|
|
Issue 9.04 | Tuesday, April 14, 2009 | Forward to your friends! |
|
|
FEEDBACK UPCOMING NOTABLE ALSO INSIDE ___::
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Meet a sponsor |
ABOUT US GwinnettForum.com is a twice-weekly online community commentary for exploring pragmatic and sensible social, political and economic approaches to improve life in Gwinnett County, Ga. USA. Contact us today. SEARCH GWINNETT FORUM |
|
TODAY'S
FOCUS DULUTH, Ga., April 14, 2009 -- Now the winter chill is gone and spring has finally sprung it's time for Gwinnettians to join millions of Americans in Keep America Beautiful's Great American Cleanup. Now in its 22nd year, the Great American Cleanup is the nation's largest annual community improvement program. More than 30,000 events are being planned across the country and Gwinnett's own Keep America Beautiful affiliate, Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful, is leading the charge in our community.
From April 18 through May 31, Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful will host various community events, volunteer opportunities, and educational programs that will focus on preventing litter, reducing waste and beautifying the community. The big community kick-off themed "Green Starts Here" will take place on Saturday, April 18 with the grand reopening of the Recycling Bank of Gwinnett. The Recycling Bank of Gwinnett, located at 4300 Satellite Boulevard in Duluth, burned to the ground in June of 2008 but will reopen bigger and better to serve as our community's one-stop mega recycling center. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., citizens are encouraged to come out and take tours, enjoy giveaways, educational activities, and most importantly - to recycle! This is a great time to load up all of those items cluttering up your garages, basements and sheds and take care of your spring cleaning. The new Recycling Bank of Gwinnett offers citizens the ability to recycle 35 different types of materials. The full list of items that can now be recycled includes:
Throughout the next six weeks, Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful invites Gwinnett citizens to get involved in the Great American Cleanup. Gwinnett activities will include Earth Day activities, Soil Stewardship Week programs, Mother's Day celebrations, anti-graffiti efforts, clean air initiatives, celebrations for green and healthy schools and more. Matthew McKenna, president of Keep America Beautiful, Inc., says: "We are thrilled that Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful continues to lead the environmental charge in Gwinnett. They have been involved with the Great American Cleanup since the beginning and we look to the Gwinnett community each year to set the bar and model environmental stewardship and community improvement for KAB affiliates and fellow Americans across the nation. We can't wait to see what you can accomplish this year!" As part of the 2008 Great American Cleanup hardworking volunteers donated more than 6.7 million hours in 2008 to clean, beautify and improve more than 17,000 communities across all 50 states and beyond. Activities included beautifying parks and recreation areas, cleaning seashores and waterways, handling recycling collections, picking up litter, planting trees and flowers, and conducting educational programs and litter-free events. To learn more about organized Great American Cleanup activities in Gwinnett, as well as everyday ways you can be more actively involved in making our community greener, cleaner, and more beautiful, visit www.gwinnettcb.org. ELLIOTT
BRACK APRIL 14, 2009 -- Announcement that the Gwinnett County Public Schools are up for the prestigious Broad Prize for Urban Education is a distinct honor for the county's school system. The fact that the system is a finalist for the prize also serves to validate the leadership of the system.
Gwinnett thus becomes the first school system in Georgia to be named a finalist for the Broad Prize. It will be going up against four other large, excellent systems for the honor: the Aldine Independent School District in Houston, Tex. ; the Broward County Public Schools in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; the Long Beach Unified School District in California; and the Socorro Independent School District in El Paso, Tex. The winning district will be announced on September 16 in Washington and will get $1 million in scholarships for high school seniors; The other four finalists districts will get $250,000 in scholarship funds. Each year, America's largest urban educational districts are eligible for the Broad Prize. This year's finalists were selected by a team of 20 prominent educators, evaluating publicly-available performance data. The judges said Gwinnett was chosen as a finalist for 2009 because:
A little about the foundation making the awards: the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation is a national venture philanthropy established by Entrepreneur Eli Broad to advance entrepreneurship in education, sciences and the arts. The foundation focuses on dramatically improving urban K-12 public schools through better governance, management, labor relations and competition. Here's more on the people making the prizes possible. After creating shareholder wealth by providing vital homebuilding and retirement savings services through the two Fortune 500 companies he created-KB Home and SunAmerica, Inc.-Eli Broad and Edythe, his wife of 54 years, are now devoting their time, energy and resources to philanthropy. As the child of immigrant parents, Eli Broad was instilled with the values of hard work, education and the dream that anything was possible. He and Edythe both attended Detroit Public Schools, and then he attended Michigan State University, graduating with a degree in accounting and becoming the youngest CPA in the state's history. Eli Broad and Edythe's cousin's husband, Donald Kaufman, founded Kaufman and Broad with the simple idea that if they built houses without basements (the widespread use of gas heating rendered basements to store coal unnecessary), they could offer homes with mortgage payments that were lower than the rent for a two-bedroom apartment. The first weekend in 1956, they priced their houses at $13,740. They sold out that same weekend and were in business. Kaufman and Broad grew rapidly, becoming the first homebuilder to be traded on the American and New York stock exchanges. * * * * * Gwinnett
citizens are proud of their schools, realizing they are outstanding because
of good teachers, good students, interested parents, and extraordinary
leadership. Becoming a finalist for the Broad Prize is an indication of
just how good Gwinnett schools are.
The public spiritedness of our underwriters allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers, Today's sponsor is Gwinnett Medical Center, part of what's great about Gwinnett! In fact, no aspect of a community is more vital to quality of life than excellent healthcare. In 2006 and 2008-2009, Gwinnett Medical Center received the HealthGrades Distinguished Hospital Award for clinical excellence, ranking among the top five percent of all hospitals in the nation. Gwinnett Medical Center - Duluth opened in 2006 and is the first all-digital hospital in north Atlanta. To learn more, visit www.gwinnettmedicalcenter.org.
FEEDBACK
UPCOMING Gwinnett
Technology Forum will give an inside look at one of the region's largest
employers at its April 21 meeting. The meeting will be at 7:30 a.m. on
Tuesday, April 21 at the Scientific Atlanta Auditorium of Gwinnett Technical
College, in the Busbee Center.
Featured will be Scott Futrell, chief information officer of Gwinnett County Public Schools. The system is the largest in the state and one of the largest in the nation, transporting more people on a daily basis than Delta Airlines. The system has over 15 trillion bytes of data backed up on a monthly basis; 1,717 wireless access points; 1,600 new students welcomed in the 2008-9 school year; and 694 servers, Futrell runs one of the largest technology operations in the region. He will discuss the technology operation at the school system including the current technology status, future projects, directions and other issues relevant to everyone in the region. There is no charge to attend, but those attending should register online at www.gwinnettchamber.org/gtfregistration. College plans information sessions at 3 locations Georgia
Gwinnett College will host information sessions about the college at several
Gwinnett County Public Libraries over the next few months. These sessions
will cover information regarding GGC's academic majors, admissions, and
financial aid.
For more information, please contact the GGC Admissions office at 678-407-5313. Gwinnett Lifestyle and Home Show to be on April 19 The Gwinnett Lifestyle and Home Show is scheduled for Sunday, April 19 between the hours of 3 and 6 p.m. at The Club at Edgewater, off Collins Hill Road. The Lifestyle and Home event is a showcase of products and services available from local individuals, all residents of Gwinnett. Featured vendors include Harmony Jewelry and Crafts; Kinetic Arts Stained Glass and Fine Art Studio; Monavie acai-blend health drinks; Yum Yum Cake Designs; Signature Lending Group mortgage products; Traditional, Digital and PicFolio Albums; Pampered Chef; J. Poss and Associates financial and benefit advisers; and REMAX of Greater Atlanta, Hoffman Group. Entrance is free and wine and cheese will be served. Area residents are invited to come browse all the different creative products and helpful services your friends and neighbors can provide right here in Gwinnett. Call The Club at 770-904-5263 for assistance on the day of the sale. Visit the Gwinnett Lifestyle and Home Show webpage at this link for more information on each vendor. Gwinnett Tech Horticulture Plant Sale is April 22-23 Gwinnett Technical College's Horticulture program is sharing the fruits of its labor with the community at its 15th annual Spring Plant Sale, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., on Wednesday, April 22, and Thursday, April 23, at the Gwinnett Tech greenhouse, adjacent to Building 600.
Aaron Poulsen, horticulture program director, says: "We always have a strong community response to the sale and have already had lots of interest and anticipation for this year's event. It's a great chance to support our community gardeners and homeowners, and showcase the outstanding work of our students." Plants in the sale will include: Begonias, Geraniums, Ferns, Impatiens, Vinca, Tomatoes, Dianthus, Petunias, Lantana, Mona Lavender, Plectranthus, hanging basket containers and more. There are plans for another sale featuring edible plants sometime in May. Gwinnett
Tech offers an associate degree and a diploma program in Environmental
Horticulture, plus certificate options that train students for employment
as a landscape design technician, landscape/greenhouse installation technician,
and in floral design. NOTABLE David Peek
has been appointed warden of the county's Comprehensive Correctional Complex
and director of the corrections department. He has served as interim warden
since October 2007. The 800-bed facility on Hi-Hope Road in Lawrenceville
opened in 2002.
County
Administrator Jock Connell says: "We are very pleased to be able
to fill this position from within with a very well-qualified internal
candidate. David has been guiding the department in an extensive process
to become accredited by the American Correctional Association (ACA), and
I'm confident his leadership will take the organization the rest of the
way in achieving accreditation." Baldwin to be speaker at Success Lives Here breakfast Beauty
P. Baldwin will be the featured speaker at the Success Lives Here breakfast
on May 8 at the Sugarloaf Country Club. Mrs. Baldwin is the administrator
of Hopewell Christian Academy, was the first African-American female school
superintendent in the state of Georgia and also worked as a teacher and
principal. She earned her bachelor's degree in mathematics from Savannah
State University and earned her master's and specialist degrees in administration
and supervision from the University of Georgia.
Her career
plan as early as third grade was to be a math teacher and she accomplished
this goal and much more. She will tell a story of how her dream of being
a math teacher led her to become the administrator of Hopewell Christian
Academy. RECOMMENDED
"One
of the most delightful and fast reads we've picked up recently is beautifully
written, very warm and fetching, yet tells a grim story of what happens
when an Army occupies another country. This story is the German occupation
of the Channel Island of Guernsey during World War II, with the unfolding
of the story through letters and telegrams between the main players of
the book. It's also a work that features the literary ideas of many famous
authors, done with short references that don't wear out the reader. It's
written by an author-niece team. But watch out: you may want to go visit
the Channel Islands after this read." -- eeb
GEORGIA
ENCYCLOPEDIA David Satcher, the 16th surgeon general of the United States, spent much of his career as a physician, scholar, and administrator in Georgia. Born on March 2, 1941, in Anniston, Ala., Satcher grew up in rural Alabama before the civil rights era. When, at the age of two, he fell dangerously ill with whooping cough, the local hospital was not an option for his African American family; his father persuaded the only local black doctor, Fred Jackson, to walk several miles to their home on his day off to treat Satcher. The family credited Jackson with saving Satcher's life, and by the age of six, Satcher had decided to follow in the footsteps of the physician who had made such a critical difference in his life and that of his family.
Neither of Satcher's parents completed elementary school, but they taught him the value of hard work and the importance of education. Teachers in the local black high school pointed him toward Morehouse College in Atlanta. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Morehouse in 1963. In 1970 Satcher received the M.D. and a Ph.D. in cytogenetics from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Satcher has held various faculty appointments at Morehouse School of Medicine (1979-82), and before that at University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine and Public Health. He was the president of Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn. (1982-93). In 1993 he returned to Atlanta to become the administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry (1993-98) and director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1993-98). Appointed surgeon general by U.S. President Bill Clinton in 1998, Satcher served simultaneously as assistant secretary for health from 1998 to 2001. As surgeon general he continued the battle against smoking and became the nation's spokesperson on such issues as youth violence, obesity, oral health, sexual health, and suicide prevention. Touched by personal accounts of suicide from professionals and families, Satcher issued the "Call to Action to Prevent Suicide" and contributed to the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention. In the fall of 2002, Satcher assumed the post of director of the National Center for Primary Care at Morehouse School of Medicine and continues to lecture on issues of suicide prevention, obesity, and access to mental health care. In 2001 he received the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Award for Humanitarian Contributions to the Health of Humankind from the National Foundation for Infectious Disease. (The award is named for U.S. president Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn Carter.) Satcher and his wife, Nola, live in Atlanta and have four children. Satcher has often said that he wants to be known as "the Surgeon General who listened to the American people and who responded with effective programs." CREDITS GwinnettForum is provided to you at no charge every Tuesday and Friday. If you would like to serve as an underwriter, click here to learn more. Send your thoughts, 55-word short stories, pet peeves or comments on any issue to Gwinnett Forum for future publication.
© 2009, 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 County, Ga. USA. |
TODAY'S
QUOTE
MORE RECENT COMMENTARY
MODERN HISTORY OF GWINNETT
NOW IN STORES! You can purchase the book now at several locations:
Or order directly from elliottbrack.com and get a signed copy. The book consists
of 850 pages, including more than 143 demographic and historic tables,
with more than 4,000 names in the index, and 10,000 names in the appendix. Here are some other good reads that you might want to consider reading:
FOR CHARITY. You can give "A Gift of Laughter," a great book of cartoons by Bill McLemore, to help raise money for Rainbow Village. At just $20, it's a fun way to help. To order, call 770 840 1003, or 770 446 3800, or email to info@gwinnettforum.com. SISTER PUBLICATIONS We encourage you to check out our sister publications:
© 2001-2009, Gwinnett Forum.com is Gwinnett County's online community forum for commentary that explores pragmatic and sensible social, political and economic approaches to improve life in Gwinnett County, Ga. USA. PHONE:
770.840.1003 |
|
Baldwin
