4/25: Potter’s ornament; Braves and pencils; Fewer traffic problems?

SOMEBODY’S GATHERING: Coming May 6-7 will be the 44^th Snellville Days, held in T.W. Briscoe Park. It’s two days full of all sorts of activities. After all, everybody is somebody in Snellville. Read more details in Upcoming below.

TODAY’S FOCUS: Suwanee Potter Produces Leaf Ornament for Art on Limb, 2017

EEB PERSPECTIVE: Atlanta Braves Quiz, Just One Word Error and about Pencils

ANOTHER VIEW: What’ s This? Fewer Problems in Traffic after I-85 Falls?

SPOTLIGHT: Georgia Campus – Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine 

FEEDBACK: Suggests Program of Freedom of Movement Across Our Borders

UPCOMING: Gwinnett Library Launching Program To Access Wi-Fi Hot Spots

NOTABLE: GACS Junior Parker Jennings Wins Second Shuler Award

RECOMMENDED: Hemingway’s Cats by Carlene Fredericka Brennen

GEORGIA TIDBIT: Augusta Native Became Military Aide to Two U.S. Presidents

TODAY’S QUOTE: Sometimes You Should Just Leave Your Enemy Alone

MYSTERY PHOTO: Stunning Whiteness Stands Out in This Mystery Photo

CALENDAR: Spring Gala of Norcross High School Foundation Is This Weekend

Suwanee potter produces a leaf ornament for Art on a Limb 2017

By Abby Wilkerson, Suwanee, Ga.  |  Spring has sprung in Suwanee, and with the blooming of the dogwoods comes another annual tradition: Art on a Limb! Through the Art on a Limb program, the City of Suwanee hides two pieces of art along one of the greenways or within city parks each day throughout the month of May. Those who find the art pieces get to keep them!

Shivers with ornament

This year’s Art on a Limb artist is a community favorite, as well as a previous program participant: Potter Richard Shivers – also known as “Mr. Shivers the Music Teacher” to 35 years’ worth of Riverside Elementary alumni.

Shivers says: “Knowing the art objects would be displayed in the parks, I designed a pottery piece of a tree leaf. We stroll, play, exercise, and gather at the beautiful parks in our town and nature is an important part of our community.” Shivers also created the green ceramic frog bowls with leafy tree branches that served as the 2014 Art on a Limb offering.

Amy Doherty, City of Suwanee events and outreach manager, says:  “Art on a Limb was a ten-year-old program at the time, and we wondered if it had reached the end of its lifespan. I credit Mr. Shivers for breathing new life into an old program! People were so excited to search for art created by a well-known community member, especially former students.”

Pottery was one of those things Shivers had always wanted to do “one day.” After retirement and five years learning from “some of the best pottery teachers in the Atlanta area” at the Hudgens Center for the Arts, he decided to get serious about his hobby and opened his home studio, Measure of Clay.

Shivers says: “Having an art piece to take home from the park is a great acknowledgement of the importance of art, as well as a wonderful gift from the city to its people. To have art in front of people all the time – that’s a wonderful thing.

Of the 2017 prizes, Shivers adds: “Each leaf has a heart-shape cut out in the center of the piece to represent the Suwanee community we love. The piece is made from a special clay called ‘Peach’ to correlate with Georgia being the Peach State. The pattern on each leaf is an abstract swirling circle to compliment the Suwanee logo circles and the colors chosen for the project were taken from the colors of the Suwanee logo: bright yellow, lime, blue, red, beige, purple, orange, gold, green, and pink.

“Each leaf has an additional pottery piece with an ‘S’ stamped into the clay plus ‘Suwanee’ is impressed on the back of each leaf. Beads of various sizes were added to the piece, again with chosen colors from the Suwanee logo to decorate each piece and give it an ‘artsy’ touch, which also supports the confirmation that this is an art community. The result is each leaf is different, but yet the same in some way just like a community.”

• Have a comment?  Send to:  elliott@brack.net

Atlanta Braves, just one word error and about pencils

By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher |  How much do you know about the Atlanta Braves baseball team, and its history?

Veteran Sports Reporter Ross Atkin in the Christian Science Monitor ran a quiz about the Braves, which we found most interesting. There were 25 questions, all multiple choice, with the right answer popping up after you made your choice.

Probably like most of us, we thought we knew the Braves’ background pretty well. We were saddened to score only 64 percent.  So, how about it? Want to try this test of your Braves’ history? If so, click here.

And by the way, if you get a perfect score, take a “selfie” with your “100” showing in the background and send it to us. But be warned: we don’t think there will be a lot of perfect scores!

IT’S AMAZING what one single letter can do. Last week we got a quote for the Forum from always-productive John Titus of Peachtree Corners. We figured we had better check the spelling of the person being quoted, which we thought was the “Peanuts” creator, Charles Schulz.

John writes: “The quote which you published today I attributed to Charles Schurz and you thought I meant Charles Schulz. It was, in fact, made by Carl Schurz, a German revolutionary who emigrated to the US after the turmoil around 1848 in Europe. He supported Lincoln’s election, served in the Union Army, became a senator and cabinet member, and was also an author and publisher.

“The quote was apparently more extensive and read as follows: ‘Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny.’ It was in an address delivered at Faneuil Hall, Boston on April 18, 1859.”

Our apologies to John, the late Mr. Schulz and Mr. Schurz and our readers for changing…..only one letter.

HERE’S SOMETHING we’ve been meaning to print forever, for we find it interesting.

In 1858 Hymen Lipman of Philadelphia patented the first pencil to have an attached eraser. The eraser-tipped pencil is still something of an American phenomenon; most European pencils are still eraserless. The humble pencil has a long and storied history, going back to the Roman stylus, which was sometimes made of lead, and why we still call the business end of the pencil the “lead,” even though it’s been made of nontoxic graphite since 1864.

Pencils were first mass-produced in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1662. The Industrial Revolution of the 19th century really allowed the manufacture to flourish. Before he became known for Walden and “Civil Disobedience,” Henry David Thoreau and his father were famous for manufacturing the hardest, blackest pencils in the United States.

Our common pencils are hexagonal to keep them from rolling off the table, and they’re yellow because the best graphite came from China, and yellow is traditionally associated with Chinese royalty. A single pencil can draw a line 35 miles long, or write around 45,000 words. And if you make a mistake, thanks to Hymen Lipman, you’ve probably got an eraser handy.

• Have a comment?  Send to:  elliott@brack.net

What’ s this? Fewer problems in traffic after I-85 falls?

By Debbie Houston, contributing columnist  |  You cross the living room where your husband perches on the edge of the sofa near the TV screen.

“You won’t believe what just happened,” he says. You continue down the hall thinking how nothing shocks you anymore.

“I-85 has collapsed.”

Except that. You pivot back to the living room and gaze over his shoulder. “It’s on fire, too,” he says.

“Hope no one died,” you say while a local station broadcasts billowing flames and pillaring black smoke. “Wonder if it’s terrorism.”

You live in an age of terror in which you automatically assume the worst. Terrorism has given you a dark view of events, a sense of fatalism, and a lack of faith in people.

Another thought strikes you. “I have a 3 p.m. appointment tomorrow in Sandy Springs. And it’s a Friday.” You frown. “Maybe I should cancel it.”

“No,” your fearless man replies. “I’ll get you there.”

Metro Atlanta workday traffic is challenging enough, but the Friday 3-6 p.m. slot is dreadful. Throw in the I-85 collapse causing thousands of commuters to search for alternative routes, and you have the makings of Atlanta-geddon.

Or so you think.

The following day, you and Mr. Fearless leave the suburbs two hours earlier than normal. He drives back roads through Dunwoody that will lead to Sandy Springs. You enjoy the unfamiliar scenery. Freeways are great, but you consider what you lose when all you see day after day is the back of someone’s bumper.

You arrive in Sandy Springs with time to spare. After the appointment, you gaze at your watch. It’s  5 p.m. and GPS charts a stalled city in red. Mr. Fearless trails a line of cars out of Sandy Springs into a strange ebb and flow. That’s when you notice…..“Everyone is being so nice.”

Mr. Fearless agrees.  No honking horns, no thrashing arms, and no middle finger salutes.

He signals left to merge and a sympathetic soul lets him in. He waves thank you and extends the courtesy to the next motorist. No matter the inconvenience, Atlantans are keeping their cool.

A sense of pride washes over you.

“What is it about Atlanta?” you ponder. One hundred fifty years ago, it rose from ashes like a phoenix following a civil war. Today, that same city rises high like a sparkling glass of peach champagne.

Here’s to Atlanta! May you always rise above your circumstances.  

• Have a comment?  Send to:  elliott@brack.net

Georgia Campus – Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine 

The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Professional healthcare programs leading to doctoral degrees in Pharmacy (PharmD) and Osteopathic Medicine (DO) are offered at Georgia Campus – Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (GA-PCOM) in Suwanee Ga. A graduate degree at the master’s level can be earned in Biomedical Sciences and Physician Assistant Studies. In addition, a physical therapy education program is under development. GA–PCOM is a private, not-for-profit branch campus of the fully accredited Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, a multi-program institution founded in 1899 with a tradition of educational excellence.

• To learn more about how GA-PCOM is educating tomorrow’s healthcare professionals, visit www.pcom.edu or call 678-225-7500. For an appointment at the Georgia Osteopathic Care Center, an osteopathic specialty clinic, call 678-225-7485.
• For a list of other sponsors of this forum, click here.

Suggests program of freedom of movement across our borders

Editor, the Forum:

Conspicuously unsaid in this very enlightening and inspirational story is the fact that Sr. Norberto Sanchez came to this country legally. It seems to be common practice on your side of the ideological spectrum to conflate legal and illegal immigration. Apparently you mistake the general resentment of people who seek to circumvent the established legal process of immigration for an overarching dislike of all immigrants. As long as you have been in the information dissemination business, I cannot think that this is naiveté on your part.

That having been said, I would support a streamlined process of immigration. There is no reason it should take years of bureaucratic folderol to come to America. Our society needs the ideas and influences of ambitious, innovative individuals and families who are willing to dive into the melting pot of America.

Temporary and guest workers who are not interested in becoming Americans should have the opportunity to contribute to and benefit from our economy, and to travel freely back home as they wish. It should be a simple thing to establish a system of ID verification and background checks to enable the free exchange of labor, but corruption on both sides of the border stand in the way.

— Rick Hammond, Lawrenceville

Dear Rick: Didn’t know I was on either side of an ideological spectrum about immigration. Still don’t. I like your idea of freedom of movement across our borders by our documented friends in Mexico and Canada.–eeb

Ah, these times do resemble the American Emperor Age

Editor, the Forum:

With almost eight years of mostly executive orders and locked up legislature, and the likelihood of another 4-8 years of the same, we may have entered “The American Emperor Age.”  We can compare it to when the Roman Senate was neutered and Emperors ruled.  Our Supreme Court would be manipulated by its painful defense of its image.

— Byron Gilbert, Peachtree Corners

Learning from what always seems to remain the same

Editor, the Forum:

In ancient times there was Rome, Parthia (Persian Empire) and China.

In medieval times there was England, Spain, and China.

In the 21^st Century there is United States, Russia, and China.

That ought to tell us something.

— Alvin Leaphart, Jesup

Send us your thoughts:  We encourage you to send us your letters and thoughts on issues raised in GwinnettForum.  Please limit comments to 300 words.  We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length.  Send feedback and letters to:    elliott@brack.net

Gwinnett library launching program to access Wi-Fi hot spots

Gwinnett County Public Library (GCPL) will soon launch Connect Gwinnett, a new and innovative initiative that will allow customers to check out Wi-Fi hotspots from the library. The program helps expands the library’s efforts to increase access to technology and information throughout Gwinnett County.

Customers can now check out a Connect Gwinnett WiFi kit, which includes a T-Mobile 4G LTE wireless hotspot, USB cable, and wall charger. Each kit requires a Full Access or Branch Out library card and may be checked out for three weeks at a time. The hotspots do not renew.

GCPL Executive Charles Pace says: “The WiFi hotspot lending program is part of GCPL’s effort to bridge the digital divide in Gwinnett County. Up to 30 percent of households in the County do not have access to the internet at home and this is one step towards creating a more equitable distribution of online resources in our community.”

GCPL Director of Customer Experience Michael Casey says: “High-speed, reliable broadband is a necessity, not a luxury. This is about helping a student access the online resources he or she needs to get the grades required to attend college, and giving an entrepreneur the connectivity he requires to develop his business plan to bring new, high-tech jobs to Gwinnett.” For more information about Connect Gwinnett, visit www.gwinnettpl.org/connect.

Snellville Days returning May 6-7 for 44^th observance

Snellville’s longest-running event is back for its 44th year, as Snellville Days will take place May 6 and 7. The two-day festival, which features food, music, entertainment and a craft festival, is from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 6 and from 12 to 5 p.m. May 7 at T.W. Briscoe Park, 2500 Sawyer Parkway. Admission and parking is free.

Dozens of vendors and entertainment acts will be at the festival. There is also a kid’s zone where children can play on inflatables.

Other entertainment includes:

• Keith King BMX Bike Stunt Show: Performance features high-flying aerial stunts and mind-boggling technical moves;
• K-9s in Flight showcasing the top amazing K-9 sports with dogs doing high jump and catching Frisbees all in a fun, high-flying atmosphere;
• Jurassic Kingdom: Learn firsthand what life was like thousands of years ago. From fossils to seeing what it would be like to see a dinosaur hatch from the egg, this show is sure to amaze.
• Roaming ground acts: Barely distinguishable from real trees, Walking Tree Man moves slowly down the street and can be seen from 150 yards away. Keep your eyes peeled also for Woody from “Toy Story” – only he’s 10-feet tall performing lasso tricks. And check out the huge bubbles from the Roaming Bubble Factory.

On Saturday there will be a free shuttle from Snellville First Baptist Church. It will run from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.  The shuttle will let you off and pick you up from the main gate at Briscoe Park. There is no shuttle service on Sunday. For more information and a schedule of events visit www.snellvilledays.com.

Gwinnett offers young leaders program during the summer

Gwinnett County is seeking young leaders in the 10th, 11th and 12th grades who want to serve their county on behalf of their peers and learn how to impact decisions that affect youth in our community. Interested candidates must apply by May 1.

The program is sponsored by the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners and coordinated through the Community Outreach office. The Gwinnett County Youth Commission is a leadership and service orientated program that empowers young people to become knowledgeable and involved in the local governmental process. It aims to inspire the next generation of leaders.

Gwinnett Youth Commission is an eight-week summer program (every Wednesday, starting June 7 through July 26 from  9 a.m. until 4 p.m. It is designed to educate youth about local government, engage youth in civic affairs, and provide an opportunity for youth to affect change in their community. All classes will begin at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center in Lawrenceville. There is no cost to participate in this program.

Eligibility: To be considered for the program, youth must:

• Be a resident of Gwinnett County;
• Attend a school in Gwinnett County (Gwinnett County Public Schools, Buford City Schools, private, or charter schools);
• Be in the 10th, 11th, or 12th grade during the 2017 – 2018 academic year; and
• Submit a completed application and typed essay questions.

The class is limited to 30 participants each cycle. Selection criteria: Selections will be made by an independent committee based on eligibility and the typed essay.  For more information, please contact Nicole Hendrickson at 770-822-8877, or via email at  nicole.hendrickson@gwinnettcounty.com.,

GACS Junior Parker Jennings wins second Shuler Award

Greater Atlanta Christian School high school junior Parker Jennings of Norcross, pictured at left,  has done it again! She captured the Shuler Award for Best Actress at the 2017 Shuler Awards show in her role as Dorothy Banks in 42nd Street. Ms. Jennings won a Shuler last year for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Mrs. Banks in Mary Poppins. The Shuler Awards were televised live on Georgia Public Television on April 20. The event is similar to the Tony Awards, but celebrate excellence in high school musical theatre.  Another Gwinnett student, Anna Bragg of Providence Christian School, won first place in Costumes for her work on Mary Poppins at that school’s production.

Gwinnett Place CID adds 2 new board members

Gwinnett Place Community Improvement District (GPCID) has elected two new board members during the annual Caucus of Electors as a part of its monthly board meeting. The new members include Trey Ragsdale of Kaiser Permanente in Georgia, and Craig Hudson at Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health.

Ragsdale

Trey Ragsdale manages Government and Community Relations for Kaiser Permanente in Georgia. Ragsdale is responsible for securing government and community support for Kaiser Permanente’s healthcare initiatives throughout Georgia. Ragsdale also serves on the Atlanta Regional Commission Workforce Development Board, Gwinnett Chamber Board and Partnership Gwinnett.

Hudson

Craig Hudson is head of Customer Services at Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health. Hudson is on numerous boards, including Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, Georgia Chamber of Commerce Board of Governors, Atlanta Metro Chamber’s Board of Advisors and United Way of Gwinnett’s Campaign Cabinet.

Hemingway’s Cats

Biography by Carlene Fredericka Brennen

While the title is the focus of this book, along with Ernest Hemingway’s dogs, the book is much more than that. The 171 pages are crammed with 193 photographs depicting elements of life with Hemingway. It’s a shortened biography of the Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winner, from his birth right up to his suicide in 1961 in Idaho, made more understandable through revelations here. The book traces his career back and forth across the Atlantic in his wars and coverage of wars; shows his own life  through his fiction; documents his loves and his four marriages and his next loves; and concentrates much of the book on Hemingway’s home since late 1940 near Havana, Cuba, Finca Vigia (Lookout Farm), which today the Castro government keeps open as a historic site. It’s a quick glimpse of one of our most admired authors, and most rewarding. —eeb

An invitation: what books, restaurants, movies or web sites have you enjoyed recently? Send us your recent selection, along with a short paragraph (100 words) as to why you liked this, plus what you plan to visit or read next. –eeb

Augusta native became military aide to two U.S. presidents

Major Archibald Butt was a journalist, U.S. Army officer, and military aide to U.S. presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. During his tenure of service to President Taft, Butt perished in the sinking of the Titanic.

Butt’s letters were collected and published after his death, and they proved invaluable to historians for the insights they revealed about the inner workings of the Theodore Roosevelt and Taft administrations. In the preface to Both Sides of the Shield, a short novel by Butt published posthumously, a biographer stated that what Butt “didn’t know about White House affairs was considered hardly worth knowing.”

Archibald Willingham Butt was born in Augusta on September 26, 1865, to Pamela Robertson and Joshua Willingham Butt. He attended the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, graduating in 1888. Shortly after graduation, he focused on a career in journalism, working first for the Louisville Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky., then for the Macon Telegraph . Afterward, he secured a job in Washington, D.C., as a correspondent for several southern newspapers, including the Atlanta Constitution, Augusta Chronicle, and Savannah News. Through connections he made with U.S. State Department officials, Butt was appointed secretary of the American embassy in Mexico City, Mexico. There, he served with fellow ambassador Matt Ransom, a former U.S. senator from North Carolina and Confederate general. Butt never married.

At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, Butt left Mexico and returned to the United States, where he joined the army at the rank of lieutenant. After the war, he was commissioned as a captain in the Quartermaster’s Department and was given orders to go to the Philippines, where the American military sought to quell an insurrection by the Filipino people (1898-1902). Butt was charged with supervising the transport of more than 500 horses and mules being shipped to the Philippines for use by the army, and he carried out that challenge so effectively—with no loss of life—that he wrote several articles on how to care successfully for animals in tropical climates. These reports caught the eye of many in the military, as well as President Theodore Roosevelt.

After almost four years of service in the Philippines, Butt returned to Washington, D.C., where he served as depot quartermaster until 1906. In September of that year, he was sent to Cuba with the army of occupation. His excellent service in Cuba prompted President Roosevelt to appoint him as his personal military aide.

Butt served as Roosevelt’s military aide from April 1908 until March 1909, when Roosevelt’s second term ended. Butt had built a friendship with the incoming president, William Howard Taft (Roosevelt’s handpicked successor), and he was asked to stay on as military aide. As Taft’s aide, he helped coordinate the president’s schedule and accompanied him to state functions, and in 1911 Taft promoted him to the rank of major.

In 1912 the political climate in the Republican Party changed, and Butt found himself in the middle of a heated battle between Taft and Roosevelt. Because Taft had made several appointments and supported various laws and initiatives with which Roosevelt did not agree, Roosevelt made it clear he was going to challenge Taft for the Republican nomination in 1912.

The situation took its toll on Butt, who felt that it would be impossible to choose between the two rivals he had served so faithfully.

The strain on Butt led President Taft to encourage him to take a vacation, and Butt left for Europe on March 2,1912. The president gave him an indefinite sick leave and encouraged him to take a slow boat back so that he could take advantage of the sea air. While in Europe, Butt’s only official business was to call on Pope Pius X at the Vatican, in Rome, Italy, where he delivered a personal message to the pope from the president.

Butt headed for home and boarded the Titanic on April 10. Five days later, the luxury liner struck an iceberg and sank in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Butt’s remains were never found.

A memorial service was held in the Butt family home on May 2, 1912, with Taft in attendance. The Butt Memorial Bridge, which spans the Augusta Canal, was erected in downtown Augusta in Butt’s honor. President Taft returned to Augusta for the dedication of the bridge in 1914, on the second anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. The bridge is the only Titanic memorial in Georgia.

• To view the Georgia Encyclopedia online, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org

Stunning whiteness stands out in this Mystery Photo

The whiteness of his house is its stunning feature, including that picket fence. Where is this vernacular house located?  If you know, send in your thoughts to elliott@brack.net and be sure to include your hometown.

For the last mystery photo, only George Graf of Palmyra, Va. was able to pinpoint the answer. It is Middleburg Plantation, near Charleston, S.C., the oldest wooden house south of Virginia, circa 1697. For more details, click here.

George gave more detail: “House at Middleburg Plantation on the Cooper River near Huger, Berkeley County, S.C.  According to nationalregister.sc.gov, Middleburg was erected about 1699 and retains the medieval plan of a one-room thickness, and also the exposed post and girt construction of the seventeenth century. Middleburg’s plan of a single file of rooms, also forecasts the basic plan of Charleston’s Georgian ‘single house’ of the 18th century, and is similar to the common 19th century vernacular I-House type found across South Carolina. The plantation house has two outbuildings, a commissary and a frame carriage house. Middleburg was designated a National Historic Landmark on April 15, 1970.”

One more aspect for the previous mystery photo, that from Point Reyes, Calif., Jim Savedelis reports on   the number of steps at this site: “I googled Point Reyes steps: 308!”  Jim should know. He says he finally climbed out when on his visit.

(NEW) Spring Gala of the Norcross High School Foundation for Excellence, on April 28 at 7 p.m. at The Carlyle House in downtown Norcross. Celebrate the accomplishments of the year and thank the community supporters and donors. Three Hall of Fame honorees will be special guests: Keith Maloof, Melvin Melton and Alex Ward. Enjoy the live auction.  Tickets are $100 and may be purchased through www.norcrosshighfoundation.org.

Author Visit: Gwinnett County Public Library will host John Sandford on Monday, May 1 at 7 p.m. at the Norcross Cultural Arts and Community Center in Norcross.  This event is free and open to the public.  Books will be available for purchase and signing courtesy of Eagle Eye Book Shop. John Sandford is the pseudonym of John Roswell Camp.  Camp won the Pulitzer Prize in journalism and was one of four finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in 1980.  As John Sandford, Camp is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and will discuss his new novel Golden Prey.  Golden Prey is the 27th book in the Prey series of thrillers featuring Lucas Davenport. For more information, visit www.gwinnettpl.org or call 770-978-5154.

(NEW) Job Fair on May 4 at 11 a.m. at the Five Forks Branch of the Gwinnett County Public Library, 2780 Five Forks Road. Gwinnett County Public Library, in partnership with Goodwill of North Georgia, is holding this Job Fair on Thursday, May 4 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.  This event is free and open to the public.  Bring your resume, dress professionally, and get hired!

Author Visit: Gwinnett County Public Library will host Ace Atkins, New York Times bestselling author, on Friday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Aurora Theatre, 153 East Crogan Street, Lawrenceville.  This event is free and open to the public.  Books will be available for purchase and signing courtesy of Eagle Eye Book Shop. For more information, please visit www.gwinnettpl.org.

Mayberry Moments will be Saturday, May 6 at 8 p.m. at the Red Clay Theater in Duluth. Come meet original Andy Griffith show cast members Maggie Peterson, who played Charlene Darling, and Rodney Dillard, one of the Darling family brothers. Also see David Browning, also known as The Mayberry Deputy, a portrayal of Barney Fife. For tickets, visit http://eddieowenpresents.com.

Quarry Crusher Run will be May 6 at the Vulcan Materials Quarry, at 1707 Beaver Ruin Road in Norcross, to benefit the Gwinnett County Public Schools. Starting time is 8 a.m. Descend 600 feet to the bottom of the quarry before you begin your climb out! See if you are up to the challenge. It’s two miles down, and of course, another two miles back. Test yourself! For details, visit quarrycrusherrun.com/atlanta to register.

HANDYMAN SERVICES: Whatever your home maintenance problem is, Isaias Rodriguez can help. An experienced painter, he is dependable in installing or repairing siding, gutters, ceramic tile, plumbing, garage doors, or any other problem around your home. He’ll even fix your bike! He is originally from Mexico and has been in Georgia since 1996. He is legally allowed to work in the United States and is insured. Give him a call at his home in Norcross at 404-569-8825 or email him at rodriguez_isais@yahoo.com. Visit his Facebook page at Neza construction and home repair to see some of his past work.

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