GwinnettForum | Number 25.87 | Nov. 7, 2025
GRIZZLY GATHERING: It was a room filled with energy and ambition as Georgia Gwinnett College students met with area employers, alumni and mentors during the college’s recent Grizzly Networking Night. Hosted by the college’s School of Business and School of Science and Technology, The event drew more than 80 students who had their eyes on the future as they broadened their professional networks and learned about career opportunities. Dr. Reanna Berry talks with colleagues during the event.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Many say “Who cares” of Blackstone’s Ratio
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Elections across the country give us a new hope
SPOTLIGHT: The 1818 Club
ANOTHER VIEW: Many factors mean biannual clock flip survives
FEEDBACK: There’s big need for clothing at some schools
UPCOMING: Chamber Foundation plans gala Dec. 3
NOTABLE: County opens small park on Singleton Road
RECOMMENDED: The Thursday Murder Club, a film on Netflix
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Georgia Review is quarterly journal of arts and letters
MYSTERY PHOTO: High stepping clock gives the time
CALENDAR: America Recycles Day is Nov. 8 at fairgrounds
Many say “Who cares” of Blackstone’s Ratio
By Norman Baggs
SUGAR HILL, Ga. | Most of us couldn’t explain the Blackstone Ratio if asked to do so, but it represents a legal theory that has been a foundational building block of our society for centuries.
In the 1760s, a jurist in England by the name of William Blackstone brought forth the concept that “It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.”
That concept was important to our nation’s forefathers as they shaped the United States just a few decades later.
John Adams wrote that “We are to look upon it as more beneficial, that many guilty persons should escape unpunished, than one innocent person should suffer.”
Ben Franklin concurred, saying “It is better 100 guilty persons should escape that the one innocent person should suffer.”
And thus, a principle of American justice was established. The Supreme Court in 1895 upheld the theory, noting that the presumption of innocence is “one of the securities of the rights of the citizen,” and is “fundamental to our American system of justice.”
For centuries, the presumption of innocence and the idea that it was better for the guilty to go free than for the innocent to be punished have been central to the ideals of American justice and social mores. That no longer seems to be the case.
How many cellphone videos of masked ICE agents taking legal American citizens into custody do we have to watch before becoming incensed enough to make a change? Is there any reason to believe that the presumption of innocence is a factor in the oppressive and heavy-handed tactics of those who seem to delight in demonstrating their infallible power?
It didn’t take long for us to migrate from “deporting the worst of the criminals” to “deporting anyone we can catch.”
Data released over the summer showed the vast majority of those deported by ICE had no criminal convictions at all, and that less than 10 percent were violent offenders. But we’re scooping up legal residents, people with legitimate visas or green cards, and American citizens. And those in charge seem to be laughing about it.
And what about those “drug” boats we keep blowing out of the water in the Caribbean and Pacific? At last count, military strikes on those vessels had resulted in some 66 deaths, but has anyone yet presented any real evidence of them transporting drugs?
Supposedly, these Venezuelan boats were sunk to combat fentanyl coming into the United States. But the vast majority of that deadly drug comes from China and Mexico, not Venezuela.
If presumed innocence no longer applies in the states, it’s certainly not an issue out on international waters.
It’s easy to say “Who cares?” if South American boaters are killed, or American citizens are caught up in immigration raids and mistreated.
We all should, because it’s a very short step from “innocent until proven guilty” to “guilty until proven innocent,” a fact that may become even more obvious if the nation’s military is given the task of providing law enforcement in our cities. That’s not the American way.
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Elections across the country give us a new hope
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
NOV. 7, 2025 | Maybe there is hope, the recent election tells us. At last we have an indication that the average American will reject the Donald Trump scatterbrain and anti-democratic policies we have endured for the last 10 months.
Here’s why, as one pundit put it about the elections Tuesday being won all by Democrats: ““Every race. It’s basically been every race. Governors. Mayors. Long-held [Republican] dog-catchers. School boards. Water boards. Flipped a dungeon master in a rural Iowa D&D club. State senators. State reps. A janitor in Duluth. State justices. Three [Republican] Uber drivers. Just everything.”
Democrats won by convincing margins across the country. Perhaps this will help convince the national Republican leadership, especially House Leader Mike Johnson that they better get ready to start serious discussions with Democrats about the government shutdown. Time is no longer on the GOP side.
Democrats and middle-of-the-road independent voters are showing strengths.
Even in rock-ribbed Republican Georgia, two Public Service Commission Democratic challengers slam-banged two sitting Republican members to upset their apple cart by a 62-37 margin. That’s amazing for these two Democrats to do so well in a statewide race. These are the first two Democrats, Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard, to win a statewide race in 20 years. Surely, they were surprised. But even more surprising must have been the two Republicans, Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson, who were well financed and even incumbents, but tasted defeat.
In Gwinnett, Johnson and Hubbard won the county by a 72-27 margin.
Recognize that on Tuesday, only 17.5 percent cast ballots of the 8,916,651 people registered to vote in Georgia. That may be too small a turnout to anticipate long-term changes. But it’s still almost flabbergasting that two virtually unknown Democrats won seats on the body that establishes utility rates.
Don’t you know that Georgia Power Company and utility officials must be shaking their heads even three days after the election. “What happened?” they must still be wondering
Back to the national politics: President Trump, who lives in his own world with only minions of “Yes” staffers around him, posted on social media about the national vote, yelling with his usual caps: “‘TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,’ according to Pollsters.
Interestingly, Donald Trump at least recognized that Republicans lost this time around. But even though Trump wasn’t on the ballot, and though he may not realize it, there is little doubt that it was Trump, the albatross, that sent the Republican vote spiraling downward in these elections.
The question: how will Republicans in Congress react to these lop-sided Democratic victories in state-after-state? Will these GOP officials finally recognize that they should become statesmen and start looking out for their country, and not themselves nor Donald Trump? Perhaps that’s too much to expect from these inept leaders. The response should be a lesson for them….and a hope for all America.
In Gwinnett’s E-SPLOST vote, this one cent continuation to fund school infrastructure, won firm approval by the people. “Yes” voters cast 84,119 ballots(69.4%), while those opposing funding big projects this way cast 33,207 ballots.
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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.
- Five private rooms which can be used for dining or meeting space. AV is offered in each room.
- 220-seat Virgil Williams Grand Ballroom, divides 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.
Many factors mean biannual clock-flip survives
By Tom Fort
SNELLVILLE, Ga. | We keep flipping the clocks because it keeps the right donors happy, spares Congress from choosing sides, and lets both parties dodge blame.
Republicans push permanent Daylight Saving Time (DST) on paper, but members from the western edges of time zones, where winter sunrises already arrive late, hear nonstop about dark mornings; Democrats split similarly, with northern districts fearing black-as-coal bus stops while eastern-edge and Sun Belt districts like the brighter evenings for recreation and business.
So everyone gets to complain about the clock change while quietly refusing to choose.
States’ “we fixed it!” bills are press releases, not policy. Legislatures across the South passed trigger laws for permanent DST, conveniently forgetting 1974, but the Uniform Time Act still blocks them without Congress. Meanwhile Arizona and Hawaii prove the local-conditions point by sticking with permanent Standard Time because late-day heat (and latitude) make “extra” evening sun a problem, not a benefit.
Political donation money tilts toward evening light—and it lives where evenings are busy. Retail, convenience, restaurants, candy, golf, and youth sports bankroll the talking points about after-work activity from 6–8 p.m., while sleep and pediatric groups show up with the science and smaller budgets. Guess which side fills hearing rooms and donor lists?
Health experts say “lock in Standard Time,” and the west-edge data backs them—but politics doesn’t. People living on the western side of time zones show worse sleep and health outcomes under later sunrises; that’s compelling in testimony and forgettable when a member from a golf-and-grill district reminds colleagues how nice long summer evenings feel at checkout.
Polls don’t rescue anyone. Ask the question one way and you get a lean to permanent DST; ask it another and you get a lean to permanent Standard Time. Break it by geography—north vs. south, west-edge vs. east-edge—and you’re right back to conflicting “lived experience,” which is Capitol Hill code for “no safe vote.”
The 1974 ghost and 2025 grandstanding keep it muddled. Trump praised permanent DST this year while calling it basically a 50–50 issue, giving both parties cover to posture and stall; the memory of 1974’s dark winter mornings finishes the job, because no one volunteers to resurrect that disaster.
Bottom line: geography splits the public, money favors evening light, health favors morning light, and both parties are cross-pressured. Until someone protects evening cash registers in the south AND east and morning safety in the west and north—with zero political downside—the biannual clock-flip survives.
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There’s big need for clothing for students at schools
Editor, the Forum:
Thanks for the information of feeding our citizens and the elderly. My concern also falls into the schools like Radloff Middle and Norcross Elementary.
Radloff Middle School is trying to collect food for food drives and clothing drives. I have for quite a while volunteered at Wellspring, which closed its door about three weeks ago, which provided clothing for middle school kids.
I have been told there is a need, for homeless or almost homeless, 28 student families at the Radloff school. The schools cannot spend tax dollars for such purposes. Many of us know of the changes in our schools today and what is on the horizon.
– Louise Radloff, Lawrenceville
Would like to see country go to full-time standard time
Editor the Forum:
What I would like is to see Congress suspend Daylight Saving Time altogether. Studies show the time change has a detrimental effect on us all. However, since Congress refuses to do any work at all these days, and the House refuses to go in session and won’t seat the new representative from Arizona, it’s highly unlikely this change will be made.
– Barbara Knox Luckhurst, 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, 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: ebrack2@gmail.com.
Chamber Foundation plans gala Dec. 3
The Gwinnett Chamber Foundation will host its inaugural Power of Impact Gala and Awards on Wednesday, December 3, 2025, at Bear’s Best at 5342 Aldeburgh Drive, Suwanee. The evening will begin with a reception at 6 p.m., followed by dinner and awards at 7 p.m.
The Power of Impact Gala celebrates those small businesses and leaders fueling Gwinnett’s economic growth and community impact. Proceeds benefit the Gwinnett Chamber Foundation, whose mission is to support and accelerate small business growth and opportunity across the region.
The program will feature recognition of these honorees:
- Dr. Willian “Bill” Russell –Legacy Business Leader of the Year;
- Georgia Power – Corporate Champion of the Year;
- LISC/Verizon – Corporate Advocate of the Year;
- Ferdinand & Stacy Risco – Coaches of the Year; and
- Real-time announcements of the GCF Getting Certified and Accelerator Cohort Members of the Year
Deirdra Cox, executive director of the Gwinnett Chamber Foundation, says: “The Foundation’s work centers on empowering small businesses – those that have cleared the early hurdles and are two-years in with $250K in gross receipts – to scale, compete, and thrive. Every sponsorship and ticket purchased directly supports that mission and fuels Gwinnett’s continued growth.”
Gwinnett Stripers launching Hooked on Books
The Gwinnett Stripers are launching Hooked on Books, the team’s first-ever free reading program for elementary-aged students across Gwinnett County.
Students who “round the bases” and read four books during the program will receive two (2) free tickets to a designated 2026 Gwinnett Stripers game. Teachers and staff at participating schools are also eligible for free tickets.
Schools have two ways to participate in Hooked on Books:
- Campus Assembly: Gwinnett Stripers’ mascot Chopper the Groundhog and his friends will host an on-campus, 30-minute “pep-rally” style education assembly to get students excited about the Hooked on Books program (available only to schools within a 15-mile radius of Coolray Field).
- Virtual Participation: The Stripers will provide a Hooked on Books hype video to get students excited about the reading program, as well as instructions on how to participate.
Materials to track student progress will be provided to schools in advance of their chosen assembly date (between January 12 and March 16). The deadline for students to complete the reading program is April 1. For more information or to register your school to participate, visit GoStripers.com.
County opens small part on Singleton Road
County officials cut the ribbon recently for Singleton Park and Greenway in Norcross, marking the completion of a project that transformed the former Singleton Road Activity Building into a new community space.
Located on Singleton Road, the park spans more than two acres and features a playground, a covered picnic area, restroom facilities, a 41-space parking lot and a ¾-mile,12-foot-wide concrete multiuse trail that connects Singleton Road to Dickens Road.
The trail enhancement is part of the 2018 Gwinnett Trails Countywide Trails Master Plan’s initiative to link Norcross to Lilburn, offering residents improved access to outdoor recreation. Additionally, an internal loop trail connects to the surrounding neighborhood.
The project also features a 2,600-square-foot mural conceptualized by local youth and community members, led by Art in Motion and artist Ken Dushane. Art in Motion received a Gwinnett Creativity Fund Placemaking Grant to complete the mural and beautify the space. Funding for the $6.4 million project included contributions from the 2017 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax program, the County’s Recreation Fund, the state of Georgia’s Improving Neighborhood Outcomes and Disproportionately Impacted Communities Grant and a Community Development Block Grant.
The Thursday Murder Club, a film on Netflix
From Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill: In the quiet English countryside, four septuagenarians live in a gorgeous retirement home where they meet every Thursday to try to solve cold-case murder mysteries. One day, however, their peace is disrupted when they learn that the retirement home owner wants to relocate them and turn their home into a special events venue. The following day, the owner is brutally murdered and, suddenly, the four amateur sleuths have a real-time murder to solve right on their own doorstep! British national treasures – Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley and Celia Imrie – are perfect in their roles as retirees trying to outfox a younger police force in solving, not one, but three murders! This delightful tale reinforces the fact that senior citizens bring years of talent, knowledge and experience to whatever they chose to do. This is a very charming movie made from a very charming book by Richard Osman.
- 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. Click here to send an email.
Georgia Review is quarterly journal of arts and letters
The Georgia Review is an internationally distributed quarterly journal of arts and letters featuring general interest and interdisciplinary essays as well as short stories, poems, book reviews, and full-color visual art. First published in 1947 at the University of Georgia (UGA) and based there to the present day, this highly regarded literary periodical has published such notable authors as Conrad Aiken, Harry Crews, Rita Dove, William Faulkner, Robert Frost, Ernest J. Gaines, Joyce Carol Oates, Anne Sexton, Robert Penn Warren, and Eudora Welty. At the same time, the Review has earned a reputation for being open and encouraging to lesser-known and even unpublished writers.
Founded by UGA English professor John Donald Wade, the Georgia Review was initially intended to be confined “to topics that bear somewhat closely upon the history, literature, art, education and social activities” of the state. Wade maintained this editorial perspective throughout his tenure as editor (1947-50), as did his two immediate successors, John Olin Eidson (1950-57) and William Wallace Davidson (1957-68). Although the journal’s scope and reach inevitably broadened somewhat over its first two decades, James Colvert (1968-72) was the editor who purposefully set his sights on moving the Review toward national recognition in its field, and his larger ambitions were taken to heart by all the subsequent editors: Edward Krickel (1972-74), John T. Irwin (1974-77), Stanley Lindberg (1977-99), Stephen Corey (2000-2001; 2006-present), and T. R. Hummer (2002-6).
In 1986 the Review marked its 40th anniversary of continuous publication with two oversized retrospective issues featuring the best short stories (spring) and the best poems (fall) from the journal’s first four decades. These gatherings, edited by Lindberg and Corey, subsequently came out in book form from the University of Georgia Press.
During Lindberg’s years as editor, the Georgia Review initiated several major literary conferences: in 1985 “Roots in Georgia” brought nearly two dozen Georgia-born writers to Athens for several days of readings, talks, and panel discussions. Among those on the program were Erskine Caldwell, James Dickey, Mary Hood, James Kilgo, and John Oliver Killens.
In 1995, at Lindberg’s suggestion and in conjunction with the 1996 Olympic Games, the Carter Center in Atlanta hosted “The Nobel Laureates of Literature: An Olympic Gathering.” This landmark event brought onto one stage eight Nobel laureates of literature—more than had ever before been together. In 1997 the Review celebrated its 50th anniversary in Athens with a festival that invited all past contributors to visit and participate. Across three days, nearly 50 writers took the podium of the UGA Chapel.
A double issue (winter 2001/spring 2002) offered a retrospective of essays from the first half century of the Georgia Review, including work from Jacques Barzun (1952), Robert Graves (1962), Harold Bloom (1975), Raymond Carver (1983), Donald Barthelme (1985), Eavan Boland (1990), Albert Goldbarth (1992), Barry Lopez and Louise Erdrich (both 1993), and N. Scott Momaday (1996), as well as a posthumous offering from Randall Jarrell (1996).
In 2007 the Georgia Review celebrated its 60th anniversary with a special issue and a series of readings. That same year, the publication received a Governor’s Award in the Humanities, in addition to seven GAMMA awards, given by the Magazine Association of the Southeast, and the National Magazine Award in Essays. In 2008 the journal received another seven GAMMA awards and was a finalist for a National Magazine Award in the General Excellence category.
The Georgia Review continues to publish outstanding writing in several genres by both established and new literary artists, and its long-standing national and international reputations seem secure.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
High-stepping clock gives the time
Today’s Mystery Photo is a time piece, but oh, what a clock! Have you ever seen it? Can you tell us about it, and where it is located? Send answers to ebrack2@gmail.com, and tell us where you live.
Jay Altman of Columbia, S.C. recognized the recent Mystery Photo. “It’s Kensico Dam, located in Valhalla, N.Y. The dam is a historic masonry structure that was completed in 1917 as part of the New York City water supply system.
- The dam is 307 feet high and 1,843 feet long, and it holds back the Kensico Reservoir.
- The surrounding area, known as Kensico Dam Plaza, is a park that offers scenic areas for walking, picnicking, and other activities.
- The dam’s stone was sourced from a nearby quarry, and its construction was completed four years ahead of schedule.”
The photo came from James Lee of Duluth. Others recognizing the structure were Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; Stewart Oglivie, Rehobeth, Ala.; Lou Camerio, Lilburn; George Graf, Palmyra, Va.; and Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill.
- SHARE A MYSTERY PHOTO: If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Click here to send an email and please mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
America Recycles Day is Nov. 8 at fairgrounds
Lionheart Theatre in Norcross will present the Broadway hit, The Good Doctor (a composition of Neil Simon and Anton Chekhov), November 7–23. The show consists of a series of comic vignettes narrated by “The Writer.” The stories are droll, the portraits are affectionate, the humor is infectious and the fun is unending. Tickets are available now.
Grab your favorite fall candle and travel back in time to 1997 as USA Today bestselling author Julia Olivia discusses her newest romance novel, If It Makes You Happy, set in the autumn glow of small-town Vermont. Books will be available for purchase and signing. This will be held November 8 at noon at the Peachtree Corners Branch of Gwinnett County Public Library.
Have some hard-to-recycle items? Rain or shine, you can bring them to America Recycles Day on Saturday, November 8 from 9 a.m. to noon at the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds in Lawrenceville. Volunteers will remove items placed in disposable containers from the trunk or back seat of your vehicle. Recycling electronics is free except for projection/console TVs ($35), computer monitors ($15), and printers ($5). For a full list of acceptable items, visit GCSolidWaste.com or call 770-822-7141.
The Gwinnett Veterans Memorial Museum will mark its 20th anniversary on November 11 from 3-6 p.m. at the Gwinnett Historic Courthouse at 185 Crogan Street in Lawrenceville.
Speaking at the Southwest Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce at its Thursday Thought Leaders luncheon will be Debbie McKinley, CPO of Herschend Family Entertainment, which is based in Peachtree Corners. Among their 49 ventures across the nation, that includes Stone Mountain Park and the Harlem Globetrotters. The event will be November 12 at the Atlanta Hilton Northeast at 11:30 a.m.
The Peachtree Corners Photography Club will meet November 13 at 6:45 p.m. at Atlanta Tech Park. Speaker will be famed photographer Daniel Harron. The topic is “Astrophotography – How to Point Your Camera Up.” The meeting is open to anyone who shares a passion for photography. Admission is free.
Better Cooking for a Better Environment: Demo and Tasting will be presented November 13 at 6:30 p.m. at the Snellville Branch of Gwinnett County Public Library. Help your holiday season go smoothly. Learn how to properly dispose of fats, oils, and grease while sampling holiday treats.
Just in time to implement a year-end tax strategy, Neighborhood Cooperative Ministries is hosting this unique opportunity to learn about how your charitable giving can save you money at tax time. Board member and attorney Kimberly Civins on Thursday, November 13 at 8 p.m. will lead a discussion on smart charitable giving techniques, based on the chapter of your life (pre-retirement, post-retirement, and death-time). The event will be at the NCM office, 500 Pinnacle Court, Norcross.
Join the 10th annual Yellow River Trash Bash on Saturday, November 15. Meet at the Yellow River Park pavilion at 3232 Juhan Road, Stone Mountain. You will be transported to the site. Teams will return to the pavilion at the end of the event for a lunch provided by the Yellow River Water Trail Association. Wear suitable clothing for the event. For more information and to register, please follow this link: https://cerv.is/0024×5139.
Festival of Trees at The Southeastern Railway Museum will be November 15 through January 4. The annual event features over 70 holiday trees designed and installed by the community, along with the arrival of Santa Claus by train on opening day. Guests can enjoy train rides, the festival and access to the museum with general admission tickets (available online or at the door).
Local Asian American History and Zine Workshop will be held at the Suwanee Branch of Gwinnett County Public Library on November 15 at 11 a.m. Enjoy crafting your very own zine and learn about the vibrant history of Asian Americans in the Atlanta-metro area from the Georgia Asian American Community Archive Initiative.
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