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Issue 9.42| Tuesday, Aug. 25, 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 LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga., Aug. 25, 2009 -- A newly-forming committee will spend six months looking at Gwinnett County's needs for current and future government services, while proposing funding strategies for these programs for the next five years. The formation comes from the Board of County Commissioners, the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and civic leaders. The group is called "Engage Gwinnett." Commission Chairman Charles Bannister says, "Gwinnett is having to balance declining revenues with desired service levels. To come out of this recession successfully, we need informed recommendations from people throughout our community. We are asking 30 community stakeholder groups and 10 self-appointed citizen leaders to strategically involve the community in making recommendations about future service levels, funding needs, and revenue resources." Committee chairmen will be Bill McCargo of Cisco Systems and Mike Levengood, a partner in the McKenna, Long and Aldridge LLP law firm. Both men have many years of experience in bringing people together to work for the good of the whole community. Gwinnett Chamber President and CEO Jim Maran says the economic health of Gwinnett County should be a major consideration in the County's long-range planning. "We support this initiative because appropriate investments in our infrastructure and services like public safety, transportation, recreation, economic development and more are essential to maintaining a world-class quality of life in Gwinnett County."
McCargo says, "Gwinnett has been successful historically and continues to attract new businesses and residents because solid, long-range planning for future needs made this a great place to live, but the current economic crisis hit our local government hard just as it has our families and businesses. As committee chairs, Mike and I will work with the committee members to identify what services the county should provide and at what level. We will also look at criteria like growth projections, physical infrastructure plans and determine funding needs and potential revenue sources."
Levengood adds: "We all share many of the same values and have the same expectations of our county government. We will be holding several public forums during the process to share and gain ideas from the community at large. This is not a public relations effort. It is a sincere, transparent opportunity for many people to become involved before the decisions have been made. It is an awesome undertaking, and we are up for it." For citizens
who would like to become involve in Engage Gwinnett, there will be a public
meeting held in September to share more information and where citizens
will self select 10 representatives to serve. The date and time of the
meeting will be announced soon and posted on the county's Web site, www.gwinnettcounty.com. EEB
PERSPECTIVE AUG. 25, 2009 -- The people up in Sugar Hill are mighty proud of their new synthetic fields for kids to play on. They point out:
The synthetic
field is also environmentally friendly. There will be no chemicals used
to keep it green and infiltrate the ground. The rain is also filtered
before it enters back into the eco system. The total cost of the turf
on the Gary Pirkle Park field is $1.3 million. * * * * * Georgia is tops, number one in the nation, for Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) for subscribers per capita. As of July 2008, the latest data available, 93 percent of Georgia residences had access to broadband through DSL technology, the highest rate in the nation. Since the state deregulated broadband telecommunications services in March 2008, the number of broadband providers in Georgia increased by 31 percent and broadband subscribers doubled from 2 to 4 million, according to the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Census Bureau. We're betting that Gwinnett County is among the hardest wired counties in the nation for DSL service. And while we're talking such computer talk, remember the old days of dial-up Internet services? We've come a long way, baby! * * * * All of us have pet peeves. Mine is poor TV news. I usually don't watch TV news (except when there's significant weather), for it is nothing much in Atlanta but blood, guts and ambulance chasing. You find little news of significant impact on commercial television. I can explain it. In the search for top ratings, these TV stations have a low appraisal of what the viewers want. Since other stations have blood and guts, they all seem to think that they cannot miss a drop of blood. So they scan the police radio scanners, and presto! There they are off to the latest onslaught.
So what does that leave us? With not much worth watching on local newscasts. The really good probing and serious stations -- generally the PBS mold of The News House with Jim Lehrer -- is bypassed for the latest cute chick to smile and to talk with gusto about nothing much before the camera. And to
be fair, unfortunately there is not much solid news coverage in the newspapers
we read today either. We may have seen our best days when it comes to
media coverage of local events. ABOUT
OUR SPONSORS
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today's sponsoring organization is the Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services. Serving the Gwinnett community for 19 years, the Coalition is a non-profit organization dedicated to addressing the health and human service needs of Gwinnett County citizens. Its goal is positive child and youth development, strengthening individuals and families, and strengthening communities overall. Through collaborative community planning, applied research, community education, membership diversity, consensus building, advocacy and innovation, the Coalition works to make Gwinnett a better place to live, work and play. The Coalition offers a helpline when those in need don't know where to turn. Volunteers are needed throughout the year to man various Gwinnett agencies. This is highlighted each fall, allowing many Gwinnett citizens to participate in improving the area during the Gwinnett's Great Days of Service. To learn more about how you can be involved , get connected and make a difference in Gwinnett through the Coalition, visit www.gwinnettcoalition.org.
FEEDBACK Editor, the Forum: Sounds like folks in Norcross need to march down and look under the table. Bet there is more there than used Juicy Fruit.
UPCOMING The Georgia Department of Transportation will hold a public information open house meeting to discuss the proposed reconstruction of the intersection of U.S. Highway 78 at Georgia Highway 124. The open house is scheduled from 4-7 p.m. p.m. on Thursday, September 3. This open house format meeting will be held at Snellville United Methodist Church in Wesley Hall, located at 2428 Main Street East. Georgia DOT engineers will be available to discuss the proposed project. There will be no formal presentation. DOT District Engineer Russell McMurry says that "This proposed project will improve the traffic flow through the area by changing the configuration of the intersection. Please come see the plans and give us your input. Anyone unable to attend the public information open house may send comments on the project to Glenn Bowman, Georgia DOT, 3993 Aviation Circle, Atlanta. After the open house, plans can be viewed at the Georgia DOT Area Office located at 450 Hurricane Shoals Road in Lawrenceville or at the Georgia DOT District Office located at 2505 Athens Highway in Gainesville or on the DOT website at www.dot.ga.gov. Canoeing available as Sims Lake Park for two days
Residents will be able to enjoy Sims Lake Park from a whole new vantage point for two days. Rather than being satisfied with recreating along the perimeter of the lake, residents will actually be able to get on the lake. The City of Suwanee is teaming with Up the River Outfitters to provide kayaks for rent on Saturday and Sunday, August 29 and 30. From 10 a.m.-7 p.m., one- and two-person kayaks will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. The fee is $10 per person for a 30-minute rental. Life vests will be provided. No fishing will be allowed nor may personally owned watercraft of any kind be used. Lilburn revises ordinance allowing bigger sign messages The City of Lilburn is revising its sign ordinance to allow larger, taller signs. The City Council amended the sign ordinance as part of continuing efforts to stay customer-focused and service-oriented. As Doug Stacks, Director of Planning and Economic Development, states, "We want to be pro-active for our businesses and give them options for temporary and permanent signs. We anticipate that these changes will encourage businesses to consider replacing older signs with fresh, updated designs." The previous ordinance limited freestanding signs to a maximum size of 75 square feet for a building less than 10,000 square feet; sign heights varied from 5 to 12 feet depending upon the setback from the right-of-way. The revised ordinance allows for signs up to 100 square feet and sign heights from 8 to 20 feet depending upon setback. The revised ordinance also includes sign area bonuses for signs located further distances from the road. Additionally, the revisions increase the maximum square footage of wall signs. The ordinance revisions also address variable message boards. Message on these boards can now change more than once per 24 hours. The minimum duration for a message is eight seconds and the maximum transition time between messages is two seconds. This change allows up to six messages per minute and provides an invaluable advertising tool for area businesses. Oversized signs (billboards) can also be converted to electronic message boards, if the size and height are not increased. However, the sign structure may be altered to support the additional weight. NOTABLE Georgia Gwinnett College enrolled its 3,000th student last week as classes began. As a result, the college has nearly doubled in size over last year's enrollment.
Nick Falkenhagen,
27, a Gwinnett County police officer seeking a degree, registered for
classes Thursday and put student enrollment at the 3,000 mark. He was
followed by a handful of other students, and final numbers are expected
to be around 3,050. About half of those are students new to GGC. GGC President Daniel J. Kaufman says: "We planned for 2,500 students this fall, growing to 3,000 by the end of the academic year. We have exceeded our expectations, so we are thrilled with the result." Dr. Kaufman
credits the fact that the college was awarded accreditation in June by
the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and
Schools and the addition of new majors - including early childhood education,
political science, English, history, mathematics, special education and
exercise science - that have been approved by the Board of Regents of
the University System of Georgia. Duluth teaching non-profit faces tough economic times A Duluth nonprofit organization teaching computer skills for five years for little or no cost to people looking for jobs may itself fall victim to the poor economy. Little School Ministries, 3195 Buford Highway, in Duluth "will close its doors in the next week since funding has dried up," says Lynn Coto who operates the nonprofit with husband Julio Coto who teaches computer skills. The group is hoping churches or other groups could provide space for the computer lab which has 18 computers, a screen for PowerPoint presentations, a blackboard and office space in the second-floor space. Demand is so heavy that the nonprofit school could operate in multiple sites if space were available since students come from all over the county. About 120 people are enrolled in the 20 classes operated by the nonprofit which has taught an estimated 800 students in the last year. Besides training in Microsoft Office software, the nonprofit offers mock interviews, dress for success, resume building, and clothes and makeovers for women re-entering the job market. A Friday night class to learn Spanish is particularly popular. "We started teaching all the computer skills just in Spanish, went nonprofit at the end of 2005 and have been teaching everyone ever since," says Lynn, who has a background in human resources. "We began our outreach to help those who lacked computer skills to get a better job but when the bottom began to fall out of the economy, we began providing skills so people could find work in the current job market. There are so many out there without the skills they need to find work." Government agencies regularly refer job seekers wanting to hone computer skills to Little School Ministries. "Word has spread, so people come from all over and from different organizations. Due to the economy, we have a number of people that come to us looking to make a career change. We have a career assessment program that matches natural abilities with their interests, to provide helpful information and confidence when making that decision." Little School has begun to ask for a $20 contribution per course for those who can afford the money. The class is free if the student can't afford $20. For those wanting to contribute or attend classes, contact the nonprofit at 678-521-3727 or email littleschool@charter.net. Contributions can be mailed to Little School Ministries, 2746 Saxon Drive, Duluth Ga. 30096.
GEORGIA
ENCYCLOPEDIA The Georgia Secession Convention of 1861 represents the pinnacle of the state's political sovereignty. With periodic interruptions, the convention met in Milledgeville from January 16 to March 23, 1861, and not only voted to secede the state from the Union but also created Georgia's first new constitution since 1798. Politically the convention was a watershed event that hastened the Civil War (1861-65) and dramatically changed the course of Georgia history.
The idea of state secession emerged in the late 18th century as tensions developed over the interpretations of state versus federal powers as enumerated by the U.S. Constitution. Earlier conventions, including various nullification conventions in the 1830s and the southern conventions surrounding the crisis over slavery in 1850, considered the act of leaving the Union. Still, none adopted an official proclamation until the South Carolina Secession Convention in December 1860. The escalating sectional crises over slavery in the 1850s contributed to the volatile tensions that arose during the 1860 presidential campaign. Abraham Lincoln's election in November of that year caused a fiery backlash in the southern states, which feared the abolitionist policies of the Republican Party. The result was a series of state conventions across the South, beginning with South Carolina's in December. The fifth such convention occurred in Georgia, a pivotal state in the debate due to its geographic importance to the region, the stature of its congressional delegation as leading voices for southern grievances, and its economic value as a major cotton producer. On January 2, 1861, a miserably rainy day, Georgia voters went to the polls and selected delegates to a convention that would decide the state's response to Lincoln's election. In many counties the candidates divided along two divergent views. Immediate secessionists advocated leaving the Union without further consideration. Cooperationists, however, tended to be more conciliatory. Their opinions ranged from maintaining a devout Unionism, to desiring a scheme in which the South acted in unison, to advocating a delay of the act of secession. Low voter turnout due to the poor weather may have affected the election's outcome, but the immediate secessionists finished with a slight majority of delegates. Political speeches, newspapers, and the contentiousness of state leaders reveal the deep divisions over the issue of secession at that time.
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TODAY'S
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What
galls me about all these police car and ambulance chases is that, in the
long run, the stories that come out of this gore of filming are insignificant.
This sort of news does not matter in the long run except to those involved.
The really big news is hastily passed by as they search for gore. TV does
not want to broadcast much significant news, for it is not sensational,
and certainly not something to boost their ratings. Not only that, but
"hard news" cost more to produce……so the stations
dismiss it. There is one exception when the stations might have some more
worthy news coverage: at rating times, the TV stations put a little resource
money into their budgets. But after the rating period is over, they are
quickly back to the low-budget blood and gore material. And they even
brag about it: "See more blood and gore coming up at the top of the
hour!" they promote. Who cares?
