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Issue 9.09 | Friday, May 1, 2009 | Forward to your friends! |
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McLEMORE'S
WORLD ARCHIVE FEEDBACK UPCOMING NOTABLE ALSO INSIDE ___::
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TODAY'S
FOCUS LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga., May 1, 2009 -- Experience Lawrenceville! While people are losing their jobs, their homes and closing their business doors, Lawrenceville refuses to sit and wait on a stimulus plan. The Lawrenceville community is together and not only "Survives but Thrives" in this economical shift, say Meg and Lee Earhart, who own Sparkle and Sparkle Too.
How Lawrenceville is doing this came out of a casual networking evening, the 13 week "Stimulus Plan for Sundays on the Square. Each Tuesday evening business owners and local residents gather at Sperata's on the Square to network. The concept of "Sundays on the Square" was brought up. Linda Campbell of Winfield Realty was instrumental in bringing commercial businesses to the square. My Star Team at Keller Williams has been working in residential sales in Lawrenceville. We know that Sundays are difficult days to get people through open houses, as well as to businesses on the square. The idea that came forward was that the community could not only stimulate the local businesses, but it could also find a way to help homeowners sell their properties. As the idea started gaining momentum, Michael Rumph, local funeral director of Wages and Sons Funeral Home, said: "This is a 'new Lawrenceville.' He then started a group on Face Book, New Lawrenceville, "Re-vitalizing a historical community with a positive approach to a rich and prosperous future." It's nothing more than networking and moving forward but remembering and appreciating the past. Gwinnett Magazine named several local Lawrenceville business owners as recipients of their Best of Gwinnett awards for 2008. They include: Downtown Lawrenceville for best business address; Ray and Penny Cogdill of Huff's Flowers; Cindy Gilbert of The Singin' Bean Coffee Shop; Meg and Lee Earhart of Sparkle and Sparkle Too!; Winfield Realty; McCray's Tavern On The Square; and others. Coming
out of the Sunday idea were Trolley Tours, which started April 5 and will
run through June 28. The Trolley (her name is Annabelle) will run tours
on Sundays through Historic Lawrenceville and schedule open houses throughout
our Lawrenceville community. We will highlight Lawrenceville Square, the
parks, the walking trails and some of Lawrenceville's history, businesses
and homes for sale. The Trolley accommodates approximately 30 people at
a time. There will be two scheduled tours each Sunday, at 12:30 p.m. and
3 p.m.. The Trolley Tour is free and is guided by local citizen, historian
and author Mary Long. ELLIOTT
BRACK MAY 1, 2009 -- Modern high schoolers are far removed from the soil than their forefathers of just a couple of generations ago. In fact, most of us are.
We've heard that some of the more urban students of today have never actually seen or touched farm animals, such as chickens, pigs, or cows. Too, some of today's students are not familiar with gardening. Some don't know the steps it takes to plant a vegetable plot or tree. We suggest that most all students 100 years ago would more-or-less automatically know these methods, since many of them would live on farms, or near them. That's why we were pleased to accompany a group of students of Meadowcreek High School on one of their projects last week, to plant two trees (and a pepper plant) near the outdoor classroom at the school. About 30 students, many belonging to the InterAct Club (under the sponsorship of the Gwinnett Rotary Club) set out on the mission, accompanied by their adviser, Joel Sisson, a French teacher. All 30 students gathered around to watch as first one site was selected, then a second site picked, for the trees. Ooops, one site was too rocky, and a third location was picked. Matthew Baker and Marco Sanchez were busy at the first hole, while Alan Luvianos and Anna Quach and several others worked to dig the second hole.
Meanwhile, other students cheered the digging on. Those digging found there was a network of many roots just below the ground's surface, as it is in most yards which don't bump into lots of rock below the surface. Yet eventually, both holes were large enough, about 20 inches wide, for each of the root balls of the yellow poplar trees, donated by Duluth Dentist Slade Lail, to be planted. The digging was simple enough. Soon the students were learning that water is a necessary component of planting trees, to give the thirsty root system an initial ability to grow immediately. After the root balls were in the holes, the soil was sprinkled back into the holes, and compacted. Then it was time to spread pine straw around the small trunks of each tree, more water, which the pine straw would help conserve. Another student, Jackie Valadez, had raised a pepper plant from seed, with the plant barely two inches tall. She was soon putting the seedling into a small hole, and preparing it for growth. She put both a rock and red plastic straw besides the plant to be able to locate it in the future. Sisson says that the InterAct Club students wanted to do something for the environment, and to help beautify the campus. During the planting, another group of InterAct members were picking up trash around the campus. So far this year, the club members have recycled 6,000 plastic bottles, 700 aluminum cans and 700 pounds of paper. By the way, the students named the trees. One is named Bob and the second is Cocoa. "That helped to make it personal for the group," Sissom says. Meanwhile, the project is planning another project---clearing up the outside classroom near where they planted the two trees. The InterAct outing was one small way to teach students about the art-and love-of gardening. Already students are talking about the need to help the environment by picking up trash near the outdoor classroom on the campus. McLEMORE'S
WORLD ARCHIVE
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UPCOMING It is time for the 36th annual Snellville Days Festival. The event is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, May 2 and 3. The theme this year is "Today, Tomorrow, Forever," chosen to pay homage to Brookwood graduate, Amy Robach, who is the co-anchor of the Saturday Today Show on NBC.
This year's
event will feature a road race at 8 a.m. and parade at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
The Grand Marshal for this year's parade is Miss Georgia - USA, Kimberly
Gittings, a Parkview graduate and recent top-15 finalist for Miss USA.
South Gwinnett alum, Buck Lanford of FOX5 Sports will serve as the parade
announcer. Laura West will be singing the National Anthem to kick-off
the parade. The festival includes a large kid's area, dog and disc championships, live entertainment on two stages, a Snellville Historical Society display, petting zoo, pony rides, 200 craft and food vendors, spin art and giveaways. Volunteers are still needed. For information about Snellville Days, call 770-985-3535 or visit www.snellvilledays.com. Enjoy Snellville Days, where "everybody is somebody." Suwanee Farmer's Market begins new season on May 2
The Suwanee Farmer's Market opens for the new season on Saturday, May 2. The market will offer in-season produce, herbs and plants, free-range meat and eggs, baked goods, and jams and jellies from 8 a.m.-noon every Saturday through October 17 (except for September 19) at Town Center Park. Approximately 20 vendors will participate in the Suwanee market each week. Among the produce typically available in May are lettuce, broccoli, spring onions, strawberries, turnips, herbs, perennials, radishes, and beets. NOTABLE Emory Eastside Medical Center cardiologist Dr. Laurence "Lanny" Lesser has been recognized for his humanitarian and volunteer activities with the 2008 Frist Humanitarian Physician Award by the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA). The award was presented in Nashville, Tenn.
Established
in 1971, the awards honor outstanding individuals for their humanitarian
and volunteer activities. The awards are given annually in recognition
of the caring spirit and philanthropic work of the late Dr. Thomas Frist,
Sr., a founder of HCA. Employees, volunteers and physicians who demonstrate
commitment and dedication to providing care and humanitarianism are selected
from around the country and honorees are recognized at the local level.
Three national recipients are selected from more than 230 nominees. UGA recognizes five top student-scholars from Gwinnett The University of Georgia has recognized top student scholars, including five from Gwinnett, at its annual Honors Day. They include Kevin K. Chang, majoring in biology and religion of Duluth, Amy K. Conway, in landscape architecture from Suwanee, Alexander B. Mayberry, majoring in accounting from Lilburn, Neil T. Pfister, whose field is biochemistry and molecular biology and genetics from Suwanee, and Julia R. Schuchard, psychology major from Lawrenceville. City graduates first class of its Lilburn 101 program The inaugural class of Lilburn 101 graduated recently, as 12 participants received from Mayor Diana Preston a certificate of recognition, pins, and T-shirts proclaiming them "Lilburn 101 Graduates." The program provides an inside view of the City of Lilburn and its departments. The graduates are overwhelming positive about their experience with the program. One participant said the program was "very well done and I'm looking forward to being more involved. I'm really pumped!" The City will offer the program in the future. Information about the next round of the program and how to register will be posted on the City of Lilburn website, www.CityofLilburn.com. Graduates this year include, pictured below on the front row, Janet O'Brien, Teresa Czyz, Bobbie Voytko, Sam Underwood and Susan Larson, shown with Mayor Diana Preston. Other graduate on the back row include Karen Lazenby, John Lazenby, Bethany Nash (me), Phil Miller, Carlton Smith, Porter Deal and Terry Manning. Graduates not pictured are Krista Mullins and Eugene McCarthy
Snellville Commerce Club awards scholarships to two students
The Snellville Commerce Club will award its 2009 FBLA/DECA Scholarship to Jamie Stebell of South Gwinnett High School and David "Carter" Zimmerman of Brookwood High School. Both have demonstrated academic achievement while giving time to the Snellville Community. Each recipient will have $1,000 paid to their respective colleges to assist educational pursuits. Ms. Stebell has been accepted to North Georgia College and State University in Dahlonega. Zimmerman plans to attend Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville. Both students are active in their church and have maintained a "real world" working education through FBLA/DECA. Stebell has been an Academic Honor recipient all four years at South Gwinnett, while Zimmerman received the Scholar Athlete award and Academic Honors during his four years at Brookwood. The award will be presented at the May 5 Club meeting inside City Hall at noon. For more information on the Snellville Commerce Clubs mission, membership, and philanthropic history, visit www.SnellvilleCommerceClub.com. Three organizations win $41,000 in grants from Jackson EMC Three Gwinnett organizations have been awarded $41,000 from the Jackson EMC Foundation. The grants are funded by the electric cooperative members' donations to Operation Round Up. They include:
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ENCYCLOPEDIA Born Jerry Reed Hubbard on March 20, 1937, in Atlanta, the future rockabilly star started playing the guitar at age seven. His mother taught him a few chords, and the rest he picked up by listening to the sound recordings of such country music guitarists as Merle Travis and Chet Atkins. At the age of 18, on the recommendation of Atlanta music publisher and producer Bill Lowery, Ken Nelson of Capitol Records in Nashville, Tennessee, signed Jerry Reed Hubbard to a recording contract. During his stint with Capitol (1955-58) he recorded 30 rockabilly songs.
In 1959, while in the army, Reed married Priscilla Mitchell. He also remained musically active and played guitar for the Circle A Wranglers Army Band. Late in his army tenure Reed signed a recording contract with Columbia Records, where he stayed until 1963. He released 20 tracks on this label. After leaving the army, Reed and his family moved to Nashville, where he continued to write songs and store them away for a rainy day when they might be recorded. From 1964 to 1967 Reed was busy as a studio session musician for other artists, including Bobby Bare, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Elvis Presley. In 1967, Reed released his first RCA Victor album, The Unbelievable Guitar and Voice of Jerry Reed. Among his hits were "When You're Hot, You're Hot," for which Reed received his first Grammy Award. He was also named musician of the year in 1970 and 1971 by the Country Music Association. The highlights of Reed's recording career, however, were the three albums he recorded with Chet Atkins, two on RCA (Me and Jerry in 1970 and Me and Chet in 1972) and the third on Columbia Records (Sneakin' Around in 1992). In 1984 he recorded My Best to You on his own label. In addition to his work in the music industry, Reed appeared in 15 movies, including Gator (1976), all three of the Smokey and the Bandit series (1977, 1980, 1983), Hot Stuff (1979), What Comes Around (1986), and The Waterboy (1998). Reed died of emphysema on September 1, 2008, in Nashville. 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.
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TODAY'S
QUOTE "About the time we think we can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends."
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MODERN HISTORY OF GWINNETT
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