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Issue 9.34 | Tuesday, July 28, 2009 | Forward to your friends! |
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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 |
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TODAY'S
FOCUS LAWENCEVILLE, Ga., July 28, 2009 -- It was a simple idea: make a video explaining living the "green life." The prize offered was a free solar water heater. The winners of the Jackson EMC Solar Water Heating Contest were Miranda and Peter Chave of Lawrenceville, chosen because of the Chave's commitment to energy conservation and low-impact living. Jackson EMC Marketing Resource Specialist Christy Queen says: "Their video showed numerous simple things anyone can do to be more environmentally responsible, and then they took it a step further with their application of innovative energy technology." The couple incorporates a range of low-and-high-effort "green" initiatives into their lives:
Miranda, who grew up in West Africa, says: "Ultimately, I would like to be as self-sufficient as possible. Water was once brought in on a tanker truck and food and supplies had to stretch from one year to the next. I'm always assessing our actions, and I'm absolutely horrified when I find I've been doing something wrong." Peter supports his wife's conservation efforts, and has a unique project of his own. He spent six months researching and documenting the conversion of a gasoline engine to battery power and is currently converting a 1973 VW Microbus. Peter will use the converted eight-seat vehicle, which will run on 12 batteries with 90-percent energy conversion efficiency and zero ground pollution, to carpool to work. "We have an ethical bias," Peter says. "We want to be low-impact, to preserve the earth for our children. But when gas went to $5 a gallon, you start thinking about energy holistically. My background is in electrical engineering, so the technology side interests me, but the savings are important, too." Reuse and
recycling are another important part of the Chave's lifestyle. Recyclables
to be picked up far outweigh their trash, which fits into one grocery
store bag. "We've never won a contest before," Miranda said. "When Jackson EMC called and said we'd won, I ran around the house screaming!" See the
Chave's winning video as well as those of the two runners-up at this
link. EEB
PERSPECTIVE JULY 28, 2009 -- Has Gwinnett "lost its shine?" Has it seen the apex of its quality of life? Are the good times over?
These are questions we are beginning to wonder about these days, as the county faces one problem after another, most of them relating to a downturn in the economy. The continual growth that has been the hallmark of Gwinnett since 1950 has lost its luster. The aftermath is the most significant reduction in tax revenues for the county seen in recent years. Gwinnett was getting enough population increase, averaging 19,000 each year over the seven years from 2000-2007, that the result was a continuing growth in the county's overall tax digest. This, in turn, meant that the local operating taxes generated by the digest continued to rise, allowing the county and School Board to have upgraded activities, essentially paid for by the growth. It was all focused on development, the real estate community, housing and the ability for the county to bring in more people. Not only was the tax digest up, but so, generally, were retail sales, contributing funds for both a county and an educational Special Purpose Local Sales Tax, generating funding for infrastructure from parks and fire stations to schools and educational offices. Gwinnett was zinging. With the slowdown, three key elements are hurting for progressive activities:
Then throw on top of all this, a new element: a possibility that the lifeline for any population, drinking water, is seriously threatened by the "water wars" among the states. Talk about a red light for growth…..or quality of life: no water! Suddenly this thought-abundant water might not be so abundant after all. Gwinnett is threatened with the same problem the western United States battled for years. After coming through the drought of the last few years, we are most aware that the Chattahoochee River watershed above Buford Dam is so very small. It has to rain at just the right spot in North Georgia for Lake Lanier to benefit. And now we are recognizing that we have not been sufficiently conserving water, or planning for its future, as we should. Perhaps Gwinnett can show people that it is trying. For instance, the county is planning to return back to Lake Lanier 40 million gallons of water a day of the roughly 90 million gallons it is now pumping out. (Gwinnett is authorized to take out 150,000 million gallons a day on peak days.) The county should complete a pipeline back to Lake Lanier later this year or early 2010 and begin returning water to the lake. Not only that, we will return the water cleaner than we took it out. Surely Gwinnett should be given some "credit" for both returning the water, and cleaning it better than it took it out. Certainly good people with creative minds, can bring humane and reasonable solutions to the immediate problem of water for the 800,000 people of Gwinnett. Yet Gwinnett's future growth may be stymied by limits on the amount of water we may continue to draw from the Lake. Today water is just the latest problem facing the quality of life in Gwinnett. The other problems, plus the economic elements, all must be addressed for Gwinnett to return to the "good days" that the county was anticipating just a few years ago. It's obvious that Gwinnett is approaching a crossroads. For it to continue to prosper, solutions are welcomed from all sides. * * * * ONE
READER sent us an email, with the subject line about higher taxes.
However, before we could read this e-mail, we had deleted it by mistake
and could not retrieve it. If you are the person who sent it over the
weekend, we beg your pardon, but please re-submit. Our face is red, and
we want to read your note.
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today's featured sponsor is Mingledorff's, an air conditioning distributor of the Carrier Air Conditioning Company. Mingledorff's corporate office is located at 6675 Jones Mill Court in Norcross Ga. and is proud to be a sponsor of the Gwinnett Forum. With 23 locations in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina, Mingledorff's is the convenient local source with a complete line for the quality heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and refrigeration parts and supplies you need to service and install HVAC/R equipment. Product lines include Carrier, Bryant, Payne, Totaline and Aeroseal. For all of your HVAC needs, and information on the products Mingledorff's sells, visit www.mingledorffs.com and www.carrier.com.
FEEDBACK Editor, the Forum: Regarding the soon-to-be-decommissioned water tanks: one side of each tank reads "Success Lives Here." I've always thought that the other side should read "Trees Don't Stand a Chance."
Possible for all to grow up in mid-60s Florida as a virgin Editor, the Forum: Many years ago, I worked in a profession in which I found myself being the only female inside sales representative. It was a most interesting time period. With having a front row seat to hearing the guys talk about their weekend 'conquests,' one day I said: "Hey, guys, how would it be if I could reach all females to let them know how you guys really feel about them?" After all, our culture seems to say that if one is single, that one must be sexually active, for BOTH genders; not to mention all the sexually commutable diseases that are being 'shared.' What we need is a new slogan saying: "No hugs or kisses UNTIL we are Mr. & Mrs (This could be something that even males would want to adopt esp. so that little ones need not be aborted.) How was
it that when I was in high school, (in the mid 60's and on the west coast
of Florida, where we spent a great deal of time at the beach in bathing
suits and with us having 100 percent 'normal' hormones!), that most of
us---males AND females---graduated being the most wonderful position of
being known as: virgin? Even today, it is not too late to change behavior practices that can lead to better health and most, of all, dignity, happiness and contentment!
Gets upset over ideas of streetcars for downtown Atlanta Editor, the Forum: In reading
the announcement that the city of Atlanta, Central Atlanta Progress, and
MARTA are pursuing a grant in the amount of $300 million for "Streetcars
in Atlanta," I am reminded of the famous quote from the comic strip
Pogo (Walt Kelly) many years ago. "We have met the enemy and they
are us."
Do supposedly
otherwise intelligent people not understand that this country is in a
severe financial situation, and we simply don't have money to spend on
streetcars in Atlanta, or San Francisco, or New York City? This upcoming
grant makes the infamous 'bridge to nowhere" in Alaska look like
street change.
UPCOMING New London Theatre will present the One Acts/New Directors Showcase on August 7-8, and 14-15 at 8 p.m. each night. Dress rehearsals are on August 5-6. Nine directors who are new to New London Theatre will each present a one-act play. This provides the opportunity for actors to work with a variety of directing styles as well as give an opportunity to those wishing to direct. The schedule of plays will alternate performance nights. Performances on August 5,7,15 will include: Sure Thing by David Ives - directed by Emily Arvidson; O. Henry Ending written and directed by Dave Schroeder; Snowy Night in Iowa written and directed by Sylvia Davenport-Veith; The Role of Della by John Wooten and directed by Kathleen Mardis' and Why Do We Laugh? by Stephen Gregg and directed by Leslie Raab. Performances on August 6, 8 and 14 will include: Marred Bliss by Mark O'Donnell - directed by Tess Buis; The Problem by A.R. Gurney - directed by Charley Hannum; The Sandbox by Edward Albee - directed by Kenneth Cohen; and Black Comedy by Peter Shafer - directed by Dawn Berlo. Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 on the day of the show. Tickets can be purchased either online through the website or at the theatre box office. Shows are performed at New London Theatre: 2485 East Main Street Snellville. Suwanee arts group plans Beauty and the Beast on weekend Suwanee Performing Arts will bring Disney's Beauty and the Beast to the Suwanee Town Center stage at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, July 31 and August 1, rain or shine. While the performances are free and open to the public from the lawn outside the amphitheater area, reserved low-to-the-ground patron tables are available in the area closest to the stage. A full table for eight is $90; a half table for four is $45. To reserve a table, call 770/821-7654.
More than 40 young people from the Suwanee area will perform in and produce this Suwanee Performing Arts' production about love that looks beyond the surface. Bring a blanket, lounging pillow, or low beach chairs for tables in the amphitheater area. Bring lawn chairs to view the production from outside the amphitheater area. All guests are invited to bring picnics. More information is available at www.SuwaneePerformingArts.org. A tea party with Belle will be held at 10 a.m. on the day of each performance. Space is limited for this unique opportunity to enjoy tea with Belle and her friends. The cost is $20 per guest. Performances of Beauty and the Beast are co-sponsored by the Suwanee Public Arts Commission. NOTABLE Gwinnett County received two federal stimulus grants recently. The monies total $3.7 million. One grant
is for fiber optic traffic signal controls to be added to sections of
Buford Highway and Sugarloaf Parkway. The equipment to be installed over
the next 18 months will add 12 more miles of remote-control capabilities
to the current system. * * * * The second grant of $1.1 million was to construct a Gwinnett Senior Services Center on Swanson Drive in Lawrenceville. This LEED-designed building will consist of 7,942 square feet, and will be built on a 6.4 acre site. The one-story building will have two rooms for community meetings and educational classes. Unterman heads key committee on national legislative level
Sen. Renee Unterman of Buford has been named chairman of the Human Services and Welfare Committee for the National Conference of State Legislatures at the organization's annual legislative summit recently in Philadelphia. The committee is responsible for developing policy in four areas: social services, income security, food and nutrition, and immigration. Unterman served as vice-chair for two years before being elected to chair this prestigious committee. Snellville's Sen. Don Balfour is this year's president of the conference of state legislators. He says; "There is no one better to fill the role of Human Services chairman than Senator Unterman. She has dedicated herself to reforming Georgia's human services and I know she has a great passion for this on a national level." Summer enrollment at Gwinnett Tech jumps by 24 percent Summer
enrollment at Gwinnett Technical College is up 24 percent over last summer,
marking the college's tenth straight quarter of double-digit enrollment
growth. More than 4,370 students started class on June 27, the highest
summer quarter enrollment at the college in more than ten years. Eager to meet the need in life sciences and healthcare, Gwinnett Tech will welcome its first class of associate degree nursing students this fall, transitioning from its existing LPN program. Ground breaking for a new Life Sciences Building is also scheduled for this fall. The new facility will offer expanded classroom and lab space to serve additional health science programs and students. RECOMMENDED
MOVIE
"When we last left Harry Potter, Hogwart's cauldron boiled over. Tranquil old button-down school days were over, and Orwellian evil broke out. Harry and his friends took up against Big Brother to defend free thought. John LeCarré brilliantly showed spies are best when not told their own mission. This is the wizard who came in from the cold. If the master deceives his spy, the spy is most effective. Dumbledore, similar to LeCarré, must insert a double agent mole deep into Voldemort's command center. To make the deception complete, he can't even tell Harry his plan. Who is the Half Blood's prince's ultimate master? Does Snape work for good or evil? J.K. Rowling's spell over young movie goers is: "Distrust authority- all authority." Something slouches toward Hogwarts waiting to be born. Tune in to the final chapter."
GEORGIA
ENCYCLOPEDIA Contemporary Georgia has produced an impressive group of poets and fiction writers. David Bottoms, Georgia's poet laureate, is one of the leading poets of the last thirty years, along with Edgar Bowers, Alfred Corn, Wyatt Prunty, Charlie Smith, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Kathryn Stripling Byer, Judson Mitcham, and others.
In fiction, the novels of Pat Conroy, largely set outside Georgia, have gained a wide following, as have those of Anne Rivers Siddons. Charlie Smith's fiction about torment, sex, and violence in the Deep South has also received national attention. Ferrol Sams gained a popular following with a trilogy of novels about life in early-twentieth-century Fayette County. Pam Durban's stories and novels have established her as a leading writer of southern fiction, as have Mary Hood's two short-story collections, How Far She Went (1984) and And Venus Is Blue (1986), and her novel, Familiar Heat (1995). Other notable contemporary fiction writers in Georgia include Tina McElroy Ansa, Janice Daugharty, Toni Cade Bambara, Frank Manley, Philip Lee Williams, Shay Youngblood, Anthony Grooms (especially his novel Bombingham, 2001), Greg Johnson, and others. In nonfiction, Melissa Fay Greene with Praying for Sheetrock (1991) and The Temple Bombing (1996), James Kilgo with Deep Enough for Ivorybills (1988) and Inheritance of Horses (1994), and Janisse Ray with Ecology of a Cracker Childhood (1999) gained national followings. In drama, Margaret Edson's play Wit was produced on Broadway, made into an HBO film, and awarded the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1999. One of the leading contemporary American dramatists has been Atlantan Alfred Uhry, whose plays, including Driving Miss Daisy (1987), The Last Night of Ballyhoo (1996), and Parade (1999), a musical based on the Leo Frank case, were produced on Broadway. His awards include the Pulitzer Prize for drama, a Tony award, and an Academy Award for the film version of Driving Miss Daisy. Plays by Pearl Cleage have also been widely performed. Georgia writers have written about the same subjects that have interested writers across history and throughout the world: family, war, hardship, ambition, love and death, change, the search for knowledge and meaning. But Georgia has provided its writers with a context of history and geography, with social and cultural values, that give their work an identity grounded in time and place, a shared heritage and experience, which out of all the world's literature and history make it distinctive and unique. 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
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TODAY'S
QUOTE "Everywhere is in walking distance if you have the time. "
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