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South Gwinnett grad now editing niche history books
By Kendra Allen
Special to GwinnettForum.com

CHARLESTON, S.C. Feb. 13, 2007 -- In a growing global community, Arcadia Publishing has found a niche in showing the very essence of communities as they have been for hundreds of years. While digital technology erases borders and distances, local and regional pictorial history books hold fast to the distinctive personalities of neighborhoods, towns, and counties throughout the country.

My job is to help local history enthusiasts create a photographic archive that can be on the bookstore shelf or home coffee table, rather than in a dusty box in a back room. I had no idea I would work with such a vast range of people across the Southeast. Our genre allows for authors to have a variety of backgrounds, current professions, and community connections. Metro Atlanta is of particular interest because of my personal connections to the people and places.

As an acquisitions editor at Arcadia Publishing, my job entails managing projects for Georgia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Delaware. I contact individuals in towns and counties throughout these states and educate them about the opportunity to publish their local history. I look for a location that has a strong community identity, that has been established since at least the early 20th century, and that has a sufficient population or tourism interest so as to support a print run. I also target communities that have taken steps to preserve their local history either through downtown revitalization, registering historic structures, or celebrating the past through festivals and other events.

As proposals for new titles are submitted, I present them for review by committees of our company. Editorial, sales, and marketing viewpoints are taken into consideration. Upon a proposal's approval, I then guide the project as its manager through publication.

From concept to product, I guide authors as they compile approximately 200 images and write the captions for each. Since our publishing model is established with the use of a standard template for each book, with standard books counting 128 pages, we provide authors with detailed instructions pertaining to selecting photographs, scanning images, writing various text elements, and organizing the materials. Authors are also given a layout planner in which they indicate where the images should be placed. Our format is meant to simplify the publishing process for our authors while still producing a high-quality book.

For authors, they earn 8 percent on net sales as the standard royalty. They can expect to earn approximately one dollar per book.

Arcadia Publishing was launched in Dover, N.H., in 1993 as a publisher of local history. The first ten titles in what would become the Images of America series were published in the summer of 1994. Arcadia Publishing has since become the largest publisher of regional history books in North America. With offices in Charleston, San Francisco, Chicago, and Portsmouth, the company has successfully brought to market a catalog of more than 4,000 titles. Our interactive website www.arcadiapublishing.com has been developed to empower nostalgia enthusiasts to search for their own history using zip codes, key words, states, or themes.

In addition to the popular Images of America series, Arcadia also publishes other series, including Then and Now, Campus History, Images of Sports, and Postcard History, as well as transportation, military, and corporate histories.

To date, the only title published for Gwinnett County is in the Black America series. As a Snellville native, I would love to contract more titles in the Gwinnett area. I find it especially important to preserve our local history considering the rapid and expansive development the county has seen in recent decades.

In the year I have been with Arcadia Publishing, I have learned a great deal about small towns, mid-size cities, and rural counties throughout my territories, most of which I have never visited. It has been a wonderful lesson about the character of the South-its places and its people.

Group to hear of WWII German POW camps in Georgia
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com

FEB. 13, 2007 -- Most Georgians today probably have never considered that, during World War II, there were Germany prisoner of war camps in the state.

There may be one particular reason why I remember German POW camps. You see, when a child, on the weekend, we often would drive from where my parents and I lived, in Macon, back to my grandmother's house near Allentown in Wilkinson County. On the way there on U.S. Highway 80 near Dry Branch, just past a World War II military base, Camp Wheeler, we would pass a heavily-fenced area where German POWs were housed.

I remember it well. For I was scared to death each time we passed the site. Our family drove a 1940 Chevrolet then, in about 1943, and as we drove past, I crept down on the seat, and just raised my head to peek through the window. It was scary to me in those days, for after all, this was our enemy that they were barracking near our home in Macon.

On Thursday night, the Button Gwinnett Society invites readers to its quarterly meeting at the 1818 Club, starting at 6 p.m. The program for this meeting will present a short movie, My Christmas Soldier, which is about German POWs in Georgia. After viewing the movie, we'll hear from one of the persons in the movie, Jeff Rose, who is an actor from Acworth. His company produced the movie.

Rose, a native of Marietta, studied drama and theatre arts at Kennesaw University, and began working in theatre, film and television shortly afterward. He has traveled and performed in Europe and over the United States. He moved to Los Angeles in 1991, where he lived for 10 years before returning to Georgia.

His firm, Four Roses Entertainment, is based here in Atlanta where he continues to work non-stop as an actor, and in film.

Both of Rose's grandfathers were World War II veterans, one an Army Captain, the other a sailor in the Navy. He honored them in another of his short films, Battaglia, by loosely basing the two lead characters on them and their experiences in the war.

The Button Gwinnett Society is a group meeting to discuss higher level ideas, about books, the arts, society in general, culture and topics of major interest.

It meets quarterly, on the second Wednesday of February, May, August and November, at 6 p.m. (However, because of the Valentine Day's timing in 2007, it meets Thursday this week.) The meetings last about an hour and half, perhaps two hours, but not longer. Most people drop by on the way home from work.

People from the community are invited to come to the meeting. First timers are free, with dues $100 annually. The dues pay for snacks and speaker honorarium. A cash bar is provided. The group is now in its sixth year of meeting quarterly.

The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today's featured sponsor is Mingledorff's, an air conditioning distributor of the Carrier Air Conditioning Company. Mingledorff's corporate office is located at 6675 Jones Mill Court in Norcross Ga. and is proud to be a sponsor of the Gwinnett Forum. With 18 locations in Georgia and South Carolina, Mingledorff's is the convenient local source with a complete line for the quality heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and refrigeration parts and supplies you need to service and install HVAC/R equipment. Product lines include Carrier, Bryant, Payne, Totaline and Aeroseal. For all of your HVAC needs, and information on the products Mingledorff's sells, visit www.mingledorffs.com and www.carrier.com.

February 14 will be Brain Train Day at the State Capitol to communicate to legislators support for the Atlanta-to-Athens rail line and commuter rail throughout Georgia. Moving forward with the Brain Train is crucial to balancing regional transportation options for a healthier Georgia. A brief press conference will take place at 10 a.m. before Brain Train supporters disperses to meet their legislators.

Regional leaders expected to attend include A.J. Robinson, president of Central Atlanta Progress; Emory Morsberger. chairman, Georgians for the Brain Train; Geoffrey Boyce, chairman, Bulldogs for the Brain Train; Jim Jacoby, Atlantic Station; Betty Willis, associate vice president for Governmental Affairs, Emory University; Michael Starling, senior economic development officer, DeKalb County; and Dr. Richard V. Swindle, senior vice president, Mercer University, Atlanta Campus.

The Georgia Brain Train is a commuter rail system proposed to create a low-impact transportation alternative between Atlanta and Athens.

Artrain USA, America's Hometown Art Museum is coming to Duluth. Gwinnett Council for the Arts is presenting Artrain USA, the nation's only traveling art museum on a train and its nationally-touring art exhibition, Native Views: Influences of Modern Culture.

The public can tour Artrain USA at the Southeastern Railway Museum on March 17-18 from 10 a.m. until 5 p. m. Admission is free; donations are encouraged.

Artrain USA offers an entertaining, educational and informative experience for visitors of all ages. While onboard vintage rail cars, visitors can tour the three art galleries, watch artists at work and purchase original works of art or souvenirs from the museum gift shop. Kids of all ages can participate in an exhibition "Scavenger Hunt."

Artrain USA is being presented by The Gwinnett Council for the Arts and hosted by the Southeastern Railway Museum. Local support provided by Gwinnett Convention and Visitors Bureau and Gwinnett Community Bank.

For more information regarding Artrain USA's visit to Duluth, Ga. Contact Cheryl Hardt at (770) 476-2013, www.srmduluth.org, or artrain@srmduluth.org.

Gwinnett Police will get new emergency equipment soon paid for by the Homeland Security office at Georgia's Emergency Management Agency.

The Department is getting three grants totaling just over $525,000 for explosives disposal, surveillance, and radio equipment.

One grant, for $309,940, will buy four protective suits, digital imaging and robotic equipment for handling and disposing of suspected explosive devices. Another, for $100,000, will provide a surveillance van, and the third, for $116,000 will provide radio equipment to improve interoperability with other public safety agencies.

Police Chief Charles Walters said, "The grants will improve our ability to prevent, protect against, respond to and recover from terrorist attacks, major disasters and other emergencies."

Older homeowners get new exemption from state tax

Voters ratified two new homestead exemptions for Georgia residents in last November's general election. The first new exemption involves property owners who are age 65 or older as of Jan. 1, 2007. This new exemption eliminates the state portion of property tax on the owner's personal residence (including up to 10 acres of land). County, school, city and special assessments still apply. Property owners already receiving an exemption for being age 65 or older will automatically receive this new state portion exemption. Otherwise, property owners age 65 or older may file for a 2007 homestead exemption through March 1, 2007.

The second new exemption applies to spouses of peace officers or firefighters killed in the line of duty, exempting owners who have not remarried from all ad valorem taxes. An affidavit of eligibility is required to apply for this exemption. Affidavits may be obtained by calling or e-mailing the Department of Property Tax. Requests for these exemptions for 2007 must also be received by March 1, 2007.

The Gwinnett County Tax Commissioner collects property taxes for the cities of Berkeley Lake, Dacula, Grayson, Lawrenceville, Lilburn, Snellville, and Sugar Hill. Property owners residing in these cities' limits who apply for a county exemption will also receive city exemptions to which they may be entitled.

For more information regarding available exemptions, contact the Gwinnett County Tax Commissioner's Department of Property Tax, located at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center in Lawrenceville. Customer Service office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday..

Two Gwinnett residents who are University of Georgia elementary education students, Stephanie Rowan and Foram Bhukhanwala, have been awarded D. Keith Osborn Scholarships for spring semester 2007.

The scholarships are awarded annually by the department of elementary and social studies education to the most outstanding undergraduate and graduate students in early childhood, middle school and elementary education. Each will receive a $500 scholarship.

Bhukhanwala, the graduate student winner from Raheja Mumbai, India, hopes her degree will lead to a career as a university professor. Rowan, of Lilburn, plans to attend graduate school at UGA while teaching part-time at an elementary school in Atlanta. Both students will graduate in May 2007.

Osborn was a professor of education and child development for 26 years at UGA's College of Education, serving as graduate coordinator for the department of elementary education from 1980-93. Before coming to UGA, he was a faculty member and division chair at the Merrill Palmer Institute from 1952-68.

Fencing along Lake Lucerne Road will be upgraded from chain link to wrought iron as part of its project to add sidewalks and make other safety improvements from Five Forks Trickum Road to U.S. Highway 78. The cost of the upgrade will be shared with the Highway 78 Community Improvement District and the Lake Lucerne Estates Civic Club.

Modifications to the design have also allowed the old roadbed of Lake Lucerne Road to be used to replace the Civic Club's parking that was taken away by the safety improvements at Riverside Drive. Savings in other parts of the project have allowed these improvements to be added with no increase to the overall value of the construction contract.

Bruce Albea Contracting, Inc., is building the $2.7 million project, funded primarily by the 1997 and 2001 SPLOST programs.

"If you like Brunswick Stew, the way Dreamland Barbecue on Peachtree Parkway in Norcross serves it will make your mouth water….and beg for more. Some Brunswick Stews are essentially heavily cooked-off-the-bone (or hog head) meat. This stew is stringy chunks of prime pork, mixed with potatoes, beans, tomatoes and a tasty blend of spices, to make a chunky stew so very, very tasty. It's good enough to order for an entire meal It's blended so well, and there's no overriding essence of grease showing. It's also priced at about $5 for a bowl….a bargain. ---eeb

The University of Georgia Marine Institute, located on the southern end of Sapelo Island, was established in 1953 through the generosity of Richard J. Reynolds Jr. It was founded primarily as a research institute and has conducted research centered on salt marsh, watershed, and nearshore ecosystems since its inception. The goals of the research are to understand the biological, chemical, geological, and physical processes that control salt marsh systems.

Sapelo Island is a barrier island located approximately five miles off the Georgia mainland in McIntosh County. Barrier islands are found along the length of the Georgia coast and act as protection against erosion and storms. Between the barrier islands and the mainland lie estuaries, areas where freshwater mixes with seawater.

These estuaries have extensive salt marshes dominated by the smooth cordgrass, Spartina alterniflora, and the black needle rush, Juncus roemerianus. The coastal marshes of Georgia comprise almost 400,000 acres and represent nearly a third of the salt marshes on the east coast of the United States. These highly productive marshes provide a home for oysters, clams, and other organisms that spend all of their lives in the estuary and for young shrimp, crabs, and fishes that use the estuary as a nursery ground.

In addition to five resident faculty, visiting scientists are encouraged to live and study on the island for periods of one month to six months. To date, the Visiting Scientist Program has attracted renowned scientists from thirteen countries and across the United States. As a part of the University of Georgia's School of Marine Programs, the Marine Institute does not offer formal courses, but its facilities are available for use by graduate students from any accredited college or university who wish to pursue their degree-requirement research in estuarine and marine ecological studies.

The Student Intern Program allows first-year graduate students and advanced undergraduates to learn about the process of basic environmental research through actual hands-on experience under the guidance of
Marine Institute faculty.

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