NEW for 11/22: On cost of living, Stacey Abrams and wealth taxes

GwinnettForum  |  Number 21.88, Nov. 22, 2022

WILL GWINNETT HAVE SATURDAY VOTING on Nov. 26? Monday night, the Gwinnett Election Board was scheduled to meet to determine if the county would have Advanced Voting on November 26. Previously published Advanced Voting times in Gwinnett were to be Sunday, November 27 through Friday, December 2, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at locations in Lawrenceville, Bogan Park, Dacula Park, Hudgens Center for the Arts, George Pierce Park, Lenora Park Gym, Lucky Shoals Park, Mountain Park Activity Building, Pinckneyville Park, Rhodes Jordan Park and Shorty Howell Park. Not all locations will have drop-off boxes for absentee ballots, but at such locations, the ballot may be hand-delivered to the poll manager, says Elections Supervisor Zachary Manifold.

 IN THIS EDITION

Holiday Note: Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, the next GwinnettForum will be published on November 29. May we all enjoy this special American celebration.
TODAY’S FOCUS: How legislators can help with high home living costs
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Can Stacey Abrams regain her footing in Democratic politics?
ANOTHER VIEW: Tax the ultra-wealthy and corporations at higher tax rate 
SPOTLIGHT: The 1818 Club
FEEDBACK: Send us your thoughts
UPCOMING: Buford city schools sue Hall County over E-SPLOST share
NOTABLE: PCOM’s Dr. Gary Freed wins lifetime achievement award
OBITUARIES: Samuel “Wayne” Odum
RECOMMENDED: Movie: Ticket to Paradise
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Third Catholic bishop of Georgia guides diocese in turbulent years
MYSTERY PHOTO: Only one person spotted recent Mystery
LAGNIAPPE: Lilburn Woman’s Club distributes 1,300 dictionaries to third graders
CALENDAR: Time to crave bacon in Braselton

TODAY’S FOCUS

How legislators can help with high home living costs

By Joe Briggs

SUWANEE, Ga.  |  Today’s high heating, food, and housing costs should make us all think about what tools we might have to mitigate the issues and what to ask from our state legislators. 

Briggs

It’s no mystery that the Atlanta-area housing cost is being pushed up by investor-owned rental housing buying up existing stock and building new developments. A recent JP Morgan announcement of plans to spend $1 billion in rental housing starting in Atlanta is cause for concern. It not only pushes the dream for home ownership out for young families, but drives up rental costs, straining the quality of life and ability to save. 

What can state legislators do?   They can limit and enforce the Georgia Homestead Exemption to owner-occupied.  This will force corporate-owned housing to pay full property taxes, instead of getting a break from the owner not living in the house. That’s no household!

Yes, this higher tax will be passed on to the tenant but it will also challenge the underlying business model. These same neighborhoods of basic three bedroom, two bath  homes being built for $2,400+ per month rentals should be being sold for $200,000 with a $1,400/month mortgage.  Now THAT would save the person occupying it, if he could afford the up-front buying costs.  

We should not be giving up the American dream to renters in Atlanta and turn into the “rent-forever reality” of other large cities. 

While our state politicians campaign on green energy, they have done little of the hard, practical work to make it happen. This can reduce the cost of heating a home, making ownership easier. There are two key steps that could be helpful to increase solar power. 

The first is legislation to override homeowner’s associations to allow solar panels and energy efficient roofing. The second is property tax discounts for new construction homes designed with south-facing roofs that maximize the potential for solar capture.

Legislators should also monitor and encourage continued and fair utility participation in net-metering or excess-energy buyback. By “fair,” the utility companies should be able to profit from the sale of your energy.  Only then will they invest to bank and distribute it.

The legislators would face the wrath of Georgia Power Company, which discourages roof-top solar and re-selling the extra energy back to the grid. That’s a powerful lobby and the legislators would face heavy pressure from this utility.

Lastly, a solution to high heating bills resulting from U.S. natural gas being sold at higher prices to Europe, is again solar. A relatively small solar panel capturing and circulating hot water instead of electrons can be very effective for heating the main part of a home during winter.

“Thermal” solar uses a collector similar in appearance to photovoltaic (PV), but circulates water warmed by the sun. Even in northern New England, this circulating water can typically be in excess of 150 F on the coldest of sunny days. The water can be naturally (passive) or forced circulated and released into the home in a variety of ways including under-floor tubes or a radiator. The use of an insulated storage tank will allow banking the energy captured during peak sunshine until needed overnight. 

Again, our state legislator’s attention and commitment to our community and technical college system to produce technicians interested and capable of servicing the growing green and solar energy industry is vital. 

These are issues that our state elected officials can understand and get behind. We must demand that they do so.

[EEB PERSPECTIVE

Can Abrams regain her footing in Democratic politics?

Cartoon by Robert Ariail; courtesy of the Charleston City Paper. All rights reserved.

By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum

NOV. 22, 2022  |  Don’t you know Stacey Abrams is wondering “What happened?”

Emerging from the 2018 governor’s race after a close loss, she was the odds-on favorite to win the 2022 race and flip the governor’s office Democratic.

But something happened along the way.

One element seemed lacking in the 2022 campaign: there was no enthusiasm, or energy, that we saw in 2018. It seemed like she was simply awaiting her crowning as governor. 

We wonder if she has figured out what went wrong.

After all, the way the 2022 election turned out nationally, she was the outlier.  Though Democrats in many other parts of the nation did much better than anyone thought they would, she did worse than everyone  originally thought she would. 

Even when the early polls showed her running behind Gov. Brian Kemp, her campaign seemed to pay no attention to the polling. But this was one instance where the polling was right in Georgia, though polls seemed to be wrong for much of the nation. 

Governor Kemp won in 2018 with 50.2 percent of the voters, compared to 48.8 percent for Ms. Abrams.  Many people were thinking Ms. Abrams had the time to campaign for the 2022 election and increase her vote totals and win the governorship.

Abrams

However, the final outcome shows Ms. Abrams lost in 2022 by 297,898 votes. She lost the 2018 election by a much smaller margin, only 56,723 votes.  

What?  You can see how that raises big questions.  That gives an indication that Georgia Democrats will face a vast uphill struggle to capture the governorship in 2026.  From being a party ready to crown its first female Black governor….to having an abysmally bad year in 2022, it increasingly looks like Georgia may remain a “red” state for a while.

Just look down the list: the Republicans took every constitutional office by a 5 to 10 percent margin. Brad Raffensperger for Secretary of State, had the biggest margin, nearly 10 percent more than Bee Nguyen.  But the  biggest vote getter in 2022 was School Superintendent Richard Woods, who scored 2,115,684 votes, 4,000 more than Governor Kemp.

Interestingly, the Abrams effort was not helped by the relatively low turnout of Black voters.  In 2018, 47.8 percent of the total vote was from the Black community. But in 2022, that turnout was 43.2 percent, a loss of 4.6 percent of black voters. Hispanic voter turnout was also lower, by 2.5 percent. Neither low turnouts helped Ms. Abrams.

One element was raised over and over again in the Abrams campaign: much of her campaign money came from out of state. That didn’t set right with many Georgians.  You wonder, did the fact that Ms. Abrams seemed to be focusing more nationally, at least in raising millions of dollars, allow Georgia voters to wonder what she was really up to?  Was her possible interest in future higher office so obvious that it impeded voters from being all-out for her in 2022? 

Stacey Abrams could have been a fresh face as governor, able to make the state a two-party state, and possibly work across the aisle with Republicans and move the state forward as never before.  We may never know.

You wonder if Stacey Abrams can regain her footing, and become a viable, contributing factor in Georgia politics again.

ANOTHER VIEW

Tax the ultra-wealthy and corporations at higher tax rate 

By Jack Bernard, contributing columnist 

PEACHTREE CITY, Ga.  |  U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has told the public that Democrats “want to pile on giant tax hikes that will hammer workers and kill many thousands of American jobs.” And incoming House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy stated: “Inflation is running rampant due in part to out-of-control spending from President Biden and Speaker Pelosi.”  

Their rhetoric is untrue. They have succumbed to the Trump misstatements method.  

Only the ultra-wealthy and corporations were taxed in the Inflation Reduction Act. Further, the facts about inflation are much different than what is portrayed by the GOP leadership. Inflation is a big problem, but it’s a world-wide phenomenon. Europe has more inflation problems than we do.  

The factors causing inflation are varied but revolve around the war in Ukraine, lasting pandemic supply chain issues and corporate profiteering. For both moral and political reasons, we must support Ukraine against invasion by a dictator bent on returning to the days of the Soviet Republic. And we have little control over international supply chain problems, which will eventually be resolved. But the Democrats can and should address exorbitant profits by greedy corporations and their top executives.  

People as diverse as democratic socialist Bernie Sanders and the moderate strategist Democratic James Carville have pointed out the mistake that the GOP and their candidates are making.  

Per James Carville, Bill Clinton’s election guru: “Republicans don’t have a plan to reduce inflation that I know of.” And once again, he is right and that is what the Democrats must attack by going after those top 1 percent of the wealth and greedy corporations amassing big profits.  

There is plenty of proof that corporate America only cares about one thing, and that is, improving their bottom line. These corporations have been quite successful at raising their prices while blaming others. And that corporate profits are at record 40-year highs, which they are not passing down to their workers. But the Democrats are not tying the GOP to the top wealthy individuals and the corporations that those Republican leaders love and refuse to tax.  

In the 2022 elections, because of GOP extremism, Democrats did not do as badly as was predicted. However, polls have repeatedly shown that the economy and inflation were major issues driving this election.  

Just because the GOP had extremist candidates in 2022, losing many winnable elections nationwide, does not mean that voters are totally happy with Democrats. They may not not. Between now and the November 2024 election, Democrats must do some soul-searching, refining their messaging, to be able to appeal more to them.

Kitchen table economic issues are still vital to winning elections and will be the key to 2024 victory. Democrats must promote popular programs that help the common person. Democrats must also clearly state that profitable corporations and the ultra-wealthy must be taxed to pay a higher share of the tax bill. 

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

The 1818 Club

The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s underwriter is The 1818 Club, named for the year that Gwinnett County received its charter. The 1818 Club is a member-owned, private dining experience providing the best in food, service and meeting accommodations for its members. Whatever your business or social dining needs, the 1818 Club has the proper facilities, recently renovated, to gracefully host your gatherings.

  • 100-seat formal dining room open for breakfast and lunch.
  • Capital Room open for breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as cocktails.
  • Three private rooms which can be used for dining or meeting space. AV is offered in each room.
  • 220-seat Virgil Williams Grand Ballroom, divided into three sections, all with AV.
  • Gwinnett Room for upscale dining, with Frankie’s menu available.

Our top-notch service team enhances your experience by providing a sophisticated social atmosphere, engaging events and a full serving of dining and entertainment opportunities. If you want an urbane and central site to entertain people, consider joining the 1818 Club. For more details, visit https://www.the1818club.org/Home.

  • For a list of other sponsors of this forum, click here.

FEEDBACK

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.

UPCOMING

Buford Schools sue Hall County over E-SPLOST share

Buford City Schools filed a lawsuit Friday against Hall County Schools, demanding $1.64 million in damages and alleging that the school system neglected to pay its fair share of money it received from an education sales tax, we learn from a story in The Times of Gainesville. 

Buford City Schools accuses Hall School Schools of breaching an agreement signed by former Gov. Nathan Deal on March 15, 2016, which requires Hall County Schools, Gainesville City Schools and Buford City Schools to divide revenue from the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, calculated based on student enrollment. E-SPLOST is a penny sales tax on retail purchases allocated among the three school districts.

Phillip Beard, chairman of the Buford school board, said Hall County paid half of the money it owes in E-SPLOST revenues but is withholding the other half. Beard said Buford has about 1,000 students who live in Hall County.

“I don’t know why they don’t want to pay it,” Beard said. “Are they out of money?”

The board says  Buford is demanding more money than it is owed under the terms of the intergovernmental agreement.

Students seek used musical instruments for  schools

A North Gwinnett student is leading a drive to collect gently-used musical instruments to donate to under-served schools in Metro Atlanta. 

Krishman

Krishnan

Anand Krishnan of Suwanee and a group of students are working through the local nonprofit Fine Arts for All to collect the instruments. They hope to complete the drive for instruments by January 15, 2023.  All donations are tax deductible. 

People wanting to donate instruments may drop them off at Huthmaker Violins, 3949 Russell Street, in Suwanee. If necessary, Krishnan says his team will arrange to pick up instruments. 

Krishnan is president of Fine Arts for All. Other students on the nonprofit board working with him include Jeanne Yoon, development director; Lucas Stancill, financial director; Eric Son, secretary; Krupa Patel, volunteer coordinator; Claire Park, communications director; and Yeseo Han and Eunice Kim, journalists.  All are students at North Gwinnett High School. 

Local nonprofits get $4.25 million in virus recovery funds 

Gwinnett County Government and United Way of Greater Atlanta selected 50 local nonprofits that serve critical needs in the community to receive $4.25 million in Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery funds. These funds — provided to Gwinnett County by the U.S. Department of the Treasury through the American Rescue Plan Act — will be used to address needs identified or worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact.

Critical needs supported by the round of grant funding include childcare, food insecurity, housing, literacy, mental health and transportation. United Way of Greater Atlanta will manage and distribute $4.25 million in grant awards, providing the selected nonprofits with ongoing technical assistance and support to ensure compliance with grant administration and federal reporting requirements.

NOTABLE

PCOM’s Freed wins lifetime achievement award

PCOM’s Freed

Dr. Gary Freed, a member of the PCOM Georgia Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine clinical education department, received the Leila D. Denmark Lifetime Achievement Award from the Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics recently. The award recognizes his lifetime of work and contributions to the pediatric profession and is the highest award the Georgia chapter bestows. The award is named after Leila Daughtry Denmark, MD, one of the first women pediatricians in Georgia who retired at the age of 103, after 73 years in practice. 

Dr. Freed, who retired from Emory University School of Medicine in 2017 and began teaching at PCOM Georgia. He is the first Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine to receive this honor in the state. Dr. Freed served as a professor of pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine for 26 years. Dr. Freed was considered one of the leading “experts” on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) because of his 30 years of work in this area.  Dr. Freed earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Pittsburgh, before earning a medical degree at the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Des Moines University. He completed a residency in pediatrics at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, and then a neonatology fellowship.  

  • To learn more about Dr. Freed’s work, listen to a PCOM Perspectives podcast as he discusses Sudden Infant Death Syndrome with Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine President Jay S. Feldstein.

McGee among 525 to graduate at GGC on Dec. 1

Jolene McGee said going to college was something she always wanted. But life got in the way. There were no permanent roadblocks, but enough obstacles delayed her education. She was 30 years old and the mother of four when she finally enrolled at Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC). 

She doesn’t view the extra years waiting as a burden. If anything, she says the joys and heartaches she lived through during that time forged her into a more prepared student.

Born in Queens, New York, McGee moved to Georgia with her mother, Joyce Murphy, a mail handler with the Post Office, and her father, Arthur Lee, a construction worker and security guard, when she was in elementary school. She graduated from Phoenix High School in Lawrenceville, in 2003. Her father passed away from kidney failure that same year, leaving her with a full plate and a heavy heart right out of the gate into adulthood.

She worked for 12 years, including at a postal distribution center, as a teaching assistant at daycare centers, as a retail worker, and as a certified nursing assistant. In 2015, she finally eked out enough breathing room to get accepted into the Georgia State University associate program.

She says: “My mother was so proud because she saw me working multiple full-time service jobs to make ends meet. She just wanted a better life for me.” But in November her mother was diagnosed with stage three lung cancer.

McGee put her college education on hold once more. McGee moved her mother into her home, where she could more easily be her caretaker. The cancer rapidly spread. Joyce Murphy passed away in January 2017, leaving a deep river of emotion in her wake.

“I felt like I died with her,” said McGee. “I suffered from anxiety and depression and still do. I lost faith in myself and the world. It took me a few years to find the courage to become a part of society again.”

Her mother had always wanted McGee to finish college. That wish and a last promise to her mother drove McGee to return to college.

McGee will join more than 525 of her classmates at GGC’s fall commencement ceremony, scheduled for 10 a.m., Dec. 1 at Gas South Arena in Duluth. She will receive a degree in human services with a concentration in social work, becoming the first person in her family to graduate from college. She says in addition to fulfilling her last promise to her mother, she sought a college degree to be a role model for her children. 

McGee lives with her family in Grayson. After graduation, she hopes to become a social worker for the Department of Veteran Affairs.

EMC Foundation grants $101,200 to Gwinnett agencies

The Jackson EMC Foundation board of directors awarded a total of $106,200 in grants for organizations during its October meeting, including $101,200 to organizations serving Gwinnett County.

  • $16,200 to Side by Side Brain Injury Clubhouse, Inc., to provide rehabilitation services for adults from Gwinnett County who are permanently disabled due to traumatic brain injury.
  • $15,000 to Georgia Lions Lighthouse Foundation, Inc., to pay for eye surgeries for uninsured individuals in Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson and Lumpkin counties.
  • $15,000 to Heirborn Servantsserving Barrow, Clarke, Gwinnett, Hall, and Jackson counties, to provide assistance with its Give Rides program, which partners with community groups, transitional housing organizations and rideshare companies to ensure survivors of human trafficking or domestic violence can get to therapy and employment.
  • $15,000 to J.M. Tull-Gwinnett Family YMCA, in Lawrenceville, for its Afterschool Enrichment Program for at-risk youth from low-income families, to improve academic achievement and empower healthy living.
  • $15,000 to Latin American Association, Inc., for its emergency rental assistance program for Gwinnett families in need.
  • $15,000 to YMCA of Georgia’s Piedmont, Inc., in Winder, for its Pryme Tyme program providing homework help, sports, arts and crafts to children from economically disadvantaged families in Barrow, Gwinnett, Hall and Jackson counties.
  • $10,000 to Buford First United Methodist Church, for its Sack Kids Hunger relief program that provides weekend food bags for children in need.
  • Have a comment?  Send to: elliott@brack.net

OBITUARIES

Samuel “Wayne” Odum

Samuel “Wayne” Odum, 92, of Snellville, went home to be with his Lord on Thursday, November 17, 2022. He was preceded in death by his wife of 57 years, Gloria Ann “Sis” Juhan Odum. 

He is survived by two sons, Richard (Rickey) Odum and Bruce Wayne Odum both of Snellville; five grandchildren, Michael Odum (Emily McGinnis) and Lauren Crawford (Kevin) all of Statham; Andrew, Austin, and Samuel Odum of Loganville; three great granddaughters, Kylee, Piper and Ripley all of Statham; sister-in-law, Charlotte Sullivan of Snellville; other relatives and a host of friends. Mr. Odum was also preceded in death by his parents, Andrew “Rub” Odum and Ailene Odum; daughter-in-law, Janet Odum; great grandson, Jamie Crawford; and two sisters, Willie Thomas and Mary McElhannon.

Mr. Odum was born in Loganville, on October 14, 1930 and graduated from Loganville High School where he participated in basketball and track and field. He adopted the Georgia Bulldogs as his football team, and remained a loyal fan his entire life. He worked in management for Southern Bell for 34 years. 

He served as a Snellville City Councilman for 32 years. He was instrumental in helping establish the sewer system and was responsible for Briscoe Park being developed. Wayne and Aubrey Peters got the funds donated to build the first two tennis courts in Snellville. Wayne established a “Teen Canteen” for the city in 1964 in the old Snellville High School Ag Building. 

Former Mayor Emmett Clower said of his friend: “He always had my back and was a man of his word.” Wayne and his wife, Gloria, were dedicated to the families in Snellville when there was a need for assistance during an illness or just being supportive at difficult times in their lives. Wayne was a member of Snellville United Methodist Church where he sang in the choir for many years. He was a son, brother, husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather and friend. He was a southern gentleman and devoted family man.

The service to honor and celebrate the life of Wayne Odum was held November 21, 2022 at Tom M. Wages Snellville Chapel with Rev. Dr. Jim Cantrell officiating. Interment was at the Snellville Historical Cemetery. 

RECOMMENDED

Movie: Ticket to Paradise

From Cindy Evans, Duluth: My husband, Mark, and I went to see Ticket to Paradise. It is a fun rom-com featuring the always talented Julia Roberts and George Clooney. It is filmed in beautiful Bali. I thought it was the perfect blend of laughs and touching moments. In the movie, the characters are now divorced but have to come together because of their only daughter’s wedding. I will stop there to avoid spoilers! It is PG-13 and lasts l:44 hours.

  • 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 

GEORGIA TIDBIT

3rd Catholic bishop of Georgia guides diocese in turbulent years

As the third Roman Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Savannah, a position he held between 1861 and 1870, Augustin Verot guided the diocese through the turbulent years of the Civil War (1861-65) and Reconstruction (1867-76).

Augustin Verot was born on May 23, 1805, in Le Puy, France. When he was 16, he decided to become a priest and attended the Sulpician seminary in Paris. In 1828 he was ordained and soon thereafter joined the Sulpicians, a society of priests dedicated to training young men of the altar. In 1830 he was sent to Baltimore, Maryland, to teach at St. Mary’s College. In 1857 Pope Pius IX appointed Verot as the vicar apostolic of St. Augustine, Fla. and churches.

On July 16, 1861, Verot was named the third bishop of Savannah, a see that had been vacant since 1859. (Though he was transferred to Savannah, he simultaneously kept his vicarial powers over Florida.) On January 4, 1861, during the secession crisis, and just before his move to Georgia, Verot preached a sermon that was subsequently published and distributed throughout the South as a Confederate tract.  The sermon’s wide circulation earned him national recognition, and Verot came to be known as the “Rebel Bishop” by many in the North. In the sermon, he defended the institution of slavery and condemned abolitionists who branded slavery a moral evil. However, many southerners ignored the second half of the sermon in which Verot laid out the conditions under which slavery was lawful and just. These conditions included limitations on the sale of enslaved people, the right of enslaved men and women to marry and support for African Americans who wished to practice their faith.

During the war years, Verot defended his position on slavery and his support of the Confederacy. Nevertheless, he also advocated for the spiritual welfare of both Union and Confederate soldiers within his jurisdiction. 

After the war, Verot’s attentions focused on rebuilding churches damaged during the conflict. He also ministered to the many newly freed African Americans within his jurisdictions. In 1866 he issued a pastoral letter that called upon southern Catholics to put away prejudice against formerly enslaved people and to work toward elevating the welfare of freedmen. 

 Verot’s campaign to obtain public support for church-affiliated schools in Savannah proved \ successful. After several years of debate and negotiations, Verot and the Diocese of Savannah successfully reached an agreement with the city that allowed Catholic parochial schools to receive public funds to teach Catholic children, an arrangement that lasted until 1917.

Verot’s time as bishop of Savannah ended in 1870, when the Florida vicariate was elevated to a diocese, and he was appointed the first bishop of St. Augustine. He would remain in Florida until his death on June 10, 1876.

MYSTERY PHOTO

Only one winner this edition; Now identify two mysteries

With a difficult mystery last week, this edition’s mystery photo may prove much easier. So, since it’s a little simpler, let’s throw two similar photos at you this week. Find the location and send your ideas of this mystery puzzle to elliott@brack.net, and include your hometown.

While the last Mystery Photo was difficult, only one reader solved the problem. Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill wrote: “Finally found it! Who knew there were so many outdoor globe sculptures in the world? I’m so glad you narrowed it down to Gwinnett County. I usually give up after a half hour but since it was in Gwinnett County . . . . This outdoor globe sculpture is behind the Georgia Baptist Mission Board  (used to be the Georgia Baptist Convention) at 6340 Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth across from Gas South Arena. The sculpture is unusual because the earth is not tilted and because the base is straight up and down. Here’s a view from the other side with a building in the background.”

Another view of the tough mystery.

The photo was made by George Graf of Palmyra, Va. on a recent trip to Gwinnett. 

LAGNIAPPE

Lilburn Woman’s Club distributes 1,300 dictionaries 

Left to Right: Lilburn Woman’s Club members Karen Snavely, Kathy Mattox, Pat Shaver, Gloria Sill, Pat Otwell and Charleen Ray pose at Lilburn Elementary school after donating dictionaries to all third-grade students.

Third grade students in the Lilburn area have been given 1,300 dictionaries, through efforts of the Lilburn Woman’s Club. Monies funding the project came from a $2,000 grant from the Steve and Loree Potash Family Foundation of Cleveland, Ohio, and its “Believing in Reading” program. Walton EMC also contributed $500 for the project. Working with partners from the Mail and Package Center, Sweetwater Masonic Lodge No. 431 and the Lilburn Business Association, the Lilburn Woman’s Club was able to distribute the dictionaries. Among those club members working on the project were, from left, Karen Snavely, Kathy Mattox, Pat Shaver, Gloria Sill, Pat Otwell and Charleen Ray.

CALENDAR

Cravin’ the Bacon Walk 2022 in downtown Braselton will be on December 1, from 5 to 9 p.m. Tickets are now on sale at $35 a person, and purchasers must be 16 years of age and older. 

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