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Issue 9.98 | Friday, March 19, 2010 |
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 RESEARCHING: Erin Hansen of Lilburn, front, a biology and psychology major, is among 200 students at the University of Georgia who will participate in the Honors Program Undergraduate Research program on March 29. Students will give oral presentations, poster sessions and thesis roundtables at the 11th annual program. She is shown with her mentor, Dr. Jennifer McDowell, co-director of the UGA Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory. The students usually have worked on their projects and creative works for at least a year under the guidance of faculty research mentors who are leaders in their fields, Hansen says her research experience working with patients has helped prepare her for medical school next year. She is currently studying rapid eye movements and the corresponding brain activity in schizophrenic patients that may lead to new treatment options for the individuals. |
McLEMORE'S
WORLD FEEDBACK UPCOMING NOTABLE ALSO INSIDE _:: IN THE
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TODAY'S FOCUS NORCROSS, Ga., March 16, 2010 -- A former member of the Gwinnett County Board of Education has penned a book of poems.
Eve Hoffman of Norcross, a sixth generation Georgian, began writing poetry six years ago. Her first book, Red Clay, will be released by Finishing Line Press of Georgetown, Ky., on May 7. She has worked with poets at the Paris Poetry Workshops, Idylwild Summer Poetry Workshops, Hambidge Writers' Workshops and Cecilia Woloch's Atlanta workshops. She has been published by the Georgia Humanities Council, Emory University Center for Ethics, New Southerner, Southern Women's Review, and online, and her work is included in performances of the Academy Theater Senior Ensemble. Eve has published three anthologies of Georgia K-12 public school writing. She has recently completed the narratives of 23 models in Sal Brownfield's series of paintings, A Celebration of Healing: Lives Impacted by Breast Cancer.
Ms. Hoffman is a graduate of Smith College. She was a member of the Gwinnett County School Board for four years, from 1981-84, and served as chairman in 1984. She has been a public education and environmental advocate. She founded non-profits and served on numerous not-for-profit boards. She has been identified by Georgia Trend as one of the most influential people in the state. She has been honored by Smith College as a "Remarkable Woman." Reviews of her poems have been laudatory. Cecilia Woloch, whose most recent book of poetry is entitled Carpathia, says: "Eve Hoffman's is a well-seasoned voice, a storyteller's voice, the voice of a woman whose girlhood in the south -- dirt roads and damp sheets on clotheslines; bombed synagogues and segregation and the Ku Klux Klan -- is evoked here, along with her seasons as daughter and mother and wife and widow, in loving detail, in rich remembrance." An authentic Southern voice with a universal chord, Eve Hoffman's poetry continues down that remarkable path of Southern writers before her. In Red Clay she tells of children, parents, a husband, school, tragedy and friendship. Red Clay can be ordered for $15 a copy from www.finishinglinepress.com. and after May 7 it can be purchased from Amazon.com or at www.evehoffman.com. EEB PERSPECTIVE MARCH 19, 2010 -- Georgia Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox has come up with lamebrain suggestion about the Georgia Lottery. She wants to raise the price of Georgia Lottery tickets by 50 cents to help pay for educating children from kindergarten through high school. She feels such a change would raise an additional $350 million for public schools.
In a sow's ear! Fat chance! Where Ms. Cox gets this logic befuddles us. After all, anyone spending a dollar to buy a lottery ticket, or for that matter $20 to buy 20 tickets, has a limited budget. Under Ms. Cox's suggestion, that would mean each $1 purchase would cost $1.50, and each $20 purchase would cost $30. But what Ms. Cox does not realize is that if you raise the price of lottery tickets, fewer tickets will be sold. There's no automatic increase in lottery funding under this proposal. Lottery ticket purchasers, just like the state government, have a limited budget. They can't pay a higher price for each ticket, and buy the same number of tickets, for they would run out of money. They would end up spending the same amount on the lottery, but having few tickets. Since she is on the state payroll, and not in private business, perhaps Ms. Cox does not realize that people have limited incomes. Perhaps she thinks money grows on trees, and lottery players can go out in the back yard and pluck some cash off a dollar tree. You and I know it doesn't work like that.
Apparently Kathy Cox doesn't. However, there might be one change in the lottery methods that would work. For this to be approved, there would have to be major re-writing of the lottery laws. If the players could buy lottery tickets on the Internet, that's one way we can see that it would increase revenues significantly. Many people who forget to stop at a lottery retailer could easily access lottery tickets from their home computer, and pay via a credit card. Perhaps each week as players checked their tickets to see if they had won, they could click and purchase a ticket for the next lottery. Yes, of course that is simply gambling on the Internet. But much gambling already goes on via computer. This move would merely legalize the state's participation in Internet gambling to benefit the state revenues. And, while we are not up on the law, it might even allow people in other states to play the lottery, an entirely new field for the Georgia lottery to expand into. The Georgia lottery, since its inception in 1993, has been one of the most successful in the United States, with its emphasis on funding primarily higher education. Residents understand the benefits of funding education this way. And the lottery makes record profits. With many people wanting to "get rich quick," the lottery has served some people well. But many more are losers. What Ms. Cox seeks is to increases taxes flowing to schools through an expanded lottery. Her proposal won't hold water But Internet lottery play might work. ABOUT OUR SPONSORS
The public spiritedness of our underwriters allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today's sponsor is the Aurora Theatre, Gwinnett County's first choice for professional theatrical entertainment. Celebrating their 14th year as Gwinnett's crown jewel for the performing arts, located on the square in Downtown Lawrenceville, Aurora Theatre is committed to producing quality, professional theatre for all of North Georgia. The 2009-2010 Season continues with the post-Broadway premiere of A Catered Affair through March 28; and in May - Boeing Boeing, a high flyin' comedy. Aurora's GGC Lab Series of edgier contemporary plays in the Gwinnett Federal Credit Union Studio continues in April with the comedy The Storytelling Ability of a Boy. Aurora also offers a club comedy series called Funny Fridays, Swing Nights at Aurora Theatre with the Metro Jazz Club and Lawrenceville Ghost Tours. For young children there is Saturday Children's Playhouse on select Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. and Aurora Academy summer programs are currently enrolling. To purchase individual tickets, season tickets or for more information: www.auroratheatre.com or call 678-226-6222.
McLEMORE'S WORLD
FEEDBACK Most of my growing up was in DeKalb and that of my children in Gwinnett, so they spanned both careers of the two superintendents. The growth situations in both counties were a generation apart, but similar. Jim Cherry had the first fight in DeKalb as the baby boom began following the close of World War II. Returning veterans spread throughout DeKalb County, staking their claims to property and housing to raise their new families. Dr. Crews was at both Druid Hills and Briarcliff High Schools during most of the 1960s and learned from DeKalb what not to do. Neighborhood schools were fine when one considers the infrastructure in DeKalb during much of the '60s. Roads were two lanes, not four or five lanes with medians and turn lanes. There was no Stone Mountain Freeway nor a Peachtree Parkway, and Ronald Reagan was an actor, not a Parkway. In other words, the schools and neighborhoods were close so each would be accessible to the other. DeKalb County fanned out from Atlanta to become its suburbs while Gwinnett County was fanning out from each of its smaller cities to form their own suburbs. DeKalb schools were set up with elementary schools grades 1-7, and high schools grades 8-12. There were no middle schools; therefore, no school clusters just clusters of schools. Not to discredit Dr. Crews, but one couldn't help but see what was happening in DeKalb, as many of us boomers moved to Gwinnett to build or buy our homes and raise families. (After returning from Vietnam I bought my first house in early 1971, a new one, in Clarkston for $10 earnest money and 100 percent financing from my GI bill. After two years I made $7,000 on the resale and moved to Snellville for the long haul of raising a family. Speculator, investor, and developer are sometimes dirty words unless you are one, so I'll use "visionary." If it was not for the vision of the growth of Gwinnett County during the '70s, we in Gwinnett could be in the same boat as DeKalb County. Sure, there were and are still business "families" out there who interact to make a buck. They are not non-profit organizations by design. Dr. Crews' collaboration with all the visionaries of this county made the strong schools we have today. Infrastructure was put in place to welcome the families and support businesses not chase after them. Vision is insight and it needs to be out front 20 to 30 years, not behind trying catch up. Walton County, watch out!
And
you think that ethics is just a current consideration? Editor, the Forum: You may
not know the story, but during the administration of Marvin Griffin, graft
reached heights that were unheard of since the administration of Rufus
Bullock during the Reconstruction Era and not heard of since. (Thank goodness!)
UPCOMING From today, March 17, through May 1, Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful will be sponsoring the Great American Cleanup Gwinnett Challenge. Volunteers across Gwinnett County will be cleaning, beautifying and improving our community while competing for cash prizes up to $1,000.
Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful has been locally coordinating The Great American Clean Up, the nation's largest annual community improvement program, since it began in 1987. The event was created 23 years ago by Keep America Beautiful to celebrate clean, safe and healthy communities. More than three million volunteers donated more than 5.2 million hours in 2009 to clean, beautify and improve over 32,000 communities in all 50 states. To participate in the Great American Clean Up Gwinnett Challenge, follow these steps:
Email your completed post-project summary form to: gwinnettcb@gwinnettcb.org. Alternatively, you can mail your Post-Project Summary to:
All entries must be postmarked/emailed no later than May 10, 2010. For more information, call Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful at 770-822-5187 or email gwinnettcb@gwinnettcb.org. Hudgens Center plans Family Day with painting March 27 The Hudgens Center for the Arts will have a free Family Day on Saturday, March 27, from 10a.m. until noon. Presented in partnership with the Peachtree Ridge School Cluster, participants will assist in creating collaborative abstract expressionist paintings that will afterwards be donated to each of the Peachtree Ridge Cluster schools, along with plaques listing the artists who participated. This is the first in a new series of creative art collaborations planned as a community outreach by The Hudgens, designed to involve participants in creating works of art to be donated to and enjoyed by the community at large. Participation is free and open to the public. Family Day also includes a fun scavenger hunt around the Center and free entry to all the current exhibits, including The Hudgens Center Student Exhibition, which opens on March 10, as well as the Herbert Creecy; Tannery Row: Selected Works; and Georgia Artists from the Permanent Collection exhibits. For more information about art exhibits, events, classes and summer camps at The Hudgens, please visit the website at www.thehudgens.org. Coalition plans town hall meeting to update county plan The Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services will be hosting a community Town Hall meeting on Friday, March 26 to engage the general public, community-based agencies and their representatives in updating the county's comprehensive health and human services plan. This event
will take place at Georgia Gwinnett College located at 1000 University
Center Lane, Lawrenceville in the atrium of Building B. Registration and
breakfast will begin at 8:30 a.m. and the program will begin at 9 a.m. NOTABLE Gwinnett commissioners have awarded a construction contract for $835,000 to install an artificial turf multi-purpose field at Duncan Creek Park in northeast Gwinnett County. The project includes renovating the existing multi-purpose field and warm-up area (approximately 140,000 square feet) with the installation of artificial turf, including permanent striping for football and soccer, with corners for lacrosse.
Following the lead of a number of Atlanta area schools and parks that have converted sports fields to artificial turf, the County will save on annual field maintenance costs and provide an opportunity for these fields to be used year-round. Natural turf fields maintained by Gwinnett County typically require closure for full or partial re-sodding every summer due to the high use of the fields. In addition to savings, new technologies provide for a much safer playing surface. Synthetic (artificial) turf fields are made of polyethylene fibers simulating grass stabilized with rubber pellets for cushioning. Underground drainage systems also increase the playability of fields after heavy rains. The general contractor for the Duncan Creek Park project is East Tennessee Turf and Landscape and the turf supplier/installer is Deluxe Athletics of Marietta. Construction will begin in April with completion by mid-July. The multi-purpose field is one of two targeted in the county as a pilot project that was included in the 2010 Parks and Recreation Capital Budget funded by the 2005 SPLOST. Cemetery Field in Norcross will be the second field to get artificial sod. Lawrenceville Trolley Tours of area to begin again in April Lawrenceville's Trolley Tours will be back soon. Come join again this year as the trolley rides through the streets and neighborhoods of the Lawrenceville community. The tours
will benefit local businesses, residents and community, as it puts a Here's how the tour works (always subject to change)! Starting April 4 and continuing through June 27, the Trolley will run tours on Sundays through Lawrenceville with scheduled open houses at homes for sale throughout the Lawrenceville area. That is a total of thirteen consecutive Sundays for the tour. Life-long
resident and Lawrenceville's local honorary historian (named in 2009 by
Mayor Rex Millsaps) Mary Long will be the Trolley Tour guide. Each tour
we will highlight Lawrenceville Square, the parks, historic graveyards,
the businesses and some of the rich community history. There will be Realtors,
builders and developers on the tour who will have their homes open for
those Sundays. All the homes will be within the city There will be two Trolleys' this year. Each Trolley holds approximately 30 riders. The goal is to have four scheduled tours each Sunday afternoon. The tours will start at 1 p.m. and run every hour, with the last tour starting at 4 p.m. Also anticipated
are several creative events on the square designed specifically for the
tour. The tours will be free to those riding the Trolley. Each guest on
the Trolley will get a "goody bag" with local business marketing
materials, coupons, business cards. There will also have a banner on both
sides of both Trolleys with sponsor's logos displayed
GEORGIA ENCYCLOPEDIA
Naomi Chapman Woodroof, the daughter of pioneer settlers on the Snake River in Idaho, was also a pioneer in her own right. She was the first woman student and first woman graduate of the University of Idaho College of Agriculture. She was the first woman scientist at the Georgia Experiment Station and the first state-employed plant pathologist at the Coastal Plain Experiment Station.
Woodroof was also the first woman named to the Georgia Agricultural Hall of Fame and one of the "Twenty-five for the Twenty-first Century" honored in a resolution passed by the Georgia House of Representatives in 1997. Her research was a key component in transforming peanuts from a crop for hog feed to an essential food product. After obtaining her degree in animal husbandry from the University of Idaho, she found no openings for women in this field and turned to plant pathology, receiving a master's degree, also at the University of Idaho, in 1924. Although the University of Georgia and other southern universities did not accept women as either students or faculty, the Georgia Experiment Station in Griffin had no such policy, and Woodroof joined the staff there as an assistant biologist. Her first assignment was to work on cotton-seedling root disease, which she identified and developed a method to control. She next worked with Jasper Guy Woodroof on a pecan project. This partnership led to a number of joint publications as well as their courtship and marriage in 1926. In 1933, when her husband was named the first president of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Woodroof was hired by the Coastal Plain Experiment Station in Tifton and assigned to a long-term research project on peanuts. Her definitive publications on peanut leaf-spot disease were followed by her research on disease control, culture, and varietal recommendations. This led to five-fold increases in peanut yields. She was called Woodroof the unsung hero in plant pathology in the Peanut Belt. Peanut growers recognized Woodroof on her retirement by naming her an honorary member of their "Ton-an-Acre" Peanut Club. In 1967 the Woodroofs retired and began extensive travels to South and Central America, China, and South Africa, lecturing and gathering information for Jasper Guy Woodroof's later book publications. Naomi Chapman Woodroof never sought fame or recognition. It was not until after her death that she received both. The pavilion showcasing Georgia's agricultural products for visitors to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta was relocated to the campus of the Georgia Experiment Station and named the Naomi Chapman Woodroof Agricultural Pavilion in honor of her pioneering work in agriculture. 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 "My education began with a set of blocks which had on them the Roman numerals and the letters of the alphabet. It is not finished yet."
MODERN HISTORY OF GWINNETT
If you have delayed ordering the history of Gwinnett published in 2009, there are only three copies left. Most fast to secure your copy of Gwinnett: A Little Above Atlanta. Call 770 840 1003 to reserve your copy! Hurry. No second printing is anticipated. Get this local bestseller before the supply is exhausted! Go to http://www.elliottbrack.com/ to order, or buy the book at a local bookstore shown on the site. The books are available at:
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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. 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. SISTER PUBLICATIONS We encourage you to check out our sister publications:
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