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TODAY'S
ISSUE
Local
family uproots, heads to Ghana as missionaries
By Mary Kay Jackson
Special to GwinnettForum
(Editor's Note: One of the engineers providing
Gwinnett County with clean water, Mary Kay Jackson, and her family
are off soon to Ghana. We thought you would enjoy hearing about
how they came to change their way of life for a stint in Africa.
-eeb)
JULY 3, 2006 -- - We're the Jacksons, a typical suburban Atlanta
family. Or at least we were until a family vacation in 2002 changed
our lives forever. Let me tell you about it.
The Jackson family |
Charlie and I met in graduate school, married, and moved to Dunwoody,
where we have lived for 20 years. Charlie worked most of that time
in a Lucent factory as an engineer, before taking a job at UPS as
a statistician. I am a civil engineer, specializing in municipal
water and wastewater system design. Once our sons, Chip and Ken,
were born, we added such activities as Scouts, soccer and baseball
to our calendar.
In June of 2002, we took a dream vacation ---a month in Africa.
Charlie and I wanted the boys to see a part of the world they might
not otherwise get to see and to learn most of the world does not
live the way we do in the USA.
We found Ghana to be a country of many contrasts. We visited beautiful
beaches and rain forests, but we also went to desolate villages
of ramshackle huts and saw children carrying water from the local
muddy stream.
We enjoyed bounteous hospitality from new friends like Vic, who
sent us out sightseeing with her husband so that we would get the
good tour guide and had a fried chicken feast waiting on our return.
But we also experienced the horror of the old slave castles, seeing
for ourselves the cramped, airless dungeons where hundreds of men
and women were kept for months at a time awaiting a ship to take
them to the New World.
Even the economy was a contrast: Frosted Flakes were almost $10
a box and a can of diet Coke was $2, but fresh pineapple were seven
for $1 and tailor-made dresses of beautiful hand-dyed fabrics were
less than $10. By the end of our trip, we had fallen in love with
Ghana, and we all cried when we got on the plane to leave.
Once home, we found that the trip had been a success---we were
all wondering what we as a family could do about the poverty and
disease we had seen in Ghana. Charlie and I started to talk about
becoming missionaries to Africa at some point. When the boys started
asking when we were going back to Africa, and whether I could help
with the water needs there, we knew that God was calling our family
to move now.
So, on August 2, 2006, we will move to Ghana. We will be living
in Accra, the capital city of two million people. Charlie will be
fulfilling a life-long dream by teaching math and information technology
courses at the Methodist University College Ghana. This six-year
old institution prides itself not only on giving its students a
terrific education, but also on modeling moral and ethical leadership
for the students. The University understands that the primary challenge
facing Ghana as it tries to grow its economy is moral leadership.
I will be using my civil engineering skills in partnership with
the Methodist Church Ghana to develop a program of technical assistance
to rural villages in the areas of clean water and sanitation. Six
thousand children die every day around the world of preventable
waterborne disease. By helping villages develop clean and plentiful
supplies of water, initiate sanitation programs, and teach proper
hygiene, such as basic handwashing, the incidence of disease in
a village can be cut in half.
We are, in one sense, a typical American family. We are following
our dreams for a better life. But it is not only our lives we wish
to improve, it is also the lives of countless Africans.
ELLIOTT
BRACK
You can learn a lot in six-state trip across
the South
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com
JULY 3, 2006 -- "Thank God for Mississippi."
Brack |
You've heard it often, usually for Mississippi ranking lowest among
the 50 states, and therefore lower than the state you're from.
There's another reason for the quote, this time for Mississippi
being first in something. It was the first southern state to institute
a sales tax, back in the 1930s. So, therefore, each of us should
be praising Mississippi when we say "Thank God for Mississippi."
After all, by introducing the idea of a sales tax, it gave the idea
to other states, and today such a tax is often part of the way we
in the South pay for governmental services. If we did not have sales
tax, which generally is paid by the entire population, we would
no doubt have higher property, income and corporate taxes.
(However, understand that the idea of collecting tax on each business
transaction, or sale, is essentially a regressive tax. Therefore,
people at the bottom rung of the economic ladder pay a higher proportion
of their income in sales tax than do higher income households.)
We learned that Mississippi introduced the region to sales tax
during a six state swing last week with my son, Andy, president
of the Center for a Better South. He was visiting the area to introduce
a new book from his Center. The book, Doing
Better: Progressive Tax Reform for the American South, written
by Sarah Beth Coffey with Alan Essig of the Georgia
Budget and Policy Institute, is being published to start a discussion
within the South on how the region can improve by tackling the testy
problem of a fair and balanced tax policy. In the book, Miss Coffey
writes of 11 ideas for the 11 states (from Virginia to Louisiana)
on taxing proposals. (The 176-page book is available from www.bettersouth.org
for $10.)
* * * * *
Our journey started in Charleston on Monday morning. That previous
Friday, the first of six press conferences began in Atlanta, where
Gov. Roy Barnes told those assembled that the proposals were meant
to "introduce a balanced and fair approach" to taxes.
In each city we held press conferences, and often met with key
media figures. Our first stop was Charlotte. Then we drove (I was
the relief driver) to Nashville (600 miles that first day). Then
it was on to Little Rock and Jackson, with Montgomery our last stop.
For obvious reasons, every time we came to a state welcome center,
we stopped. A map of that state was essential. Of the maps we read,
we liked the Tennessee map the best, for the information on it (quick
reference of distance between major cities, numbering of interstate
exits.)
We found the Alabama map to be the most unwieldy (far too big to
unfold easily in a car). However, the ladies at the Welcome Center
off I-20-59 near York, Ala. were the most helpful, first asking
if they could help, then finding us a detailed map of Montgomery
with our destination motel pinpointed.
Yet the most welcoming of Centers had to be one in Mississippi,
where at all their centers they offer you a small fountain Coca
Cola time you walk in. With the temperatures in the upper 90s when
we got to the center just across the river from Helena, Ark., it
was indeed a refreshing gesture.
* * * * *
Altogether, time we got back to Atlanta, we had traveled some 1,800
miles. It was great father-son time.
The one big impression you get from such a trip, however, is how
very much alike the Southern states are. Not only the terrain, but
the obvious poverty in many parts of all the states….how each
of the major cities has its own run-down areas….how good the
food is (we didn't stop at fast-food joints)….and how friendly
and welcoming its people are. The area is very much deserving of
becoming a better South in the future.
ABOUT
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up to 50 percent off the cost of new. Cartridge World of Duluth
and Lawrenceville estimates that it will keep tens of thousands
of empty cartridges out of Gwinnett County's landfills this year
which can take up to 450 years to decompose. The refill service
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It is environmentally friendly, and cartridge World offers free
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the Duluth Cartridge World, 2628 Pleasant Hill directly across from
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FEEDBACK
7/3:
Maintains less is more when it comes to government
Editor, the Forum:
Somewhere in our recent history we transitioned from a nation of
self-reliant, responsible individuals to a group of government-dependent
whiners. The current discussion over increasing the minimum wage
is only the most recent example. Recently one of your readers suggested
that the inadequate wages of nurses was the responsibility of politicians.
The beauty of our free market, capitalistic economy is the basic
law of supply and demand. When the market sees your goods and services
as valuable, then and only then will you receive more. Increased
government involvement has always produced unintended bad consequences.
Social Security, our current federal tax code, Sarbanes-Oxley, campaign
finance reform are all examples of good ideas that have yielded
poor results.
The restoration of the United States is possible but only with less
government involvement at all levels and more personal responsibility
on the part of its citizens.
-- Patrick Malone, Snellville
UPCOMING
Upcoming
primary needs only photo ID, not new voter cards
Gwinnett County Elections Supervisor Lynn Ledford wants to clear
up public confusion over the state's new voter identification rules.
Her office has been swamped with requests for the new voter identification
cards. These are not necessary for registered voters with a valid
driver's license or one of five other forms of government-issued
photo identification acceptable under current provisions of the
new law. "Most voters will simply need to show their driver's
license at the poll," Ledford said.
The confusion stems from 18 months of legal wrangling over the
controversial law that was first passed in 2005. The state Elections
Board decided on June 28 to require photo identification for the
July 18 primary elections after revised provisions were approved
by the U.S. Department of Justice the same day.
Acceptable forms of identification are: a valid driver's license;
a passport; military or other government employment ID; a tribal
identification card; or one of the state's new voter ID cards. The
law eliminated most of the 17 forms of identification that previously
were accepted at the polls, including birth certificates, Social
Security cards and utility bills.
Registered voters in Gwinnett who do need a voter ID card can get
one free at Ledford's office at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration
Center, 75 Langley Drive, in Lawrenceville during normal business
hours. For more information, please go to www.gwinnettcounty.com
or call (770) 822-8787.
Suwanee July 7 performance
to feature modern jazz group
ETQ, a modern jazz, hip-hop, rhythm & blues, funk, and soul
collective, takes the Town Center stage next in the Suwanee Smooth
Jazz 107.5 Concert Series. The group performs in Suwanee at 7 p.m.
Friday, July 7. The concert is free and open to the public.
ETQ stands for "Elevate the Quest" for life through music.
The band was a finalist in Atlanta's first Churchill Grounds Future
of Jazz competition in 2003.
Vendors are set to open at 5:30 p.m. Bring blankets, chairs, picnics,
and friends, but alcohol may not be brought into Town Center Park.
Town Center Park is located at the intersection of Buford Highway
and Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road.
NOTABLE
Regents
announce three finalists for Perimeter presidency
The Georgia Board of Regents have named three finalists for the
presidency of Georgia Perimeter College. One will replace Dr. Jacquelyn
M. Belcher, who retired on June 30, 2005. Since then, Robert E.
Watts has served as interim president of the college.
The finalists, in alphabetical order, are as follows:
- Dr. Sharon D. Hoffman, provost and vice president for
academic affairs at Clayton State University (CSU), in Morrow.
Hoffman has held the number-two position at CSU since 2002. She
earned a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from the University of
Minnesota (1981), an M.B.A. in marketing from Duke University
(1989), a master of science degree from the University of Minnesota
(1972) and a bachelor's degree from California State University,
in Los Angeles (1966). Hoffman also attended the Harvard Institute
for the Management of Higher Education.
- Dr. Brian K. Johnson, CEO of the Allegheny Campus and
system senior vice president for student and community services
at the Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Johnson earned his Ed.D. in educational leadership from Northern
Arizona University (2002), a master of arts in education in counseling/human
relations from Northern Arizona University (1991) and a bachelor's
degree in psychology from Ottawa University (1990).
- Dr. Anthony S. Tricoli, president of West Hills College
(WHC), in Coalinga, Calif. He earned his Ed.D. in college leadership
and administration from Pepperdine University (1984), a master
of arts in education/counseling from the University of Redlands
(1979), and a bachelor's degree in sociology from Whittier College
(1978).
RECOMMENDED
FILM
A Prairie Home Companion
 Maybe
you have to be a fan of the show on public radio, A
Prairie Home Companion, to understand and enjoy the movie.
For those of us who have not been to the St. Paul theatre to see
the show will get an up-close view of the radio program, together
with all the nuances of producing such a show. It allows, too, close-up
views of not only Garrison Keillor, but of Meryl Streep and Lily
Tomlin, and several other big names. We also enjoyed seeing on screen
the people you hear on the live radio show, particularly Robin and
Linda Williams, Rich Dworsky, Peter Ostroushko and others. The story
line is plausible, and points perhaps to the day when the show could
end. We give it a thumbs up, but wonder how those not familiar with
the show will respond. --eeb
- 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
Brainard Cheney writes about the South of
bygone era
Brainard
Cheney (1900-1990) was a 20th-century novelist, political speechwriter,
and essayist from the wiregrass region of south Georgia. During
a writing career that spanned four decades, Cheney published four
novels- Lightwood (1939), River Rogue (1942), This
Is Adam (1958), and Devil's Elbow (1969)-that depict
the social transformation of south Georgia between 1870 and 1960.
These novels contain accounts of Cheney's own coming of age (Devil's
Elbow) as well as land feuds (Lightwood), timber rafting
(River Rogue), and race relations (This Is Adam) in
the area where he grew up. Along with his wife, Frances Neel Cheney,
he was a member of a community of writers that included Caroline
Gordon, Allen Tate, Andrew Lytle, Robert Penn Warren, and Flannery
O'Connor.
Cheney |
Born in Fitzgerald on June 3, 1900, to a family with considerable
land holdings in the area, Brainard Bartwell Cheney moved with his
family to Lumber City, in Telfair County, when he was six years
old. His father died when he was eight, and his mother reared him
and his two sisters on their farm near Lumber City. Cheney attended
Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., sporadically between
1920 and 1925, becoming friends with many of the Fugitive and Agrarian
writers associated with the Vanderbilt English department in the
1920s and 1930s. After leaving school he worked for the Nashville
Banner from 1925 to 1942, serving as reporter, editor, feature writer,
and editorialist. After a series of political appointments and public
relations positions, he served as public relations director for
Tennessee governor Frank Clement from 1952 to 1958.
Cheney's published novels reveal his sympathy with the Agrarian
themes of individualism, tradition, anti-industrialism, and harmony
with nature. Yet as a political pragmatist, Cheney differed from
his Agrarian counterparts in significant ways. In all of his novels
Cheney's acute political ear and his awareness of the complexities
of a changing society create a graphic and memorable portrait of
a region.
Cheney died in 1990 at the age of 89; his wife died in 1996, also
at the age of 89.
THOUGHT
OF THE DAY
Come to think about
it, yes, he must be right
"What other choice is there but to have hope?"
-- Cyclist Lance Armstrong, via Cindy Evans, Duluth.
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