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Reducing red meat intake reduces colorectal cancer danger
By Sheila Adcock
Special to GwinnettForum.com

SNELLVILLE, Ga., March 28, 2008 -- For most Americans, meals tend to center around meat. To significantly decrease a person's risks of developing colorectal cancer, experts at Emory Eastside Medical Center suggest a new approach to meal planning that focuses more on fruit and vegetable dishes.

According to recent findings issued by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), consuming more than 18 ounces, or a little over a pound, of red meat (pork, beef, lamb and goat) each week can significantly increase a person's risks for developing colorectal cancer. In addition, every ounce and a half of red meat a person eats over 18 ounces increases their risks by 15 percent.

Nutritionists at Emory Eastside are encouraging people to increase portion sizes of the vegetable, fruit, whole grain and/or bean dishes being served and decrease the portion size of meat.

Sandra Mouton, clinical manager and registered dietitian for Emory Eastside Medical Center, says: "Instead of asking what goes well with pork chops, ask what goes well with broccoli and sweet potatoes. That way, your serving of meat becomes more of a side dish and not the center of the meal.

"Red meat contains substances linked to colon cancer," Mouton says. "For example, some studies suggest that the heme iron (the compound that gives red meat its color) may increase the risk of developing colon cancer."

AICR recommends that two-thirds of a meal consist of plant-based foods. Consuming less red meat and more plant-based foods can significantly decrease a person's risks of developing colorectal cancer.

Mouton emphasizes that these recommendations are not meant to encourage people to completely eliminate red meat from their diet. "Consuming red meat in modest amounts is a valuable source of nutrients, including protein, iron, zinc and vitamin B12. Moderation is the key," Mouton said.

"According to the United States Department of Agriculture, Americans were eating an average of 36 ounces of red meat every week in 2006," Mouton said.

Mouton recommends serving about three ounces (about the size of a deck of cards) of cooked red meat at meals. "If you follow this recommended serving size, you can include red meat in as many as six meals of your weekly diet."

AICR also recommends eating very little processed meat (meat preserved by smoking, curing, salting or adding chemical preservatives), such as ham, bacon, hot dogs, sausages, pastrami and salami. Every ounce and a half of processed meat eaten a day is thought to increase a person's risks of developing colorectal cancer by 21 percent.

"It's a good idea to avoid eating processed meats as much as possible," Mouton said. "Save that hot dog for special occasions, such as a family cookout or the ballpark."

Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer found in men and women in this country. The American Cancer Society estimates almost 150,000 new cases of colorectal cancer in the United States for 2008. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among Americans but is considered a highly preventable disease.

For behavior and prevention recommendations that can reduce risk of colon cancer and other cancers, go to EmoryEastside.com, click "Your Health" then choose "Cancer Indepth".

Kil Townsend and Grant Simmons both served Georgia well
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher

MARCH 28, 2008 -- Two significant men died this week, neither one living in Gwinnett, but who altered our lives considerably. They were Kiliaen (Kil) Townsend of Atlanta, an attorney, businessman and Republican legislator, and Grant Simmons of Hilton Head, S.C., who moved his headquarters of the giant Simmons Mattress Company to Gwinnett County in the 1970s.

What first attracted our attention to Kil Townsend were his ideas. As a freshman Georgia state Republican representative, he peppered the Legislature with one good idea after another. The Democratic-controlled Legislature would vote down his proposals, then later modify many of them slightly, and pass the idea under a Democratic label.

Townsend gained attention seeking to reform the state pension system; he wanted to remove the sales tax from food; and he suggested the idea of a Georgia lottery, measures all of which later passed. He also drew the wrath of politicians when he suggested the consolidation of many of Georgia's 159 counties, something still needed today. Again and again, Rep. Townsend proposed measures that were good for Georgia. Many editorial writers around the state readily championed these measures for their obvious reasonableness. Mr. Townsend served 14 terms in the Legislature, one of the longest serving legislators in the nation, and was honored as one of the 10 most outstanding among 3,000 legislators in the United States.

Former Gov. Zell Miller speaks well of Kil Townsend. He says: "Gil was an old fashioned southern gentlemen, even though he was born in the north. He had all the grace of being able to tell you that he differed with you and could not vote with you, and still would leave with a smile on his face and as a friend. There was no harshness about him as there is in today's politics. He was a gentlemen, and courtly in his action. He was very persistent, would not go away or take "No" easily. He was often ahead of his time on issues, many of which later got passed when introduced by others."

Through it all, he did it with tremendous wit and a smile that we see missing in today's elected representatives-politicians.

Grant Simmons was the fourth generation of his family to lead his family's far-flung mattress company. He also was an early environmentalist. That was seen when the company announced in 1975 that it would buy a giant tract of land off East Jones Bridge Road in Gwinnett to build their company headquarters. Instead of having a traditional groundbreaking, Mr. Simmons did not want to disturb the land. Instead, he capped the ceremony announcing the move by bringing to the county a "beehive setting."

While the award-winning and distinctive Simmons headquarters building was being built on a bluff overlooking the Chattahoochee River, Mr. Simmons insisted that the workmen not disturb the heavily-treed setting. He had them park their vehicles between trees off the one-laned road into the property. Once employees peopled the building, they also parked in the same spots, instead of in a denuded-of-trees parking lot. Later, Mr. Simmons relented, and allowed gravel (and eventually asphalt) to replace the mud and dirt between the trees. Today the same arrangements for between-tree-parking continues at the building, now the location of Check Free Corporation.

About 1980, the Simmons Company was taken over by Gulf and Western Industries, and the headquarters was set up at Executive Park in DeKalb County. (The firm had previously had a manufacturing facility on Marietta Street in Atlanta and now has a research and development facility in Norcross.)

These two men, Kil Townsend (1918-2008), and Grant Simmons (1920-2008), served Georgia well with their foresight and intelligence. May they rest in peace.

The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today's featured sponsor is The Gwinnett Center, winner of Facilities Magazine Prime Site Award for 2007and home to three distinct facilities in Duluth. The Convention Center offers the opportunity to host or attend a wide variety of events; from corporate meetings to trade shows, to social occasions. The Performing Arts Center has an intimate capacity of 700 guests and hosts many local events, family shows and even the occasional comedic performer. The Arena now celebrating its fifth year (deleted what was here) is ranked #56 in the top 100 arenas according to Pollstar, a leading industry indicator. Visit the newly redesigned website, www.gwinnettcenter.com for updates on events for all three facilities.

I believe all us with Gwinnettian pride feel proud and elated the Richmond Braves are moving to our little part of the world. I am looking forward to seeing the stars of tomorrow play here; what I am not looking forward to is getting to the stadium.

What seems to elude many is the impact the additional traffic will bring to the Mall of Georgia/Georgia Highway 20 corridor. On most days, travel from Peachtree Industrial Boulevard to the Mall takes 30+ minutes; getting off I-85 into the Mall may not take as long, but is certainly taking your life into your hands getting on Highway 20 from the off ramp. The new stadium will only increase the congestion. Other areas of the county, tied together with a better road feeder system would have made a much better location choice, such as south or east of Lawrenceville. Let's not forget the lesson of Gwinnett Place; traffic killed so much of its potential.

Without growing our transportation options, we are slowly choking ourselves in yet another part of the county.

I urge our county leaders to think long and hard about the choices they have placed on our infrastructure. I pray they are discussing every option with regards to transportation in our county, and how having the team here will burden our area. Please, play ball with the new state transportation director; going our own way in this regard will only continue to hurt us.

The Forum ran a piece recently on the supposed "dangers" in publicly financing a minor league baseball stadium. Think tanks are just as the name describes: people who gather in seclusion (the tank) who generally share the same thinking (the think) and who typically come to the same conclusions. Inside the "tank," they seem to lose perspective on the basics in life. I am happy to pay property taxes that support non-profit parks and libraries and schools. Gwinnett County has some of the best of all of these in Georgia and the entire southeast region.

Most everything we pay taxes for will not generate a financial profit. That's precisely why you need taxes in a free market society. Few people start a business with the intention of not making a profit to live on. The profit in our parks is in the quality of life we enjoy in Gwinnett. The untold profit in our libraries is the education and information everyone has equal access to.

The good news is Heartland.org lives in Chicago. We in Gwinnett who love baseball, parks and libraries, live here in Gwinnett. And so I join the Forum with "congrats" to the county commissioners for the new stadium.

Now all I ask of government is when will our school buses stop polluting the children they carry and burn something less harmful like bio-diesel or liquid natural gas (LNG)?

I know of at least three companies that sell LNG now. Gwinnett is a leader in many ways, such as our new water treatment plant recycling waste water. Often those who step forward first are criticized, then later lauded as being ahead of their time!! Keep moving us forward, commissioners!

Alvin Leaphart makes a good point in reminding us that we are a republic and not a democracy.

He also has a point to make in the following paragraph, but I still have a problem with his conclusion:"The more civilized and educated a country is, the less restrictions are needed on its citizens to maintain peace and order. The less civilized and educated a country is, the tighter the restrictions and control must be to maintain peace and order. Our form of government, in many countries of the world, would only promote chaos."

Mr. Leapheart is right that our system of government cannot necessarily be transplanted into a place whose only experience is with totalitarian rule. Our system of government took hundreds of years of history (mostly British history, going back to the Magna Carta) to reach its present form.

The point of our system is that the people choose their rulers, and that even the rulers have to follow the rules. Law is supreme over personal privilege or power. We certainly don't do it perfectly, but in general our system manages to correct itself over time, with a lot of push from concerned citizens.

However, I worry about defining our society as "civilized and educated," and saying that societies that are less "civilized and educated" cannot function as republics. For one thing, it smacks of Manifest Destiny, that "civilized and educated" nations could be justified in colonizing less "civilized" nations in order to "civilize" them, for their own good, of course.

Or perhaps it could be read as saying that the civilized and educated elite in a country should rule the rest with a strong hand, to "maintain peace and order." Problem: dictators may or may not be educated, but they frequently are not particularly "civilized" in the way they treat their people. We may not be able to transplant American-style government everywhere, but we should be pushing for all forms of government to hold human rights as sacred obligations.

Every 29 seconds a family somewhere in the United States will experience the death of a child, whether it be from an early pregnancy loss through that of a young adult. Those of us that are parents of The Compassionate Friends North Georgia Mountain Chapter have felt this heartbreak personally when our children died.

It is through the friendship, understanding, and hope proved by TCF that we are able to survive this most terrible of nightmares. Every month TCF, through its 600 chapters and the national organization, provides bereavement support to families.

By supporting our new chapter during the Walk To Remember fundraising drive, you will be helping us to do outreach to bereaved families in our area.

Sponsoring our TCF North Georgia Mountain Chapter and becoming a team member is simple-just click on the link at the bottom of this page and follow the prompts. Thank you for helping honor the memory of our children. Click here to go to the page where you can help this worthy cause.

Construction is ready to begin on a new 48,000-square-foot Corporate Headquarters in Lawrenceville for Logical Choice Technologies. A ground breaking ceremony will take place 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 2, 2008 at the facility's future site located at 1045 Progress Circle in the Gwinnett Progress Center. The company is presently located on Breckenridge Boulevard in Duluth.

After tripling the size of the company's business in recent years, Cynthia Kaye, president and CEO of Logical Choice Technologies, is preparing to move the company into a state-of-the-art, custom-built facility that will accommodate the company's continued rapid expansion. Kaye said, "There is a technological revolution sweeping the world of education today and our company is fortunate to be playing a significant role in that. Our primary business is transforming traditional classrooms into engaging 21st Century learning environments which combine the latest interactive whiteboard and voice enhancement technologies."

Local Atlanta contractor, RACO, is the developer and contractor for this project.

Founded with the goal of helping schools utilize technology to engage children and enhance the learning experience, Logical Choice Technologies has become the largest volume, full-service Promethean integration and training partner in the USA. As one of leading U.S. suppliers of 21st Century classroom products, installation services and instructor-led training courses, the company now employs 140 people. Logical Choice offers a complete Activclassroom solution, which is comprised of Promethean products as well as AudioGear, its own brand of audio equipment that is especially designed for the 21st Century classroom.

Logical Choice Technologies is a certified Women's Business Enterprise by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council in partnership with the Georgia Women's Business Council. The Atlanta Business Chronicle recognized Logical Choice as a Pacesetter in 2006. For 2007, Atlanta Business Chronicle recognized Logical Choice as 8th in the list of Top 10 Fastest Growing Women-Owned Businesses in Atlanta, and 17th in the list of the Top 25 Women-Owned Firms. INC Magazine named Logical Choice Technologies to the Inc. 500, the magazine's list of the 500 fastest growing private companies in America for the years of 1999 and 2000. For more information, go to www.logicalchoice.com.

Vendors for the 35th annual Snellville Days Festival are still being accepted. This year's two-day arts and crafts festival will be held on Saturday and Sunday, May 3-4 at T.W. Briscoe Park in Snellville.

Vendor applications will be accepted through the end of March or until all available vendor spaces are filled. Food and jewelry vendor applications are already closed. Visit www.snellvilledays.com or www.snellville.org to download an application. For more information, contact Debbie Puette at 770-985-3535 or dpuette@snellville.org.

The City of Snellville is in the process of purchasing property at the undeveloped southwest corner of Wisteria Drive and Clower Street for the site of a new Public Safety Building. It will encompass the undeveloped corner lot and the back two buildings of the Cobblestone Office Park across from the Doug Spohn development. Proposed closing on this property will be at the end of April. Details will be made public after that time.

This Public Safety Building is part of the Master Plan developed through the Livable Cities Initiative study. Snellville's new Public Safety facility, adjacent to its City Center, will fulfill the Council's long term goal of bringing police presence back to the downtown area. The current police headquarters is located on the east edge of town on Lenora Church Road.

Walton EMC plans to award $2,500 scholarships to two local educators in the first year of the Walton EMC - Operation Round Up scholarship program. The scholarships will be available to educators seeking their master's degree at an accredited college or university for use in the 2008 to 2009 school year.

Walton EMC CEO Ronnie Lee says: "We are happy to be able to give back to the educators who have a tremendous impact in the communities where we all live, work and where our children attend school."

Educators whose primary residence is served electricity by Walton EMC are eligible. Applicants must be certified teachers and must have taught for a minimum of one full school year at an accredited primary or secondary school; they must currently be employed by an accredited school.

Recipients will be selected by a committee comprised of Walton EMC's Operation Round Up board members. Operation Round Up is a program that allows Walton EMC customer-owners to elect to "round up" their bill to the next dollar. The money collected from this program is used to further the goals of local nonprofit organizations and to assist individuals in need.

The City of Suwanee is seeking a few green thumbs to participate in its annual Farmers Market. The Suwanee Farmers' Market opens Saturday, May 3. The market will be open from 8 a.m.-noon every Saturday through October 11 (except for September 20) at Town Center Park.

Farmers, gardeners, and others who offer agricultural products are invited to register to participate in the Farmers Market. All participants must grow or prepare their own products (no re-selling is permitted) and are required to register in advance.

A Suwanee Farmers' Market application is available online at www.suwanee.com or contact Amy Doherty, City of Suwanee events coordinator, at adoherty@suwanee.com or 770 945 8996.

Stallings Island, a National Historic Landmark site, was a major settlement of Late Archaic Native Americans from 4,500 to 3,500 years ago. Located in the Savannah River eight miles upstream from Augusta, the 16-acre island is the namesake of Stallings Culture and its hallmark pottery, Stallings fiber-tempered wares, the oldest pottery in North America.

Stallings Island was occupied intermittently throughout prehistory. It was during the height of Stallings Culture (ca. 3,800 to 3,500 years ago), however, that the site appears to have been the population center of a hunter-gatherer society whose level of culture was more complex than that of all prior societies in the surrounding region.

The most significant archaeological deposits on Stallings Island consist of a two-acre accumulation of freshwater shellfish remains---over ten-feet thick in places---along with other food remains, myriad artifacts, pit features, and human burials. Excavations began in the 1850s with investigations by Charles Colcock Jones Jr. They were followed in the last century by no fewer than five expeditions, most notably the 1929 project sponsored by the Peabody Museum of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. Illicit digging has been an ongoing cause of destruction at the site. The Archaeological Conservancy acquired Stallings Island in 1997 and strives to protect it from further damage.

Stallings Island is best known for its very early pottery, a technological development that predated the advent of farming in Georgia by several millennia. Accompanying this innovation were other indications, such as permanent architecture and storage technology, of an increasingly intensive hunter-gatherer economy. At 3,500 years ago the island and surrounding area were abandoned. Evidence for diminished health and environmental degradation suggest that the sedentary Stallings lifestyle ultimately was unsustainable. Changing relations with neighboring groups on the coast and in the uplands may have contributed to regional abandonment.

"The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it."

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