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Cliff Shelton of GACS joins Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame
By Bill Burton
Administrative Vice President
Greater Atlantic Christian School
Special to GwinnettForum.com

NORCROSS, Ga., Jan. 26, 2007 -- Cliff Shelton and GAC Spartan baseball are synonymous. Cliff will be beginning his 25th year at the helm of the Spartans' baseball program this spring. His record of 457-200 makes him the all-time winningest coach of Spartan teams on our campus.

Cliff's teams have won 13 region championships and five region runner-ups, and 16 state tournament appearances. There have been four state runner-up finishes. Cliff has been named Gwinnett County Coach of the Year by the Gwinnett Dugout Club four times.

Records and recognitions alone, however, do not give justice to Coach Shelton. He constantly deflects any personal recognition to his players. Cliff loves to win, but winning is not his primary motivation. He has proven through the years that he cares more about his players than winning championships.

A few years ago, for example, Cliff made a decision in a state championship playoff game that may have cost him a state title. In the final game of the series, as the game came into the later innings, Cliff decided against bringing back his star pitcher, William Bond, to pitch the closing innings since he had pitched long innings the day before.

Cliff decided that Bond's arm and his future were more important than bringing him back into any game prematurely. A younger pitcher ended up giving up the winning runs and the Spartans lost the game, but Cliff Shelton won the appreciation of many who know baseball that day. Bond went on to pitch on scholarship at Clemson University.

Though no landscaper by trade, Cliff spends many hours grooming the Spartan baseball field. His field is always immaculately trimmed and prepared for practices and games. No one but his wife, Kristy, fully appreciates the many hours that Cliff spends working on his field.

Cliff and Kristy share the love of coaching and athletics. Kristy served as the head coach of a highly successful Spartan softball program for many years and currently is the GAC volleyball head coach. Their son, Ty, was a key cross country runner at GAC, winning the state title his senior year. Ty currently runs cross country and track at Harding University in Arkansas. The Shelton's daughter, Alex, is a junior at GAC and quite an excellent volleyball player on her mom's team.

The GACS baseball coach is a native of Grand Blanc, Mich. and graduated from college at Harding University in Arkansas. There he met his wife, Kristy, who was from Bartlesville, Okla. They married there and he obtained his master's degree from the University of Arkansas.

The couple moved here to join the GACS faculty in 1982. They lived in Duluth and attend Northlake Church of Christ. Among his hobbies, besides maintaining the baseball field, are fishing and golf.

Cliff Shelton is well known on the GAC campus for his sense of humor, his tall tales of games through the years, and his close relationships with his players, both former and current. Cliff has taught Health and physical education throughout his years at GAC. Above all, Cliff is known for his Christian example and encouragement to students and to fellow coaches in the Metro Atlanta area.

Someone may have played hooky on GOP groupthink class
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com

JAN. 23, 2007 -- What we've been hearing from one side of the aisle at the General Assembly is out of sync with what we're hearing that same party say on national issues.

For years we have heard Republicans oppose sending tax money to Washington, so that some of these taxes can be returned to the states and counties in various governmental programs. They point out that the states are always short-changed when the national government returns dollars to the states.

In effect, the Republican have championed "less government." They also have indicated that the best government is the one closest to home.

That's why we're scratching our heads at the continual effort by some state Republicans, led by Alpharetta's Mark Burkhalter, to "kill the car tag tax," that is to eliminate the ad valorem tax on vehicles. It seems more like grandstanding to us.

Here's why. When the GOP first proposed eliminating the license plate fees last year, it got the party in trouble with the county commissioners of Georgia. After all, all ad valorem taxes that the counties collect on all vehicles and on real property goes to fund local government (except for a quarter of a mill which goes to the state of Georgia.) Vehicles are assessed the ad valorem tax as of January 1 based on where the vehicle was located, with this tax helping pay for local county services. His proposal got local officials in an uproar.

What the Republican legislator advanced by cutting out this tax would be to strip the counties of these funds for their local budgets. That's what got him into trouble with the counties, and halted any change before.

You would think that, since this vehicle ad valorem taxes are primarily for local government, the state should have no input into this. But no. Apparently Rep. Burkhalter is wanting to mount some sort of state political campaign, perhaps run for higher office, so that he can run around the state and boast that he eliminated the auto tag taxes..

We say this, since here he is back in the halls of the legislature, seeking once again to eliminate the auto tag fees. Only now he says that the state government will reimburse the individual counties when they eliminate the auto tag fee.

In Gwinnett County, that rebate would total $70 million each year! (For 2006, the ad valorem tax on vehicles brought in $69,997,768.91 for Gwinnett. Whew! That's a lot of money!)

In effect, what Rep. Burkhalter proposes is that the State of Georgia will be sending state-collected tax monies back to all 159 Georgia counties. Somehow, the state will collect enough tax from other sources to be able to afford to reimburse all 159 counties for a lot of money.

First, what's the difference in sending money to Atlanta to be returned to the counties, than sending to Washington to be returned to the state? Did Rep. Burkhalter miss out on the GOP class on Groupthink Philosophy about less government, or not sending more money to Washington to be returned to the states?

Secondly, since no state ever gets back all the tax money it sends to the national government (how could we?), who's to say that the counties of Georgia will get an equal number of dollars returned to them that they now get through direct ad valorem taxes on vehicles?

Rep. Burkhalter and his Republican colleagues will have a hard time explaining how this new thinking is in line with its previous line. The people of Georgia will see through it.

The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today's featured sponsor is Gwinnett Community Bank of Duluth, Member, FDIC. Tom Martin heads this bank, which operates out of its facilities on Buford Highway, near the intersection of Rogers Bridge and Old Peachtree Road. The Duluth office number is 770-476-2775. There is also a Suwanee location at 3463 Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road in Suwanee. The phone number for the Suwanee branch is 770-497-5252. The web site is http://www.gwinnettcommunitybank.com.

Last year I attended a luncheon at which Gwinnett developers were praised. Now I write as I see action that I deem to be totally unwarranted, unwanted construction.

If you have not recently traveled on Abbott's Bridge Road between Duluth and Alpharetta, where have you been? Every other car, truck or motorcycle driver within Gwinnett and North Fulton seems to take that route Monday through Friday.

The entrance to my neighborhood is on Abbott's Bridge Road, just east of Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. Leaving home at 7:30 a.m, I can anticipate a 30-minute lead-time to travel 2.5 miles. Near my neighborhood is where traffic usually begins to stall. We used to blame the lack of an adequate left-turn lane for southbound traffic onto Peachtree Industrial. (It's still lacking, though a sidewalk is now under construction and has been since the beginning of the school year!) However, the westbound traffic into Alpharetta has become a huge contributing factor.

I should mention that the City of Duluth is adding even more fuel to the fire in this way: a Duluth police officer is often stationed along Abbott's Bridge near the PIB intersection in order to ticket drivers who maneuver prematurely into the too short, left-turn lane. Those who want to head south by turning left onto PIB are held up by the westbound traffic, which is about to become even more horrendous because of the Bowen Family Homes development. You have to feel sorry for the guy/gal who has been creeping along for about 20 minutes, sees that turn lane coming up, decides to avoid wasting another five or ten minutes by hopping into the "pre" turn lane, and so gets slapped with a fat ticket with a fine of $99.25!

This is not a simple complaint about traffic; it's a finger-pointing question about the logic and goals of our local politicians. Can someone tell me one good reason why a multi-family Bowen Family housing development was approved? (It will be accessed via Abbott's Bridge just west of Peachtree Industrial as well as via Peachtree Industrial just North of Abbott‚s Bridge.)

Who profits from such a deal? Certainly not the local residents, including the former wildlife which had to scurry when every single living tree was cut down in the intended development area overnight! I don't believe even Quik Trip (located at that very corner) is prepared for the added influx of gas and coffee guzzlers.

Oh, how silly to think that voting for different elected official makes a difference in Gwinnett!

Key Georgia transportation officials will speak at a "Transportation Update" on January 29 at Gwinnett "Technical College's Busbee Auditorium. The meeting will be at 4 p.m. and is free to Gwinnett Chamber members and guests.

Featured speakers will include Commissioner Harold Linnenkohl of the Georgia Department of Transportation; Brian Allen, Director of the Gwinnett Department of Transportation; and Mike Kenn, president of Georgians for Better Transportation.

The City of Suwanee is a winner again! The Georgia Municipal Association and Georgia Trend Magazine presented Suwanee with a prestigious Trendsetter Award this week in Atlanta, for its Open Space Initiative.

Suwanee has won a Trendsetter the past two years as well, for innovative and adaptable programs in the areas of community involvement and economic development. Suwanee is the only city to have won the award each of the years that it has been presented

Gwinnett Magazine rang in the new year by marking its 10th anniversary, celebrating both a decade of community coverage and a business success story that beat the odds.

Since the first issue was published in July 1997, Gwinnett Magazine has doubled its annual page counts, tripled its revenue and quadrupled its staff size. The January/February 2007 issue reaches 100,000 readers as the information source of choice for Gwinnett County residents who want the latest in local and lifestyle news.

Gwinnett Magazine was founded by Gwinnett native David Greer and wife and business partner, Kelly.

Greer says: "It's not that the idea of a magazine was rocket science, but the timing felt right to me on a gut level. I looked at it like more of a community-building project than a publication -- and one that hit close to home since I'd been here all my life. Gwinnett County had this reputation of being a bedroom community outside of I-285, kind of way out there, but it was a powerful economy and it was growing. But it didn't have a magazine."

What Gwinnett did have at that time was plenty of naysayers who thought it too soon for the county to support a successful magazine publishing venture. After all, industry experts estimate that 80 percent of new magazines fail within the first two years of their launch.

On their side, the Greers had a clear vision, unfailing optimism and a few key influential supporters. Also on board from the start was the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, led then by Richard Tucker, who says: "David is very creative, but there are a lot of starving artists out there. You have to be able to promote your ideas. You have to develop a network of people. It's not really who you know, but who knows you, and David understands that."

What ultimately sent the first edition of Gwinnett Magazine to press was something virtually unheard of in the business - advertisers who were willing to pay before publication. Greer notes: "The fact that advertisers took a leap of faith with us and paid half their fees up front was truly the turning point in the effort. We were out there by ourselves with nothing but our passion and our vision, and people believed in us."

In July 1997, with a cover featuring a couple on the greens at Sugarloaf Country Club, the inaugural issue of Gwinnett Magazine was released. A decade later, the founding staff of the magazine, David and Kelly Greer, editor-in-chief and publisher, respectively; creative director Sam Lymber; and financial and administrator director Nell Stewart, are all still in place, joined now by a host of writers, photographers, designers and sales representatives who share the vision. Gwinnett Magazine is published nine times a year, with special issues for Best of Gwinnett and People to Know. For more information, call 770.236.8703 or visit online at www.gwinnettmagazine.com/

Etowah Mounds, a nationally famous, prehistoric archaeological site, contains one of the largest Indian mounds in North America. A number of rare artifacts were found here. The site of the ancient 54-acre Indian town is located on the Etowah River, some three miles south of Cartersville in Bartow County. Its most prominent features are three large earthen mounds, though there are at least six mounds altogether. The largest, a temple mound, is more than 300 square feet at the base and rises to a height of slightly more than 60 feet.

The mounds are situated along the sides of two rectangular plazas, the larger of which stretches approximately 300 feet. Constructed in the form of four-sided, flat-topped pyramids, the mounds served originally as platforms. Public buildings, long since vanished, were constructed on their elevated surfaces. A ramp with log steps led from the plaza up one side of the mound to the building erected on the mound summit. Surrounding the mound and plaza complex in the center of the town were residential houses. A large encircling ditch protected the town. Immediately inside it was a post palisade employing rectangular bastions, or towers, placed at regular intervals along its length.

The town was settled by the 12th century; many archaeologists date the settlement at least two centuries earlier. Its occupation continued, with brief periods of abandonment, into the seventeenth century. Archaeological excavation, carried out intermittently at the site for more than 100 years, has provided much information about the prehistoric life of the town. Now owned by the state of Georgia, the site and an interpretive museum is open to visitors.

Send your thoughts, 55-word short stories, pet peeves or comments on any issue to Gwinnett Forum for future publication.

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