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TODAY'S FOCUS
Environmental Center to host sustainable design exhibit
By CATHERINE LONG
Special to GwinnettForum.com

BUFORD, Ga., Jan. 5, 2010 -- In the last 50 years, technology has transformed the world. It has enabled us to live longer, instantaneously communicate with each other across the planet and explore the tiniest bits of our world and the farthest regions of our solar system. We are only now beginning to recognize that this dizzying speed of technological advancement - resulting in exponential population growth and an insatiable appetite for energy - has impacted the natural world.

In response to this recognition, markets have created a demand for technological innovation to reduce culture's impact on the natural world. The Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center is ushering in the new year with The Technology of Sustainable Design, an exhibition about new developments in sustainable design that features the work of Atlanta-based firm Houser Walker Architecture; Timmons Design Engineers; and Suniva of Norcross, a world leader in solar cells. The exhibition will run from January 9 to February 27.

The Technology of Sustainable Design explores how technological innovations are changing the way that the infrastructure is conceived and constructed. The exhibition considers available and emerging technologies that can be incorporated into building design, such as energy efficient lighting or solar panels, but also explores new applications for evaluating the performance of buildings.

The exhibition also demonstrates how Suniva's high-efficiency silicon photovoltaic cells have resulted in clean, earth-friendly power generation that architects can incorporate into their designs, and how through the use of predictive modeling and evaluation, Timmons can improve a building's energy performance. The exhibit shows how architects integrate these building and evaluative technologies into a holistic vision that is beautiful, functional, and low impact.

The Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center is an ideal location for an exhibition of this scope. Since the Center opened in 2006, it has strived to be "an exemplary, high-tech cultural center known for hands-on science exhibits and quality educational programming that inspires visitors to become better stewards of our environment." The 59,000 square-foot science and cultural center nestled on 233 pristine acres is also Gwinnett County's first "green" building.

Steve Cannon, executive director of the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center, says: "As our natural resources become more utilized to sustain our population growth, it is critical to understand the impacts on the management of these limited resources. We must continually learn and teach that sustainability by design is about balance.

"Balance between man and the earth's natural resources are necessary to sustain a modern culture. This exhibit is a great learning and teaching tool that demonstrates the knowledge, art, and the innovative opportunities of sustainable design. If we fail to understand this critical mission then we will fail as a nation of people than can make a difference in the quality of life and survival of future generations that will inherit our cities and our short comings."

For more information about The Technology of Sustainable Design exhibition, contact the center at (770) 904-3500 or email me at Catherine.Long@gwinnettcounty.com.

EEB PERSPECTIVE
City of Duluth uses innovation to usher in New Year 2010
By ELLIOTT BRACK
Editor and publisher

JAN. 5, 2010 -- Give a round of applause to the City of Duluth for innovation and creation in its New Year's Eve's celebration.

Brack

We're talking about the way Duluth ushered in the new year not with the traditional dropping of a ball…..but with its distinctive "Duluth Soaring" event on New Year's Eve. In effect, instead of a ball dropping, the thousands in attendance saw a sphere, with a 'wings of spirit" and crown logo of Duluth, go up at midnight, reaching the City Hall clock, amid fireworks soaring.

Though she now lives in Grayson, the person who came up with the idea to make Duluth "soar" in marking the new year is a graduate of Duluth High School. She is Jane Madigan, class of 1979, who has been for 20 years an events coordinator for Discovery Mills, the Atlanta Braves and the Mall of Georgia. She was hired in July by the city as a part time events coordinator. The official theme was "May Your Spirit Soar in 2010."

The idea came to Jane as she was sitting on the Town Green last September, seeking to come up with an idea for the New Year's Eve celebration. "Looking at the City Hall clock tower, the thought came to me that a novel approach would be to have something rise, not fall. After all, that way we could have the City Hall clock in sight as the ball approached it at midnight. And it could signify the spirit of the new city logo and tag line 'Capture the spirit of good living.'"

Fireworks going off at the Duluth Soaring event.

Having previously worked on the Atlanta Peach Drop, done by Entertainment Design Group of Austell, Jane contacted them. "It seemed a natural fit, especially with the success they've had in the past." The firm works internationally on events, and locally does the Great Tree and Fourth of July events at Lenox Square.

The firm built a portable aluminum scaffold that would take the sphere to 65 feet high, giving the city the distinction of being the only event with a rising icon in the country. The sphere and icon weighs 250 pounds, a record for such an icon. It takes 70 seconds for the icon to rise to the clock. It took three weeks to build the tower and sphere, and a day to assemble it on site.

As Jane says: "We wanted not to compete with the Peach Drop, but to complement it, and give the people of Duluth a nearby unique alternative for New Year's."

Not only that, but the idea of having a ball rise was a secret. Even Mayor Nancy Harris and the Council didn't know what the novelty of the event would be. "Only I knew," says Jane. She plans to continue the event in future years, and have a different theme for each New Year's soaring.

An adult gala was staged earlier that night. Some 185 patrons had a catered dinner at Wallace Reid Photography, then were escorted to the Red Clay Theatre for an improv comedy show, followed by dancing. At 11:30 p.m., this group had special seating in a tent for the midnight event. "We've already had people telling us they wanted to go to the event next year," Jane reports.

Meanwhile, several Duluth merchants were open for others attending the night's events near the Duluth Town Green, including music and entertainment. It was an impressive way to start the new decade, which is planned to be an annual event. It should gain Duluth a reputation for a novel approach to promoting when the clock strikes at midnight on future New Year's Eves, thanks to Jane Madigan

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FEEDBACK
Compares chairman of Commission with Marie Antoinette

Editor, The Forum:

Back on December 8, 2009 you commented on the arrogance of the county commission and today (Dec. 30) you wrote on the lack of confidence. The arrogance is the cause, while the lack of confidence is the effect.

Bannister

I didn't write to you earlier because of other matters on my mind, as you well know. My thought then, as now, and will be, is that "Marie Antoinette" Bannister's attitude is "Let them eat cake." I figuratively hope the two have a common fate.

The initial tax increase proposal as I read it included additional county police in the cities. I pay city taxes for the police protection I primarily have. More police protection for the county I travel through would be nice, so it should be expressed that way and funded that way.

"Marie Antoinette" Bannister pretty much said it would be 'his way or no way,' so he took everything off the table causing an uproar, which was bound to happen.

I pay county taxes, school taxes, city taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, and God knows what else. These taxes pay to have people in leadership positions who know how to manage. Good leaders know how to manage, but not all good managers know how to lead (Howardism 101). We need someone else other than "Marie".

-- Howard N. Williams, Jr., Snellville

Feels Commission has dis-connect with citizens of Gwinnett

Editor, the Forum:

Sadly, I have never seen a leadership group in Gwinnett that demonstrates such a dire disconnect with the people they serve than the current regime of Chairman Charles Bannister. With the exception of Mike Beaudreau, this group of commissioners seems only interested in serving the special interest groups to which they are beholden. The lack of leadership filters down to many of the department heads as well.

It should come as no surprise that I have been outspoken on the dismal animal welfare policies that are being implemented in our new "state of the art" animal shelter built with SPLOST funding. When the idea of building a new shelter was first suggested, we were promised that a new facility would provide pet owners with better services and more importantly provide the homeless pets in our community a better chance at surviving than the old shelter on Hi Hope Road. Instead, the shelter killed three out of four dogs that entered the shelter in 2009---up from the old rates of one out of two. Gwinnett has consistently killed eight out of ten cats since opening the doors to this new facility.

It took a valiant effort for the county to see the lunacy of threatening dog owners with jail and loss of their family pets with an ordinance passed in January of 2007. Despite being threatened with 12 years in jail if I didn't surrender ten of my aging hounds, I fought the county and was successful in sparing my dogs' lives. I was sentenced to two years probation for what was a "criminal" offense of having dogs that barked at a person visiting a then vacant and four homes for sale located adjacent to mine.

My neighbors are deeply offended that the county would go to such lengths to put a citizen in jail who simply owns dogs. Of more concern is the fact that we rarely if ever see any police patrols, but can count on animal control prowling our neighborhoods in these economically challenging times.

It's difficult for me to have confidence in a county government which justifies and pays for a court appointed attorney prosecuting victimless crime like dog barking while I read that there seems to be a shortage of funding to handle two capital cases where the death penalty is involved. Who is making these foolish decisions?

-- Randy DeCarlo, Lilburn

Send us a letter. We encourage readers to submit feedback or letters to the editor. Send your thoughts to editor at elliott@brack.net. We will edit for length and clarity. Make sure to include your name and city where you live. Submission of a comment grants permission to us to reprint. Please keep your comment to 200 words or less. However, if you write 500 words, we'll consider it for Today's Focus.

UPCOMING
Lilburn to hold trail extension groundbreaking Wednesday

The City of Lilburn will host a groundbreaking for Phase II of the Camp Creek Greenway Trail on Wednesday, January 6, at noon. It will be held at the Railroad Gate to City Park, located beside Lilburn City Hall, 76 Main Street.

Phase II of the Camp Creek Greenway Trail extends the existing trail, which opened in 2007, by 1.04 miles from Main Street to Killian Hill Road. Construction is estimated to be completed in no more than eight months. The new portion of the trail includes two legs. One branch follows Camp Creek for 0.7 miles, and the other runs through property owned by the City of Lilburn for 0.34 miles. The Phase II construction project will include 0.81 miles of paved trail, 0.23 miles of boardwalk and 0.01 miles of bridges.

The existing trail stretches from Rockbridge Road to Main Street (1.36 miles) and includes an additional paved circle (0.22 miles) and two spurs to access neighboring roads (0.18 miles). This amenity has been heavily used by the community, including serving as the site for the first Jingle Bell Run held on December 11, 2009.

The Camp Creek Greenway Trail, which promotes a healthy lifestyle, is funded through a combination of Georgia Department of Transportation Enhancement funds and Gwinnett County SPLOST funds.

Lionheart Theatre plans reading of Daphne Mitz play soon

A reading of a play is set at Lionheart Theatre Company in Norcross on January 23 at 7:30 p.m.. The play to be read is by local playwright Daphne Mitz, entitled In Lieu of Flowers. The reading is to kick off a process that will lead to the production of the play later in 2010.

As a volunteer for Lionheart Theatre's New Playwright Development Programs, Daphne Mitz has produced and moderated five staged readings and provides coaching for Lionheart volunteers interested in playwrighting. She is currently coordinator of Lionheart Theatre's Make the House Roar Comedy Playwrighting Prize.

Her completed works to date include Next of Kin, produced by Onion Man Productions in the Harvest '09 10-Minute Play Festival. In Lieu of Flowers revolves around a mysterious woman who appears at a funeral home to pay respects to a father and uncle of two men.

The mission of Onion Man Productions is to produce new plays that are grounded in storytelling and construction, but also, writing that explores the larger questions of life. In working to help other organizations reach their goals, OMP puts in practice the philosophy that artistic expression reaches its full potential when the effort not only expresses the artist but also serves a larger idea.

NOTABLE
Four Gwinnett charities get $22,000 from Jackson EMC

The Jackson EMC Foundation, a charity funded by donations from the cooperative's members through Operation Round Up, has awarded four Gwinnett County charitable organizations a total of $22,000 to provide programs and services to area residents. They are:

• Barnabas Ministries in Dacula has been awarded a $10,000 grant for rent on transitional housing and to purchase materials for employment and life skills training. The faith-based nonprofit organization works to provide hope and encouragement to men and women who are currently incarcerated or recently released from prison.
  
  
• Side by Side Brain Injury Clubhouse in Stone Mountain has been awarded a $5,000 grant to provide program fees for clients who do not have sufficient funding from the 10 counties Jackson EMC serves. The Gwinnett non-profit assists adults recovering from traumatic brain injury, serving as a bridge by helping them transition from medical patient to fully active community member.
  
  
• Diamond in the Rough, a Snellville faith-based youth development organization, has been awarded a $4,000 grant for a mobile computer lab that will enable the mentoring program to offer computer access in a safe, structured and supervised setting to girls with little access to computers that will help them complete projects, assist with college searches and scholarship applications, and develop technological skills.
  
  
• IDEALS Leadership in Lawrenceville has been awarded a $3,000 grant to help train high school athletes in leadership skills. With Leadership Schools that began in 1993, IDEALS was created to help high school student athletes develop into positive role models and influential leaders within their schools and on their teams.

Jackson EMC members fund these grants by volunteering to have their monthly electric bills rounded up to the next dollar amount. Since October 2005 this "spare change" has funded 365 grants to organizations and 148 grants to individuals, putting more than $3.9 million back into local communities.

Any individual or charitable organization in the ten counties served by Jackson EMC (Clarke, Banks, Barrow, Franklin, Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson, Lumpkin, Madison and Oglethorpe) may apply for a Foundation grant by completing an application, available online at http://www.jacksonemc.com/Guidelines-for-Funding.106.0.html or at local Jackson EMC offices. Applicants do not need to be a member of Jackson EMC.

Health group commends Buford Sen. Renee Unterman

Sen. Renee Unterman (R-Buford) has been honored as a "Public Health Hero" by the Georgia Public Health Association (GPHA) at its December business meeting at the Mercer University School of Medicine in Macon.

Untermann

GPHA President Russ Toal commended Unterman for her leadership on health issues during her tenure in the legislature.

"Renee Unterman devotes a great deal of time and effort to understanding the implications of maintaining a healthy state population," Toal said. "Her thoughtful and pragmatic approach balances the long-term consequences of the public's overall health with the difficult budgetary constraints our state faces. We are pleased to recognize her outstanding leadership on public health issues at the Capitol."

RECOMMENDED
Send us your reviews, recommendations

• An invitation: What Web sites, books or restaurants have you enjoyed? Send us your best recent visit to a restaurant or most recent book you have read along with a short paragraph as to why you liked it, plus what book you plan to read next. --eeb

GEORGIA ENCYCLOPEDIA
Difficulties, problems in assimilating Latino population

(Continued from previous edition)

Georgia's massive Latino influx has also brought undeniable difficulties and problems, though much of the native-born resistance is a product of the intolerance and fear that often accompanies demographic upheaval. The state's public schools, which have long been under-funded, have encountered tremendous difficulties in integrating non-English-speaking students, especially in poorer school districts.

In Dalton, the efforts of local leaders Erwin Mitchell, a former U.S. congressman, and Robert Shaw, of Shaw Industries, offered one solution to this problem. In 1996 Mitchell and Shaw partnered with educators at the University of Monterrey in Mexico to create the Georgia Project. From 1997 to 2007 this program brought Spanish-speaking teachers to Dalton to assist with the growing Hispanic population in the city's schools and sent Dalton teachers to Mexico to learn Spanish.

Other infrastructural institutions, such as hospitals and churches, have also been dramatically affected by the large numbers of immigrants making use of their services. Undocumented immigrants, who lack the bargaining power of citizens or resident aliens, are often exploited by management in dangerous jobs in which pay and benefits are low but chances of injury are high. In 2006 the Georgia Latino Forum was created to bring together various organizations with ties to the state's Latino population. Forum members grapple with such issues as illegal immigration, education, health care, and political engagement.

By 2009 Latino population growth began to slow in some areas of the state, including Dalton and metro Atlanta. Likely explanations for the shift include the passage of the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act, which became effective in July 2007 and requires that state residents demonstrate legal residency status in order to work for a public entity or receive government benefits. This legislation, in conjunction with a national economic downturn in 2008 and increased federal efforts to deport illegal workers, may have discouraged some Latinos from coming to or remaining in Georgia.

While contemporary opponents of immigration often emphasize the negative impacts of demographic change, many others argue that the positive contributions Latino immigrants have brought to Georgia far outweigh such criticisms. Indeed, immigrant labor has revitalized large sectors of the Georgia economy, while Latino spending power constitutes a significant portion of the state's total. Immigrant cultural contributions, whether in the form of food, music, language, or traditional celebrations, have made Georgia into an undeniably diverse and multiethnic state. Prominent Latino and Latina immigrants in Georgia include philanthropist Elena Diaz-Verson Amos, writer Judith Cofer, and businessman Roberto Goizueta.

• Click here to access the Georgia Encyclopedia

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TODAY'S QUOTE
All too many people only think of short-term profit

"There has been a focus on skills that make a short term profit and not enough thought about the preconditions for a successful democracy."

-- University of Chicago Philosopher Martha Nussbaum (1947 - ), quoted recently in the New York Times magazine.

MODERN HISTORY OF GWINNETT

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:

• Books for Less in downtown Snellville and Lawrenceville (Highway 20 near the Braves park);
• Labaire Pottery, downtown Norcross

MORE EEB PERSPECTIVE

	1/8: Ways to keep warm
	1/5: Duluth's new year
	12/30: Loss of confidence
	12/23: We say, "Happy Holidays"
	12/18: Remembering Mr. Tubs
	12/15: Hidden weapons not jolly
	12/11: Gwinnett most diverse
	12/8: County is arrogant
	12/4: Defining moment for Obama?
	12/1: Atlanta train stations razed
	11/25: Remembering John Adams
	11/20: Better schools needed
	11/17: Privatizing rest areas
	11/13: Batty congressman
	11/17: Privatizing rest areas
	11/13: Batty congressman
	11/10: About Ga's bank failures
	11/6: Freida Hill, more
	11/3: Shepherd of the Hills
	EEB index of columns

MORE RECENT COMMENTARY

	1/8: Smith: Braselton wins big
	1/5: Long: Sust. design exhibit
	12/30: Guynn: Teaching giving
	12/23: Barksdale: White House tree
	12/18: Mason: P'tree Cnrs tipping pt?
	12/15: Anders: Hospitality honors
	12/11: Wascher: Rail favored
	12/8: Page: Be safe during holidays
	12/4: Piccolo: Gwinnett Place
	12/1: Collins: Turkey dinners
	11/25: Dominy: Great liftoff
	11/20: Bland: Gwinnett, Nicaragua
	11/17: Sharp: Homelessness
	11/13: Baxter: A Better South
	11/10: Markwalter: Lawrenceville
	11/6: Pope: DOT project
	11/3: Kurtz: About P-cards
	COMMENTARY INDEX

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.

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SC Statehouse Report -- a weekly legislative forecast that keeps you a step ahead of what happens at the South Carolina Statehouse. It's free.

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