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Issue 9.61 | Friday, Oct. 30, 2009 | Forward to your friends! |
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PARTNERS: The Home Depot is now officially part of the Lilburn Community Partnership. At a press conference held today, managers Mike Sena from the Lilburn store and Larry Williams from the Jimmy Carter store signed on to the creation of the fourth CID in Gwinnett. They are shown with Gerald McDowell, left, Lilburn Community Partnership director, Peter Horcicka, owner of GTS Molding, Inc. of Lilburn, and Lilburn Mayor Diana Preston, right. McDowell adds: "We reached $110 million in value on [last] Friday. This means we have enough support to form [the CID] today. Those who join from this point forward are icing on the cake." |
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TODAY'S
FOCUS
LAWRENCEVILLE,
Ga., Oct. 30, 2009 -- I just spent all afternoon at the Gwinnett Detention
Center. I had never been in a courtroom and found it fascinating, and,
as a psychologist the proceedings themselves were most interesting.
The first
40 minutes in the "New Cases" court were utter chaos. Policemen
waited, attorneys joked with each other, and clerks shuffled papers. Lawyers
wore lizard skin cowboy boots, ate apples in court (despite a no food
sign clearly posted), talked loudly about last night's ball games, etc. Later a second courtroom was considerably more formal, started ten minutes after being scheduled, and had frequent recesses which never ended when they stated they would. There were frequent delays for witnesses to arrive (I-85 seemed to be the main culprit), and others just didn't show up though their lawyers were present. One case
involved a restraining order violation where the man tried to shoot his
wife several times. He had refused to give up his gun because he had a
constitutional right to bear arms. Still another case involved an 18-year-old
wife and a 17-year-old husband, who had repeatedly violated a long existing
restraining order. The judge was patient, asked good questions, but seem
to be lied to a lot. I personally couldn't imagine listening to such human
sordidness all day long but the judge only yawned three times. EEB
PERSPECTIVE OCT. 30, 2009 -- The floods of recent days have brought on detours, which reminds one of a former Gwinnett detour. This story could never happen today, and actually never did the way I first heard it. But it comes out of Gwinnett in olden days, and up to a point, it's true.
Seems some mischievous teens didn't have enough to do one lazy day back in the 1950s, and saw a highway detour sign by the side of a busily-traveled highway. These youth went to the roadway, and installed the sign in the middle of the road, with an arrow pointing to the detour. This caused the traffic to detour through the middle of the small town. Now this happened before the interstate system was built, so on came all of the vehicles of that day going north on a busy federal highway, cars, trucks, buses, etc. About mid-morning, so the story goes, the police chief got to talking to the grocer, who was the mayor, and asked was he aware of why all the traffic was parading through town, as it did before the bypass was built before the war. The mayor didn't know either, which set the policeman to go out on patrol, find, and remove the detour signs, putting traffic back to normal. Meanwhile, these young boys didn't keep their mouths shut, and soon enough, even the mayor learned who did it, including his own son. The way we heard the story, the mayor gave his son a good, old-fashioned whipping, and learned that his son's friend was in on the prank, and aimed to whip him too. The friend of the son protested, but the mayor said it was part of his duty and inflicted what he called a "municipal whipping" on this youngster. Of course, today people would be up in arms over such a situation. Well, we talked to two of the participants in the detour-sign-moving antic, and learned that it didn't exactly happen that way. "My father didn't whip us, for by then we were too big. But he gave us the devil in other ways," one told me. "It was just a prank, and no one got hurt," he maintained. Those were the days, right? Oh, for a simpler time like that!
Kudos to Cobb County for shining a light on government: The county is rated as a top tier local government for doing business in an open way by sunshinereview.org, a Web site that establishes a standard for government transparency. Cobb earned a perfect score for transparency and the report noted the county's efforts to "go the extra mile and breach new territory by telecasting its contract bids nationwide in order to get the most bang for the taxpayer buck." The county's Web site was also praised for its wealth of information, including budgets and listing of vendors. Visit www.cobbcounty.org to see how that county does its exemplary web site. * * * * * U-Haul recently released its annual survey of top destinations for one-way truck deliveries in 2008. Atlanta is at the top of the list, followed by Houston, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Here are the top 10 U-Haul one-way destinations:
Now you know how some of the transplants and newcomers move around. Makes me think that you could get a good deal from U-Haul to drive some of their units OUT of the Atlanta area! ABOUT
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McLEMORE'S
WORLD Here's a great new cartoon from Bill McLemore:
FEEDBACK
UPCOMING Jackson
Electric Membership Corporation is now accepting applications for its
2009 Annual Energy Bowl competition. The competition is open to high school
juniors who have excelled and are interested in science and math. College bookstore to present health journalist on Nov. 3 Georgia Gwinnett College Bookstore will present award-winning author, journalist and public health scholar Maryn McKenna giving a presentation entitled The Media and Swine Flu" on November 3 at 7 p.m. at the Cisco Auditorium at the college. This event is free and open to the public.
This event is being co-sponsored by the GGC Biology Club, SCRUBS (Starting Careers and Research Using a Bachelor's Degree), and Grizzly Vital Signs (Allied Health Sciences Club). Maryn McKenna is an independent journalist specializing in domestic and global public health, health policy and medicine. She is a contributing writer at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and is a research fellow at the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University. From 1995 to 2006, Ms. McKenna was a national desk editor at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.. She is the recipient of numerous professional awards, including fellowships with the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, the Knight-Wallace Fellows program, and Harvard Medical School. Her book, Beating Back the Devil: On the Front Lines with the Disease Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, was named one of the Top Science Books of 2004 by Amazon.com and was named an Outstanding Academic Title by the American Library Association. Her second book, Superbug, is due out from the Free Press in March 2010. Gwinnett Salvation Army prayer breakfast coming up Thursday The Salvation Army's Third Annual Gwinnett Prayer Breakfast fundraiser will be held on Thursday, November 5 at the Salvation Army Center on Sugarloaf Parkway. Keynote speaker is Dr. J. Robert White, executive director of the Georgia Baptist Convention.
For individual tickets to this affair, call 770-724-1660. Ticket cost is $125. Proceeds from the breakfast will support Salvation Army activities in Gwinnett, including the "Doing the Most Good" campaign, and support of the Army for its Christmas charitable activities. The Salvation Army has been acknowledged worldwide by the global consulting firm of Booz Allen Hamilton, as one of the 10 most enduring institutions of the last century. According to the firm, "The Salvation Army endures in large measure because it has earned a unique reputation and high level of public trust." Benefit for heart transplant to be Nov. 1 at Red Clay Theatre A benefit
concert for Lance Witt of Winder, will be held Sunday, November 1, at
4 p.m. at Red Clay Theatre in Duluth. Proceeds benefit the Children's
Organ Transplant Association for Lance Witt, a 6 year old who received
a life-saving heart transplant on June 29, 2009. Three Christian bands,
Full Circle, SoulShine and One Way, are scheduled to appear. Tickets are
$5 each and will only be sold at the door.
Born in 2003, Lance was diagnosed with End Stage Cardiomyopathy and had two heart surgeries prior to receiving his transplant. After almost 100 days in the hospital, Lance came home in August, 2009 and continues to grow stronger each day. More information
on Lance Witt and his journey can be found at www.cotaforlancew.com.
For more information, please contact Audrey Turner at 404-805-5152 or
by email at inadaz84@hotmail.com. NOTABLE A new event
is coming to Suwanee's Town Center Park on November 5, just in time for
holiday shopping and cheer. Toast @ Town Center is designed to encourage
patrons to enjoy good meals, good deals, and good times in the heart of
downtown Suwanee. From 5-10 p.m., merchants at Town Center will offer
special deals, entertainment, and in-store events. Group honors Snellville volunteer, the late Jimmy Gresham
The Georgia Recreation and Park Association's 7th District recognized the late Jimmy Gresham as Volunteer of the Year for 2009 at the district's annual awards banquet held in Gainesville at the Frances Meadows Aquatic and Community Center. A life-long Snellville resident, Jimmy Gresham had served for 20 years as a volunteer for the city's annual Snellville Days Festival. He also served on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board for five years. Mr. Gresham passed away unexpectedly on August 13, 2009. Above from left are Mr. Gresham's wife, Mary Jane, his son, Terrell, and Terrell's friend, Jennifer Cartledge. Shewbert says he'll soon be candidate to succeed Nasuti Former Norcross city councilman Keith Shewbert has announced to friends that he will be a candidate to succeed Bert Nasuti as District 2 county commissioner in the 2010 election. "Since Bert has announced that he would not seek re-election, I will be soon throwing my hat into the ring to run for that post," he says. Mr. Shewbert operates the 45 South Café in downtown Norcross, and is on the board of the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District. Earlier, also announcing to run for the commission seat was Jose Perez, a marketing consultant also from Norcross, who is president of Target Market Trends, Inc. and who is currently a member of the State Board of Education. Duluth's railroad museum plans Model Railroad Days Nov. 7-8 Southeastern Railway Museum's Model Railroad Days rolls into Duluth on November 7-8 from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. each day. It will offer visitors an peek into model railroad layouts from around Metro Atlanta. The museum is located at 3595 Buford Highway in Duluth, a short distance north of Pleasant Hill Road. As part of model railroad month, the museum is hosting this event. This year's event will include more models in more scales than previous years. On exhibit will be trains of O, HO, G, and N scales. A full scale hand card will provide demonstration rides, while another layout will be built from Legos. There will be a craft area and a vendor area, as well as refreshments. The gift shop will be open for Christmas shopping. And families can have Breakfast with Santa. Additionally,
the museum will be a stop on the Piedmont Pilgrimage, the Piedmont Division
of the National Model Railroad Association's annual public tour of Atlanta's
Great Model Railroads from November 5-8. For more information on the tour
visit www.piedmont-div.org/pilgrimage.
"The title may throw you. It refers to what happens to wine when it is mishandled. And it's a key part of this movie, which tells the story of how the California wine industry finally was judged by a blind panel to have wines on par with French wines. The judgment shocked the world, especially a disbelieving French wine industry. The movie starts slow, but finishes with a nice touch. A good flick. We saw this movie via Netflix." --eeb
GEORGIA
ENCYCLOPEDIA Among those to voice displeasure with the policies of General James Oglethorpe and the Georgia Trustees during the early years of Georgia's settlement, the Malcontents issued the most vociferous complaints. The leaders of the group, composed primarily of Scottish settlers near Savannah, included Patrick Tailfer and Thomas Stephens. The Malcontents first made their objections heard in 1735 shortly after their arrival in the new colony. Whereas many of Georgia's original settlers came with monetary aid from the Trustees, most of the Malcontents arrived without assistance and thus did not have the same loyalty to the colony's founders. In particular, the Malcontents objected to the Trustees' limits on land ownership and prohibitions on slavery and rum. Since the Malcontents could afford to purchase slaves and vast tracts of land, they felt the policies of the Trustees prevented them from realizing their economic potential. Between 1737 and 1738 Patrick Tailfer organized a group of colonists who objected to the actions of the Trustees. One of their first public complaints came in 1738, when the group wrote and circulated a petition that called for drastic changes in the colony's administration. Although 121 residents signed the petition, the Trustees refused to amend the laws. Frustrated by the lack of local authority or change in Georgia and its administration, many of the Malcontents' leaders left the colony in 1740. Representatives of the Trustees believed internal dissent would decline with the Malcontents' departure. In 1740 William Stephens, the father of Thomas Stephens and secretary to the Trustees, wrote a memorial entitled A State of the Province of Georgia. The document claimed the Trustees and their policies enjoyed wide support throughout Georgia and---owing to the unique laws governing the colony---economic success seemed assured. For many residents Stephens's description did not reflect reality. Speaking for the Malcontents, Tailfer refuted Stephens's claims in a tract entitled A True and Historical Narrative of the Colony of Georgia. Writing from Charleston, S.C., Tailfer reiterated his belief that Georgia's survival required significant changes. Tailfer wanted members of Parliament and others who provided funding for Georgia to understand that many of its residents were prevented from succeeding financially because of the Trustees' policies. Tailfer's arguments were heard but did not result in immediate change. Officials in London ordered additional surveys of popular sentiment following the publication of Tailfer's pamphlet, but the Trustees and their increasingly controversial statutes remained. In 1742 Thomas Stephens, representing the Malcontents and other disaffected settlers from London, published a pamphlet entitled The Hard Case of the Distressed People of Georgia. The Trustees maintained their power, but Stephens's arguments were increasingly heard in Georgia and England. When the Trustees passed a law in 1750 allowing slavery, many credited the change to the actions and writings of the Malcontents; when slavery and unlimited land ownership were allowed, they could claim victory. 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 "Defining and analyzing humor is a pastime of humorless people."
Those interested in the history of Gwinnett need to know that the recently published book: Gwinnett: A Little Above Atlanta, has sold fast, with the first editions about sold out. Get yours before they're gone. Go to www.elliottbrack.com to order, or buy the book at a local bookstore shown on the site. The books are available at:
MORE RECENT COMMENTARY
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 770-497-1888, or email to info@gwinnettforum.com. SISTER PUBLICATIONS We encourage you to check out our sister publications:
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