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Mother tells legislature of how state helped her son
By Nancy Vara
Special to GwinnettForum.com

LILBURN , Ga., March 11, 2008 -- A year and a half ago, my 24-year-old son Carmine was still in school. Diagnosed with cerebral palsy and developmental disabilities, Carmine had nevertheless been an active member of the community with a part time job in addition to school. He participated in plays, attended church, and engaged in various social outings.

Once Carmine graduated, however, everything changed. While we had thought ourselves prepared, we did not anticipate the amount of energy, money, and emotion required for our son's round-the-clock care. Because cerebral palsy affects the area of the brain that controls movement and language, he is unable to perform a number of basic tasks; hence all of Carmine's personal care needs were left up to our family.

We quickly found ourselves physically, emotionally, and financially drained. The young man who enriched our lives had suddenly become a tremendous burden. It became clear that we could not continue this way. In the past, our family has helped raise money for many in need, and now we were the ones in need.

Household accommodations for people with disabilities are very expensive. We had almost no spare time, and keeping my Lilburn-based business afloat was a challenge. Lifting my 120-pound son three to four times a day was inadvisable but unavoidable.

So recently, with the support of the Atlanta Alliance on Developmental Disabilities, I testified before the Georgia House Appropriations Subcommittee on Human Resources. I asked for increased funding for the Mental Retardation Waiver Program (MRWP), an agenda that would help provide personal supports in order for Carmine and others in similar situations to become fully integrated into the community.

With 5,700 people still on the waiting list to receive waivers, I hope that Georgia will continue offering support and move forward for families like mine by insuring that 2,500 new MRWP waivers are made available in the Department of Human Resources 2009 Budget. It is also imperative that providers receive the seven percent increase that they deserve (with $2M in state funds) to continue to be able to serve Georgians with developmental disabilities.

With the backing of the governor and the legislature, in May of last year Carmine received a MRWP waiver. Since then, he has received a promotion at his job and a raise. He has transportation and personal support for work and home and is able to go to the movies with friends. He is currently rehearsing for a church play. Wanting to give back, he has signed on for two nonprofit boards that advocate for our citizens with disabilities. None of this would have happened without the Medicaid waiver from the state -- along with the unerring encouragement of his friends, family and personal support staff.

Thanks to programs such as the MRWP waiver, Carmine is now capable of leading a life inside the community where he is treated with dignity and respect -- and his mother feels like a productive citizen again as well.

Winning basketball; goodbye to Jo Ann Pinder; early Easter
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher

MARCH 11, 2008 -- In what two ways are Gwinnett and the number "50" related? (Answer below.)

A tip of the hat to schools across Spalding Drive from one another. That's Norcross High, winner of the state boys Class AAAAA basketball champion for the third year in a row. Only Lanier High in Macon, back in 1938-40, has accomplished such a feat in the highest classification.

Congratulations also to both the boys and girls teams from Class AA Wesleyan School, within sight of Norcross High, for winning their basketball titles, too. We suggest no county in Georgia has schools located as close to one another winning two boys classifications and a girls title in the same year!

For the Wesleyan boys, it was their first state basketball title. But for the Wesleyan girls, it was old hat. They won the state Class A championship in 2002, then the Class AA in 2004, 2005-2006, saw Greater Atlanta Christian School win in 2007, and then won again in 2008. For Wesleyan, that means they have won the title in four out of the last five years. That also means that the girls Class AA winner has been in Gwinnett since 2004, quite a run in itself.

We'll miss a key member of the Gwinnett County community who is moving. Former Gwinnett Public Library Director Jo Ann Pinder will join the of the 17-branch Baltimore County Public Library, where she will be the assistant director for support services. She'll be supervising such functions as collection development, technical services, marketing, facilities, youth services, information services and technology support.

The Baltimore library, headquartered in Towson, Md., serves 787,000 people and circulates 7.1 million items each year. That's similar to the 757,000 population of Gwinnett. Gwinnett's library circulated over 6.4 million items in 2006, and had 2.4 million visits to its library website. Jo Ann will be moving to a rowhouse in Rodgers Forge, a 1930 subdivision, which is about a mile from her new office.

While in Gwinnett, Jo Ann led the library through 15 years to new heights, including being named in 2000 as the Library of the Year by Library Journal (the oldest trade magazine) and the Gale Group, which specializes in research and educational publishing for libraries. Good luck, Jo Ann. Your many friends in Gwinnett will miss you.

Easter is really coming early this year. The Christian observance comes the first Sunday after the first full moon of Spring, which is March 20 this year, making Easter March 23.

And the trivia people are pointing out that this year's early Easter is the earliest people now living will ever see it the rest of our lives. And only people at least 95 years old have seen one earlier. The last time it occurred this early was in 1913. The next time Easter is on March 23 will be 220 years from now, in 2228.

Easter can only come earlier by one day. That will next be on March 22, 2285. And does an early Easter mean warmer weather? What does it do for all the people planning gardens? Good luck. We hope you don't have to replant!

Gwinnett and the number "50" have two connections. First, Gwinnett was the 50th county to be organized in Georgia, of the eventual 161 counties. (Yes, we now have 159; but Fulton was enlarged when two counties, Milton and Campbell, went broke during the Depression. So now we have 159.)

Second: Gwinnett is 50th county in geographic size in Georgia. Add this to your trivia questions.

The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today's sponsor is First National Insurance, located at 1689 Duluth Highway, Lawrenceville. The firm, with roots going back to its founding in 1995, offers multi-lines in insurance and financial services, including auto, home, recreational, commercial and group benefits programs. It is the representative of several old-line insurance companies, including Travelers, Hartford, Auto-owners, Allied, Blue Cross-Blue Shield and Zurich firms. Call First National Insurance at 770 513-2264.

Enjoy your publication immensely, but sorry to say that I could not resist commenting on the following sentence:

"Political junkies must be enervated by the results of the Democratic primaries in Texas and Ohio, which failed to knock Hillary Clinton out of the race for the presidential nomination. "

In fact, as a political junkie, I was (further) invigorated, rather than enervated by the results! No offense meant. Look forward to your next publication.

There is plenty of water, you know. Enough excess runs off on average to fill three more Lake Laniers. At the height of the "drought" we were releasing 800,000,000 gallons of water a day for the two mussels in Appalachicola Bay. There was no Lake Lanier until 1957. Wonder what the snails did then?

Fayette County used to always have the worse water problems. About 1995 or so they built Lake Horton -- a major reservoir. You won't find any more articles about their water problems.

Drive across the Chattahoochee on I-285 at Powers Ferry and look south. The river is full, I say full, heading very rapidly to the Gulf of Mexico.

Why pick on the Tennessee (the state of Tennessee would probably give us the water if we said "please" instead of claiming it). The Savannah River, the Oconee, the Ocmulgee, the Altamaha, the Ogeechee, the Flint are flowing freely---all except the Flint, into the Atlantic. There is plenty of water.

In your Friday column ("Voting May Have Turned Democratic Race to Hillary"), you cite that the outcome of the Ohio and Texas (New Hampshire/Vermont) races, which overwhelming went to Mrs. Clinton, likely enervated "political junkies." While in no way am I even remotely a political junkie, I hail from the land that creates them, and the only folks this outcome energized were the Clinton campaign team.

Political writers are showing the strain of trying to continually find new stories to write. Pundits are struggling with a constant stream of minutia to discuss on political shows.

The concern of a long race to the Democratic convention is that the likely path both candidates will take is an increase in the amount of rhetoric. This means campaigns focused on negative campaigning. This may serve the dual the role of differentiating the candidates to a particular primary's voters, but similarly gives fuel to the fire for the opponent---Senator McCain. In this light, a long, drawn out process of securing delegates and courting the now-important super-delegates could ultimately be a feather in the cap for Senator McCain's campaign.

Now on stage at the Button Theatre in Duluth is You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, based on the Peanuts characters created by Charles Schultz. The play runs through March 30 at the theatre, located at the Hudgens Center for the Arts Black Box Theatre (at the Gwinnett Center). The curtain rises every Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.

Through a partnership with the Gwinnett Humane Society, Button Theatre will donate a portion of the ticket sales from You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown to The Gwinnett Humane Society in honor of everyone's favorite cartoon dog! Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors.

Tickets maybe be purchased by calling 770-831-0591 or by emailing Mary Carolyn Conti at mconti@buttontheatre.com. You may also purchase your tickets online at the website, www.buttontheatre.com.

Welcome Walter Reeves, host of "The Lawn and Garden Show" on WSB-AM and "Gardening in Georgia" on Georgia Public Television, to Gwinnett on March 13 at 7 p.m. at Barnes and Noble at the Forum on Peachtree Parkway.

If you are interested in learning about garden words and pesticides in simple terms, come to Barnes and Noble to hear about his new project. It might help to learn how to garden during a drought from this gardening expert.

The next Sierra Club meeting will feature the Army Corps of Engineers giving a presentation on the drought that Georgia is facing, as well as talk about the implication for Gwinnett's water supply. Rob Holland of the Corps of Engineers will talk about the water supply in North Georgia and separate facts from the myths of the amount of water available and how the water under the Corps' jurisdiction is being used.

The meeting will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 20, at the Willowrun Condominiums clubhouse at 1015 Country Court in Lawrenceville. For additional details, contact Tom Morrissey at thmorrissey@bellsouth.net.

On Tuesday, March 11, one of Historic Buford's newest galleries will host the Buford Business Alliance (BBA) meeting. Gio' Vairs' owner, Arlesia Crooms, invites members and guests to view diverse, intellectually driven and unique art in the area.

Because of good reviews, the BBA will be incorporating "network games" into monthly meetings This month is a surprise game with a grand prize, an original work of art, donated by Arlesia of Gio Vairs. As one of our newest traditions, door prizes will be awarded by members.

The BBA is putting together a spring "Historic Buford Arts and Jazz Festival" to include the local artists, merchants, schools and professional musicians. This is scheduled Saturday for May 10.

From studio rehearsals beginning in January to the first run through with the Gwinnett Community Symphony Orchestra, the Northeast Atlanta Ballet is preparing for The Sleeping Beauty, which the company will perform at the Gwinnett Performing Arts Center Easter weekend.

The lavishly staged, family-friendly ballet The Sleeping Beauty, set to the music of Tchaikovsky, features the princess Aurora, many beautifully costumed fairies, and the wicked Carabosse, whose dark spell to harm Aurora is changed by the Lilac Fairy. When the lovely Aurora pricks her finger on her 18th birthday, she doesn't die. She merely falls asleep until a handsome prince kisses her and breaks the enchantment cast over her and the rest of the court. Familiar fairytale characters, such as Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs, join in the Act III wedding celebration.

The Northeast Atlanta Ballet, founded by artistic director Jennifer B. Gordon in 1996, is the official company in residence of the Lilburn School of Ballet (www.northeastatlantaballet.org).

Tickets are available through Ticketmaster and the Gwinnett Center box office for shows on Friday, March 21 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and on Saturday, March 22 at 10 a.m., 2 p.m., and 7:30 p.m.

Gwinnett Senior Leadership (GSL) has a new home and sponsor -- Gwinnett Technical College in cooperation with the Gwinnett Tech Foundation. It is now accepting applications for the 2008-09 Senior Leadership class.

The program is designed to bring together those over age 55 who have an interest in leading, and learning about Gwinnett and its citizens. Senior Leadership Gwinnett currently has nearly 200 alumni. Launched in 1999, the program will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2009.

Persons may nominate themselves for participation. The nomination deadline is April 11 and the application deadline is June 15.

Incoming class members are chosen by a selection committee of former members. Class selection will be completed by June 20 with the class beginning in August 2008. Elliott Brack and Bill Barry currently serve as the Senior Leadership Gwinnett Board of Trustees chair and vice chair, respectively. Pat Swan is chair of the steering committee.

The program begins in September and continues monthly through May. For more information about Senior Leadership Gwinnett and to request an application, contact Lorri Christopher at Gwinnett Tech by email at lchristopher@gwinnetttech.edu, or phone 678-226-6316.

Georgia Gwinnett College names space"Cisco Auditorium"

The new 300-seat high-tech auditorium at Georgia Gwinnett College just got a name: The Cisco Auditorium. Thanks to a $300,000 gift from the Scientific-Atlanta Foundation, GGC students, employees and members of the community will now be able to utilize a spacious and modern gathering place for classes and meetings.

The auditorium opened in August 2007 as a part of an expansion to an existing academic building. The academic building, or "C" building, increased in square-footage from 36,000 square feet to 56,000 square feet last summer. The expansion included seven new classrooms, 22 faculty offices and a signature feature-an auditorium with plans for state-of-the-art presentation technology. It is the largest gathering place on campus.

"I've just finished the second of Rick Atkinson's World War 2 trilogy on the campaigns in the Mediterranean and Europe. Day of Battle is about the invasion of Sicily and Italy. Atkinson holds Pulitzers in journalism AND history, and blends sources in a compelling way.

"Everyone from Churchill on down had grand ideas about how to defeat the Germans.As usual, it was the guys carrying rifles up a mountain who paid the price.

"Then there's our mystery book club out at the Oconee County Library ("Clueless" by name). We run through a different author every month. Most intriguing of late was Henkell Manning, a Swedish author who writes with wry grimness about a stubborn, star-crossed detective in such books as The Dogs of Riga. And I just finished Jennifer Patrick's first mystery, The Night She Died. She's local as is the setting for an involving, complex; psychological thriller."

Sincere though General James Oglethorpe may have been about Georgia's philanthropic rhetoric, he understood that the colony also had a vital military mission to fulfill. Imperial strategy demanded a sturdy settlement to defend South Carolina's southern flank, both against Spanish Florida and unpredictable Southeastern Indians, and to secure the strategically vital Altamaha River against possible French encroachments from the west. Oglethorpe took these responsibilities seriously and, as soon as circumstances allowed, began the work of fortifying Georgia's coastline in earnest. The decisions he made, for better or worse, shaped the colony's early history and had much to do with its final southern border.

The establishment of Fort Frederica near the mouth of the Altamaha River in 1736 marked the beginning of Oglethorpe's defensive scheme. His thinking was influenced heavily by Georgia's maritime geography, which consists of an uninterrupted series of barrier islands running along the coast. They form a natural water route, known as the Inland Passage which offers protection from the unpredictable weather and harsh conditions of the open sea.

Long used by Indians traveling in canoes, the calmer waters of the Inland Passage quickly became the preferred route for Europeans as well. Oglethorpe therefore placed his coastal fortifications at key locations on these barrier islands in order to monitor and control access to the Inland Passage. On the southern end of St. Simons Island, for instance, he built Fort St. Simon to defend against enemy ships seeking to slip in from the open sea between St. Simons and Jekyll islands. The inlet between Jekyll and Cumberland islands, just southward, was guarded from 1736 until 1742 by a fortress erected on the northern end of Cumberland, named Fort St. Andrews. Still farther south, the inlet between Cumberland and Amelia islands was guarded by a small "scout station" until 1740, when Fort William was constructed on the southern tip of Cumberland Island.

"Seeing a murder on television... can help work off one's antagonisms. And if you haven't any antagonisms, the commercials will give you some."

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