GwinnettForum | Number 20.31 | May 8, 2020
DOG PARKS OPEN: Our animals have been cooped up during this Coronavirus Pandemic. They need some outdoor relief. That’s one of the reasons that Gwinnett County is opening up its county dog parks. County officials ask that people keep their distance from others while your dog romps. For a list of the county dog parks, click here.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Questions and Answers about June 9 Georgia Primary Election
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Many People Appear Happy to “Remain in Place” Across Nation
ANOTHER VIEW: Pandemic Shows Flaws In Many of Our Normal Approaches
SPOTLIGHT: Precision Planning, Inc.,
FEEDBACK: Watch Out for fake Ga. Power Scam, and Be Sure To Report It
UPCOMING: Here Are Advanced Voting Sites for Gwinnett County
NOTABLE: Gwinnett Hospitality Group Launches Program To Help the Arts
RECOMMENDED: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Battle of Pickett’s Mill A Decisive Encounter in Atlanta Campaign
MYSTERY PHOTO: Tell Us What You Can Find about This Traditional Building
CALENDAR: League of Women Voters Plan School Board District 5 Debate May 12
Questions, answers about June 9 Georgia primary election
A man votes on an electronic machine.
By Lynn Ledford
Division director, Gwinnett County Department of Community Services
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. | Questions have been raised about voting in the upcoming primary. Here are some answers.
Ledford
What if I want to vote for one party for the Presidential Preference Primary but the other party for my Primary ballot, can I do that?
No. Because of the presidential and general primary being combined whatever party you choose will have those party candidates only.
What safety precautions is Gwinnett County providing for both Poll Officials and voters?
Poll officials will be provided with face masks and shields, gloves and sanitizers for both hands and surfaces. Voters will be provided the option of gloves for their use and hand sanitizer will be available as well.
Why does the sample ballot on the state’s website show the candidates for the Presidential Preference Primary, when I’ve already voted for that race?
The state’s website sample ballot site does not know if you’ve already voted or not, so due to the unprecedented circumstances, you are seeing the ballot for anyone in your precinct. When your actual ballot is presented to you, either by mail or in person, it will only have the races that you are eligible to vote for.
How can I return my absentee by mail ballot?
Several different ways. 1) you may mail the ballot back in the envelopes provided; 2) turn the ballot into one of the advance in person voting locations while they are in operation; 3) place the voted ballot into any drop box located at one of the advance in person voting locations through 7 p.m. on Election Day; and 4) turn the ballot into the Elections Office, located in Lawrenceville. Ballots cannot be emailed or faxed or turned into the Gwinnett County Justice and Administration Center for tabulation.
How can I confirm my ballot was received?
When the Elections Office receives the ballot and it’s entered into the statewide system, you can verify ballot receipt through the State’s MVP website. Because of extremely high volume, it may take longer to receive and verify the ballots. So you should continually check the website. The Elections Office will not be able to single out any returned ballots from the thousands received daily.
I heard that drop boxes will be provided for absentee by mail ballots, is that correct, and if so, how will that work?
The State Election Board created an Emergency Rule to allow for ballot drop boxes. In Gwinnett County, the drop boxes will be located at all advance in person locations in operation, as well as the Elections Office. Ballots may be dropped off through 7 p.m. on Election Night. At 7 p.m. the last of the ballots will be retrieved and taken to the Elections Office for processing and tabulation along with other ballots received. Ballots will be placed in secure bags/containers for transportation
What changes should I be prepared for with the new voting system?
The new voting system is an optical scan voting system. While you will make your selections on a large touch screen, once you’ve verified your ballot selections, you will print your ballot, take it to a scanning station and insert it. The ballot itself is actually tabulated, votes are not tabulated from the touch screen. You can think of the touch screen as a “big pencil.”
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Across nation, many appear happy to “remain in place”
By Elliott Brack
Editor and publisher, GwinnettForum
MAY 8, 2020 | There appears to be a “group think” all across the nation that we should “remain in place” during this pandemic. It appears that most people just plain question whether it is best to get out and about once again.
Brack, dressed for Covid-19
Granted, some militant groups are pushing for an opening of the economy in orchestrated demonstrations. But this seems far distant from the feeling of most people. The average person seems to “sense” that it is just not right now to resume normal operations. There seems to be nothing particular about this….just a feeling that it’s best to stay in your own quarantine a while longer.
Allowing people to go back to work, and reopening the economy, is proving to be much more complicated than some leaders might have anticipated. Our own governor, Brian Kemp, was at first reluctant to give “stay-at-home” orders, though local leaders from all parts of the state were begging for him to act on that.
Now that the Georgia edict to remain home has been in place for a while, Governor Kemp seems hell-bent in reversing himself quickly—the first in the nation. And yes, close association activities like those in barber and beauty shops, or tattoo parlors, got the green light.
Yet again, it appears the governor is not listening to people he has appointed to guide him, nor to city and county officials. The local leaders seem more in touch with the will of the people. The governor cannot seem to hear local officials, or his advisers. A group of Macon pastors protested the governor’s reopening, telling their congregations to stay home. And the state’s Supreme Court, which supervises all courts in Georgia, extended the statewide judicial emergency, meaning all criminal and civil jury trials are suspended until June 12.
New evidence this week indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic has not yet topped out throughout the nation, much less in Georgia. Now we are hearing that before all is over there may be more than 100,000 deaths in our nation, and some point to more likely 130,000. Only in 14 states are deaths decreasing, as of May 5. Georgia’s death rate remains about the same. With the nationwide total deaths of 74,665 (May 7), it appears our nation has many more difficult days ahead before anyone can feel solid about pronouncing an “All Clear!”
On Wednesday, the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta said despite the use of social distancing on a widespread basis, the incidence of the virus continues to worsen in Georgia. It even went so far as to anticipate that the nation’s death rate now of 1,750 a day could rise to 3,000 daily. It also said that the ultimate death rate could exceed 100,000.”
Sadly for Georgia, the CDC said it is among the states “whose burden continues to grow” from the pandemic.
We recognize this pandemic has caused unusual economic problems for many families. We realize lots of people want to get back to work, and provide a paycheck for their families. As far as that, we all would like to return to a more normal time.
Yet we pause and ponder.
To open up too quickly might be the trigger for an even tougher fight against this virus.
Best advice: be cautious, keep social distancing, follow the guidelines, and do your part to keep this virus from spreading even more.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Pandemic shows flaws in many of our normal approaches
By George Wilson, contributing columnist
STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. | The present pandemic has exposed the flaws in old security paradigms, demonstrating that they rely on outdated assumptions about the world.
However, the history of recent U.S. debate shows that it will take more than just observing that the old ways don’t work to move us to new ways that do deliver. Innovative approaches to security policy or incorporate disciplines and modes of thought are not well-represented in the policy processes—or both.
We need new thoughts on central security challenges—issues like endless wars, nuclear weapons, and alliance arrangements, as well as pandemics, climate security, privacy, and migration
Moreover, the challenges of an adequate health care system for everyone, the growing income inequality, the effects of artificial intelligence and automation on the workforce, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and more. Most importantly, increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of government at all levels is of utmost importance. This as the consequence of this present disaster leads me to a book that partially explains why this administration has proven to be so ineffective.
Michael Lewis’s brilliant narrative of the Trump administration’s botched presidential transition takes us into the engine rooms of a government under attack by its leaders through willful ignorance and greed. The government manages a vast array of critical services that keep us safe and underpin our lives from ensuring the safety of our food and drugs and predicting extreme weather events to tracking and locating black market uranium before the terrorists do. Finally,The Fifth Risk vividly points out the consequences if the people give control over our government to someone who has no idea how it works.
As proof of this, in a piece in an issue of The Atlantic, entitled “We Are Living in a Failed State” the respected commentator George Packer writes: “The crisis demanded a response that was swift, rational and collective. The United States reacted instead like Pakistan or Belarus — like a country with shoddy infrastructure and a dysfunctional government whose leaders were too corrupt or stupid to head off mass suffering.”
This is why the 2020 elections are so important.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Precision Planning, Inc.,
Today’s underwriter is Precision Planning, Inc., a multi-disciplined design firm based in Lawrenceville, Georgia with a 37-year history of successful projects. In-house capabilities include Architecture; LEED® Project Management; Civil, Transportation and Structural Engineering; Water Resources Engineering; Landscape Architecture; Interior Design; Land and City Planning; Land Surveying; and Grant Administration. PPI has worked diligently to improve the quality of life for Georgia communities through creative, innovative planned developments, through the design of essential infrastructure and public buildings, and through promoting good planning and development principles. Employees and principals are involved in numerous civic, charitable and community based efforts in and around Gwinnett County.
- For more details, visit https://www.ppi.us
- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, click here.
Watch out for fake Georgia Power scam; Report it
Editor the Forum:
You mentioned a Medicare phone scam recently. There is a similar scam for people posing as Georgia Power employees calling about a past due bill. It starts with an automated call, then you are asked to press 1 to reach an operator, and then you get an elaborate story about your bill being past due. Georgia Power is aware of the scam, and if you contact them directly with the number making the call, they report it to law enforcement for action.
By the way – your Sugarloaf Parkway / Sugarloaf Farm article was exactly right. There was a very big croquet event held there in the early 90’s as a charity fundraiser. It was a beautiful property.
— Eric Boles, Morningside, Atlanta
Send us your thoughts: We encourage you to send us your letters and thoughts on issues raised in GwinnettForum. Please limit comments to 300 words. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Send feedback and letters to: elliott@brack.net
Here are advanced voting sites for Gwinnett County
Gwinnett County Elections Office has announced advanced voting sites and times. Advanced voting will take place from May 18 to June 5 at two sites:
Elections office on Grayson Highway in Lawrenceville, including Saturdays and Sundays on two days each.- Gwinnett County Fairgrounds, off Sugarloaf Parkway in Lawrenceville, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day. However, Sunday hours will be from noon to 7 p.m.
Both above locations will be closed on Monday, May 25 for the Memorial Day holiday.
Additional advanced voting locations will be Bogan Park Community Recreation Center in Buford, George Pierce Community Recreation Center in Suwanee, Lenora Park Gym in Snellville, and Lucky Shoals Park Recreation Center of Norcross. These four offices will be open daily May 31 to June 5 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. but on Sunday from noon to 7 p.m.
County moves to prepare for pandemic-related grant funding
Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners have taken a step toward attaining and preparing for coronavirus-related grant funding.
At the commissioners’ business session, the board voted to approve the application for and — if awarded — the acceptance of public assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency as well as grant funding through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, known as the CARES Act. The CARES Act authorized $2.2 trillion dollars to facilitate stimulus relief for the American public, businesses and state and local governments.
While federal and state agencies are still working to clarify eligible expenses and their processes for releasing funds, this action is part of Gwinnett’s proactive approach to accepting disaster public assistance and CARES Act funding in order to facilitate timely relief to County departments and community partners who have played an instrumental role in preparing for and responding to COVID-19 needs. To date, the County has been informed of the following funding allocations: $314,000 for health care-related expenses; $4.8 million for community development, housing and homeless needs; $19.9 million for transportation needs; and $163 million for general COVID-19-related expenditures.
Gwinnett County opens dog parks on phased basis
Dog parks at Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation facilities are open on a phased process.
Guidelines will be in place to help keep patrons and pets safe when the dog parks reopen. Occupancy in each area of the dog park (small dog and large dog) will be limited to 10 dogs and 10 people. Patrons should maintain 6 feet of distance between themselves and others at all times. Residents are asked to avoid the park if they or their dog are sick. Other safety measures to abide by while using the dog parks include refraining from bringing toys or balls to the park and only letting dogs drink out of their own water bowl.
Parks that contain dog areas include the following: Alexander Graves, Harbins, J.B. Williams, Lenora, McDaniel Farm, Pinckneyville, Rabbit Hill, Rock Springs, Ronald Reagan and Settles Bridge.
Gwinnett hospitality group launches program to help the arts
Explore Gwinnett and the Gwinnett hospitality industry is launching the Gwinnett Creativity Fund (GCF), a first-time arts grant program to support Gwinnett County based non-profit arts organizations. The Gwinnett Creativity Fund will provide both operating grants and project grants from the $200,000 annual funding . The dollars will come all from unrestricted hotel motel tax revenue collected by Gwinnett County, and administered and managed by Explore Gwinnett.
Lisa Anders, Explore Gwinnett executive director, says: “This grant program has been in the works for quite a while and this is an ideal time to launch. Arts organizations are hurting just like every other industry. This much-needed grant will give arts organizations a small infusion of capital to continue their arts-focused mission or to start a new, exciting project which positively serves both residents and visitors.”
General operating grants provide funding to help support an organization as it pursues its mission. General operating grant funds will be awarded to organizations based on budget and awards will range from $2,500 to $10,000. For operation-relief grants, the grant application period is May 11–May 22. For project grants, the application period is June 10–July 15.
GGC gets $25,000 COVID-19 grant from 2 agencies
The Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) Foundation received a $25,000 grant from the Greater Atlanta COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, a joint effort of the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta and the United Way of Greater Atlanta. Funds will support GGC’s Student Emergency Fund, which aids Pell-eligible GGC students with food, gasoline, housing, rent and utilities.
GGC’s Student Emergency Fund was established to provide basic necessities and address sudden emergencies so GGC students can keep moving forward with their education. Learn more about the fund and donate by going here. The Greater Atlanta COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund provides resources to organizations working with communities disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic consequences. The United Way of Greater Atlanta reported nearly $12 million has been distributed to community organizations since the fund was announced in March.
You have 5 options to comment on regional transit plan
The Atlanta-Regional Transit Link (ATL) is seeking public comment on a proposed amendment to the 2019 Atlanta Regional Transit Plan (ARTP) from Gwinnett County, incorporating changes to the project list previously submitted by the County, which include modifications to previously submitted projects, as well as the addition of new projects. The 30-day public comment period began on April 22, 2020, and concludes on May 22, 2020.
There are five options to provide public comment until May 22.
- Option 1: Online: Go to https://atltransit.ga.gov/gwinnettcountyamendment/
- Option 2: By email. Go to ARTPcomments@atltransit.ga.gov
- Option 3: By mail: Address comments to: ATL Public Comment, 245 Peachtree Center Avenue, NE, Suite 2200, Atlanta, Ga. 30303.
- Option 4: By phone, leaving recorded comment at 404-893-2100.
- Option 5: By phone by speaking with an ATL representative at 404-893-2100. Leave a message to request a return call.
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
From Karen Harris, Stone Mountain: Newlyweds Roy and Celestial seem primed for a wonderful life. He is an up-and-coming executive and she is an accomplished artist. They live in Atlanta, where opportunity knocks if ingenuity is present. During a trip to visit her parents in Louisiana, Roy is picked up and charged with a heinous crime which he did not commit. Sentenced to 12 years, Roy’s hope slowly erodes. Celestial is devastated by this turn and leans upon an old family friend with whom she becomes involved after two years. When Roy is suddenly released after five years, the past and present collide, and these characters must discern what the future will hold. Injustice, inconstancy, mistaken identity, and fate are handled deftly through the stories of the parents of the characters which underscore the issues of the main characters. A sobering but hopeful ending makes this a story not to be missed.
An invitation: what books, restaurants, movies or web sites have you enjoyed recently? Send us your recent selection, along with a short paragraph (150 words) as to why you liked this, plus what you plan to visit or read next. Send to: elliott@brack.net
Battle of Pickett’s Mill is decisive in Atlanta campaign
The Battle of Pickett’s Mill was among the more decisive encounters of the Atlanta campaign during the Civil War (1861-65). Today, the Pickett’s Mill Battlefield Historic Site in Paulding County is one of the most thoroughly preserved and interpreted Civil War battlefields in the nation.
In May 1864 the Confederate army successfully prevented Union general William T. Sherman’s troops from occupying the town of Dallas, which Sherman sought as a strategic base of operations as he moved toward Atlanta. The battle was the bloodiest to that point in the campaign and by all accounts delayed Sherman’s eventual capture of Atlanta by at least a week.
By May 23 Sherman’s army had crossed the Etowah River on the move toward Atlanta. In order to skirt the Allatoona Pass, where Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston’s forces defended the railroad, the Union forces crossed through the wilderness south to Marietta via Dallas, with more than 85,000 men and twenty days’ worth of supplies. Searching for a route between Johnston’s forces and the Chattahoochee River, Sherman drove his troops to the crossroads at New Hope Church, where they encountered Confederates under the command of Lieutenant General John Bell Hood on May 25. As Hood’s Corps stood its ground on May 26, Sherman ordered Major Lieutenant General Oliver O. Howard to lead 14,000 Union troops to the left of the Union army and attack the Confederates on Hood’s right.
Early in the morning of May 27, the artillery of the Union army began bombarding the Confederates at New Hope Church, and Howard ordered Brigadier General Thomas Wood to move his division toward the Confederates’ right wing. Marching through rough and densely forested terrain, Howard and Wood had difficulty locating the Confederate right flank, allowing Johnston time to shift his armies in order to reinforce that endangered flank, under Major General Patrick R. Cleburne’s command.
When Howard arrived at the west bank of Pickett’s Mill Creek, he thought that his army had moved beyond the enemy’s right and so ordered Wood to attack. Wood’s first two battle lines comprised Union brigadier general William B. Hazen’s brigade. At 4:30 p.m. Hazen’s troops advanced, only to encounter the fierce firepower of Brigadier General Hiram B. Granbury’s Texans on the top of a rocky, tree-covered ridge. Soon after the battle began, the Texans were reinforced with Brigadier General Daniel Govan’s Arkansas troops and Brigadier General Mark P. Lowrey’s Alabama-Mississippi Brigade. After fifty minutes of bloody combat, Hazen’s surviving troops began to fall back. At this moment Wood sent in Colonel William Gibson’s brigade. This second attack also failed in the absence of sufficient support, and Gibson’s men fell back an hour later.
(To be continued)
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to http://georgiaencyclopedia.org
Tell us what you can find about this traditional building
It’s a traditional building, one with a special use. Primarily, can you figure where it sits? Tell us where it’s located by sending to elliott@brack.net, including your hometown.
The last edition Mystery Photo was quickly solved by Susan McBayer of Sugar Hill: “This is a statue of Joel Roberts Poinsett, 15th U.S. Secretary of War under President Martin Van Buren. Poinsett was also an avid amateur botanist and the poinsettia plant was named in his honor. A man of the world, Poinsett was born into a wealthy Charleston family and was afforded the luxury of extensive travel at a time when travel was not only costly but incredibly time consuming. Everywhere Poinsett went, he saw the sights, acquired the language and studied the people.
“After graduating from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and the Royal Military Academy in London, he served in various capacities in Russia, Venezuela and Chili and was one of the first Americans to travel to the Middle East. Upon returning to the U.S., Poinsett was elected to represent South Carolina in the U.S. House of Representatives. He then became the first U.S. Minister to Mexico under President John Quincy Adams before becoming U.S. Secretary of War. He was also a co-founder of the National Institution for the Promotion of Science and the Useful Arts that was a predecessor of the Smithsonian Institution. This memorial statue is located in Greenville, S.C.” The photograph came from Charleston (S.C.) Currents via Wikimedia.
Others identifying the photograph include Lou Camerio of Lilburn, Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex., Jim Savadelis of Duluth, and George Graf of Palmyra, Va.
Peel told us: “Joel Poinsett (1779-1851) was a Charleston native who spent his summers in Greenville during the early 1800’s. The statue was dedicated at the start of the 2001 Christmas parade in downtown Greenville, the statue’s location was chosen in remembrance of a historic July 4, 1851 ‘Save the Union’ speech that Joel Poinsett gave at this site just five-months before his death. Poinsett firmly believed that nationalism and democracy worked hand-in-hand for the benefit of all Americans, and he gave the speech to try to disperse ongoing debate about the possibility of southern states seceding from the Union, a topic that was a regular point of discussion for the South in the mid-1800s.
“Despite all of his accomplishments, few people really know much, if anything, about Poinstt. This even though many of us decorate our homes at Christmas time with the red and green floral display that Poinsett himself, who had a passion for botany, introduced to the USA in the 1820s – the Poinsettia.”
Graf located the statue: “It is in front of the old Greenville Courthouse next to the Westin Hotel and across the street from the Greenville Chamber of Commerce, S.C.”
League plans school board District 5 debate May 12
On Tuesday, May 12, 2020 candidates running for school board in Gwinnett District 5 will meet with the public via Zoom and Facebook Live to discuss their vision for education in the county.
In order to give voters an opportunity to hear from the candidates prior to the election, The League of Women Voters of Gwinnett County has teamed up with Gwinnett SToPP, a local grassroots organization, dedicated to dismantling the school to prison pipeline, to offer an online candidate forum.
Candidates participating in the forum are seeking to represent District 5 on the School Board. They are Louise Radloff, incumbent, and Dr. Tarese Johnson, challenger for the position.
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