GwinnettForum | Number 21.02 | Jan. 8, 2021
WHITE COAT CEREMONY: The Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine added a potential 211 new health care workers, as they transferred “white coats” to them in virtual ceremonies recently. For more on this story, see Notable below. (Photo by Philip A. Fabrizio)
TODAY’S FOCUS: Grad returns to GGC gains job in supply chain management
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Georgia has two Democratic Senators for the first time in years
ANOTHER VIEW: America must meet Dr. King’s message of standing for rights
SPOTLIGHT: Law Office of J. Michael Levengood, LLC
FEEDBACK: Feels six Congressmen do not represent her interest
UPCOMING: 2021 county budget is $1.91 billion, up 3.7 percent from 2020
NOTABLE: PCOM boosts healthcare workforce with 211 new “White Coats”
RECOMMENDED: How the Brain Works, published by Dorling Kindersley
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Slavery was banned in Georgia Colony between 1735-1750
MYSTERY PHOTO: Distinctive gravestone is this edition’s Mystery Photo
Grad returning to GGC gets job in supply chain management
Laurie Melonja-Seall. Photo provided.
By Jacqueline Todd
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. | When Laurie Melonja-Seall first visited the Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) campus, it was to take a tour with her son, William, while he was planning his next steps in life after high school. They visited the School of Business. She says: “A professor got up and talked about how they were starting a new concentration – supply chain management. As he was explaining it – boing! A light bulb lit up in my head.”
Todd
Melonja-Seall, who lives in Buford, went home and applied to GGC that night. Instead of sending her son to the college, she wound up being a student there herself. If it seems unusual that a married mother of three children would suddenly decide to go back to college, Melonja-Seall is right there with you. “I never in a million years thought I would go back to school,” she laughed. I hadn’t been in school for years. I thought I was done!”
Melonja-Seall grew up an “Army brat.” She earned a Bachelor of Science in information science and worked as a UNIX systems engineer for six years. “I was good at it, but I didn’t love it. It was a chore to go to work,” she said.
When the dot com bubble burst, she changed course and became a 911 operator. She did that for several years, but as her family grew, the 24/7 demands of that job were keeping her away from her kids, so she changed course again and became a school bus driver. Otherwise, she was a stay-at-home mom, raising her three kids – 19-year-old William, 14-year-old Gianna, and 11-year-old Nick – while her husband supported the family.
But the allure of GGC’s new supply chain management degree appealed to her in too many ways to ignore. She signed up for two evening classes and one Saturday class.
She said the professors in those first three classes immediately put her at ease.
In addition to volunteering as a student ambassador, she helped start the college’s American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS) club, and served as its president for the last year. She also volunteered for the Torch Team, whose members serve as ambassadors for the School of Business.
She said she firmly believes challenging yourself and getting involved on campus are keys to success at GGC.
Melonja-Seall recently landed what she called her “dream job” as a supply chain analyst for a nationwide manufacturer of bottled water and soft drinks.
“Supply chain management is a very broad field. You can work in a cubical all day, or you can be out with people collaborating, making partnerships, and making decisions. That’s what I love about it.”
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Georgia has two Democratic senators for first time in years
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
JAN. 8, 2021 | So now Georgia will be represented by two new Democratic senators?
The voters of Georgia have not only picked senators from another party, but Georgia’s majority voters have changed the course of the United States, as these two newly-elected men go to Washington and ensure a Senate is under Democratic control.
It’s been years since the state of Georgia had so much political power. For a comparable time, we have to at least go back to the days when Jimmy Carter was president, and Sam Nunn was in the Senate, or if not further back to perhaps back to the era of Richard Russell and Carl Vinson.
Ossoff
Warnock
While my thinking was that the two Republicans would survive the senatorial runoff, I was not entirely surprised that the Democrats won. After all, in the days preceding the voting, there were several indications that something was afoot that the election would not be just another runoff with Republicans voting in a bigger turnout than Democrats.
Among these incidents:
- 76,000 more people were registered for the runoff than in the General Election. We suspect the majority of these were Democrats.
- 100,000 more new people voted who had not voted in the General Election.
- There was a harshness and meanness in the Republican advertising message to voters. I think this turned some independents into voting for Democrats.
- As a contract, particularly the Warnock campaign took the high road, talking about him being born in Savannah, the first in his family to graduate from college, etc. And then there was Warnock walking his dog. His advertising was far more compelling, and also much warmer than Kelly Loeffler’s.
- Some Republicans said they would not vote in the runoff since it was rigged. What kind of thinking is that? How could their candidate do well without their voting?
- You must also wonder if the barrage of advertising in the races turned voters’ minds. Georgia certainly had a bellyful of television advertising, telephone calls and oversized mailers about the election. Some people may have stayed away from the polls, disgusted with it all.
- And then President Trump was not conceding and continuing to stir things up. This again may have caused moderates to move away from their previous support for him.
His last-minute visit to Georgia, particularly in Northwest Georgia, did not seem to propel his turnout. Would he have done better going to a more central location?
So, what are the takeaways from the runoff voting? No doubt in my mind that there were at least two overall winners from this campaign.
Abrams
The first is Stacey Abrams. She mobilized voters in 2020 as we have never seen before. She is on a quest, and right now, oddsmakers should have her as a shoo-in if she wants to run for governor (especially against Kemp). We somehow suspect she would rather prepare herself for a gubernatorial campaign than take a job in the Biden Administration.
Raffensperger
The other winner was a Republican, Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger. He accounted himself with distinction as he maintained his ground for the integrity of the voting process, and even had to withstand the browbeating of President Trump. He seems to be a team player and could easily retain his office two years from now. He certainly is the most well-known of any of the 50 secretary of states in this nation. Thank you, Mr. Raffensperger.
Now while many people want a Congress guided by two different political parties, we’ll watch the Democrats in control to see if they can guide our nation back to more sanity.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
America must meet King’s message of standing for rights
By Debra Houston, contributing columnist
LILBURN, Ga. | I’m currently reading A Knock at Midnight, Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. The first sermon, “Rediscovering Lost Values,” was delivered in Detroit, Mich., on Feb. 28, 1954, when Dr. King was 25.
“There is something wrong with our world,” he proclaims. “Can it be a lack of science, philosophy, or math?” He rejects that idea, because mankind had more knowledge in 1954 than at any previous period in history.
What then? “I think we have to look in the hearts and souls of men.” Before we can go forward, he explains, we must go back and reclaim moral values lost over time.
He describes two fixed values at work in the universe: physical, such as gravity, and equally significant, moral values, such as love. For example, if you jump from a plane without a parachute, you’ll suffer the consequences. Likewise, if you break moral values, such as loving your fellow man, you suffer the consequences. He says we have built a neighborhood of the world, but “we’ve failed to create a brotherhood.”
King: “I’m here to say this morning that some things are right, and some things are wrong.” He thereby dismisses the “relativistic ethic.” When you understand right is always right and wrong is always wrong, you become guided by it.
He condemns “pragmatic ethics” defined as “Nothing is wrong but that which does not work.” His verdict? “That attitude is destroying the soul of our culture.” And it continues to do so in 2021. American culture deems that nothing is wrong as long as it pleases or profits us in the moment.
Take the looter who appeared on social media after George Floyd’s death, in which she explains why there’s nothing wrong with stealing goods from other people. “I loot because I’m entitled to it … Looting is reparations for slavery.” Her world is unfair, therefore, wrong is right. I don’t know her fate, but many looters caught on camera were sent to jail.
I wonder if Dr. King’s emphasis on nonviolent civil disobedience seems ancient to those who grew up playing violent video games and listening to music laced with hatred. After Mr. Floyd’s death, some nonviolent demonstrators followed King’s example of peaceful protest. He would have been proud of them. “What the world needs,” he says in his sermon, “is a group of men and women who will stand up for right and to be opposed to wrong, wherever it is.”
Americans need to go back and rediscover our moral values before we go far into the new year. We must meet Dr. King’s challenge of standing up for the fixed values of love, justice, honesty, kindness, and truth.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Law Office of J. Michael Levengood, LLC
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Feels six congressmen do not represent her interest
Editor, the Forum:
Six Georgia Congressmen do not represent me. They are Rick Allen, Buddy Carter, Andrew Clyde, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jody Hice and Barry Loudermilk,who objected to the election of Joe Biden. I am lucky enough to be represented by a true proud Georgian, Carolyn Bourdeaux, Congresswoman from the 7th Congressional district, who is in Washington D.C. because she believes in our state.
Before Ms. Bourdeaux, Congressman Rob Woodall, a Republican, also represented us with pride. I do not believe he would have joined these six Georgians who objected to the election of President-Elect Joe Biden.
Our Republican Secretary of State and his staff oversaw a state election that was no more fraught with fraud than other elections before it. He and the governor, with whom I share very few beliefs, have acted with integrity in this instance. The consequences for their actions have included rants and personal insults from the President of the United States, calls for Raffensperger’s resignation by our two FORMER Senators, and threats of harm to Raffengperger’s and others’ families. They make me proud to be a Georgian in the most bipartisan way.
These six Congressmen disrespect our State officials for the character they have shown by objecting to the Electoral College results. “Aye” was easy to say. That took no courage.
To these Congressmen, I say: If your loyalty to President Trump after what happened on Wednesday is more important to you than your loyalty to my state, may you live with the consequences, both in your hearts and in your political careers.
— Betsy Corley Pickren, Peachtree Corners
Spanish Flu of 1918 killed at least 50 million worldwide
Editor, the Forum:
You Tube has a terrific but lengthy presentation on the 1918 Spanish Flu. It states that the virus was recovered from a corpse frozen in Spitz Bergen, Norway. The DNA was fragmented but usable to isolate the genetic structure.
It also mentioned a number of other viruses in the past. One was particularly deadly and connected to chickens in China. Hordes of chickens were immediately destroyed and the spread was controlled. They reported that if that one had spread around the world, the death toll would have been over 50 percent. Birds are the safe harbor for viruses, sad to say. The report points out that even when humans have acquired immunity, the virus can move to birds.
There was no mention of the Chinese workers in World War I. There was a flu virus with our troops packed into a ship, the Leviathan, but the virus mutated or a different virus came home that hit the young adults particularly hard and fast. We had no pharmaceuticals, no antibiotics or antivirals to combat it. Basic nurse care was given to comfort the stricken. Caster oil was one treatment that was used here and the English gave it to the 6,000 infected Chinese workers while waiting to go to dig trenches in France.
India lost the most, while Australia lost few from total shutdown. Estimates run between 50-100 million people died worldwide, with India losing as many as 20 million. There were indigenous tribes completely wiped out.
Yes, Covid is huge, but the 1918 Spanish Flu was also significantly bad, too.
— Byron Gilbert, Duluth
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
2021 county budget is $1.91 billion, up 3.7% from 2020
In its first major vote of the year, the new Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners has approved the 2021 budget.
The budget for 2021 totals $1.91 billion, up 3.7 percent from the 2020 adopted budget. It consists of a $1.47 billion operating budget and a $441 million capital improvements budget, which includes funds from the County’s SPLOST program.
Some aspects of the budget were tightened to reserve funding to deal with the uncertain impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and for new initiatives and improvements by the incoming Board of Commissioners, such as warming stations during periods of extreme cold and performance audits to increase accountability and efficiency.
Tuesday’s meeting was the first for Chairwoman Nicole Hendrickson, District 1 Commissioner Kirkland Carden and District 3 Commissioner Jasper Watkins, who were all elected to the five-member board in November. The three joined sitting District 2 Commissioner Ben Ku and District 4 Commissioner Marlene Fosque, who are both entering their third year in office.
After nearly a year of dealing with the impacts of COVID-19, the Safe and Healthy Community goal remains a top priority with additional funding for the Gwinnett Public Health Department and continued coronavirus response. The budget also sets aside resources for the Situational Awareness and Crime Response Center, 33 new police positions (30 of those sworn), an expansion at the Police Training Center and improvements to the Fire Academy.
The adopted 2021 budget resolution and supporting documents are available online at GwinnettCounty.com.
New restaurant chain will open chicken salad concept in Buford
Chicken Salad Chick, a fast-casual chicken salad restaurant concept, will be expanding in Gwinnett County with its newest company-owned restaurant set to open in Buford near Mall of Georgia in January. The Buford location marks Chicken Salad Chick’s second Gwinnett County location and 33rd Chicken Salad Chick overall in the state. This location is the brand’s first store to open in 2021.
Located at 3385 Woodward Crossing Blvd., Chicken Salad Chick Buford will celebrate with a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by brand leadership and local employees on Tuesday, Jan. 12 at 9:30 a.m. with guests from the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and City of Buford. The restaurant will officially open its doors to the community at 10 a.m.
The restaurant will also host friends and family events on Friday, January 8 and Saturday, January 9, benefiting the food bank at North Gwinnett Co-Op.
PCOM boosts healthcare workforce with 211 new “White Coats”
Georgia’s potential healthcare workforce was boosted by 211 members recently when PCOM Georgia students received their white coats in a 33-minute ceremony on December 29. The students include 139 Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine students, 40 Doctor of Physical Therapy students, and 32 Physician Assistant Studies students, who are earning their Master of Science in Health Sciences.
Held online, the ceremony debuted and has been viewed more than 3,000 times on Facebook and YouTube. Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine Provost Kenneth Veit called the event “…particularly meaningful at a time when the members of our professions face unique challenges as frontline workers during a pandemic.”
Jay S. Feldstein, PCOM president, welcomed the students to “an observance that marks a pivotal educational and professional milestone” and represents the world of clinical medicine. He said, “By donning the white coat, your world shifts to putting the patient first, a priority that must never waver throughout your professional career. When you put the patient first, everything else takes care of itself.”
Phillip Palmer, chair of the Department of Physical Therapy, addressed the second year PT students. “We honor you because you have shown perseverance, patience and great potential as you endured the challenges of the classroom, dealt with the frustration of not being able to go to the clinic, and shown resilience with our transition to virtual and hybrid learning models due to the pandemic.”
Joseph Kaczmarczyk, interim dean and chief academic officer of PCOM Georgia, acknowledged that COVID-19 has affected everything, including white coat ceremonies, although the significance has not been diminished. He noted, however, that the meaning of the white coat, which traditionally focuses on professionalism and humanism, has been expanded due to the pandemic.
He said, “The practice of medicine always had and will continue to have inherent risks…which are more real now than ever before. Today, the white coat represents the willingness to accept those risks in service to others and to subordinate your needs to the needs of patients. The white coat now is evidence of service above self.”
The ceremony was fitting for this time of COVID-19 which Laura Levy, chair of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies, called the “greatest health crisis we may see in our lifetime.”
In addressing the students, Gregory McDonald, dean of the School of Health Sciences, acknowledged that the current year has been challenging. He said, “As a society, we have dealt with the medical and economic issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We have witnessed and experienced social unrest…But, yet, here you are!”
He spoke of the power and responsibility of the white coat, a responsibility that “cannot be taken lightly. You are not only representing yourself, but every other healthcare provider that treats patients.”
The World Will Follow Joy; Turning Madness into Flowers by Alice Walker
From: Karen J. Harris, Stone Mountain: Alice Walker’s The World Will Follow Joy is a dazzling collection of poems that celebrate human life, survival amidst challenge and care of the planet. Walker intersperses this collection with some prose pieces that speak to the importance of sharing resources with others to the benefit of all. Several of the poems are calls for forgiveness, reverence, release of anger and the beauty of nature. Her poetry inspires deep thought, and an inner questioning about how each of us, despite our circumstances can change and improve our lives and those of our neighbors. She recognizes the contributions of spiritual and political leaders such as Buddha, Gloria Steinem, Jimmy Carter and others whose work has influenced the collective conscience of humankind.
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
Slavery was banned in colonial Georgia between 1735-1750
Between 1735 and 1750 Georgia was unique among Britain’s American colonies, as it was the only one to attempt to prohibit Black slavery as a matter of public policy. The decision to ban slavery was made by the founders of Georgia, the Trustees.
General James Oglethorpe, the earl of Egmont, and the other Trustees were not opposed to the enslavement of Africans as a matter of principle. They banned slavery in Georgia because it was inconsistent with their social and economic intentions. Given the Spanish presence in Florida, slavery also seemed certain to threaten the military security of the colony. Spain offered freedom in exchange for military service, so any African captive brought to Georgia could be expected to help the Spanish in their efforts to destroy the still-fragile English colony.
The Trustees wished to guarantee the early settlers a comfortable living rather than the prospect of the enormous personal wealth associated with the plantation economies elsewhere in British America. They would obtain this living by working for themselves rather than being dependent upon the work of others. The Trustees believed that the silk and other Mediterranean-type commodities they envisaged for Georgia did not require the employment of enslaved Africans but could be easily produced by Europeans.
Initially the Trustees believed the settlers would follow their wishes and not use enslaved workers. Oglethorpe realized, however, that many settlers were reluctant to work. Some settlers began to grumble that they would never make money unless they were allowed to employ enslaved Africans. Many South Carolinians, who wanted to expand their planting interests into Georgia, encouraged this line of thinking.
Oglethorpe soon persuaded the other Trustees that the ban on slavery had to be backed by the authority of the British government. The influential Trustees easily persuaded the House of Commons that their intentions for Georgia, and the colony’s very survival in the face of the Spanish threat, depended upon the exclusion of enslaved Africans. In 1735, two years after the first settlers arrived, the House of Commons passed legislation prohibiting slavery in Georgia.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to http://georgiaencyclopedia.org
Distinctive gravestone is this edition’s Mystery Photo
Here’s a gravestone that must provide a story, so it’s the Mystery Photo for this edition. Send where you think it is located, and tell the story behind it. We’ll tell you it’s in Georgia. Send your answers to elliott@brack.net and include your hometown.
Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. was the only person to figure out what the recent Mystery Photo was about. The photo came from his fellow sleuth, George Graf of Palmyra, Va. Peel writes: “This one was a challenge for sure. I will be curious to see how many of the regular sleuths can figure this one out. (No one else did.)
“Today’s mystery photo is a view of the theatre seating, taken from the stage at The Grand Opera House, located at 651 Mulberry Street in Macon, Ga. The photo shows the seating arrangement before the audience is let in to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Before the show, a section of newspaper is laid out across each seat, to be used by the audience members as a prop during the movie, when Brad and Janet are caught in a rainstorm. Many of the audience members will use squirt guns to spray water on other audience members, who are expected to protect themselves from getting wet, by covering their heads with the newspaper. To see when and how to use these newspaper props, check out the YouTube video here.
Photo via George Graf.
“There are actually a number of places during the show that audience participation can be expected and encouraged. While the Opera House provides a newspaper for each audience member as part of the entrance fee.,
“The Grand Opera House, often called The Grand and originally known as the Academy of Music, is an historic opera house that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. It is now the performing arts center of Mercer University and hosts many Broadway touring companies, concerts, community theatre productions, classic movies and other performances and events.”
Note the photograph that Graf provided of the restored Grand Opera House without the newspapers.
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