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Public encouraged to comment on Corps
of Engineers' plans
By
Jim Scarbrough
Executive technical assistant, Gwinnett Co. Department of Water
Resources
Special to GwinnettForum
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga., Oct. 10, 2008 -- The Mobile District of the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) published a "notice of intent"
in the Federal Register on February 22, 2008, of their intention
to prepare a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and prepare
updated Water Control Manuals for the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint
(ACF) River Basin.
Scarbrough |
For the average lay person, this means that the Mobile District
of the COE will be revising the procedures under which they operate
water releases from Lake Lanier and the complete ACF basin from
Buford Dam to the Apalachicola River below Jim Woodruff dam at the
Florida state line. They will be seeking input from the public at
meetings in the metropolitan Atlanta area. The schedule is as follows:
- October 22, 5 to 8 p.m. at the Callaway Center at West Georgia
Technical College, 220 Fort Drive, La Grange. The telephone is
706.756.4622.
- October 23, 2008, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Cobb County Government
Civic Center, Hudgins Hall, 548 South Marietta Parkway, Marietta.
That phone is 770.528.8450.
- October 29, 2008, from 5-8 p.m. at Georgia Mountain Center,
301 Main Street SW, Gainesville. That phone is 770.534.8420.
Those interested in how the Mobile District operates or has operated
Lake Lanier and the ACF system in the last few years should come
to the meetings and express their opinion to the representatives
of the Mobile District. There will be informational booths and COE
personnel in attendance to whom the public can address questions.
Members of the public will have the opportunity to obtain information
on the process of revising the water control plans for the individual
reservoirs and the Water Control Manual for the ACF system.
Written comments may also be submitted to the Mobile District on
the manual revisions or the EIS between October 20, and November
19, 2008. The requirements of the National Environmental Policy
Act require that Environmental Impact Statement's look at alternatives
for whatever the federal decision is that is being evaluated (in
this case how the reservoirs in the ACF are operated).
Anyone interested in how the COE operates Buford Dam and the other
three federal dams on the ACF system (basin) should attend one of
the meetings to express an opinion in person, in writing, or both.
Or they could contact the Corps of Engineers at their Mobile office.
The contact there is Brian Zettle. The address for the Mobile District
is P.O. Box 2288, Mobile, Ala. 36628-0001. Their telephone is 252.694.3815,
and his email is brian.a.zettle@usace.army.mil.
Be pleased with difference from Research Triangle
counties
By
Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
OCT. 10, 2008 -- This week you need some good news.
Brack |
Sometimes we don't realize just how good we have it, when it comes
to local government.
A delegation of Gwinnett leaders visited the Raleigh-Durham area
of North Carolina recently, to be alert to what one of our natural
competitors is doing. You may remember that both Gwinnett and the
Triangle area were early leaders in establishing distinct areas
for industrial growth, with North Carolina having its Research Triangle
and Gwinnett's establishment of its Technology Park/Atlanta. From
the very get-go, the two areas were in competition for location
of companies, and still are today.
Each area has its own attractions. The key element for North Carolina
is four major universities (Duke, North Carolina, N.C. Sate and
North Carolina Central University.) Gwinnett competes through its
location in Metro Atlanta with Georgia Tech, Emory, Georgia State,
the Atlanta University System, and even includes in its war chest
the University of Georgia, just down the University Parkway from
Gwinnett.
Both places have moderate weather, and both places have generally
good government. The two North Carolina counties (Wake and Durham)
added together are larger than is Gwinnett. Wake County has a 786,522
population and Durham County has 246,896 residents. However, that
is the majority population in that area, while Gwinnett alone has
about 800,000, and is located within the larger Metro Atlanta area
with 5.3 million people.
But consider this: we maintain Gwinnett has better government than
does North Carolina. One element of this is in the way North Carolina
funds schools.
School boards in North Carolina do not have the authority to tax
their constituents, as they do in Georgia. Their county school boards
must get approval of the county commission before a school budget
can be approved. And visitors to North Caroline found last week
that it sometimes takes up to three months of wrangling between
the School Board and the county commission over the tax levied for
school purposes.
As a contrast, Georgia school boards are independent from the county
commission, and can directly levy up to 20 mills for school operations,
and under special circumstances, can levy more. That takes out fighting
with the local county commissioners over a budget. This is only
one difference, but wow! Is it a major difference between the communities
of two states.
There are no doubt many minor differences, that sometimes can take
on wider proportions, in the way the two areas govern themselves.
The school funding one is a big difference, where in this case,
Gwinnett comes out on top.
* * * * *
A story this week out of Macon also made us think of another way
that Gwinnett is blessed. There, Bibb County is parrying with the
City of Macon over stray dogs. When you have two large size governments
operating within the near-same geographic bounds, such fights are
bound to happen. You can only pray that squabbles don't break out.
Gwinnett, in contrast, has one big government, where 80 percent
of the people live…..with 20 percent living within its 15 cities.
While county government could be "heavy handed," this
has not been the case in Gwinnett.
Here's another consideration: Gwinnett's government runs smoothly,
with little open contention about its policies. That is primarily
because of the relatively high quality of public officials in office,
who realize the need to get along with one another.
Sometimes we don't realize….
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Party parrying
The latest great cartoon from Bill McLemore:
Feels
we should not take Florida smokescreen on water
Editor, the Forum:
Please consider reprinting Mr. Charles
Krautler's op-ed piece for your readers. While the piece did
run in a recent Atlanta Journal Constitution, it is still
worth as a conversation starter in response to the efforts by downstream
interests to pull the wool over the eyes of local readers. You have
done an excellent job of tracking this issue (you printed Chick
Krautler's op-ed that was distributed in early August by the Georgia
Public Policy Foundation). In any event, please consider.
My thought on sharing the piece with your readers was that your
readers may not be the same as the folks who read the AJC.
That said, I am a fan of your writing (such as your 7/25
piece regarding the Gwinnett straw vote on transit). Let me
to encourage you to write on the subject of water and what is at
stake for Gwinnettians with respect to the tri-state water wars.
Much of what is "understood" about metro Atlanta outside
our region with regards to water comes from quotes from Alabama
and Florida politicians. Further, I have continued to be confounded
by those within our region who have been lulled into believing Florida's
story and questioning Metro Atlanta regional leaders while taking
Florida's lines hook, line and sinker.
-- Michael Halicki, Atlanta
Emory
Eastside spine-joint pavilion has open house today
Emory Eastside Medical Center will open its new Spine and Joint
Pavilion, on Monday, October 13. This unit will have community tours
on Friday, Oct. 10, from 2 p.m. until 3 p.m. The public is invited.
This 11-bed specialty unit is dedicated to elective joint replacement
and spinal surgery patients.
The Joint and Spine Pavilion features a unique concept, catering
to the needs of elective surgical procedures' patients. Entering
the Pavilion feels like walking into an upscale hotel or spa. There
is little evidence that medical equipment and technology are present
to monitor and treat these patients, who though needing a new joint
or a spine procedure, are otherwise in good health.
This unit has the latest technology for pain management, rehabilitation,
and surgical techniques. There is a dedicated physical therapy/rehab
center, gymnasium and private dining room within the center. The
Pavilion's nurses have specialized orthopedic and neurosurgical
training and experience. The Joint and Spine educational program
focuses on explaining the processes and procedures surrounding the
surgery and teaching the steps for recovery from surgery to return
patients to their former activities in the speediest manner.
From the concierge to turn-down service, from the flowers in the
room to the chef-inspired meals and coffee bar, this unit looks
more like a hotel than a medical center. The patients are treated
as guests and invited to bring their own personal coach--a spouse,
friend or relative--with them for the procedure. Together, with
the patient, they will eat meals from the private dining room. The
coach will stay at the Pavilion offering moral support and encouragement
as the patient recovers from the surgery, by using rehabilitation
techniques and modalities.
Black Gwinnett Magazine
sponsors forum at Hopewell Church
Black Gwinnett Magazine is sponsoring two political forums at Hopewell
Baptist Church in Norcross. These will be non-partisan forums aimed
at introducing the candidates face to face to voters who may not
have had a opportunity to meet them during this campaign season.
All are welcome to attend.
The forums will be on Tuesday, October 14 for statehouse candidates,
and again on Tuesday, October 21, both at 7 p.m. for county-wide
candidates at Hopewell's Faith Hall. Co-hosts include Gwinnett Unity
Group, Gwinnett Ebony Society, Gwinnett NAACP, Alpha Kappa Alpha
of Gwinnett, and Norcross High African-American Leadership Roundtable.
Taste of Suwanee fund-raiser
for cage program is Oct. 18
Whether your taste buds lean toward spicy or sweet, Italian or
Cuban, standard or creative fare, the Taste of Suwanee is sure to
have something to satisfy all appetites. The second annual Taste
of Suwanee will serve up samples from some 30 restaurants from noon-5
p.m. Saturday, October 18, at Suwanee's Town Center Park.
A fund-raiser for the North Gwinnett High School basketball program,
the event also features children's rides and activities, free entertainment,
an artists' market and cooking demos. Admission to Taste of Suwanee
is free. Food samples, rides, and activities require a specified
number of tickets, available for 50 cents each.
Local favorites performing on the Town Center stage include Andy
Velo as well as the North Gwinnett High School drumline, step team,
chorus, dance troupe, and drama club. In addition to parking available
in and around Town Center, off-site parking and a free shuttle,
will be available from Shadowbrook Baptist Church, 4187 Suwanee
Dam Road.
Gwinnett Technology
Forum addresses new Web media Oct. 21
Online networking interface meets traditional business development
goals at the October 21 Gwinnett Technology Forum. Once considered
a fad for high school and college kids, it is now evident that tools
like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and a dozen more are not only here
to stay, but essential mediums for conducting business and reaching
younger talent.
Find out which ones you need to know about, how top Gwinnett executives
are currently using these tools, and how to establish your own Web
2.0 business strategy.
The Technology Forum will be held at the Scientific-Atlanta auditorium
of Gwinnett Tech. To register for this event, visit www.gwinnettchamber.org/gtfregistration.
For questions contact Heather Neilan at 678-957-4944 or by email
at heather@gwinnettchamber.org.
Suwanee opens Sims
Lake Park, first in western part of city
The City of Suwanee has opened its newest park---the fifth to be
created through its award-winning Open Space Initiative. Sims Lake
Park, 62 idyllic acres located at Suwanee Dam and Tench Roads, was
opened over the weekend.
In addition to a seven-acre lake, Sims Lake Park features a 1.2-mile
looping trail, well-fed streamscape, playground area, picnic pavilion,
and two two-acre play meadows. The park also has public restrooms
and parking for nearly 90 cars.
City Manager Marty Allen says: "This is the City's first new
park to open on the west side of Peachtree Industrial, where many
of our citizens live. That factor coupled with the stunning natural
beauty of the property will, we hope, make Sims Lake a well-used
park."
The City of Suwanee will host grand opening festivities for the
park from 2-5 p.m. Saturday, November 8. Details about the event
will be posted to www.suwanee.com in the near future.
In addition to voter-approved open space bond funds, SPLOST funds
were used to provide equipment for the playground area.
Four new fire trucks
for county paid with SPLOST funds
Four more new fire trucks will soon join the dozen that Gwinnett
County bought during the past two years. Commissioners have approved
a $1.7 million contract, to be paid with SPLOST funds, from North
America Fire Equipment Co. Inc., of Decatur, Ala.
Fire stations 2, 10, 14 and 25 are slated each to get one of four
new triple-combination rescue-type trucks that can pump 1,500 gallons
of water per minute to douse a fire. During 2008, the county has
received 12 similar fire engines ordered previously from the same
company. Three of those were for new stations 28, 29 and 30. The
other nine went to stations 4, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 20, 22 and 23.
Fire Chief Steve Rolader said, "These purchases not only equip
our newest stations, which are also built with SPLOST funds, but
they also upgrade and modernize our ability to fight fires from
many of our existing stations as well."
The
Flying Biscuit Cafe, Norcross
 "My
husband, Mark, and I had the enjoyable experience of eating at the
just-opened Flying
Biscuit Cafe on Peachtree Parkway across from the Forum,
in the center with the county tag office. We both had a dinner for
under $10. I had the warm chicken salad, which tasted great and
came with one of their famous biscuits. Mark ordered a breakfast
egg-stravaganza, complete with eggs, bacon, sausage and French toast!
There were lots of people in the cafe having a nice night, so the
word is out about this new location! We'll look forward to going
back and trying their Georgia Peach Shortcake for dessert. Their
information is: 5270 Peachtree Parkway in Norcross."
-- Cindy Evans, Duluth
- 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
Herschel Johnson
played central role in sectional politics
Perhaps most famous as Stephen Douglas's 1860 vice presidential
candidate, Herschel
Johnson played an anomalous but central role in the heated sectional
politics of the 1850s and 1860s. Taken as a whole, his contradictions
encapsulate the intense ambivalence Georgians felt toward disunion,
especially in the years before the Civil War (1861-65).
Johnson |
Herschel Vespasian Johnson was born in 1812, in Burke County. Like
most of Georgia's antebellum political lights, Johnson passed through
the University of Georgia, graduating in 1834. He established a
prosperous law practice.
After the Nashville convention of 1850, Georgia Governor George
W. Towns called for a state convention that would meet in December
to consider secession. Johnson and Towns led the Southern Rights
Democrats, who were opposed by a powerful Constitutional Unionist
coalition headed by Howell Cobb, Alexander Stephens, and Robert
Toombs. However, sectionalist sentiment was not yet strong enough
in historically moderate Georgia, and the Constitutional Unionists
buried the states' rights men at the polls, guaranteeing that Georgia
would not secede at that time and dampening enthusiasm for the separatist
movement throughout the South.
Nevertheless, the 1850s turned out to be an extraordinarily active
political decade for Johnson, one in which the man who had once
plumped vigorously for Georgia's states' rights would undergo an
astonishing conversion. In 1852 he served once again as a presidential
elector, and in 1853 he was elected governor. He was re-elected
in 1855. By mid-decade, the possibility of Southern secession was
again being openly rumored. But this time Governor Johnson-disabused
of his former belief in the vitality of separatism by the events
of 1850-dismissed the idea that any sizeable number of southerners
harbored ambitions to sever their region's ties to the Union.
This stance won Johnson a reputation for moderation, which led
in turn to his nomination for vice president by the Douglas Democrats
in 1860. When the secession issue emerged after the election, Johnson
spoke out forcefully against disunion. Although he certainly embodied
the Southern ambivalence toward the North, his path from secessionist
in 1850 to unionist in 1860 inverted the trajectory of the South
as a whole over the same period. Johnson changed his mind not out
of any great fondness for the North but because he had become convinced
that slavery was much more secure within the Union than outside
of it.
Johnson served the rest of his career with quiet distinction. Once
the decision for disunion was made, he reluctantly went along with
his state, even serving as a Confederate senator from 1862 to 1865.
After the war, he was elected, along with Alexander Stephens, to
the U.S. Senate under Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction scheme, but
like all of those elected to Congress from Georgia in early 1866,
he was not seated. He then returned to Louisville and resumed his
career as an attorney. After 1873 he served as a judge until his
death on August 16, 1880.
Another good reason
for purchasing hardback books
"This paperback is very interesting, but I find it will never
replace a hardcover book -- it makes a very poor doorstop."
-- British movie director Alfred Hitchcock (1899 - 1980).
Send your thoughts, 55-word short stories, pet peeves
or comments on any issue to Gwinnett
Forum for future publication.
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© 2008, Gwinnett Forum.com. Gwinnett Forum
is an online community commentary for exploring pragmatic and sensible
social, political and economic approaches to improve life in Gwinnett
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