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Issue 9.101 |Tuesday, March 30, 2010 |
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 COMING SOON: Come early June, and Farmers Markets will be thriving once again. At three locations in Gwinnett, you will be able to pay for your buys via electronic means, because of grants from the Gwinnett Resource, Conservation and Development funds. See story in Focus below. |
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TODAY'S FOCUS LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga., March 30, 2010 -- The Upper Ocmulgee River Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council, has received $99,000 grant from the USDA Agriculture Marketing Services to implement a new local farmer's market program. The Georgia Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Farmers' Market Program assists local communities in their effort to promote and market fresh fruits and vegetables. The Upper Ocmulgee River RC&D Council and other Georgia RC&D Councils have created a partnership with Georgia Department of Human Resources to implement this effort. This project will provide new wireless EBT debit card terminals and training needed to implement the program. At least three Gwinnett Farmers' Markets will have the electronic terminals, those in Norcross, Dacula and Lawrenceville. A fourth site in Gwinnett, at Suwanee, has so far not joined this installation. The program's goal is to install 16 new EBT terminals at community farmers markets and implement educational outreach programs throughout Georgia. The new EBT terminals and token system will make it possible for low income or Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients to purchase fresh food near their homes. Recent studies have found that a large number of childhood and adult obesity cases are located in low-income communities where there are urban food deserts (meaning very few grocery stores) with fresh fruits and vegetables available. Traditionally, most local farmers' markets do not accept EBT, debit or credit cards. This means, SNAP recipients and others did not have the opportunity to purchase fresh and healthy fruits and vegetables at many local farmers markets in Georgia until now. Many of the new EBT Farmers Markets will begin opening in April. The grant funds will be used to:
The next small and beginning farmer's training field day will be held on April 22 at 10 a.m. at Dillwood Farms in Loganville. To register, contact RC&D councils. To become certified to accept EBT funds, a market must file an application with the Georgia Department of Human Resources. There is a national as well as local trend to buy local fresh and healthy food, part of the program to reduce childhood obesity. This New EBT Farmers' Market Project is joining the nation by provide healthy food alternatives while creating green jobs and enhancing the local economy. For additional informational contact the Upper Ocmulgee River RC&D Council, Ellis Lamme of Suwanee, president, at 770-339-6071 or email me at Jerome.Brown@ga.usda.gov. EEB PERSPECTIVE MARCH 30, 2010 -- Georgia has a tradition of some its governors making the state look bad. At one time, the entire nation was laughing as not one, but three people, thought that they were the governor. This was in 1946 as Gov. Ellis Arnold, new Lt. Gov. M.E. Thompson and Herman Talmadge all thought they were the rightful governor.
The best laugh to come out of this debacle was that a governor couldn't be sworn in without the seal of the state being on the document. Secretary of State Ben Fortson, who was wheelchair bound, later recounted that no one knew where the seal was. But he had been sitting on it in his wheelchair for days…..since the debacle started. He came out of the episode the hero. Gov. Lester Maddox, was inexperienced in capitol politics, but who many later remember as a pretty able governor. He had earlier been known as a character opposed to desegregating his Pickrick Restaurant, threatening to use ax handles to keep his dining room lily white for his customers. (But many of his cooks were African-American.) So during the early days of the Maddox term, his reputation blackened the state. Now last week, we had Gov. Sonny Perdue saying he would appoint a special attorney general to fight the recently passed law of the land concerning health care. Governor Perdue is following the lead of 13 Republican state attorneys general, who have banded together to form part of the refrain opposing medical care. They philosophically oppose the bill, so they seek redress by suit.
The recently-passed health care bill came out of the legislative process. If the majority of voters do not like the bill, replacement of members of the Congress is one direct way to change the legislation. Many in the country are incensed over this new bill, and are seeking to fire up people, elect new Congress members, and get it changed. But state's rights, or other such court actions? It reminds us of past days when Southerners were fighting desegregation, anticipating that nullification would be the route to take to change the law. The South maintaining state's rights became tantamount to favoring segregation. It was a hollow argument at that, since the courts had already said that U.S. laws take precedent over state laws. While we can understand why our readers, or even a governor, would oppose the passage of the health care bill, we question the governor overstepping the state's own attorney general in this matter. (And ironically, with Attorney General Thurbert Baker standing up to the governor, it gave Baker's candidacy for governor a shot in the arm…..thanks to the Republican governor. Sonny could have done his party more harm than good in this move.) We realize politicians like to grab hold of the latest rope they see dangling to fortify their causes. We just question the wisdom of the governor, himself no lawyer, thinking that court action by the state against the medical care legislation is the way to go. The
governor is doing the state, and his political party, harm in this effort.
In this, he falls in line as a governor who can embarrass many of his
constituents….like governors of old. * * * * * As one columnist put it recently about the events surrounding health care passage, "….resorting to threats and violence in a civil democracy is not acceptable. If you're mad with the guys in office, register to vote and get involved in the political process to kick them out -- something it took far too long for Congressional Republican leaders to say this week." We agree. ABOUT OUR SPONSORS
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Asbury Automotive Group is one of the largest automobile retailers in the U.S. Asbury is publicly-traded (NYSE: ABG) and a member of the Fortune 500. Built through a combination of organic growth and a series of strategic acquisitions, Asbury currently operates 80 retail auto stores, encompassing 107 franchises for the sale and servicing of 38 different brands of American, European and Asian automobiles. Asbury offers customers an extensive range of automotive products and services, including new and used vehicle sales and related financing and insurance, vehicle maintenance and repair services, replacement parts and service contracts. Headquartered in Duluth, Asbury's local dealership group is Nalley Automotive Group with 12 locations across metro Atlanta. Visit asburyauto.com or nalleycars.com for more information.
FEEDBACK
UPCOMING Earlier this year, the Gwinnett Historical Society announced that a searchable photos archive would soon be added to its Web site. This photo archive is now available from the member section of the Web site.
The archive currently includes over 1,700 photos of people, places and events in Gwinnett County from the mid 1800s to the present. Anyone who has lived in the area for any length of time, or has ancestors from Gwinnett County, should enjoy browsing through the archive. Photos can be selected by over 5,000 unique keywords from an Index or searched by any words in the photo title or description. Visitors can also submit a query with no search criteria to browse through all the photos. From the photo detail screen, they can also leave a personal comment about any of the photos or share any additional information they may have. These comments will be attached to the photo and will be viewable by other members that look at the photo. The Society has many more pictures to be scanned and added to the archive. It also welcomes help in making this archive grow! Those who would like to volunteer to help on this project, email Tony DiMaio (tony@gwinnetths.org) or submit a request using the "Feedback" form from the web site. To access the archive, a visitor must log on using the "Member Login" button in the upper right corner of the GHS website, then select "View/Search Photo Archive" from the Member Options. Those who forget their login name or password should go to the "Member Login" screen and click on "Forgot your Login Name or Password". Those who don't yet have a Member Login to the web site, there is a link at the bottom of the Login screen to request access. Then visitors can enjoy a stroll through Gwinnett. NAMAR plans Partners-in-Business Expo for April 13 The Northeast
Atlanta Metro Association of Realtors (NAMAR) is hosting a Partners in
Business Expo on April 13 at the Gwinnett Center. Admission is free and
open to the public. The trade show is from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. NOTABLE Nicole Wright is the new business development manager for Information Technology and Advanced Communication in economic development for Partnership Gwinnett of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce. Wright was previously Niche Market Program Manager for the Chamber. Wright is a native of Gwinnett and graduate of the University of Georgia. She is currently working on her Master's in Business Administration from Georgia State and resides in Lawrenceville. Wright will start her new role in early April. Thompson gets Senate to approve MARTA expansion The Georgia
Senate has voted 37 to 9 to pass Sen. Curt Thompson's (D-Norcross) MARTA
Rail Expansion bill (SB 285), which will allow more metro Atlanta counties
to use MARTA's rapid rail system. The bill is now before the House Transportation
committee.
Thompson
says: "Our area has some of the worst traffic in the nation. We must
work swiftly to create alternative transportation methods for our citizens
before the situation is too far gone. Expanding existing MARTA lines can
bring more economic development to the state, ease congestion and improve
our environment."
"This is a thick, recently-issued collection of stories by St. Clair McKelway, for years associated with The New Yorker. A thick paperback, you wonder how you will ever get through it. And then, because of the sparkling, crisp writing and editing, soon you are deep into the book, thoroughly enjoying this fascinating reporter writing from the 1930s, 1940s, from World War II and beyond. Of particular interest were stories about the bombing of Tokyo by B-29 aircraft, told by the person who controlled what was said about it, from his position as the public relations officer for the command of Gen. Curtis LeMay. But it's mainly a book of characters, espionage and insights into the world before complications set in. The title may be misleading. We would have called it: 'Brilliant Reporting: Tales from the New Yorker.'"--eeb
GEORGIA ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eugene Pleasants Odum, called "the father of modern ecology," brought the word ecosystem into common parlance by making it the organizing concept in his 1953 Fundamentals of Ecology. Through that textbook, which was translated into 12 languages, and through his many other books and articles, he led the way toward the study of nature in terms of ecosystems, and with his brother, the ecologist Howard Thomas Odum, powerfully influenced the development of ecosystem ecology.
Odum was born in Newport, N.H., on September 17, 1913. His parents, Anna Louise Kranz and Howard Washington Odum, were vacationing there to escape the summer heat of Athens, where the senior Odum served on the faculty of the University of Georgia. Howard W. Odum later gained national prominence as a sociologist at the University of North Carolina, as founder of the journal Social Forces, and as one of the founders of the Southern Regional Council. Eugene Odum grew up with his younger siblings, Mary Frances and Howard Thomas, in Chapel Hill, where he developed his lifelong interest in ornithology. He obtained his A.B. and A.M. in zoology from the University of North Carolina in 1934 and 1936, respectively, and his Ph.D. in zoology, with a major in ecology, from the University of Illinois in 1939. He married Martha Ann Huff in 1939, served the 1939-40 academic year as resident naturalist at the Edmund Niles Huyck Preserve in Rensselaerville, N.Y., and joined the Department of Zoology at the University of Georgia in the fall of 1940. He and Martha had two sons, William Eugene and Daniel Thomas. Martha, who had graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in design, became a leader in the Athens art community, and William followed his father and his uncle into ecology, ending his career at the University of Virginia in 1991 when he died of liver cancer. Martha died of cancer in 1995. Odum retired from the University of Georgia in 1984, leaving his position as director of the Institute of Ecology, Alumni Foundation Distinguished Professor of Zoology, and Callaway Professor of Ecology. He had been instrumental in the founding of the university's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia Marine Institute on Sapelo Island, and the Institute of Ecology, which in 2007 was renamed the Eugene P. Odum School of Ecology in his honor. Odum died of natural causes after tending his garden at his Athens home on August 10, 2002. "He was the best-known ecologist in the world, there's no question about that," said a colleague, University of Georgia ecology professor Whit Gibbons. 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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MODERN HISTORY OF GWINNETT
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