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Coalition seeks openness, oversight on Grady Hospital
By Ron Marshall
Special to GwinnettForum.com

STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga., July 20, 2007 -- I support Grady Hospital. But I do not support an open-ended commitment, unless Grady abides by open records and open meetings laws. The hospital is already starting out wrong by again not allowing the public into the secret meetings. What are they thinking? I wonder if any of those committee members or hired consultants ever have been treated at Grady!

I want Grady to succeed, but not if it flouts the rule of law. Any official at Grady who allowed corrupt contracting to politicians must be held to strict account. Why will the public support Grady, if Grady officials thumb their nose at public-minded citizens?

We must not refill or run a sinking ship until we plug the holes. The honest employees, like Joyce Harris, former senior vice president at Grady, and Sam Newcome, MD, the chief of Grady oncology, opposed corruption, and they were fired. Why not rehire these people? They really seem to care about patient care and integrity at Grady.

When will honest law enforcement come? Does the current "crisis" bypass the rule of law? Thurbert Baker, our attorney general, wants to uphold the law in the case of Genarlow Wilson by keeping him in jail, but can not be reached when laws are being broken at a $700+ million dollar a year public facility. The officers of Grady must answer for what they did to precipitate this crisis. There must be no free lunch.

I agree that the current trustee system, that is beholden to politicians, must be reformed. Make one of the new trustees someone who was treated at Grady to start plugging the holes. The Atlanta region has a long history of forming secretive panels of business captains to "rescue" them in one crisis or another. Let's make sure the "crisis" hasn't been caused by some of the same people now coming to the "rescue."

This is another case of the fox watching the hen house. Regardless of what the business captains decide, the taxpayer always pays.

Emory University virtually runs Grady. Despite Emory's massive endowment, with more than $5 billion in the bank, Emory has not stepped up to the plate. Emory officials must be held accountable. How about Emory paying Grady for training its students and the use of its facilities, not vice versa? I wish Clark-Atlanta University paid me for my daughter's education. Don't you wish somebody paid you or your children for their education? The Grady Coalition has consistently shown part of Emory's endowment (perhaps as much as 10 percent) actually belongs to Grady. It is time Emory pays the piper.

A blue ribbon oversight committee must be established to watch the watchers. Every contract must be checked and rechecked to insure proper practices are being followed as well as having a fair playing field in place to protect from favoritism to special interest contacts that have gutted Grady in the past with over priced or shady contracts.

Did Grady officials help gut Grady, so that private HMOs can take over? I shudder that my prophecies are coming true. We shouldn't have to choose between the current corrupt system, and a private system that may be more corrupt. We must envision a Grady Hospital that truly is dedicated to its patients, and to "value for money" for the taxpayer. This is an emergency, but we need to use this emergency to design a system that is responsive to the needs of the community, is transparent, and also honors the taxpayer who supports Grady.

EMS's John Pippin led the way to development in Gwinnett
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com

JULY 20, 2007 -- Few people in Gwinnett remember the contributions that Dr. John Pippin of Duluth made to the county. He was the founder, CEO and chairman of Electromagnetic Sciences (EMS) of Norcross, the first industry to locate in Technology Park/Atlanta.

Dr. Pippin died last week at age 79. His funeral was Tuesday. He was a pioneer in developing communications abilities for satellites, using microwave antenna technology to allow satellites to talk to ground stations, and to themselves.

Technology Park was just a dream of Paul Duke's until October 31, 1971, when Dr. Pippin moved his fledging EMS, an outgrowth of Scientific Atlanta, from the Northeast Expressway to what would become a showcase industrial park. But the area was far different from what it is today. There was no Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, nor entrances to the initial phase of the park off that road, Dr. Pippin told us a few years back:

"We had to build our own construction road into the park, from Spalding Drive. Technology Park had a contract to get the road paved to our site by the time we moved, on October 31. Our lot had many trees on it, and we had to bring in our own machine to grade the surface. The road builders were still packing down the first layer of asphalt on that day when the moving trucks arrived to unload our gear. We had to follow the packer at a slow speed to the plant's driveway. And after we arrived, we were virtually out here two or three years by ourselves."

Another indication of the loneliness that EMS found: "When we contracted for our building, we were the first company to locate there. We crossed farmland to get to the site, and sometimes we forgot to close the gate, and cows got out of their pasture before we realized it." That's a far cry from today's Technology Park!

EMS constructed a 13,000 square foot building on Technology Parkway. Later that building would be enlarged several times as the company grew. The firm was among the first technology companies in the county, helping give Gwinnett its high-tech orientation. Dr. Pippin found a surprising problem locating in the new technical park in Gwinnett: "During those first few months, Atlanta trucking firms would not make deliveries to our plant unless we paid an extra fee, for they thought we were so far outside Atlanta."

As the company grew, there came another problem. Housewives would call the company, knowing EMS had something to do with microwaves, needing to solve a microwave oven problem. But EMS used microwaves antennas to communicate, not bake.

Dr. Pippin, with two electrical engineering degrees from Georgia Tech, had his Ph. D. in applied physics from Harvard. When he left as CEO in 1994, the firm had 1,100 employees. By 1998, when he retired after having been its chairman since founding, EMS Technologies had over 2,000 employees, and its facilities totaled more than 300,000 square feet. The firm researched, developed and designed all its products in Atlanta, ranging from defense products for the microwave transmission in the spacecraft world to producing sophisticated antennas used in cellular phones and personal communication devices, which captured a large part of that market. Another division of EMS (LXE) was devoted to "real-time" data communication systems for warehouse and distribution centers, and became something of a standard for the radio-frequency field.

Dr. John Pippin made a tremendous impact on Gwinnett, leading the way for the high tech industries like his, who would follow in his footsteps.

The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today's sponsor is the Gwinnett County Public Library, named Library of the Year 2000. GCPL currently operates 14 branches throughout the county. Library hours are: Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 1p.m. to 6 p.m. GCPL offers traditional books, magazines, CD books, downloadable audio, music and video, plus online databases such as Morningstar, Science Resource Center, LitFinder and Heritage Quest. GCPL also offers Live Homework Help for students in 4th through 12th grade. It is available online from 2 p.m. until midnight daily, with homework help available for math, science, language arts and social studies. There is no charge for the service and it is available remotely. Many online resources are available. All branches except Centerville offer wireless Internet, serving as a remote office via your computer. The Gwinnett County Public Library also sponsors a number of yearly programs, including the Vacation Reading Program, Gwinnett Reads and, beginning in October of 2007, the Gwinnett Reading Festival. For more information, visit any branch, www.gwinnettpl.org, or call 770-978-5154.

Sweet Water Park will hold a grand opening celebration as planned Saturday, July 21 with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. followed by festivities through 1 p.m. The day's attractions will include tennis and horseshoes demonstrations, face painting and temporary tattoos, a giant slide, and a "Tastes of the World" food sampling by A Dinner A'Fare. Performances will include a mariachi band, cloggers, and hip-hop dancers. Food vendors will also be on site selling barbecue and Italian ice.

Sweet Water Park's amenities include a large concrete plaza area with seating, a 3/4-mile multi-purpose trail, playgrounds, a restroom building, two half-court basketball courts, two tennis courts, horseshoe pits, sand volleyball court, picnic tables, and porch swings. The plaza area boasts a 1,936 square-foot open central pavilion with two 1,000 square-foot extensions on each side.

Sweet Water Park is located at 800 Bethesda School Road in Lawrenceville. For more information call 770-822-8840 or visit www.gwinnettparks.com.

A special day of trucks, buses, farm equipment and other large vehicles for the little ones to explore and enjoy is coming to the Southeastern Railway Museum on Saturday, July 28, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. There's 34 acres of antique railroad equipment waiting to be discovered and explored on this day, or any time the museum is open.

The Southeastern Railway Museum has been in operation since 1970 and is "Georgia's Official Transportation History Museum". The museum has over 80 other pieces of retired railway rolling stock including vintage steam and diesel locomotives, passenger coaches, private business cars, a World War II army troop kitchen, wooden freight cars, railway post office car and maintenance of way equipment. Many other items from Georgia's transportation history are also presented on the museum's 34-acre site.

Leave the ordinary behind and step into the rainforest complete with wild animals, exotic drinks, jungle music and help senior citizens at the same time. Come and support the fifth annual silent auction, hosted by the Friends of Gwinnett County Senior Services (FOGCSS) entitled "A Night in The Wild."

Delmar Gardens of Gwinnett will once again open its doors to host the event Thursday, July 26 from 6 p.m. until 8:30. The event is open to the public. FOGCSS will use proceeds to benefit the senior citizens of Gwinnett County. Delmar Gardens is located at 3100 Club Drive in Lawrenceville.

FOGCSS is a private, nonprofit organization run by volunteers, and receives all of its financial support through individual donations and fund raising events such as this one. Ever since FOGCSS was founded in 1999, their efforts have been crucial to the funding of programs to benefit the senior citizens of Gwinnett. With the money raised in this year's silent auction, FOGCSS hopes to purchase a new vehicle for the Meals on Wheels program.

New Dawn Theatre sets offering soon at Duluth Second Stage

New Dawn Theater Company will open its summer production of A Little Princess
on Thursday, July 26 at Duluth's Second Stage Theater

Performances will be July 26-30 and August 2-5 and 9-12. Showtimes are Thusday-Saturday nights at 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children.

The Theater is also scheduling a dinner theater production in Commerce at The Opera House on August 17 and 18. The dinner will be at 7 p.m. and the curtain will rise at 8 p.m. Price for the dinner and theatre is $30. For ticket information on any of these performances, go to www.ticketalternative.com or visit the website at www.newdawntheatercompany.com or call 678-938-3615.

Landscaping at the Mall of Georgia will be watered with "reuse water" from the nearby water treatment plant starting in 2008. Gwinnett officials are hoping to persuade more large water users to switch from drinking water to the highly treated but non-potable effluent from the F. Wayne Hill Water Resources Center.

The Board of Commissioners Tuesday awarded a $1.17 million contract to Gary's Grading and Pipeline Co., Inc. to build a 24-inch pipeline over the two-mile distance from the Hill plant to the mall.

The County already has a number of customers for reuse water drawn from a 20-mile pipeline that runs from the Hill plant to the Chattahoochee River. Two parks, two golf courses and the new Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center already use the processed water for irrigation and cooling.

Frank Stephens, the county's director of Water Resources, says: "Almost 20 million gallons of reuse water are now flowing through the line every day. If more large water users along that line could make a similar switch, we could reduce the demand for drinking water." An advisory panel of citizens, businesses and members of other interested groups recommended such uses after studying the county's long-range water plans.

A recent expansion now allows the state-of-the-art Hill plant to treat up to 60 million gallons of raw sewage per day. Treatment includes screening, grit removal, sedimentation, aeration, clarification, coagulation, disinfecting ozonation, and filtering through activated carbon and ultra-filtration membranes. This treated water poses no health risks and is currently returned to either the bottom of Lake Lanier or to the Chattahoochee River.

Mike Lowrey, general manager for Mall of Georgia, says: "This project represents a huge step towards major water conservation in the area. We are proud to be partnering with the Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources on efforts that will have such positive results for the community. We hope this serves as a catalyst for other forms of conservation in the community as well."

Kaolin is one of Georgia's largest natural resources. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, more than eight million metric tons of kaolin are mined from Georgia each year, with an estimated value of more than $1 billion. Georgia is by far the leading clay-producing state in America and is recognized as a world leader in the mining, production, processing, and application of kaolin products.

The word kaolin is derived from the name of the Chinese town Kao-Ling (or Gaoling, "high ridge"), located in the Jiangxi Province of southeast China, where the written description of porcelain can be found.

During these ancient times, sediments were transported by rivers to coastline deltas and to estuarine and back-barrier island locations. Relative sea-level changes provided environments of deposition favorable for the accumulation of the lens-shaped geometry of the present-day deposits..

Kaolin in Georgia is generally found in a northeast to southwest band of deposits extending from Augusta to Macon to Columbus. This belt parallels the fall line, which marks the boundary between the Piedmont and the Coastal Plain. Deposits are of three types: (1) "soft" kaolin, which breaks easily and is soapy in texture; (2) "hard" kaolin, which is more finely grained, difficult to break, and jagged in texture; and (3) "flint" kaolin, which has no commercial value because its high opaline silica content makes it extremely hard. Kaolin mining activities are restricted to near-surface (less than 150 meters) ore bodies that are 3 to 15 meters thick..

Kaolin is most commonly used in the paper-coating industry. It is also used as a filler (added to plastics, for example, and rubber compounds), as a pigment additive in paints, in ceramics (tile, chinaware, and bathroom toilets and sinks), and in pharmaceuticals. Kaolin is mined and processed in many countries worldwide. Evaluation of refined kaolin output, however, is a far more meaningful way to estimate the economical state of the industry. The principal regions of the world that will offer competition to Georgia in the near future include Brazil, China and Australia.

"This is the devilish thing about foreign affairs: they are foreign and will not always conform to our whim."

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