory.

No, there is no prohibition against a Supreme Court judge running for governor in four years. We might suggest the ethical aspect that she resign first…to make it less onerous on the other members of her court.

Another interesting note: overall, Georgians turned out fairly well for this year's elections. And elections officials hit it right on the head, as they predicted a 48 percent turnout, and that's what happened (using the governor's race as an indicator.) That's pretty good in a non-election.

The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today's featured sponsor is The Gwinnett Center, which is home to three distinct facilities right here in Duluth. The Convention Center offers patrons the opportunity to host or attend a wide variety of events; from corporate meetings to trade shows, to social occasions. The Performing Arts Center has an intimate capacity of 700 guests, which is home to many local events, family shows and even the occasional comedic performer. The Arena is the newest addition and has already seen great success with a nomination for The 2005 Pollstar Arena of The Year Award. There is another fantastic fall line up including American Idols, Toby Keith, Eric Clapton, Blue Man Group and the ECHL American Conference Champions - Gwinnett Gladiators. Visit www.gwinnettcenter.com for updates on events at the three great facilities.

Enjoyed your article regarding judicial races. The Hunstein race was a sad one for her and the State as she was viciously attacked by a Republican hand-picked opponent (one I am told they finally got to accept the offer to run after others turned them down). Lawyers responding to the State Bar Judicial Poll overwhelmingly voted her opponent as "Unqualified" and whose campaign in a non-partisan race was financed with almost $3 million of which very little, if any, came from his campaign committee.

The Georgia Republican party coughed up a million to run TV ads, $1.3 million came from a 527 group out of Washington, D.C. who wouldn't reveal the names of their donors and the balance came from another 527 group, "The Safety and Prosperity Coalition," of which a senior staff member referred to Justice Hunstein as "a one-legged Jewish woman from Dekalb County." ." (This was untrue: she is not Jewish.) Is this the type of folks we want buying their own brand of justice? Hopefully they will go away realizing what a disgrace they are to themselves and to those who care about our civil and criminal justice system in Georgia.

Thankfully we have ended another election season and once again I am surprised by the conclusions some people are able to draw from the results.

Political writers, including contributors to the Forum, love to begin a post-election analysis with "The American people have spoken and ..." We all seem to forget that all politics is local and while voters in South Dakota may reject an anti-choice law or Missourians favor stem cell research, it reflects mainstream America as much as the re-election of Senator Lieberman or Congressman Linder does. "Mainstream America" only speaks once every four years when we choose a president.

Speaking of the president, why did he get a pass from the press and the public when he admitted to lying to reporters regarding the status of his Secretary of Defense? Didn't we almost crucify president "It all depends on your definition of IS" for lying about his sex life. Isn't the Secretary of Defense more important than some deviant sexual behavior?

I believe this election was lost, not won, and while the mess in Iraq is certainly part of the problem, Republicans were primarily punished for their lack of fiscal restraint, illegal immigration and public corruption which includes lying to the America people. In 1994 Republicans made a contract with America and in the subsequent years broke that contract. They have no one to blame but themselves.

Finally, I'm assumed that we are more disappointed by the dirty politics in the election of judges than other elected officials. Some how we hold judges to a different standard than our other elected officials. Isn't that a little hypocritical?

Judgeship races are non-partisan only to the extent that candidates are formally identified with any party. Mudslinging happens because it works and it works because the electorate loves every minute of it. It gets Jerry Springer and Dr. Phil big ratings and it gets Georgia Supreme Court Judges elected. If we want it to stop, we need to stop voting for people who do it.

The Republican Party just took a beating on Election Day because the majority of their representatives abandoned their conservative values, and in the end they represented nothing. The Republicans were originally elected because of their conservative promises, but they let us all down by not keeping them.

The Democrats are no better because when they are in office, they have been guilty of abandoning their principles also. So, every couple or three of elections, on the national level, the voters replace whoever is in power because they have lost confidence in that power.

A new, strong political third party must rise up to compete with our two disgusting dominate parties.

Aurora Theatre will celebrate its first Christmas in Lawrenceville with a special early gift already under the tree. Gwinnett Medical Center will sponsor this year's production of Gwinnett's longest running Christmas tradition. Now in it's 11th hit year Christmas Canteen has become known as "a cup of eggnog for the holiday soul." Aurora Theatre views the support of Gwinnett Medical Center as proof that music and laughter have great healing benefits during the stressful holiday season.

Christmas Canteen 2006 begins on November 24 and runs until December 23. Performances are Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $18-25. Performances will be held at the Aurora's interim fourth floor theatre at Lawrenceville City Hall, 70 South Clayton Street.

Aurora Theatre Producing Artistic Director Anthony Rodriguez says: "We are very excited. As a non-profit arts organization, you can only be as great as your support allows, and with Gwinnett Medical behinds us Christmas Canteen will soar to new heights."

The November 28 Gwinnett Medical Alliance (GMed) meeting will feature Mark Mullin and Martha Jordan of the Gwinnett Hospital System's Office of Planning. Gwinnett Health System is a not-for-profit healthcare network, anchored by flagship Gwinnett Medical center, providing a wide array of high-quality services and facilities to Gwinnett and the surrounding area.

The meeting will be November 28, 2006 at 3:30 p.m. in the Stephens Education Room of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce.

The Gwinnett Medical Alliance is an initiative of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce to promote the exchange of information between healthcare professionals. GMed offers a forum for consensus building with providers, insurers, educators and medical suppliers to providing an exchange of issues. The scope of GMed encompasses business, political and social issues and concerns with respect for all of the participants and their constituents. There is no cost to attend.

Join Engineer Santa Claus for a snack breakfast in the Southeastern Railway Museum Exhibit Hall Saturdays before Christmas. The breakfast is at 9:30 and again at 10:30 a.m. on Saturdays, November 25, and December 2, 9, and 16. After breakfast, there will be a 15 minute caboose ride. The cost $3 in addition to museum admission. Reservations are required. Call (770) 476-2013 for reservations.

Admission is $7 for adults, $5 for seniors (65+), $4 for children (2-12). Children under 2 are admitted free.

The Southeastern Railway Museum has been in operation since 1970 and is "Georgia's Official Transportation History Museum". The museum has over 80 other pieces of retired railway rolling stock including vintage steam and diesel locomotives, passenger coaches, private business cars, a World War II army troop kitchen, wooden freight cars, railway post office car and maintenance of way equipment. Many other items from Georgia's transportation history are also presented on the museum's 30-acre site.

"The remarkable aspect to this movie, now at four theatres in Atlanta, is the amazing acting role of Helen Mirren. The actress we see on television as Inspector Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect, gives a stunning performance, and really bears a striking resemblance to Queen Elizabeth II. In addition, you get insights into the operation of the Royals palaces and their way of life. Another unusual element is to see the pint-sized Tony Blair (is he that short?) interact with His Majesty. The movie centers around the death of Princess Diana and the reaction from the Royals. It's an entertaining event, where the time flies by, and is quite enjoyable."---eeb

Harry Crews (b. 1935) is a prolific novelist whose often freakish characters populate a strange, violent, and darkly humorous South. He is also the author of a widely lauded memoir, A Childhood: The Biography of a Place, about growing up poor in rural south Georgia.

Harry Eugene Crews was born in Bacon County, the second of two sons. His parents, Myrtice and Ray Crews, were poor farmers barely scratching out a living. After his father died of a heart attack in the middle of the night with Crews, just 22 months old, asleep beside him, Myrtice soon married Ray's brother Pascal. Her decision would prove fateful, as Pascal revealed himself to be a violent and dangerous drunk.

Crews joined the Marines when he was 17, while his brother was away fighting in the Korean War. During his time in the service, Crews began to read seriously. When his term ended, he enrolled at the University of Florida on the G.I. Bill, with the intention of becoming a writer. The years leading up to his first publication were hard both personally and professionally. Crews married in 1960 and had two sons, but the marriage did not last. In 1964 tragedy struck when his older son drowned. Crews began teaching in 1962, and after years of rejection his first novel, The Gospel Singer, was published in 1968 and garnered good reviews.

Crews' reputation as a bold and daring new voice in southern writing grew during this time. Most of his books are set in modern-day Florida or Georgia and are often edgy in their exploration of such extremities as blood sports, the limits of sanity, and bizarre compulsions and obsessions.

After 1976, Crews didn't publish another novel for roughly ten years. During this time his persona would increasingly become a source of interest to critics and readers. A column he wrote for Esquire called "Grits" laid the groundwork for what many critics consider his best book, A Childhood: The Biography of a Place (1978). Crews' style is honest and unflinching as he describes the violence and desperation surrounding him as a young boy, yet he is also nonjudgmental and shows an affection and respect for people despite their flaws.

Crews was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in 2001. He is featured in the documentary Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus (2005), which chronicles the road trip of a country musician through the South. Crews lives in Gainesville, Fla.

"There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates' loot on Treasure Island . . .and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day."

Send your thoughts, 55-word short stories, pet peeves or comments on any issue to Gwinnett Forum for future publication.

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