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TODAY'S
ISSUE
Quality of Life Unit
moving on enforcing ordinances
By Sgt. David Spell
Gwinnett County Police Department
Special to GwinnettForum.com
MARCH 31, 2006 -- Gwinnett neighborhoods are getting cleaner and
safer as a result of the County's continued emphasis on enforcing
existing codes and regulations.
Officers from Gwinnett's Quality of Life Unit spoke with more than
1,900 property owners about various violations during a four-month
period ending in February. They issued 1,678 violation notices,
684 citations and 15 arrest warrants. They also towed 276 vehicles
and removed more than 1,300 illegal signs.
The unit consists of Gwinnett police officers working with code
enforcement officers from the Planning and Development Department.
The clean-up program, started in June 2005 by the Board of Commissioners,
was originally called Operation Fixing Broken Windows. The idea
is to reduce crime and bigger problems by fixing the little things
before they get out of hand. Gwinnett County Commission Chairman
Charles Bannister says: "We're also hopeful the program will
help property values and public safety by encouraging residents
to take pride in their community."
Based on crime statistics, the unit sweeps various neighborhoods
looking for illegal storage, junk cars, excessive trash, parking
on the lawn and other violations of acceptable community standards.
The Notice of Violation is essentially a warning to fix the problem
by a certain date. A citation to appear in court is the next step
if the violation isn't cleared up on time.
District 1 Commissioner Lorraine Green says: "This program
is making a visible difference in the quality of our neighborhoods
in Gwinnett County."
Police and code enforcement officers will officially mark the change
to the Gwinnett Quality of Life program by conducting a "Spring
Sweep" in several neighborhoods beginning April 12. In addition
to the neighborhood sweeps, information about property maintenance
and other quality-of-life issues will be available on the County's
website.
All Gwinnett County police officers are receiving in-service training
from members of the Quality of Life Unit throughout April and May.
The training is an effort to make enforcement of quality-of-life
issues part of the everyday fabric of law enforcement in Gwinnett
County, according to Gwinnett Police Chief Charlie Walters.
For more information about Gwinnett's Quality of Life Unit, call
(770) 932-4830 ext. 5619.
ELLIOTT
BRACK
Vermont's maple syrup makers are ambassadors
for state
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com
MARCH 31, 2006 -- The store-bottled "maple syrup" most
of us buy in Georgia stores would be considered trash syrup in Vermont.
Their "Vermont Gold," so to speak, is ambrosia from the
maple forest of Vermont, where about one-third of all trees are
maple.
Brack |
We visited nine "sugarhouses" last weekend in Vermont,
and learned of this vaulted syrup. Ask at any "sugarhouse"
and they'll tell you quickly that Mother Nature controls the quality
of the sap and amount of syrup it will make.
Many others factors enter in:
The people cooking. Many are multi-generational like Selectman
(city council member) Howdy Russell at Russell Family Farms in Hinesberg,
boiling for seven generations. The seven brothers and sisters all
pitch in, using two giant Percheron horses to pull their tank on
a wagon through the woods, collecting via tin buckets. Many believe
collecting by buckets gives a better tasting syrup. "We gathered
66 barrels and made 51 gallons yesterday," Howdy told us, as
his sister, Ann Donegan, strained the new syrup. Though there are
four grades of syrup, he has realized: "Different people like
different grade. Some like the darker syrup, saying it has more
flavor. So we sell them what they want." Earlier in the season,
a lighter "Fancy" grade can often be made.
Amid the steam at Red Rock Farm, Henry Edmunds Jr. and daughter,
Casey, pull off the newly-made honey from the evaporator.
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The equipment used: Today many syrupmakers use a "reverse
osmosis" (RO) process to reduce the water content of sap. This
raises the sugar content and reduces the amount of time and fuel
needed to produce syrup. "The machine will pay for itself in
less than two years," Sam Cutting III of Dakin Farms near Ferrisburgh,
told me of the $10,000 RO machine. "With the machine, it takes
about a gallon of oil to make a gallon of syrup. But it take seven
gallons of oil without the RO machine." Dakin Farms is a big
operation, and popular spot to stop by for pancakes, cooked in the
same room as the boiling syrup evaporator, served with melted butter,
sausage, and bacon, and of course, that maple syrup.
The ingenuity of the syrupmaker: Seeing vapor pouring out
of a small shed behind a white clapboard home in Hinesberg, we stopped.
Jack Milbank, his son and brother in law, were "boiling,"
making about 1,000 gallons a year. Milbank's tinkering resulted
in using a discarded small aquarium to feed his sap through. "Reduced
the pressures coming into the evaporator," he explained. He
also found unusual containers for some of his new syrup: old aluminum
beer kegs from the recycling center. He adapted them with a specially-designed
plug, and they work beautifully, holding 15 gallons each.
How the boiler is fired: some say using wood (not oil) to
fire the boiler makes better syrup. Sally Lincoln was throwing split
wood into the fire box at Shelburne Farms, liking this method. Others
point out all the labor involved in wood, and have switched to oil.
"It's higher in price," Howdy Russell told us, "And
anyway we have the wood from old trees all around. Working the syrup
keeps our family together, as we gather sap, boil it and round up
the wood."
One thing for sure: the work is intensive. The syrupmakers
have to boil the sap collected each day, or else bacteria will build
up, and the syrup is of lower quality. Many boil into the night,
and sometimes, all night. "Luckily, we don't collect sap at
night, so we get a little break," Russell told us. He had boiled
until midnight the night before.
Boiling down maple sap for syrup is intensive work, very much a
distinctive operation for Vermont, which produces some mighty fine
syrup. The maple sugar people of Vermont are ambassadors for their
state as they explain their craft to visitors!
ABOUT
OUR SPONSORS
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public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com
to you at no cost to readers. Today's sponsor is the Gwinnett
Chamber of Commerce. From answering your questions and providing
a host of useful information, to promoting growth in our county,
there are people working every day to help make Gwinnett a place
where businesses thrive and success lives. For more detail, go to
www.gwinnettchamber.org.
For a list of other sponsors of this forum, go to: http://www.gwinnettforum.com/about/sponsors.htm
McLEMORE'S
WORLD
3/31: Homelessness
and entitlements
Another great cartoon from Bill McLemore:
UPCOMING
United Way seeks input to help improve communities
United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta has created a fund to help establish
new relationships with neighborhoods and/or community groups who
are working together to improve their community.
The fund provides small grants to groups who have a "great
idea" that supports and strengthens community. Successful applications
will address these key selection criteria:
* To renew and vitalize people.
* To involve those who benefit in the planning, delivery and evaluation
of the "great idea."
* To have demonstrated the "will" to implement.
* To foster a sense of community where people are sharing skills
and resources.
* To increase skills and capacities of individuals-including leadership
skills of youth and adults.
United Way defines "community" as people who are brought
together by where they live or by other shared interests, values
or similarities.
The application can be accessed through the United Way website at
www.unitedwayatlanta.org
under "Latest News and Information."
NOTABLE
Two local EMCs help
environment through chicken litter
Jackson and Walton EMCs may have found a unique solution to two
challenges facing Northeast Georgians----getting more environmentally
friendly energy, and disposing of poultry wastes.
Traditionally, poultry litter is spread on fields since it is rich
in nutrients and acts as a fertilizer. The problem comes when urban
and suburban sprawl takes away land that was once available to accept
chicken litter.
Through their cooperative Green Power EMC, both Jackson and Walton
will receive some of the electricity generated at a new facility
in Carnesville that uses chicken litter to produce electricity.
The plant, operated by Earth Resources, Inc., is the first in the
state to use a gasification system for this process.
The litter is superheated and separates into gas compounds, including
methane. These gases are burned to produce heat that creates steam
to power a turbine.
After it's used for power production, the litter turns into an
odorless ash that's granulated and added to the soil to provide
nutrients. Another benefit is that the chicken litter power plant
has lower emissions than typical power plants.
Governor Dr. Sonny Perdue says: "Georgia must be proactive
in developing alternative energy sources, and that is exactly what
we're seeing with Green Power EMC's poultry litter-to-energy operation.
If this project is successful, it has the potential to be replicated
throughout the state, and could be a significant agricultural solution
for Georgia's growing energy needs."
The plant should be fully functional by 2007. Its output will be
20 megawatts, enough electricity to annually meet the needs of 15,000
homes.
Jackson and Walton EMCs are customer-owned power companies that
together serve 200,000 accounts in Northeast Georgia. Learn more
at www.jacksonemc.com,
www.waltonemc.com
and www.greenpoweremc.org.
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Suwanee joins national
program to help during incidents
The Suwanee City Council is adopting the National Incident Management
System (NIMS) template, which allows all government, private sector,
and nongovernmental organizations to work together during domestic
incidents.
NIMS, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is
"…a consistent nationwide approach for federal, state…and
local governments to work effectively and efficiently together to
prepare for, prevent, respond to, and recover from domestic incidents,
regardless of [their] cause, size, or complexity."
Suwanee Police Chief Mike Jones says: "It's really to make
sure that we're all working off the same sheet of music. NIMS ensures
that we all respond to an incident, be it natural or man-made, in
the same manner, using the same terminology, and that we coordinate
effectively with one another."
This federally mandated and state-supported initiative couples
best practices with consistency and national standardization in
preparedness for, response to, and recovery from, domestic emergencies,
large and small, that could include incidents such as fires, hazardous
materials, terrorist attacks, and natural and technological disasters.
Adoption of the National Incident Management System will require
that Suwanee personnel-police officers, public works and finance
staff, and eventually managers and City Council members-be trained
in utilizing the system. Suwanee police officers will train using
Internet-based tutorials; in addition the Georgia Police Academy
will offer training classes.
Brand Bank adds specialist
for local medical community
Gwinnett's oldest locally-owned bank, Brand
Banking Company, is strengthening its support of the area's
dental and medical practices with a new bank division dedicated
specifically to the diverse needs of that field, and with the addition
of Medical Financial Specialist Dana Little to oversee the division.
Little has seven years' experience in the medical financial industry,
which includes in-depth knowledge of unique issues that affect the
healthcare industry, like HIPAA, insurance needs and other state
and federal regulations.
RECOMMENDATION
Sky Burial, by Xinran
"It has been a long time since a book really left me with
a 'WOW' effect and a burning desire to know more, but Sky Burial
really left me yearning. Sky Burial took me to a land
I knew little of and shared a culture and a world I didn't know
existed. This astonishingly true story of a woman's 30-year journey
roaming through the mountains of north Tibet searching for her husband
is unlike any love story ever written. I will be forever grateful
to Xinran for sharing Shuwen's story of immeasurable love and fearless
determination. I shall never look at a vulture the same again!"
-- Paige Havens
- 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
TIDBIT
Creek Indians avoid Revolutionary War, but
see life changed
Creeks
largely avoided the American Revolution, but their lives changed
dramatically thereafter. The deerskin trade collapsed due to a shrinking
white-tailed deer population. The new state of Georgia consequently
viewed Creeks as impediments to the expansion of plantation slavery
rather than as partners in trade. Under pressure by Georgia, Creeks
ceded their lands east of the Ocmulgee River in the Treaties of
New York (1790), Fort Wilkinson (1802), and Washington (1805).
Oglethorpe with the Creek Indians |
At the same time, the United States initiated a program to turn
Creeks into ranchers and planters. Although some Creeks willingly
embraced the program, many opposed it.
Tension between the two factions was so enormous, it erupted in
civil war in 1813. U.S. troops and state militias entered the conflict,
and in a final, definitive battle in March 1814 at Horseshoe Bend
in Alabama, General Andrew Jackson directed the killing of 800 Creeks.
The Red Stick War, as it is called, officially ended in August 1814
with the Treaty of Fort Jackson. In this agreement the Creeks ceded
22 million acres, including a huge tract in southern Georgia.
Creeks were soon dispossessed of their remaining land. In the Treaty
of Indian Springs of 1825, Georgia agents bribed Creek leader William
McIntosh to sign away all Creek territory in the state. Outraged
Creeks formally voted to put McIntosh to death for his treachery,
and the United States rejected the fraudulent treaty. However, Creeks
recognized that the Georgia government would not relent. The following
year Creek representatives signed the Treaty of Washington, ceding
their remaining Georgia land.
Georgia citizens played a central role in removing the 20,000 Creeks
still in Alabama. In 1832, the Creeks signed a treaty agreeing to
their relocation to Indian Territory (later known as Oklahoma).
Land speculators based in Columbus, Ga., saw opportunity in the
Creeks' misfortune. They illegally purchased Creek lands and then
secretly encouraged hostilities between whites and Indians, hoping
to spark a war that would clear the Southeast once and for all of
its native residents. They found success in a brief conflict between
the United States and Creeks in 1836. At its conclusion, U.S. troops,
assisted by Georgia and Alabama militia, forcibly rounded up Creeks
and sent them to Indian Territory. Some went in chains, under the
watch of armed soldiers. Creeks had to begin life anew in lands
west of the Mississippi
THOUGHT
OF THE DAY
Why national debt approaching
even new heights!
"Our new national debt is $9 trillion, not million, not billion.
To put $9 trillion in perspective, that is more than Oprah makes
in a week."
-- Entertainer Jimmy Kimmel, via David Earl Tyre, Jesup.
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