GwinnettForum | Number 25.58 | July 29, 2025
HERE’s A CURRENT AERIAL VIEW of the Gas South District. Buildings from the left at the Jacquelin C. Hudgens Art Center, the Gas South Theatre, the Convention Center, adjacent to the Westin Hotel, with parking decks in front. For an understanding of all happenings at the Gas South District, see Today’s Focus below. Photos provided.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Gas South District among top venues in the world
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Artificial intelligence failure concerning Vidalia onions
SPOTLIGHT: The Southwest Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce
ANOTHER VIEW: Can the Democrats’ elite learn from its past?
FEEDBACK: Commercial funding for PBS worked in the past
UPCOMING: County adopts unified plan amendments for six areas
NOTABLE: Golf classic donates $748,646 in 2025 to charities
RECOMMENDED: Patrick Henry, by Jon Kukla
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Emory’s Brown won Pulitzer for poetry in 2020
MYSTERY PHOTO: Several hints tell you what this building is; now, where?
CALENDAR: Hear author Valerie Burns at Snellville library July 29
Gas South District among top venues in the world
By Stan Hall, president
Gwinnett Convention and Visitor’s Bureau
DULUTH, Ga. | Gas South District’s numbers tell a story: It is a regional powerhouse in economic impact and event volume.
Gas South District is not just a gathering place for events—it’s a high-performing economic engine for Gwinnett County and the metro Atlanta region. With hard statistics across revenue, attendance, venue usage, and regional return on investment, the numbers reveal the true scale and scope of the district’s influence.
Gas South District operates at a scale that rivals top-tier venues across the country. Its event volume, technical capacity, and revenue generation place it firmly among the elite in its class. Backed by steady investment and growing demand, the district continues to anchor Gwinnett County’s economic and cultural growth.
The combined operations of Gas South Arena, Gas South Theater, and the Gas South Convention Center have generated more than $1 billion in total economic activity to Gwinnett County. That figure includes direct event revenue, visitor spending on hotels, taxes, and transportation, as well as induced job growth across hospitality and tourism sectors.
Gas South Arena is ranked number 17 in the world by Billboard Magazine among venues with seating capacities between 10,000 and 15,000, based on gross revenue. With a 13,000-seat capacity, the arena hosts more than 400 events per year, drawing over 1.5 million guests annually.
Say it again: that’s more than one event a day on average for the year!
The Arena’s average attendance per event exceeds 85 percent of capacity, reflecting consistent demand for concerts, sports, and family shows, including:
- $50 million in annual direct ticket revenue;
- 1,200+ jobs supported through arena operations, staffing, and vendors;
- Events drive over $350 million in local visitor spending annually;
- Venue utilization rate exceeds 90 percent on active nights; and
- Generates more than $10 million annually in tax revenue from ticket sales, lodging, and sales taxes.
With 708 seats and a stage deeper than Atlanta’s Fox Theatre, Gas South Theater is one of metro Atlanta’s most technically capable performing arts venues. The stage supports complex touring shows and large set pieces, with specifications rivaling the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. Numbers show that the theatre has:
- 75+ performances annually;
- 95 percent+ average ticket sales per performance over the past three years;
- $8 million+ in direct revenue annually; and
- 150+ jobs supported through theater tech, crew, and front-of-house.
The Convention Center brings in 150+ conventions, expos, and meetings each year, serving as a critical driver for weekday and off-peak economic activity. It includes:
- 90,000 square foot exhibit hall, 21,600 sq. ft. ballroom, and
- 23 meeting rooms, 200,000+ annual attendees;
- Over $25 million in direct economic impact per year; and
- Contributes significantly to Gwinnett’s 70–75 percent hotel occupancy rates, which is well above national averages.
A recently approved $170 million renovation will modernize the Gas South Arena, upgrade fan amenities, and extend the facility’s competitive lifespan. A new parking deck with 1,200+ spaces will increase accessibility and support rising attendance.
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Artificial intelligence failure concerning Vidalia onions
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
JULY 29, 2025 | Some of us are slow on the take-off, I realize. Perhaps it’s been happening for longer than I realize, but when you ask Google for information these days, what it often first gives you is pure artificial intelligence. In effect, the first thing you see is a summary of details, without attribution of where the info came from.
It might not be entirely correct.
Rather than taking that summary as gospel, continue on down the page until you see details which list a source. That may be far more accurate for what you are seeking.
The best example I’ve read of bad artificial intelligence came in a letter from Ray Moses of Genoa Construction Company of Alpharetta. Ray is a good old boy who grew up in Uvalda in Montgomery County (next door to Toombs County and Vidalia), and sends us Vidalia onions each year grown by his friends in South Georgia.
Let Ray tell his story: “With all the hype about artificial intelligence (AI), I decided to let AI write the onion letter this year. I simply typed in ‘funny letter and recipe for sweet Vidalia onions.’
“Whoa! You can’t believe what I got back. Most suggestions centered around crying. Vidalias don’t make you cry. AI seemed to have a hard time distinguishing between onions and peaches and watermelons (the sweet part, I guess.) It was a complete failure. If you are counting on AI to write a paper or do your homework, you will fail the class. If you think AI can write a business plan, you will go broke. I was so disappointed that I sold my Nvidia stock.”
Ray always supplies a recipe on how to use the Vidalia to your best advantage. This year it was for Vidalia onion soup. Sounds mighty good!
Aunt Lizzy’s Vidalia Onion Creamy Soup
Ingredients:
4 chopped up big ole Vidalia Onions
a little bit of salt
a little bit of white pepper
2 cups of home made chicken broth
1/2 quart of real whipping cream
1/4 cup of flour
2 sticks of butter
1 cup of wine
Preparation:
In a big pot, on medium heat, cook down the onions in the wine, salt, pepper, 1/2 cup of broth, 1/4 cup of butter. You have to stir it a lot. When the onions are done, add in the rest of the broth, and the cream. You have to stir it a lot.
In a different pot make a blonde roux by melting the rest of your butter and slowly adding your flour a little bit at the time. You have to stir it a lot. Do not let it scorch. When this is done add it to the first pot and turn up the heat a little. When it is all mixed up real good, turn the heat down low and cook for about 10 or 12 minutes. You have to stir it a lot. When it is good and thick, take it off the stove and let it sit for a few minutes. If it doesn’t taste right, add a little wine, or just drink a little wine.
Ray Moses’ note: Aunt Lizzy died many years ago. I am certain that the wine she used was homemade Muscadine that she got from Coot Perkins, who lived across the branch from her. A good Chardonnay is probably the better choice. Hope you like it.
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Can the Democrats’ elite learn from its past?
“There is not a thing that comes to mind.” — Candidate Kamala Harris
By Jack Bernard, contributing columnist
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. | Kamala Harris was on The View when asked whether she would have done anything differently from President Joe Biden. She answered with the statement above.
Democratic elites are now rightfully complaining about Trump. But they helped elect him a second time by anointing a weak party loyalist tied to Biden rather than a more acceptable and popular candidate not hampered by Biden’s failures on immigration and inflation. The GOP benefitted by Democratic Party leaders not pushing Biden out of the race sooner, and the Democratic National Committee for not having a primary.
The 2024 election was all about the public being dissatisfied with traditional politics. But political alienation and apathy are not recent phenomena. I wrote about these factors in two pieces in The New York Times, published way back in October 2013. So, it should come as no surprise that Trump won. As awful as he may be, Trump is certainly not traditional.
Almost the same thing happened in Trump’s first election in 2016. The authors of a Time magazine column issued before the election (Oct. 31, 2016) accurately pointed out many of Clinton’s flaws:
- She was tone deaf;
- Ignored both her advisers and the public;
- Clinton did a horrible job with media relations;
- Was paranoid and secretive;
- Failed to understand the populist movement in her party; and
- Clinton abandoned her “Four Fights” issues oriented strategy she put forth in 2015.
This latter point may have been the most important. The “Four Fights” strategy was designed to focus on: “the economy; stronger families; national security; and getting money out of politics.” If she would have run on this plank, versus “Trump is worse than I am,” (just like Harris did) she would probably have won the election despite her obvious weaknesses and faults. The same can be said for Harris, who failed miserably on items like immigration and blue-collar concerns. Voters did not know what Harris or Clinton stood for.
Hillary treated Reagan Democratic blue collar workers as pariahs, and “deplorables.” This miscalculation sunk her in enough of the Rust Belt states for Trump, the most unqualified presidential candidate in history, to win the job of leading the free world. These folks never returned to the fold.
As Bill Clinton once said when he ran for office “It’s the economy, stupid.” He could have added: “it’s not losing our traditional base, stupid.”
Even stranger, the Democratic Party elites still seem lost. Due to dissatisfaction with the Re-Trumpican Party, the Democratic establishment is now becoming giddy about its prospects for turning the House blue in 2026.
But they still refuse to acknowledge the obvious problem that clearly exists between the woke progressive wing and the moderate traditionalist wing. The recent New York City election, won by a Democratic Socialist (who supports Hamas) is a case in point. Some in the party are saying he is the new face of the party. He is in New York City, but not in swing states.
The real question remains: “Can the Democratic Party’s elite learn from its past mistakes enough to win in 2026 and 2028?” The jury is out.
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Commercial funding for PBS worked in trial period
Editor, the Forum:
An additional point on PBS: The reader feedback letter addressed the funding issues of public television and radio but missed a point. There was advertising allowed for PBS stations in the past.
In the early 1980’s there was a 18 month trial of commercial advertising for several stations throughout the country. One of these, WPBT in Miami , I worked for just after the trial ended. Talking with some of my co- workers at the time, they said it was quite successful for the station and brought in a lot of funding.
I don’t know all the details or why the program was suspended but it does show there is a replacement available until sanity returns to the federal government.
Until then, continue to contribute to your local stations as they really need our support now. We have three PBS television stations in our area up here all with different programming. There is also a PBS app which you can subscribe to for viewing their programming.
– Dan Mackaben, Crystal Lake, Ill.
Lovely to see recognition in helping Darien newspaper
Editor, the Forum:
How lovely to see you recognized for your outstanding courage in supporting your fellow newspaper in Darien. Congratulations!
By the way, my beloved grandmother Lucy Emerson was editor of a small town newspaper in northern Indiana. While there was no such drama as occurred in southeast Georgia, she did display courage as an outspoken Democrat in that very Republican state. The effects of the Depression had confirmed her as a champion of the working man.
– Anne Emerson Hall, Atlanta, director emeritus, Norcross Gallery and Studio
- 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.
County adopts unified plan amendments for six areas
Gwinnett commissioners have adopted six small area plans as amendments to the county’s 2045 Unified Plan.
The plans amend the County’s 2045 Unified Plan and focus on Bethesda, Centerville, Killian Hill, Northbrook Parkway, Oakbrook Parkway and Venture Drive. Each was developed in partnership with the community and includes recommendations for land use, housing, economic development, mobility and open space.
Planning and Development Director Matt Dickison said the plans are critical tools to shape future investments. “With input from hundreds of residents and stakeholders, each plan outlines a clear vision and path forward,” said Dickison. “This helps us target resources where they’ll have the most impact.”
The adopted plans now become part of Gwinnett’s long-range strategy for managing growth and development.”
- To learn more about the small area plans or to view the adopted amendments, visit GwinnettCounty.com/2045UnifiedPlan.
Golf classic donates $748,646 in 2025 to charities
Officials of the Mitsubishi Electric Golf Classic have announced that the 2025 tournament raised and donated $748,646.23 to various local charities through the Gwinnett Championship Foundation, Inc. Georgia’s only PGA TOUR Champions event has now donated more than $5.75 million to benefit Gwinnett County and Metro Atlanta area organizations since 2013.
Mike Corbo, president and CEO of Mitsubishi Electric US Inc., says: “Our partnership with the tournament enables Mitsubishi Electric to assist meaningful organizations that are providing impactful service to their community. We’re proud of the work being done by these organizations in Gwinnett County and that we can do our part to support the good work they’re doing for others.”
This year, the Mitsubishi Electric Classic selected Cink Charities and Special Needs Schools of Gwinnett as its primary charitable beneficiaries.
Founded in 2012, Cink Charities supports families, expectant parents and babies, empowering organizations that provide for each of these groups’ medical, emotional and spiritual needs. The Special Needs School of Gwinnett serves children and young adults with developmental, intellectual and physical disabilities through a PreK-12 school and adult day programming, initiatives that have seen significant growth in its 38 years of service.
Additionally, through its partnership with Folds of Honor, the tournament awarded over 17 scholarships to children of veterans and first responders. Thanks to our Birdies Fore Trees initiative, 7,900 trees were planted in collaboration with One Tree Planted.
Patrick Henry, by Jon Kukla
From John Titus, Peachtree Corners: Patrick Henry is best known for his ‘Give me liberty or give me death’ speech. But his role in our history goes far beyond that. This book thoroughly covers his entire life revealing his fame as perhaps the greatest orator in the colonies, his success as an attorney, his contributions to the cause for independence, and finally his opposition to the Constitution. He was highly regarded by both James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. After his death Jefferson described Henry as ‘our leader in the measures of the Revolution in Virginia…In that respect more is due him than any other person…He left us all behind.’ Author Jon Kukla has directed research at the Library of Virginia and at Red Hill, The Patrick Henry National Memorial in Charlotte County, Virginia. With this book he has restored Henry to his important place as one of our country’s most influential founding fathers.
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Emory’s Brown won Pulitzer for poetry in 2020
Jericho Brown is an award-winning poet and creator of the “Duplex” form. Composed of seven couplets, this contemporary poetic form is described by Brown as a “gutted sonnet,” simultaneously part ghazal and part blues poem. It is featured in his collection The Tradition (2019), which won the Pulitzer Prize in poetry in 2020.
Brown’s poetry has appeared in the New York Times, the New Yorker, and the Paris Review. Among the most celebrated literary figures of his generation, he has received the Whiting Award, the American Book Award, and the Paterson Poetry Prize among others. In 2024 Brown was elected to the Board of Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets and won a coveted “genius grant” from the MacArthur Foundation. He is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of English and Creative Writing at Emory University.
Brown was born Nelson Demery III in 1976 and raised in Shreveport, La. He grew up in a religious family; his father, Nelson Demery Jr., was a landscaper and deacon, and his mother, Neomia, was a schoolteacher. Brown states, “I grew up loving music and going to church and reading poetry and believing that all three were necessary and Black.”
Brown has often recalled the difficulties of his early life, sharing what corrosive forces shaped who he thought he should be as a young man and how they later influenced his poetic subject matter. He credits his transfer to a magnet school—after five elementary schools and two middle schools—as a turning point, after which he increasingly turned to poetry as a vehicle for life-saving self-expression. In his own words, “I really didn’t understand that my life could have meaning. Poetry gave me something to do to stave off death.”
Brown received a bachelor’s degree from Dillard University and a master’s of fine arts in creative writing from the University of New Orleans. He then worked as a speechwriter for New Orleans mayor Marc Morial before completing a Ph.D. in literature at the University of Houston. Brown describes his decision to quit his job in his mid-twenties to attend graduate school as another crossroads moment, one that led him to take a new name and take full responsibility for his life. “I remember thinking of it as an opportunity to completely reinvent myself,” he later recalled. “That summer before I went off to school, I changed my name to Jericho Brown.”
Brown’s debut collection, Please (2008), conveys the poet’s fierce arrival—to paraphrase Robert Reid-Pharr—as a Black, gay, and southern poet with something to say.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Several hints tell you what this building is; now, where?
Today’s mystery is a stone building with a red door, and what looks like stained glass windows. Can you tell us what this is? Send your idea to ebrack2@gmail.com and tell us what town you live in.
Jay Altman of Columbia, S.C. recognized the “Daniel Hoan Memorial Bridge, commonly known as the Hoan Bridge, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with the Milwaukee Pierhead Lighthouse in the foreground.” The photo came from Chuck Paul of Norcross.
Others recognizing the mystery were George Graf, Palmyra, Va.; Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill; and Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas, who added another dimension to this story: “It is the Milwaukee Pierhead Lighthouse, located at the entrance to Milwaukee Harbor at the mouth of the Kinnickinnic River as it enters Lake Michigan. In the background is the Daniel W. Hoan Memorial Bridge, an iconic tied-arch bridge best known for its distinctive yellow arches and its role in highlighting the city’s skyline.
“The current Pierhead Lighthouse is a cast-iron, conical steel lighthouse built in 1906 to replace an original 1872 wooden tower that had become deteriorated and outdated. It is approximately 41 feet tall and is now equipped with an automated, solar-powered beacon that flashes red every 4 seconds and is visible for roughly seven nautical miles.
“Now, if you were to ask your readers to identify a bridge associated with the nickname ‘Bridge to Nowhere,’ I am pretty sure that most would recall the infamous 2005-2008 moniker associated with Sarah Palin’s $233 million federal earmark proposal to build a bridge connecting Ketchikan to Gravina Island, a small island of just 50 residents. However, the Hoan Bridge in Milwaukee earned this nickname long before Sarah Palin’s fiasco.
“Construction of the Hoan Bridge in Milwaukee began in 1970 as part of the planned Lake Freeway system. However, by 1972, intense public opposition to freeway expansion and neighborhood displacement led to the cancellation of all connecting routes, halting progress and leaving the bridge completely stranded and unused from between 1973 until 1977, during which it earned the nickname of “Bridge to Nowhere” as it literally connected nothing to nowhere. The bridge finally opened to traffic in 1977 after the I-794 connections were completed, and has become a popular iconic symbol and backdrop for the city skyline.”
- 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.
Hear author Valerie Burns at Snellville library July 29
Hear author Valerie Burns at the Snellville Branch of Gwinnett County Public Library on July 29 at 6:30 p.m. Get ready for a murder mystery with a dash of romance and a whole lot of cake! Although it’s book four in the Baker Street Mystery series, Icing on the Murder can be read as a standalone cozy mystery! Books will be available for purchase and signing.
Celebrate the release of Bones at the Crossroads with USA Today and New York Times bestselling young adult fantasy author LaDarrion Williams in conversation with actor Jalyn Hall. This will be at the Duluth Branch of Gwinnett County Public Library on July 30 at 7 p.m. Books will be available for purchase and signing.
Norcross PDC (People Drinking Coffee) meets Wednesdays from 8:15 a.m. to 9 a.m. at 45 South Cafe to discuss current events that are political, educational and community-focused. Speaking on July 30 will be Lisa Marie Bristol, Gwinnett County solicitor general. There are no dues nor membership fees; anyone can attend.
Speaker at the August 5 Commerce Club meeting at noon at the Snellville City Hall will be Stan Hall, president and chief executive officer of the Gwinnett Convention and Visitors Bureau (Explore Gwinnett). Reservations are required so, use the link to reserve your place.
Smart Money for Parents will be the topic at the Norcross Branch of Gwinnett County Public Library on August 12, 19 and 26 at 11 a.m. Learn how to budget, save, and plan for you and your children in this three-part series.
Understanding lobbying in Georgia—A Candid Conservation—-will be the subject of the August 14 meeting of the Southwest Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce. The meeting will be at the Hilton Hotel Northeast in Peachtree Corners at 11:30 a.m. Panelists will include Lewis Massey, Hunter Loggins, Jamie Lord and Jet Toney. The moderator will be Dale Russell (Cannot accept walk-ups.) This panel is designed to be engaging, accessible, and informative for voters, business leaders, nonprofit professionals, and anyone curious about how government really works. You are invited to attend, ask questions, and walk away with a deeper understanding of one of the most influential aspects of public policy. “Registration is necessary.”
Meet Author Jacinta Howard at the Snellville Branch of Gwinnett County Public Library on August 16 at 5 p.m. She will be discussing her romance novel, When Forty Blooms. Books will be available for purchase and signing.
Registration is now open for the 12th annual Extra Mile 5K and 1 mile run/walk hosted by Annandale of Suwanee. The event will be August 23 at Suwanee Town Center. Help reach the goal of $160,000 to support the programs and services directly impacting Annandale’s Villagers. Your participation supports individuals with developmental disabilities and acquired brain injuries, while advancing Annandale’s mission to empower every Villager to reach their fullest potential and independence – one gift, one registration, one team and one step at a time.
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