GwinnettForum | Number 21.36 | May 6, 2022
WORLD’S FAIRS and similar Expos haven’t been major news in recent years. Here’s a view of the Great Industrial Exhibition of 1851 in England. Now Minneapolis, Minn., is seeking to put on the first such Fair in 40 years. See more information about World’s Fairs in Elliott Brack’s perspective below. (Wikipedia photo.)
TODAY’S FOCUS: GAC opens Ignite Center, a co-working space
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Why you don’t hear much about World’s Fair anymore
ANOTHER VIEW: Looking at what professionals think of the economy
SPOTLIGHT: Walton Gas
FEEDBACK: Neither of last two presidents served in the military
UPCOMING: Commissioner Watkins will be speaker at Memorial Day gathering
NOTABLE: Jones re-elected to Georgia Transmission board
RECOMMENDED: What Happened to You? by Oprah Winfrey and Bruce D. Perry Md, Ph.D
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Bulloch was naval agent for the Confederate states
MYSTERY PHOTO: Plenty of clues await you in today’s mystery
CALENDAR: Ex-Chairman Charlotte Nash speaks May 16 to Gwinnett Historic Society
GAC opens Ignite Center, a co-working space
By Margie Asef
NORCROSS, GA | Greater Atlanta Christian School (GAC) announces the opening of the Ignite Center – a community co-working space located at 1500 Indian Trail Road Norcross, acoss from GACS. With the rise of remote working environments for adults, GAC identified an opportunity to provide a professional coworking space for the community.
Several GAC parents have secured memberships in order to work in proximity to their children, but the space is also open to the general public. It is conveniently located half a mile off I-85 and Indian Trail Road, providing easy access for members and their clients.
The Ignite Center is a modern space that fuels productivity and connection. Professionals, entrepreneurs, creators, and business owners will thrive with networking opportunities and best-in-class amenities. Members will enjoy perks of convenience and flexibility while finding that it’s refreshing to be in an engaged community that is empowering others to be successful.
A presentation space.
Members will have access to Focus Spaces where individuals can work quietly and take video calls; Meeting Spaces where they can collaborate and share ideas; and Break Spaces with a mixture of lounge and table seating as well as complimentary coffee and freshly baked scones. Private offices and a conference room are available as well.
Corporate and individual membership packages are available, from $120 a month to $295 a month. A day pass is $50. All are available on a first come, first serve environment. It is accessible 24/7.
Jenae, a member of the Ignite Center and parent at GAC, shares this: “The Ignite Center is the best work-from-home setup I could’ve imagined. I get to drive my toddler to school every morning and then go straight to work in a beautiful new space. The Ignite Center is truly a working parent’s dream come true.”
However, the benefits of the Ignite Center are not just convenience for GAC parents. Sara, an Ignite Center member, says: “I recently joined the coworking community at the Ignite Center and all I can say is, WOW!! The space is beautiful, and so conducive to productivity. The lighting in the huddle/conference rooms is perfect! I had become accustomed to terrible indoor lighting for virtual meetings, but I was able to have the blinds open and lights on for my Zoom calls without issue. I’m so thankful to be an Ignite Center member!”
GAC is the second largest Christian school in Georgia serving over 1,600 students (Pre-K-12). It is a faith-infused, academically rich community, ranked at the top of the state for teaching quality, arts, and athletics. GAC offers a dynamic experience, consistently adopting new learning strategies to better prepare students for collegiate careers at top universities. GAC’s 88-acre campus provides resources from state-of-the-art facilities to new programs with a focus on STEAM-learning and personalized and project-based learning. Whether your child excels in academics, arts, or athletics, they have access to endless opportunities on one campus.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Why you don’t hear much about World’s Fair anymore
Seattle’s Space Needle was part of a World’s Fair. (Wikipedia photo)
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
MAY 13, 2022 | You don’t hear the term or see much about a “World’s Fair” these days. There are a few reasons why.
Congress in 1999 saw the costs of the World’s Fair, and passed legislation banning U.S. participation in them. The last World’s Fair in these states was in 1984 in New Orleans, which proved financially disastrous. Chicago tried to attract such a fair in 1992, but that idea collapsed.
These days Minneapolis, Minn. is trying to get named the site of a World Expo in 2027. It worked hard to get an Expo in 2023, but that was awarded to Argentina.
Since 1928 the Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) has served as an international sanctioning body for international exhibitions. Registered expositions are held every five years. Specialized Expos can be sanctioned in the in-between years, though the BIE shys away from the Olympics years.
High specialized pavilion costs and design are major factors in fewer fairs. Some countries form geographical blocs to share space in pavilions. Sometimes prefabricated structures are used to minimize costs for developing countries, as well as countries to share space.
An Expo was in Milan (2015). Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, held the most recent Specialized Expo in 2017 while Dubai in the United Arab Emirates hosted Expo 2020 (which was postponed to 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).It ended in March 2022. Buenos Aires, Argentina, which had been selected to host the next Specialized Expo in 2023, but announced its withdrawal with no reschedule date.
The new bid out of Minnesota will be pretty much the same as other world expos: a big installation will be constructed in Bloomington near the Mall of America. It will have exhibits extolling a future-looking theme of “Healthy People, Healthy Planet” paid for by a combination of public and private funds. So far, no country has announced a challenge to the Minneapolis bid.
World’s Fairs aren’t as sexy or imaginative as they used to be. Yet Seattle’s Space Needle is a reminder of their Fair and still an attraction. But what can you remember from the Knoxville, Tenn. World’s Fair of 1982? Many from around here attended, but how many of us can cite one particular distinction?
One observer notes: “Then there’s the problem of proximity. There hasn’t been a World’s Fair in North America since 1986 in Vancouver. During the fair’s heydays, wealthy and middle class families would make pilgrimages to see the wonders firsthand, but the internet put an end to that. How can a World’s Fair be viable when everyone has a camera in their pocket? A quick search on your phone has replaced an expensive trip across our nation or to a foreign country.”
In 1792, the first World’s Fair was in Prague in the modern-day Czech Republic. The first industrial exhibition was on the occasion of the coronation of Leopold II as a king of Bohemia, which took place in Clementinum, and celebrated the considerable sophistication of manufacturing methods in the Czech lands during that time period.
The United States now has a “U.S. Wants to Compete for a World Expo Act” law, setting the stage for Minnesota to make its case to host the Fair in 2023. If Minnesota is successful in securing the honor of hosting the World’s Fair it would be the first World’s Fair in the United States in almost 40 years .
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Looking at what professionals think of the economy
“The best remedy for the current inflation is a combination of windfall profits tax, price controls, and antitrust enforcement to reduce the pricing power of big corporations not higher interest rates that will slow the economy, cost jobs, and reduce wage gains.” — Robert Reich, April 2022.
By Jack Bernard
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. | Polls show that 89 percent of voters believe that the economy is America’s biggest issue, along with inflation, identified by 83 percent of respondents.
However, contrary to what many Americans believe, the American economy is doing very well. Unemployment continues to fall and is down to a low 3.6 percent And 431,000 jobs were just added in March. The Biden administration has not correctly sold these facts to the voters, a looming problem for them in November. However, inflation is a real and growing problem.
Economists on the left, like Reich, blame corporate greed rather than employee wage increases because of worker shortages. And it is true that in almost all industries, the rise in wages has not kept up with inflation. At the same time, Reich states that corporations are “showing the highest profits in 70 years” and are too powerful. He advocates the remedies in his quote. Other suggestions are cutting gas taxes, as was done in Georgia in response to the Ukraine crisis, and being more aggressive in fixing short-term supply chain problems.
But, while acknowledging that factory production was down because of the pandemic, and that there were fewer truckers, Steven Rattner, a treasury official under Obama, disputed the severity of supply chain issues. Rattner places a large part of the problem on the rise in consumer spending as a direct result of government Covid relief efforts, causing an “overstimulated economy.” He advocated strong action by the Federal Reserve, which controls interest rates and can slow the economy.
Larry Adam, chief investment officer at Raymond James, also believes action by the Federal Reserve will be coming soon. He forecasts three or four rate hikes in 2022. He believes that by year end in December, the problem will be on its way to being solved and lose its current level of importance.
Economist William Hauk of the University of South Carolina believes that consumer spending in 2021 and 2022 was and will be up considerably because of the lessening of pandemic restrictions. He also feels that stimulus checks and other governmental relief overstimulated the economy. But in addition, he places a good bit of the blame on supply chain issues such as production and transportation cost increases.
He further points out that those on a fixed income will have the most problem adjusting to these higher prices at the store and gas pump. Dr. Hauk also related how 14 percent inflation was reined in under Reagan. Paul Volcker, the Federal Reserve Chairman at the time, created a recession. Unemployment went up to 10 percent.
It’s not surprising that inflation is an issue for the public, especially now with Putin’s war jerking up gas prices. The unanswered question is what to do about it without causing Americans pain.
The one thing everyone agrees on is that we need strong leadership to get us through this problem. So far, President Biden has yet to show that leadership to the American public. That fact will come back to haunt the Democrats in November.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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Neither of last two presidents served in the military
Editor, the Forum:
Sara Rawlins sounds so disappointed that President Trump did not serve in the military. Well neither did President Biden! He received five deferments (more than Trump!).
Of course, Biden did imply that he did serve.
Joe Biden seemed to suggest that he was a veteran by saying “those of us who put on the uniform.” I guess she might want to balance her research before she throws dirt on Trump.
– Bobby Cromlish, Stone Mountain
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, and include your hometown. The views of letters are the opinion of the contributor. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Send feedback and letters to: elliott@brack.net.
Watkins will be speaker at Memorial Day gathering
The 19th annual Gwinnett Memorial Day observance will be May 30 at 1 p.m. at the Gwinnett Fallen Heroes Memorial in Lawrenceville, in front of the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center. Keynote speaker will be Gwinnett County Commissioner Lt. Col. (Ret.) Jasper Watkins III.
Watkins
Gwinnett County officials will honor four fallen military and public service heroes during the ceremony. Three fallen heroes will be inducted into the Fallen Heroes Memorial. They are:
- Logan James Wade, who grew up in Gwinnett County and was employed as an EMT with American Medical Response. Wade was killed in September 2021 while stopping to give aid at a car crash on Interstate-85. He was en route to deliver supplies to first responders providing response in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in Louisiana.
- Ronald Donat, a Gwinnett Police recruit, who experienced a medical emergency during physical training at the Gwinnett Police Training Center and passed away in October 2021.
- Lance Cpl. Jonathan Gierke, a Marine from Lawrenceville, who was killed in a military vehicle crash near Camp Lejeune in North Carolina in January 2022.
The County will also recognize George “Constantin” Bolof, an employee with the Gwinnett Department of Water Resources, who was killed while directing vehicles around a construction site at Oak Grove Road and Henderson Lake Drive in September 2021. Bolof was inducted into the memorial in fall 2021 during a private ceremony.
Watkins served 25 years as an Army pharmacist, five years as chief of the Bureau for Statewide Pharmaceutical Services for the Florida Department of Health, and two years with the Atlanta Veterans Administration Medical Center’s pharmacy.
He completed an Army Fellowship in Medication Use Safety and is the first African American in the armed forces and the state of Florida to achieve board certification with the American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacist Nuclear Pharmacy Residency Program. While in the service, he assisted in the placement of wounded personnel from the September 11 attacks on the Pentagon and helped lead pharmaceutical support for civilians in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and resupply operations immediately after Hurricane Andrew. Among other military decorations and honors, Watkins received the Legion of Merit — the highest peacetime military award — along with the Award of Excellence in Allied Health Care and the Order of Military Medical Merit.
Jones reelected to Georgia Transmission board
Jones
Otis P. Jones of Buford was recently reelected as secretary-treasurer of the Georgia Transmission Corp. board of directors. In addition, he serves as chairman of the board for Jackson Electric Membership Corp. (EMC). Other officers include Charles R. Fendley of Amicalola EMC, chairman of the board; and Steve E. Rawl Sr., representing the Okefenokee Rural EMC.
In the past year, Georgia Transmission Corp navigated an executive leadership transition, including the retirement of former president and CEO Jerry Donovan and the appointments of President and CEO Barbara Hampton and Sr. Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Dustin Zubke. Georgia Transmission Corp., a not-for-profit cooperative owned by 38 Electric Membership Corporations (EMCs), owns more than 3,500 miles of high-voltage transmission lines and more than 760 substations
Lawrenceville kicks off 4th high school internship program
The City of Lawrenceville held its “Summer of Impact Signing Day” recently, kicking off its summer high school internship program for the fourth year. Signing contracts were 29 students for an eight-week summer program, before an audience of future employers, community leaders, family and friends.
Lawrenceville Mayor David Still feels that the city is “….building a legacy of leaders right here in our community. Selected interns from Central Gwinnett and Discovery High Schools will enhance their skill sets and leadership abilities through immersion into their field of interest with a local business, church, or non-profit. It’s a win-win for everyone.”
Summer of Impact is a collaborative initiative to help high school students discover their life’s purpose, passion and influence by participating in paid internships with local businesses. Leadership development training will be offered through Impact 46.
Two from Jackson EMC area win Harrison Scholarships
Makenzie Clark and Samuel Esowhode are two of 14 students who will receive a $1,000 Walter Harrison Scholarship, sponsored by electric cooperatives in Georgia.
Esowhode
Clark
Clark, from Jefferson, and Esowhode of Lawrenceville, were nominated by Jackson EMC, for the scholarship.
Clark, who developed a passion for veterinary medicine as a work-based learning student at Jefferson High School, is a current freshman at Gwinnett Technical College pursuing an associate degree in veterinary technology.
Esowhode graduated from Central Gwinnett High School in 2021 and is a freshman at Georgia Southern University studying mechanical engineering.
The scholarship, created in 1985, is named in honor of Walter Harrison, a pioneer in the rural electricity movement and a leader in electric cooperative programs at the local, state and national levels.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience and Healing
By Oprah Winfrey and Bruce D. Perry Md, Ph.D
From Karen J. Harris, Stone Mountain: This book is a series of conversations on trauma and how to heal from these psycho-spiritual injuries. The premise is that most of what becomes truth happens at a very early age and is recorded in the lower segments of the brain. The cortex, or the top level of the brain is the reasoning center. Problems occur when the child or person becomes deregulated and reverts to the fight or flight responses of the lower areas of the brain. The conversation is a revelation on what is happening in our culture that focuses less and less on the baseline areas that build relationships, which help regulate and keep the individual safe. This is a book that should be required reading for teachers, police officers and others who serve the public. Informative, disquieting and also inspiring, It will shed light on the mysteries involved in human behavior.
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
Bulloch was naval agent for the Confederate states
James Dunwoody Bulloch, the primary naval agent of the Confederacy in Europe, oversaw the building of several ships designed to ruin Northern shipping during the Union blockade of the South during the Civil War. Born to a prominent Georgia family associated with historic Bulloch Hall in Roswell, Bulloch was the uncle of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States.
Born in 1823 in Savannah, Bulloch was a great-grandson of Archibald Bulloch, a leader of Revolutionary forces and the first president of Georgia’s Council of Safety. His father, James Stephens Bulloch, remarried after his mother’s death and moved from the Georgia coast to Roswell. The younger Bulloch was in the U.S. Navy when Bulloch Hall was constructed and thus never lived there, but he did visit his father’s home.
Bulloch sailed for 15 years in the navy, serving aboard various ships, including the United States, Decatur, and Delaware. In 1851 he married Elizabeth Euphemia Caskie, and the following year he began service on the USS Georgia, a civilian mail steamer under contract with the navy.
In February 1853 he was promoted to ship’s master, his first command post, but was granted a furlough several months later, due in part to the poor health of his wife, who died in early 1854. During his furlough, Bulloch served aboard a commercial steamer for a shipping company based in New York, and in late 1854 he resigned from the U.S. Navy for good.
In 1857 Bulloch married Harriott Cross Foster of New Orleans, Louisiana, and the couple settled in New York. Bulloch had little connection to the South during this time. When Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor was fired upon in 1861, Bulloch volunteered to assist the Confederacy. Soon thereafter he and his family moved to Liverpool, England, which was to be his center of operations and his eventual permanent home.
Bulloch’s charge was to buy and outfit vessels designed to disrupt Northern shipping and enable the South to equip its troops. He contracted right away for the CSS Florida and the CSS Alabama. The Alabama began cruising against Northern trade in August 1862 and was so powerful an enemy that she almost drove American shipping off the lanes until July 1864, when she was sunk off Cherbourg by the USS Kearsarge.
Holding the rank of commander in the Confederate navy, Bulloch had been switched from his intended post, commander of the Alabama, to acquiring ironclads for the Rebel navy. He had four ironclad rams and six fighting ships under construction when both England and France exercised terms of their neutrality treaties with the U.S. government and blocked delivery of the ships. Bulloch later was able to float a French ironclad (CSS Stonewall), but it reached America after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, Va. He acquired several other ships that went against the Union blockade, and in September 1864 the CSS Shenandoah was launched against Union whaling fleets.
The Alabama has fascinated researchers and military historians because of its legendary assaults on Union ships. In 22 months the Alabama, which carried 120 men and 24 officers, cruised whaling grounds around the Azores and plied the shipping lanes along the eastern coast of the United States, the Caribbean, the Brazilian coast, and the South African coasts, and the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea, and the Bay of Bengal. The ship’s crew, under Captain Raphael Semmes, boarded 447 ships, captured 65 Union merchant vessels, and sank the USS Hatteras.
After the war Bulloch retired to Liverpool, where he lived with his daughter and son-in-law. He remained active in maritime affairs, including directing the Liverpool Nautical College and the Orphan Boys Asylum. In 1883 Bulloch published his memoirs, entitled The Secret Service of the Confederate States in Europe; or, How the Confederate Cruisers Were Equipped. He died in Liverpool in 1901.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Plenty of clues await you in today’s mystery
The water, the town along a beach, the mountains…all ought to be clues to today’s Mystery Photo. Figure out where this photograph was taken, and send your ideas to elliott@brack.net, to include your hometown.
Only our two super sleuths, George Graf of Palmyra, Va., and Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. gave solutions to the last Mystery Photo. The photograph came from Sharon LeMaster of Atlanta via Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill.
Graf writes “This is a sculpture of an ancient Greek mermaid, located on a sea jetty in the city of Gythio, Greece. There is lots of ancient history around Gythio. There is a very small island called Cranae, connected by an artificial causeway to the town. The island is mentioned by Homer in the late 8th Century BC as the place where Paris of Troy and the beautiful Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta, spent the night together before they left for Troy. As you know, Paris taking Helen to Troy was the reason the Trojan War started. Cranae also had the facilities for the extraction of the Tyrian purple dye from the murex snail. The purple dye was extracted from a type of predatory sea snail (the murex snail) that lived (and probably still lives) in abundance in the Laconian Gulf and was used for dyeing royal garments and exported to the emperors and royals in the Byzantine and Roman Empires.”
Peel tells of the sculpture: “The Mermaid of Gythio was created by sculptress Rosa Iliou from Athens, and was donated to the Municipality of Gythio in 2005 by George and Menelaos Geroulakos. It was placed at its current location after the new pier that was built in 2015. The pier is an extension of the previous one in order to increase the capacity and enhance the arrival experience of the passengers and visitors who come to the port each day.”
Nash to speak May 16 to Gwinnett Historic Society
The Gwinnett Multicultural Festival will be Saturday, May 14 at Gwinnett Place Mall in Duluth from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Watch cultural performances from around the globe, meet first responders, and enjoy kids’ activities like games and bounce houses. The festival is free to everyone!
Gwinnett Historical Society will hear from former Gwinnett Commission Chair Charlotte Nash as its speaker at the May 16 meeting at the Gwinnett Historic Courthouse at 185 Crogan Street in Lawrenceville. Her topic will be the “Top 10 Gwinnett Milestones for the Last 40 Years.” Visitors are welcomed.
Fall Prevention Workshop will be Wednesday, May 18 at 1 p.m. at the Five Forks Branch Library, 2780 Five Forks Trickum Road, Lawrenceville. Professional health providers will examine your fall potential by simple testing and provide an evaluation and recommendations for strength and balance improvement.
Registering your child for school in Gwinnett County is an easy, two-step process. Register online on Gwinnett County Public Schools’ website. Before May 20, schedule an appointment at your child’s school to verify information, complete a readiness profile, pick up materials, and learn about exciting summer learning activities for your child. To learn more, visit the kindergarten registration webpage.
19th annual Memorial Day observance will be May 30 at 1 p.m. at the Gwinnett Fallen Heroes Memorial in Lawrenceville at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center. Keynote speaker will be Gwinnett County Commission Lt. Col. (Ret) Jasper Watkins.
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