GwinnettForum | Number 20.41 | June 12, 2020
GWINNETT LIBRARIES REOPENING: June 22 is the date for the reopening of all branches of the Gwinnett County Public Library system. Curbside pick-up will continue to be one additional service that will be available. For more details, see Upcoming below.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Gain Benefits of Working from Home By Providing Helpful Assistance
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Next Gwinnett Commission Chairman Won’t Be a Gwinnett Native
ANOTHER VIEW: Either Going Into or Coming Out of Wilderness of American Life
SPOTLIGHT: E.R. Snell Contractor, Inc.
FEEDBACK: Send us your thoughts
UPCOMING: County Offers $20 Million to Small Businesses Via CARES Act
NOTABLE: City of Snellville Adopts Resolution Condemning Racism
RECOMMENDED: Epidemics and Society by Frank Snowden
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Early Civil Rights Group Concentrates on Albany and Atlanta
MYSTERY PHOTO: Against a Fading Day’s Sky, Identify This Mystery Photo
LAGNIAPPE: Discover Garden in Norcross Provides Plots for Patrons
Gain benefits of working from home by providing assistance
By Mary Hester
President, LANS Systems
BERKELEY LAKE, Ga. | For companies that have considered or deployed programs for remote work, they may realize the benefits of increased productivity and employee satisfaction. To get those benefits, the program must be carefully planned, executed and evaluated.
Hester
At LAN Systems, we were ready for remote work. After all, we are technology people. We had all the systems in place for us to maintain our connectivity and productivity. Also, we have been working with our clients for many years to provide them with work anywhere, anytime options. But we thought it was a choice.
During this pandemic, many were thrust into working at home without choice or time to plan. For most, it took a while to set up the technology and acclimate to remote work. Some adapted quickly as they had the technology and a workspace that was conducive to working. But for others, it was a struggle. Not all have adequate resources to focus on work at home. Also, early in the pandemic equipment was more difficult and expensive to procure.
For employers, it is critical to have a plan to support at-home workers that are usually in-office workers. This is more than providing technology, as that is the easy part. You can send the worker home with a laptop, set up a VPN, give them a support number to call for technical issues. They can use their home Internet connection which may be faster than work, but that does not guarantee productivity. For productivity, you must ensure that the worker can be as successful at home as at the office. And that means providing support, beyond a simple measurement of performance.
Employers should understand the home environment. If employees have children, they will have to juggle work and childcare. They are going to be interrupted. In fact, their children may delight them with a picture, song or snack. And what parent could resist?
If employees are at home alone, they may miss being around people. Video conferences during or after work may provide a bridge until we can be together again.
Give employees the ability to account for this time without having to give excuses. We allow timesheet entries for administrative time, so employees can balance responsibilities. Be sure to provide technology like headsets, cameras, softphone access, laptops with external keyboard and mouse, desktops and other supplies that make work easier.
Staying in touch and providing regular updates are important. These are uncertain times. But giving an update of what is happening now and what is anticipated in the next week, will allay employee concerns. Be truthful and if you don’t know what will happen, say so.
Ask people what they need, and accommodate reasonable requests. Provide a reimbursement for home expenses if possible. It can be a modest amount to offset increased electricity, Internet, and other home expenses. Some employees may be saving on travel, but a home office stipend is a nice gesture.
Even as businesses reopen and many go back to their stores and offices, some may choose to implement lasting work-at-home options. If you do, look for durable solutions that work for your employees and your company.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Next County Commission chair won’t be Gwinnett native
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
JUNE 12, 2020 | Politics are changing in Gwinnett. The next chairman of the Gwinnett County Commission will not be born and raised in Harbins, Pinckneyville, Buford, Lawrenceville or Snellville. The next chairman will either be a native of Providence, R.I, Akron, Ohio, or possibly even Jamaica.
We refer to Nicole Love Hendrickson, born in Providence, David Post, from Akron, or Desmond Nembhard, from Jamaica. Being a native of Gwinnett is no longer a necessity for election.
Commission Chair Candidate Ms. Hendrickson, when complete returns are in, might not even face a runoff, in a surprisingly strong race. Incomplete returns shows her with 49.49 percent of the vote. Unofficial totals may be available by Friday.
While individual results were sometimes surprising, the one take-away from the voting is how much Gwinnett has become more Democratic. Generally, there were approximately two Democrats voting for every Republican. For president, 35,108 people voted for Donald Trump, while 65,058 Democratic votes were cast, with 55,158 being for Joe Biden. In county wide race after race, the 65/35 split was often seen. The General Election will tell if the Democrats are as close to the 1984 Republican sweep.
The most surprising element of the primary for me was the solid School Board victory of Dr. Tarece Johnson over Louise Radloff, a whopping 68/32 percent victory. (With no Republican running for that seat, that means Dr. Johnson will win that post outright.) One reason for her victory, some say, is that because there are so many new Democratic voters this year who hold no allegiance to anyone, or even do not know of Ms. Radloff’s accomplishment as the longest serving School Board member in Georgia.
That Radloff loss may spell trouble for the two Republican nominees for the Gwinnett School Board, unless enough Democrats recognize the solid years of service that Carol Boyce and Mary Kay Murphy have put in guiding the School Board.
Another race that was surprising was Tamela Adkins winning a Superior Court seat over veteran Judge Randy Rich. She won handily, a 60/40 victory.
While in the 7th District Congressional race, Dr. Rick McCormick won the GOP nomination without a runoff, he faces stiffer odds against the Democratic nominee again because of the few Republicans turning out in the primary. Meanwhile, with complete returns not in yet, it appears that Carolyn Bourdeaux (46 percent) is in a run off against Brenda Lopez Romero (15 percent) for the Democratic nomination. You remember that Ms. Bourdeaux lost the 2018 election by about 300 votes, so she should be the odds-on favorite to win the General Election, because of the higher number of Democrats turning out for the primary. Assuming the late count gives her the primary nomination, she will face an all-out assault by Republican McCormick, with his heavily pro-Trump support.
Another surprise was the 37 percent vote in the Post 3 County Commission race for Democrat Derrick Wilson of Centerville. Either John Moye or Jasper Watkins, both with 17 percent, will be his run-off opponent, depending on the final totals. Mr. Wilson, a bookkeeper and graduate of Abilene Christian University, now becomes the odds-on favorite to take this seat. On the Republican side of the runoff, Ben Archer (with 48 percent) faces Matt Dereimer (27 percent).
Overall, the 2020 results show many new faces coming on strong in holding offices for Gwinnett. For now, on to the August 11 runoff.
Gwinnett Elections Director Kristi Royston says that counting of absentee ballots will probably be finished on Friday. Elections officials are updating the county site with new totals each day. To see that site, go to this summary.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
On going into or coming out of wilderness of American life
By Ashley Herndon
OCEANSIDE, Calif. | We are going into or coming out of a wilderness. Racial, social and cultural injustice is part of ‘The American Way of Life.’
Herndon
Most wish that were not so. I wish my tiny mind could properly express my current thoughts.
In C. Vann Woodward’s ‘The Burden of Southern History Third Edition’ published in 1960, he reaches across 60 years to 2020. He mentions “The American Way of Life’ that politicians use as emotional pokes. That phrase creates a verbal mirror. When you gaze in that mirror the reflection is not pretty. This cranked up my grey matter.
The agrarian Old South fought change for decades. Many educated editorials excoriated our need for ‘New’ not ‘Old’, with partial success. We too became industrial and financial behemoths. Most Southerners would work cheaper and without unions. Add good weather. ‘The American Way of Life’ had arrived. I wonder which way was working…‘Southern Way’, ‘Yankee Way’, ‘Midwestern Way’, ‘Western Way’, or ‘laid back Pacific Island Way’
We constantly sold ‘The American Way’ to other countries. Telling them to get it on and catch up. Folk’ll just love it. It seems we finally accomplished the goal of ‘Americanizing’ the world. They are protesting and rioting about the same injustices. I hope they don’t hold that against us.
One of the hidden threads of ‘The American Way’ is this LACK of social, racial, and cultural justice. Welcome world to ‘The American Way.’ ‘Protect and Serve’…Serve WHO and Protect WHAT?
Ask the little black children who get ‘the talk.’ Black parents counsel their male children to avoid confrontation, and how to handle it. It is embarrassing to think about the counsel they must give their little girls. How those young ladies can grow up to be such powerful forces of good while having to deal with fear… boggles my mind.
‘The American Way of Life’…Indeed…700+ cities and countries on all continents are standing up to ‘The Man.’ Our ‘Way of Life’ is threatening others. No thank you postcards are headed this way.
Seeking relief, I turned to my life-long consolation, the powerful and good Southern gospel and familiar hymns. Just the titles can assuage, but the words and melodies sooth and caress like no other medium. Here are some examples: (this will bring calmness to your mind, as the hymns bring comfort from their recalling.)
- We are Marching to Zion…yes, Dr. King, we will overcome.
- Shall we Gather at the River…so we can do the following.
- When the Saints Go Marching In…it is our right and duty.
- Sweet Hour of Prayer…for those who have suffered and died.
- Amazing Grace…Blessed to have avoided untimely and unseemly harm.
- I am Bound for the Promised Land…dedicated to George Floyd.
- Greater Than All Our Sin…honesty and Integrity above all.
- Whispering Hope…live with faith, express hope, and practice love.
- We’ll Understand it Better By and By…never let up.
- Will The Circle Be Unbroken…looks like we are forming some circles in many cities and other countries.
That harsh rope of racial, social, and cultural discord that runs through ‘The American Way’, is starting to unravel. The American Experiment can do better.
Then we can listen to and enjoy:
- When They Ring Those Golden Bells.
- In the Sweet By and By.
- How Great Thou Art!
Or as Rex Humbard closed his TV sermon: ”Something good is going to happen to you today.”
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
E.R. Snell Contractor, Inc.
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s sponsor is E.R. Snell Contractor, Inc. of Snellville. Founded in the 1920s, ERS was built on Christian beliefs with honesty and integrity leading the way. Specializing in roads, bridges and culverts, its goal is to build a safe and modern highway system while preserving our natural environment. Through quality production and high safety standards, it strives to be the best contractor possible, while continuing to be a positive influence on its employees and the community.
- Visit online at www.ersnell.com.
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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
County offers $20 million to small businesses via CARES Act
The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners have approved a plan to offer $20 million in federal CARES Act loans and grants for local for-profit businesses hurt during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The county has approved two vendors to administer $10 million in loans and $10 million in grants under the Gwinnett Small Business Assistance Program. County staff anticipate being able to accept applications by June 30.
Gwinnett Board of Commissioners Chairman Charlotte Nash says: “The economic slowdown from the pandemic has taken a major toll on many of our small businesses, some of which were just getting on their feet when this hit. The Gwinnett Small Business Assistance Program will provide vital financial resources that can help eligible companies survive until better times.”
As envisioned, grants, which will be administered by the firm W. Frank Newton Inc., are capped at $75,000 and can be used for payroll, rent, mortgage interest, utilities, inventory, equipment or other COVID-19 response needs.
The grants would target small businesses that cannot access capital due to the businesses’ inability to meet minimum underwriting standards. To be eligible for a grant, the applicant would need to be a Gwinnett-based business in operation for more than one year, with up to 200 employees, and have active Secretary of State filings and organizational documents in good standing.
The SBAP also is planning to offer 36-month term loans between $50,000 and $200,000 with the first nine months of principal and interest payments waived. The loan program, which would focus on small businesses that can adapt and continue to generate some sales, will be administered by Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs Inc. The loans would help businesses reopen their doors with such needs as deep cleaning facilities, modifying facilities to accommodate ongoing social distancing, restocking inventory, marketing to their clients, and/or paying staff in advance of reopening and achieving revenue.
Applicants for the loans would need to be businesses with more than two years in operation with up to 500 employees, active Secretary of State filings and organizational documents in good standing.
- To learn more, check periodically at GwinnettCounty.com.
Gwinnett County libraries will reopen all branches June 22
Gwinnett County Public Library will reopen all branches to the public starting on Monday, June 22. Hours of operation will be, Monday-Saturday: 10 a.m.-5.p.m., and Sunday: Noon to 5 p.m. Curbside service will continue to be available.
However, Learning labs, meeting/conference rooms and quiet rooms will remain closed.
Open Access at the Lawrenceville and Suwanee branches will not be available.
Other limitations:
- Social distancing measures will be in place for the health and safety of all staff and patrons.
- Some furniture will be taped off.
- Some computers will be unavailable.
- Computer sessions will be limited to one hour with no renewals.
- Staff will continue to wear masks and gloves.
Library officials will continue to urge all customers to wear a mask.
Stars Spangled Snellville reset for Labor Day weekend
The July 4 fireworks show in the City of Snellville has been postponed because of COVID-19. Don’t worry this celebration will be back Labor Day weekend.
The rescheduled Stars Spangled Snellville celebration, complete with fireworks, food, entertainment and live music, will take place 3 to 9 p.m. Sept. 5 on the Towne Green.
The line-up entertainment has not been. Check the Snellville Tourism and Trade website at www.SnellvilleEvents.com for event updates.
City of Snellville adopts resolution condemning racism
The City of Snellville has approved a resolution stating racism is not welcome in the city and the city’s police department is committed to build on the “culture of trust” it has continued to exhibit to bolster race relations.
The resolution was approved Monday and declares city officials “stand steadfast with all citizens of Snellville against racism and bigotry and reaffirm its commitment to fighting for justice and human and civil rights for all.”
Councilwoman Cristy Lenski says: “Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd are people who once lived, worked, played, worshipped, and loved in communities not unlike our own. I am shocked, sickened, and saddened by the shameful ways in which their lives were ended. The challenge for us now is to respond compassionately and effectively, to acknowledge the blind spots we may have, and to engage in meaningful conversations with our diverse community, where we truly listen to one another and build bridges of understanding.”
Also on Monday, the Mayor and Council took the first steps to create a Citizens’ Advisory Council which will be charged with addressing topics such as race relations when called upon.
- To read the resolution, click here.
Epidemics and Society by Frank Snowden
From Raleigh Perry, Buford: The best piece of advice I can give on this book is that if you get queasy easily, do not even open this book. The author is both a historian and a medical doctor and he is explicit in both areas. The book is not quite what I thought it was. (I was interested in the post pandemic effects, which he does not cover.) He does not cover all of the pandemics and epidemics that we know of today, but those that he does cover are done so thoroughly from a medical and historical perspective. It is not a page turner. I read it in segments of 50-75 pages, because it is intense. If you read it, I suggest that you have a dictionary as the medical terms can baffle you quickly. It is my kind of reading, well written and easily followed, but it is not a quick read.”
- 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
Early civil rights group concentrates on Albany, Atlanta
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC (pronounced “snick”), was one of the key organizations in the American civil rights movement of the 1960s. In Georgia SNCC concentrated its efforts in Albany and Atlanta.
Emerging from the student-led sit-ins to protest segregated lunch counters in Greensboro, N.C., and Nashville, Tenn., SNCC’s strategy was much different from that of already established civil rights organizations. In April 1960, on the Shaw University campus in Raleigh, N.C., students of the sit-in movement met with Ella Baker, executive secretary of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and they established SNCC. SNCC sought to coordinate youth-led nonviolent, direct-action campaigns against segregation and other forms of racism. SNCC members played an integral role in sit-ins, Freedom Rides, the 1963 March on Washington, and such voter education projects as the Mississippi Freedom Summer.
In October 1961 SNCC field secretaries Charles Sherrod and Cordell Reagon arrived in Albany to establish a voter registration office and to test local compliance with the Interstate Commerce Commission’s ruling, which barred segregation in interstate transportation terminals.
Within two months Sherrod and Reagon, joined by Charles Jones, helped to form the Albany Movement—a coalition of SNCC volunteers, the Youth Council of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Baptist Ministerial Alliance, the Federation of Women’s Clubs, the Negro Voters League, and other groups. The movement coordinated mass rallies and demonstrations to protest the arrests of black residents attempting to integrate the city’s bus and train terminals.
Although the sit-ins and voter registration drives in Albany were slow to produce concrete results, the Albany Movement produced the largest direct-action campaign since the bus boycotts in Montgomery, Ala. As a result, civil rights activists learned to organize mass demonstrations that would provoke the federal government to intervene. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested in Albany three times, and he left the city for good in August 1962, admitting that the goals of the Albany Movement were still unmet. In 1965 King argued that the campaign failed due to the lack of focus on a particular harm: “The mistake I made there was to protest against segregation generally rather than against a single and distinct facet of it. Our protest was so vague that we got nothing, and the people were left very depressed and in despair.”
SNCC and local activists had a more optimistic view of the campaign’s outcome. “Now I can’t help how Dr. King might have felt,” Sherrod later said, “but as far as we were concerned, things moved on [in Albany]. We didn’t skip one beat.” Thanks to voter registration drives, African American businessman Thomas Chatman secured enough votes in a city commission election to force a run-off in late 1962, and in the spring of 1963 the commission removed all segregation statues. The protests demonstrated not only the appeal of SNCC to urban blacks but also the importance of the church and religious beliefs as a foundation for mass struggle among blacks in general.
(To be continued)
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to http://georgiaencyclopedia.org
Against a fading day’s sky, identify this Mystery Photo
Wow. Look at this magnificent structure, shown against the sunset of that day. We got this gorgeous photograph the other day, and immediately realized it would make a wonderful Mystery Photo. Tell us where it’s located by sending to elliott@brack.net, including your hometown.
Only our regular experts were able to identify an open field, which was the most recent Mystery Photo. Both George Graf of Palmyra, Va., and Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. got the correct answer. The photo came from Molly Titus of Peachtree Corners.
George correctly named the “Stone Circle (Site Z) at Newgrange Complex, Brú na Bóinne, Donore, County Meath, Ireland. Newgrange was built by a farming community that prospered on the rich lands of the Boyne Valley. It dates from around 3,200 BC, predating Egypt’s pyramids by some six centuries.
The stone circle in the photo is classified as Site Z, located right beside and just “east the main mound of Newgrange and within the large circular enclosure of pits. Site Z as discovered during the excavations at Newgrange, and was itself excavated by Michael O’Kelly and his team in 1966. The site had been largely destroyed by ploughing: all this land belonged to Melifont Abbey and was intensively farmed in medieval times.
“The monument is about 20 meters in diameter. The curbstones had been removed long ago during land clearance, and their sockets have been marked with ugly concrete stumps, as have the missing passage and chamber stones. The passage is just under 9 meters long, and opens into what may have been a large cruciform chamber; a small recess a meter square was found on the right hand side. The site was too disturbed to be sure if a left recess ever existed. An inner arc of five small boulders was found on the west side of the chamber.”
Peel added: “Newgrange, a UNESCO World Heritage Site consisting of a number of prehistoric ‘passage tombs’, located approximately 2-1/2 miles west of the small village of Donore in Meath County, Ireland. A passage tomb is an ancient burial site that is covered with stones and/or a mound of earth, and includes an inner chamber and stone passageway.
“The mystery photo however does not actually show the Great Passage Tomb of Newgrange. Instead, the photo depicts one of the much smaller ‘satellite passage tombs’ that were partially excavated in the area during the 1960’s and 1970’s.
Garden beds in use
As Gwinnett grows, especially with more apartments, it’ll need more settings like this one, Discovery Park Garden in Norcross. Note the growing vegetation in the raised beds of the park, carefully groomed by those renting these plots.
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