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Dacula senior authors book, plans signing
on April 14
By
Vicki Huffman
Senior editor, The Benchmark Group, LLC, Nashville, Tenn.
Special to GwinnettForum.com
DACULA, Ga. April 6, 2007 -- Almost daily we read or hear about
young people who are making poor choices that lead to pain and suffering,
broken hearts, and many times a life spent away from family and
friends. Lives changed forever! How sad!
Hardin |
Well, I have some good news about a Gwinnett County youth who is
making right choices and is determined to make something of his
life. Travis Hardin is not only a seventeen year old student in
Gwinnett County, but he is now a published author!
It is not easy for adults to get published under their own name,
and rarely do we hear of a teen being published. There has never
been a platform for teens to submit their work or a section where
they can go to in a store to select a book written by teens for
teens. Until now, that is!
Travis is one of six teens from 13-19 years whose manuscript, Called
to Serve, was chosen to be to be part of a new venture, "The
Young Writers Series," published by The Benchmark Group in
Nashville, Tenn. The publisher plans to introduce additional books
each season offering young people stories that they can relate to,
written by their peers.
"The Young Writers Series" offers a variety of titles
for boys and girls and are safe reading for every age. The series
does not promote any religion; it does, however, contains books
that are morally decent and are ,void of issues that promote "inappropriate"
living. The series will be available in local bookstores and national
chains, or can be ordered direct from the publisher.
Travis listened for years to his mother's stories about his great-grandfather
and when he had to write a novel for his English class, his heritage
was his subject choice. His English teacher, Terry Klempner suggested
that Travis submit his manuscript, leading to a decision by the
publisher to include it in the new series.
Travis is a senior at Hebron Christian Academy, and the son of Mr.
and Mrs. Kimball Hardin. He has an older brother at college, and
a newly-adopted baby sister. He has received an academic scholarship
to Berry College in Rome, where he wants to study animal science
and biology. He enjoys sports, played on a football team which earned
two state championships in a row, and is an avid hunter and fisherman.
We are unaware of any other teen in Gwinnett ever having their
own book published under their own name so this is a rare occasion
for Travis, and Gwinnett County. Isn't that exciting?
Travis will be on hand at his first book signing, Saturday, April
14, at 6 p.m., at the Hebron Christian Academy High School in Dacula.
The church is located at 570 Dacula Road. For more information,
visit benchmarkgroup1@aol.com.
Braselton has highest number of citizens registered
to vote
By
Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com
APRIL 6, 2007 -- First, thanks to Emily Powell of Lawrenceville
for this idea to check out. See her letter today in the Feedback
section.
Brack |
New people moving into Gwinnett cities seem to be more politically
interested in their municipalities than older residents of the county.
That might be one consideration you can draw from an analysis of
the number of people registered to vote in Gwinnett cities. That's
because the cities that are growing the fastest seem to lead in
the percentage of their citizens registering to vote. Meanwhile,
the older, more established larger cities of the county have the
lowest percentage of people registered to vote.
The analysis is as of March 1,2007, from the records provided by
the Secretary of State's office to Elections Division of Gwinnett
County Government. That office handles voter registration for both
the county and cities of the county. Where before citizens had to
go to both the county, and their individual city to register to
vote, now a "one-stop" voter registration automatically
registers citizens to participate in city and county elections,
if they live in a city.
People may register at any city hall, or at the county elections
office at 455 Grayson Highway, Suite 200, Lawrenceville.
The City of Braselton has the highest percentage of its citizens
registered to vote, a whopping 67 percent! (Figures for cities that
cross a county border are only for those living in the Gwinnett
portion of that city. An accompanying table outlines these rankings.)
Note that the percentage compares the number registered with the
estimated total population of the cities, which includes persons
not eligible to vote, such as those under age 18.
Second highest is the town of Berkeley Lake marks 63 percent of
its citizens registered, followed by Grayson with 61 percent.
The first of the larger cities, Suwanee, comes next at 60 percent
of its voters registered, 6,893 of its 11,343 citizens.
The largest city in the county, according to the April 1, 2006
population projection of the Atlanta Region Commission, is Lawrenceville,
with 27,043 residents. But it has one of the lowest percentages
of its residents able to vote, only 35 percent. The lowest of the
larger cities is Norcross, which has 28 percent of its residents
registered. Only tiny Rest Haven, which has a total of 108 residents
in its Gwinnett portion, has a lower percent registered, 15 percent.
The city that was once Gwinnett's largest, Buford, only does slightly
better than Lawrenceville at registering its residents, 38 percent.
The city with the most registered voters is Duluth, second largest
in total size at 24,180 residents, which has 45 percent, or 11,049,
people registered to vote. The second largest voter in cities is
in Snellville, with 10,024 people eligible to vote (51 percent of
its citizens).
A majority of Gwinnett residents do not live in the cites of the
county, but in the unincorporated area of the county. According
to the ARC, that accounts for approximately 80.6 percent of the
county population, meaning that 19.4 percent live in cities. Of
the unincorporated residents of Gwinnett, 45.36 percent are eligible
to vote.
 The
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to you at no cost to readers. Today's sponsor is Hayes Family
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Poll
manager laments poor registration of city voters
Editor, the Forum:
As the Poll Manager for the City of Lawrenceville over the past
few years, I have noticed that, although the population of Lawrenceville
continues to increase, and I believe must be at least 20,000 now,
the most voters we have ever had at city elections tops out at around
2,000.
I have come to believe that this low voter turnout must be county-wide.
My conjecture is that most residents of cities in Gwinnett do not
realize that they must vote in two places on election day.
Gwinnett County Elections handles voter registration for the cities,
in other words, if you register to vote in the county and you reside
within the city limits of any city in Gwinnett, then you are automatically
registered to vote in your city as well. Although this process is
convenient, I think it adds to the impression that you go to the
county polling place and vote for everyone.
I have no theory about what the voter thinks when they don't see
the councilperson's or mayor's name on the county ballot. But I
do know we have had voters turn up at Lawrenceville City Hall looking
to vote in national elections for the office of president.
Surely there are a lot of voters who could have their collective
consciousness raised on this topic. Do some research and an article
for GwinnettForum in the future. In any case, I would like
to know if you have any thoughts on the subject. I really like GwinnettForum.
Thanks for always being interested and involved.
-- Emily Powell, Lawrenceville
Warm country
Another great cartoon from Bill McLemore:
Philharmonic
to share stage with two youth orchestras
The Gwinnett Philharmonic Association will present "Side by
Side Orchestras," on Tuesday, April 17 at 8 p.m. in the Performing
Arts Center at the Gwinnett Center.
This will consist of the full Gwinnett Philharmonic performing
with the two top youth orchestras in the county, the Kendall Youth
Orchestra and the Gwinnett County Youth Symphony. Both groups are
made up of students in the Gwinnett County Public Schools, who must
audition to become members.
The Kendall Youth Orchestra is under the direction of conductors
Bernadette Scruggs and Scott Hammond. The Orchestra and the Philharmonic
will play selections from "Surprise Variations" by Vaclav
Nelhybel, "Concerto Grosso in D minor Opus 3 No. 11" by
Antonio Vivaldi, and "Jupiter - Bringer of Jollity" from
The Planets by Gustav Holst.
After intermission, the Philharmonic will perform with the Gwinnett
County Youth Symphony under the direction of Conductors Cathie Hudnall,
John Harriman and David Richardson. The two orchestras will play
selections from "Concerto No. 3 in G Major for Violin and Orchestra"
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, "Somewhere in Time," from
the movie "Somewhere In Time" by John Barry, and the Finale
from "New World Symphony" by Antonin Dvorak.
Soloists Carly Ferree from Brookwood High School and Caterina Li
from Duluth High School will be featured during the second half
of the program.
Investors on panel
for April 17 Technology Forum meeting
A panel of investors, from active angel investors through traditional
venture capital fund managers, will provide an inside look at investing
at the April 17 meeting of Gwinnett Technology Forum. The meeting
will be at 7:30 a.m. at the Scientific-Atlanta Auditorium in the
Busbee Center of Gwinnett Technical Lawrenceville.
Entrepreneurs who think its all about the business opportunity
will be surprised to learn that there are many other factors that
come into play.
The moderator will be William (Bill) Goodhew, vice president of
Intelligent Systems Corporation and former President of Peachtree
Software (now part of Sage Software).
Panelists include Kathy Harris, a senior vice president of Noro-Moseley;
David Sung, managing director of H.I.G. Ventures; Knox Massey, executive
director of the Atlanta Technology Angels and Leland Strange, CEO
of Intelligent Systems Corporation of Norcross.
Gwinnett
Chamber names Karen Van Duren vice president
Van Duren |
Karen Van Duren has been promoted to vice president of programs
at the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce. She joined the Chamber last
June as its first campaign manager where she was responsible for
all aspects of the Chamber's inaugural total resource campaign.
Prior to being at the Chamber, Van Duren was with the Technical
Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry of Norcross.
Head of Walton EMC
re-elected as director of GTC
Lee |
Ronnie Lee of Monroe, Ga. was re-elected to a three-year term as
northeast regional manager director for the Georgia Transmission
Corporation (GTC) Board of Directors at the company's annual meeting
held on March 26 in Atlanta. He has served on the GTC Board since
2004. Lee is president and CEO of Walton EMC. In addition to his
role on GTC's board, Lee serves as president of Smarr EMC. GTC is
a not-for-profit cooperative owned by 39 Electric Membership Corporations
in Georgia. The corporation owns more than $1.25 billion in assets,
including nearly 2,700 miles of transmission lines and 595 substations
across the state.
Duluth student only
person in state as Truman Scholar
Shah |
University of Georgia Honors student Deep Shah has been named a
recipient of a 2007 Harry S. Truman Scholarship, a leading national
award for academically outstanding juniors who plan to pursue careers
in public service.
Shah, an international affairs and genetics major from Duluth,
is the only student from the state of Georgia selected as a Truman
Scholar this year. He is among 65 recipients selected nationwide
from among 585 candidates. His selection gives UGA a total of 14
Truman Scholars, including four in the past five years.
The scholarships, first awarded during the 1977-1978 academic year,
provide up to $30,000 for graduate study to students who want to
be "change agents" in society through public service careers
in nonprofit organizations, government agencies or educational institutions.
Blood and Thunder, by Hampton Sides
 About
the time that the Civil War was going on in the eastern United States,
the U.S. Army in the New Mexico-Arizona area was conducting a round-up
of the fierce and independent Navajo Indians. This epic traces the
settlement of this area, tells of the early explorers, and focuses
on the treatment that the Navajo, in particular, got from the people
trying to tame the West, notably the U.S. Army. It's not always
a story of honor and distinction, and is well-titled. The book also
produces quite a saga on the life of Kit Carson, an unschooled yet
legendary tracker, guide and trailblazer with uncanny abilities,
who was among the first Americans to see portions of the land from
New Mexico to California. For an Easterner, this book opens up a
window into the West and the way that land first was wrestled from
the Indians. --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
Johnson
first provisional governor following Civil War
James
Johnson was appointed Georgia's first provisional governor following
the conclusion of the Civil War (1861-65). He was born on February
12, 1811, in Robinson County, N.C. He attended the University of
Georgia with a scholarship from the Presbyterian Society of Athens.
Johnson was admitted to the bar in 1835. He then moved to Columbus
to start a law practice. An ardent Whig, Johnson was elected to
the U.S. House of Representatives in 1851 but lost his reelection
bid to future Georgia governor Alfred H. Colquitt in 1853. When
Georgia seceded from the Union at the secession convention in January
1861, Johnson was not among the politicians of the state celebrating
this momentous act. He opposed secession and remained loyal to the
United States throughout the Confederate period. During the war
he continued to practice law in Columbus.
The Confederacy fell in early 1865, and with the reestablishment
of Union authority in Georgia and the subsequent arrest and resignation
of Governor Joseph E. Brown, Georgia's future was subject to the
whims of those in Washington, D.C. The decision to appoint a provisional
governor fell to U.S. president Andrew Johnson, who looked to James
Johnson (the two men were unrelated), his old friend from Congress.
Through executive order, Johnson assumed the governorship in June
1865 and began the process of initiating the directives assigned
to him by the president. These duties included the calling of a
state convention and the implementation of President Johnson's Reconstruction
policies. Meeting in October 1865 at the state capitol in Milledgeville,
delegates quickly set about repealing the Ordinance of Secession,
abolishing slavery, and repudiating Georgia's war debts. In addition,
the convention adopted a new state constitution, which incorporated
the policies of Reconstruction, limited governors to two successive
terms, and empowered the legislature to appoint judges to the state
supreme court. The convention adjourned on November 7, 1865, and
was soon followed by the election of Charles Jones Jenkins as governor
on November 15. Johnson vacated the office on December 19.
For the remainder of his life, Johnson served in a variety of appointed
government positions. From 1866 to 1869 he was the customs collector
for Savannah, and later he served as a judge of the superior court
in the Chattahoochee Circuit. He then returned to Columbus, where
he reestablished his law firm and served as a respected member of
his community as both lawyer and judge. Johnson died on November
20, 1891 in Columbus.
Don't always trust
your wits for making a house pleasant
"We dare not trust our wit for making our house pleasant to
our friends, so we buy ice cream."
-- American Essayist and Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882),
via Cindy Evans, Duluth.
Send your thoughts, 55-word short stories, pet peeves
or comments on any issue to Gwinnett
Forum for future publication.
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© 2007, Gwinnett Forum.com. Gwinnett Forum
is an online community commentary for exploring pragmatic and sensible
social, political and economic approaches to improve life in Gwinnett
County, Ga. USA.
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