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Issue 11.67 | Friday, Nov. 18, 2011 TODAY'S FOCUS ELLIOTT
BRACK'S PERSPECTIVE FEEDBACK UPCOMING
NOTABLE ALSO INSIDE IN
THE SPOTLIGHT GEORGIA
TIDBIT LAGNIAPPE GWINNETT
CALENDAR TODAY'S
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TODAY'S FOCUS SUWANEE, Ga., Nov. 18, 2011 – Two hundred twenty-eight first year medical and pharmacy students at Georgia Campus of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine were presented their “white coat” jackets November 13, during brief ceremonies at the Gwinnett Center for the Performing Arts.
The year 2011 marked the seventh year that the Georgia Campus of the PCOM has been opened. Currently, 680 professional and graduate students are enrolled in Georgia Campus programs. Pharmacy Sixty of the 93 students in the first year pharmacy class are from Georgia. Of the remaining 33, 16 come from other states, with eight calling Florida home. Fifty-five percent of the class is female. The PCOM School of Pharmacy is now in its second year and has Candidate Status accreditation, which means the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) has reviewed the program and deemed it worthy to continue and to apply for full accreditation according to ACPE guidelines. Enrollment in the pharmacy school will expand by about 15 each year until it reaches a first year class enrollment of 150 in 2015. Mark P. Okamoto, PharmD, is dean of the PCOM School of Pharmacy. Medicine Fifty-three of the 135 students in first year of the medical school program are from Georgia and represent 18 counties; none of the students call Gwinnett County home. Of the remaining students, 81 come from other states, with 28 calling Florida home. One student comes from Canada. Thirty-nine percent of the class is female. The osteopathic medicine program is now in its seventh year and was the first academic program offered on this campus. It began with an entering class of 86 students in 2005. The entering class size remained at 86 until this year, when the academic accrediting agency authorized an increase to 135. H. William Craver, DO, is dean of the osteopathic medicine program. Georgia Campus-PCOM opened in 2005 as a branch campus of Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, a medical school chartered in 1899, in Philadelphia. It is the world’s oldest continuously operating college of osteopathic medicine. PCOM School of Pharmacy at Georgia Campus enrolled its first class in 2010. Georgia Campus programs, in addition to pharmacy and medicine, include master’s degrees in biomedical sciences and organizational development and leadership. EEB PERSPECTIVE NOV. 18, 2011 – People object to signing “Loyalty oaths” for many good reasons. Yet some institutions limit themselves by thinking that having employees sign such an oath will benefit that institution, while for the most part, observers see distrust, dissension and discrimination from requiring these signatures.
The two latest institutions to demand that their employees sign such statements of belief are Shorter University in Rome, and Truett-McConnell College in Cleveland, both affiliated with the Georgia Baptist Convention. This fall, Shorter, a respected small school that has traditionally placed high among Southern private schools, requires its more than 200 employees to sign a “Personal Life Statement.” Those not signing will not have their contracts renewed. Read the statement here. Truett-McConnell on October 27 had every full-time faculty member sign the Baptist Faith and Message statement, which was approved by the Georgia Baptist Convention in 2000. It is similar to statements six Southern Baptist seminary faculties are required to sign. The statement addresses 18 areas of Christian life for adherence. The move by these two schools are attempts to make sure that the schools come into compliance with what the Georgia Baptist Convention wants. Interestingly, the adherence to the Convention values comes at a time when students pay most of the overall expenses. The Georgia Baptist Convention, for instance, provides only 4 percent of the Shorter budget. Years ago, other prominent church-founded schools broke direct ties with their church bodies, to become more independent. Since breaking these ties, these universities have thrived. Among them: Mercer and Emory University in Georgia, Furman University in South Carolina, Duke University in North Carolina, Baylor University in Texas, and Stetson University in Florida. Besides the Georgia Baptist Convention, efforts at Shorter in Rome were led by the current chairman of the Trustees, the Rev. Nelson Price, pastor emeritus of the Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta, and by incoming Trustee Chairman, Joe Frank Harris Jr. of Cartersville. At Truett-McConnell College, the chair of the trustees is Mike Dorough of Warner Robins, a pastor of students at Second Baptist Church of Warner Robins. To require college professors to sign required loyalty oaths is wrong. It halts academic freedom, curtails broad-based research into the unknown, and hampers an educational institution’s purpose to pursue knowledge. Indeed, such statements not only limit mankind’s quest for understanding, but it also casts a cloud of question on the entire school’s reputation. In effect, it says “Adhere or begone!” What a negative image to portray! We suspect it also limits enrollment. Colleges spend years seeking to improve and upgrade themselves. They cultivate the community, striving to do their mission in the best possible way. Then some rigid-thinking doctrinarian comes along with what some see as a reasonable suggestion, and whatever the reason, members of the Trustees cave in, abrogating their responsibilities, and follow unreasonable courses. They fail to see the big picture, and eventually the institution they have pledged to uphold, suffers from their lack of foresight and leadership. Interestingly, oversight institutions police such matters. These are independent standard accrediting agencies, that lament curtailment of freedom of speech and research, and can withdraw their accreditation. This may happen in the case of Shorter and Truett-McConnell. Those wanting more churchly control of religious colleges now have their Christian accrediting agencies. This lower-level accreditation may serve these secondary colleges. But they are not generally-recognized to attain the high levels of competence of the major accreditation agencies. Shorter
and Truett-McConnell are on the road to lower standards of excellence.
We deplore the route these two institutions of higher learning are taking. ABOUT OUR SPONSORS
FEEDBACK Editor, the Forum: Noticing your article on Reno, I lived there for a year between 1994 and 1995. I had a home in the mountains outside of the city and the views everywhere were breathtaking! I enjoyed walking around Virginia Lake a lot! Once around the lake was one mile. I never quite got over the fact that gaming machines were everywhere! They were in the rest rooms at the airport as soon as you de-planed. They were in the grocery stores and, if you sat at the bar in a nice restaurant, they were embedded in the counter tops so you could gamble until dinner arrived. One thing I so admired about the Nevada residents is their spirit of independence. When elections came, the candidate’s names were on the ballot and at the bottom of the ballot was a box saying "None of the above"! It gave the voters the right to say that they did not like any of the choices running and they were still exercising their voting privilege by NOT voting for them! Perhaps we can have that option here in Georgia?
Sunday sales is more about government controlling lives Editor, the Forum: OK, so maybe growth really caused the Sunday sales approval. But for me, it’s more about giving government more control over my life. Personally
I am quite capable of deciding when I want to purchase something and I
don’t need a bunch of elected officials deciding how I should conduct
my life. Government should be there to serve the interests of the people,
not direct the interests of the people. So, if I’m educated enough
to vote, then I’m educated enough to decide if I want to purchase
a drink on Sunday, or Monday, or Tuesday….
Atlanta still in Bible Belt, though diversity has brought change Editor, the Forum: I think Metro Atlanta is still part of the Bible Belt. Sure, we have more diversity now, but it is possible that evangelicals no longer focus on the sale of alcoholic beverages because they too drink. In other words, diversity has indeed brought change, but the natives have changed as well. It is easier to throw in the towel when you’re outnumbered. In smaller towns they are not outnumbered, so they continue to vote against alcohol sales. By the way, that doesn't mean they don't drink, either.
UPCOMING With professional basketball in downtown Atlanta on hiatus, basketball fans can get their fill beginning in November, as Georgia Tech men’s and women’s teams will play numerous home games at Gwinnett’s own Arena at Gwinnett Center this year. County officials have officially recognize that Georgia Tech has chosen the Arena at Gwinnett Center as their venue for the present season. The men’s team opened its season in Gwinnett on November 11 with a victory over Florida A&M, followed by another victory November 14 over Delaware State. The next men’s game in Gwinnett will be against Siena on November 23. The women’s team has also posted two victories so far this season, against Alabama State and Old Dominion. Their next home game is November 22 against Kennesaw State. Tech men’s and women’s teams will play 16 games at the Arena this coming season. Women’s tickets are just $5 per game, with men’s tickets starting at $10 per game. Tickets
can be purchased at the Arena Box Office, at www.ticketmaster.com
or at www.ramblinwreck.com. Gwinnett
County Commission Chairman Charlotte Nash has unveiled the proposed fiscal
year 2012 budget to the Board of Commissioners. The proposed budget totals
$1.3 billion, compared to $1.5 billion for 2011.
The
proposed budget resolution is available to the public to view online at
www.gwinnettcounty.com
and in a hard copy form at the Department of Financial Services office
located in the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center (GJAC), 75 Langley
Drive in Lawrenceville, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. New London
Theatre is proud to host the best of the arts in Snellville. Come celebrate
at New London this Thanksgiving weekend. Snellville’s own Gwinnett
Ballet Theatre, actor/singer/songwriter Bryan M. Lewis, actor/singer Jesse
Farmer, and actress/model/singer Gretchen Gordon are just a few of the
many acts who will be showcased. More performers are being booked each
day along with local artists who will be displaying their work. In addition,
there will be a silent auction for some of the artwork as well as “The
Twelve Days of Christmas” gift giveaway. NOTABLE Six missionaries have been consecrated by The Mission Society of Norcross for service in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. The new
missionaries are Theresa Anderson of Phenix City, Ala.; Dave and Ellen
Bartlett of Marietta, Ga.; Natalie Brown of Youngstown, Ohio; and Johannes
(John) and Lena Ebner of Germany. South Gwinnett Rotary honors 40 on Veterans Day More than 40 Gwinnett County World War II veterans were honored on Veterans Day by the South Gwinnett Rotary Club at a luncheon held at the Atlanta Marriott Gwinnett Place. The event attracted veterans from all branches of the service.
South Gwinnett Rotary President Gene Davis (above at left) of Lawrenceville greeted Colonel John Lowell Gornall Sr. of Lawrenceville, who served 30 years in the Air Force.
Jackson EMC to award 3 scholarships
to customers' grads
The Restricted
Scholarship Award is available exclusively to students attending or planning
to attend Gainesville State College. A.T. Sharpton applicants may also apply for the Walter Harrison Scholarship. This scholarship, administered by Georgia EMC, is named for a leader in the state and national electric cooperative movements and are awarded statewide to undergraduate students enrolled in or accepted by a Georgia college, university or technical college. All scholarship recipients must be a customer of Jackson EMC or the son or daughter of a customer, and must also be a resident of the home served by Jackson EMC. Students interested in applying for any or all of these scholarships should contact their area high-school guidance counselors or complete the application online at www.jacksonemc.com/scholarships or at www.ngcf.org. The deadline for applications is January 20, 2012.
GEORGIA ENCYCLOPEDIA
(From previous edition) After publishing The Bobwhite Quail, Herbert Lee Stoddard continued working as a private researcher and wildlife consultant until World War II, when he was forced to take a more active role in forest management. He developed a multiaged system of forestry based on a sustained-yield, selective-cut harvest that not only maintained the health of the longleaf-wiregrass environment but also enhanced it in many cases. Stoddard's system of forest management, implemented and refined by his protégé, Leon Neel, is known today as the Stoddard-Neel method and continues to be practiced in the Red Hills.
Although he began his work in the Southeast as a quail expert, Stoddard's approach to overall habitat management resulted in a system that ensured the ecological health of the region. Many forest ecologists now see the techniques he developed in the Red Hills, and the Stoddard-Neel method in particular, as a pioneering template for modern conservation in the South's longleaf-wiregrass forests. Finally, his work is responsible for the survival of ecologically diverse longleaf-wiregrass environments in the southern coastal plain. In 1969, one year before his death, Stoddard published Memoirs of a Naturalist, a chronicle of his career. He died on November 15, 1970, at Sherwood, in Grady County, where he was buried.
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© 2011, Gwinnett Forum.com. Gwinnett Forum is an online community commentary for exploring pragmatic and sensible social, political and economic approaches to improve life in Gwinnett County, Ga. USA. |
TODAY'S QUOTE “Laws alone can not secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be spirit of tolerance in the entire population."
MORE COPIES AVAILABLE NOW
The book includes 143 demographic and historic tables, with more than 4,000 names in the index, and 10,000 names in the appendix. Two versions of the book are available. The hardback edition is priced at $75, while a softback edition is $40. Books are available at:
You can also order
books through the Internet. To do that, go to www.elliottbrack.com
to place your order. For mail orders, there is a $5 shipping and handling
fee. Purchases are also subject to the 6 percent Georgia sales tax. SEARCH GWINNETT FORUM Loading
New Exhibit, "Lateral Thinking," is up now through Jan.14 at Kudzu Art Zone, 116 Carlyle Street in Norcross. Admission is free. Artists were challenged to construct images from a list of unrelated objects to explore their reaction to disparate items. "Still Life," an exhibit of the work of the last year of David Gentry, is open at the Pinckneyville Park Community Recreation Center, 4650 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. His work includes memory snapshots in ceramics, metalwork, painting, drawing and photography. A reception will be held Dec. 1 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. For more info, visit www.gwinnettparks.com. Community Crime Prevention Meeting: 11:30 a.m., Nov. 18, Gwinnett Place Community Improvement District, 3700 Crestwood Parkway, Duluth. Current initiatives include S.A.F.E. neighborhood block parties to engage law enforcement and Gwinnett residents, the prevention of child abuse and the commercial sexual exploitation of children, and safety education. For information, call 770-995-3339. (NEW) Art Open House: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Nov. 19, Kudzu Art Zone, Norcross. Check out the art on the walls, and visit with many artists in their studios. Seasonal nibbles will be awaiting you at the 116 Carlyle Street location. Book Signing at Books for Less: 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Nov. 19, in Buford at 2815 Buford Drive. Elliott Brack will be signing copies of the Gwinnett history, Gwinnett: A Little Above Atlanta. This book, previously sold out of the first edition, is now available in softback and hardback form. Fourth Annual LaJazz: 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., Nov. 20 at Purple Rain in Duluth. Both events benefit Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and the Gwinnett Pearls of Service Foundation. More info. Program on Confederate Generals: 7:30 p.m., Nov. 21, in the Gwinnett Historic Courthouse Speaker: Robert Jones, president of Kennesaw Historic Society. His topic will focus on the best and worst Confederate generals. Colored Pencil Odyssey exhibition of six artists: Now through Nov. 25, St. Edward's Episcopal Church, 737 Moon Road in Lawrenceville. These 24 drawings are from members of the Atlanta chapter of the Colored Pencil Society. The gallery is free to the public, with viewing hours 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, call 770-963-6128.
© 2001-2011, Gwinnett Forum.com is Gwinnett County's online community forum for commentary that explores pragmatic and sensible social, political and economic approaches to improve life in Gwinnett County, Ga. USA. PHONE: 770.840.1003 |
The
white coat symbolically recognizes the beginning of academic study in
a health care profession. The 135 medical and 93 pharmacy students receiving
the white coats began their four-year march to obtain the Doctor of Osteopathic
Medicine and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees, respectively, August 15.
The
public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com
to you at no cost to readers. Today’s underwriter is The Gwinnett
Center, home to three distinct facilities in Duluth: The Arena at Gwinnett
Center, Gwinnett Center and The Performing Arts Center. The Arena at Gwinnett
Center has had eight years of tremendous success hosting countless concerts,
community and sporting events, which include being home to the Arena Football
League’s Georgia Force and to an ECHL Hockey Team, the Gwinnett Gladiators.
Some past concerts include American Idol, George Strait, Foo Fighters,
Katy Perry, Jason Aldean, Kid Rock, James Taylor and Michael Buble. The
Arena at Gwinnett Center also hosts many family shows including Ringling
Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus, Cirque du Soleil, Disney on Ice and
the Harlem Globetrotters. The Gwinnett Center offers patrons the opportunity
to host or attend a wide variety of events; from corporate meetings to
trade shows to social occasions. The Performing Arts Center has an intimate
capacity of 700 seats and is home to many local events, family shows and
even some comedians. For further information visit 
I
agree with the writer about Lake Tahoe. I am glad to know it is still
as pristine as it was then. The area is also VERY cold, even in the middle
of summer! In the winter, the snow sits on the roofs of homes, which have
been fortified. Cyclists can be seen enjoying the routes at all OTHER
times of the year! 
Keynote
speaker was Colonel Robert Young of the Third Army, who acknowledged that
these veterans grew up during the Great Depression, fought in a world
war, and came home to build a great nation. Event chair Scott LeCraw noted
that this “greatest generation” knows the true meaning of sacrifice,
humility, loyalty and patriotism. 
Jackson
EMC offers two separate types of awards through the A.T. Sharpton Scholarship
program, named in honor of a late chairman of the Jackson EMC Board of
Directors, who was from Gwinnett County. The categories include:
