GwinnettForum | Number 26.22 | March 17, 2026
COLORFUL CROSSWALKS COMING: Two sets of artistic crosswalks will serve the Sugarloaf Community Improvement District’s mission to create a more “connected” district, as these crosswalks facilitate multi-modal connections. One crosswalk will be on Satellite Boulevard, and the other on North Brown Road. Alexandra Sorto is the artist for the Satellite Boulevard crosswalk, while Kristy Jones will create the North Brown walk. Funds for the crosswalks come from grants from the Gwinnett Creativity Fund.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Gwinnett Coalition plans second action summit
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Maynardville, Tenn., class remembers Frank Sharp
SPOTLIGHT: Peach State Federal Credit Union
FEEDBACK: On school superintendent: What, not again!!!
UPCOMING: Several GGC groups opt for alternative spring break
NOTABLE: GGC basketeers end season in NAIA opening round
RECOMMENDED: Milton Cuisine and Cocktails, Milton, Ga.
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Georgia has diverse group of living history museums
MYSTERY PHOTO: Can you locate this mountain knob?
CALENDAR: Master gardeners kick off season March 21
Gwinnett Coalition plans second action summit
By Becky McDaniel
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. | More than 200 educators, healthcare providers, nonprofit leaders, and community members are expected to gather on March 26 for the second annual Resilient Gwinnett in Action Summit at Maison 6405 in Duluth.
The event is part of Resilient Gwinnett, a countywide initiative led by Gwinnett Coalition that focuses on preventing childhood trauma and strengthening support systems for families.
Adverse childhood experiences, known as ACEs, can include abuse, neglect, violence in the home, or household challenges such as substance use or mental health struggles. Research shows these experiences can affect long-term health, education, and economic outcomes.
But strong relationships, safe environments, and access to supportive resources can help children build resilience and thrive.
Dr. Shannon Hervey, director of Community Health for Gwinnett Coalition, says: “The Resilient Gwinnett in Action Summit is our commitment to going upstream. By bringing together partners from across sectors, the summit creates space for collaboration, shared learning, and collective action. Those connections strengthen our community’s efforts to prevent childhood trauma, promote positive childhood experiences, and expand trauma-informed care throughout Gwinnett.”
One major focus of the work has been training, education, and outreach. Through training, community conversations, and professional development sessions, the initiative helps anyone who is vested in a more resilient community to better understand trauma and learn strategies to support children and families.
In addition to training, Resilient Gwinnett works to elevate youth voices and gather community input to guide its efforts. With intention to elevate the voice of the population that Resilient Gwinnett strives to improve conditions for, the Resilient Gwinnett Youth Advisory Council (RG-YAC) was recently launched.
With a start date of August 2026, participants will learn resilience strategies and use their voice to guide the initiative’s future programming. Registration is open now and youth ages 13-26 can apply throughout the month of April on the Gwinnett Coalition’s website. Surveys and community engagement initiatives help leaders understand the challenges young people are facing and identify opportunities to strengthen support systems throughout the county.
This collaborative approach reflects a growing understanding that preventing childhood trauma requires more than a single program or organization.
Andre Castro, Resilient Gwinnett Steering Committee member and director of Community Engagement with GNR Public Health, says: “Prevention thrives where partners listen, share resources, and act as one, protecting the children of Gwinnett by building resilience from the inside out.”
The summit will focus on moving beyond awareness to action by equipping attendees with practical tools, strategies, and connections to support children, youth, and families. Sessions will highlight innovative programs, research on trauma and resilience, and real-world examples of how organizations are implementing trauma-informed practices in their work.
The event is designed to spark collaboration and inspire participants to take what they learn back to their workplaces, schools, and neighborhoods. Attendees will gain access to a resource fair, keynote address delivered by Dr. Stan Sonu, Medical Director for Child Advocacy at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta; breakout sessions presented by clinicians and experts; networking; an afternoon spotlight on the topic of the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Human Trafficking; and a wine reception.
Renee Byrd-Lewis, president and CEO of the Coalition, adds: “While Gwinnett Coalition has the privilege of serving as the backbone organization for this collaborative endeavor, the engagement and guidance of our community partners is essential to driving systems change. As the initiative continues to grow, we will engage more residents and partners across the county, and our collective efforts will help ensure every child in Gwinnett can grow up safe, supported, and resilient.”
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Maynardville, Tenn., classmates remember Sharp
By Elliott Brack,
Editor and publisher, GwinnettForum
MARCH 17, 2026 | About 25 members of Frank Sharp’s high school class in Maynardville, Tenn., gathered Saturday at a restaurant like they do every six months. Some would learn of the death of their classmate, while all recalled memories of him.
Readers of GwinnettForum will remember that, for perhaps 15 years, Frank Sharp of Lawrenceville was a regular contributor of both photographs and travel articles. While there are no paid employees of the Forum, he was so regular that we named him Roving Photographer. He sent us local photographs but also others from his far-reaching travel adventures. He also put his blown-up photos on exhibits in local libraries and community centers.
A couple of years ago, Frank’s photos and stories stopped coming in. We lost track of him. Then recently we got a call from Jim Steiner of Knoxville, Tenn., wanting to know if we had heard from Frank Sharp. He and his classmates of the 1960 class of Horace Maynard High School hadn’t heard from him either. Frank would make the long trip (about 250 miles) to their meetings. That call emphasized to us that we had not heard from Frank, and put us searching.
Frank’s wife, Pearl, died on Oct. 1, 2022, and it shook Frank hard. One of Frank’s activities was to attend regularly the Lawrenceville Senior Center luncheons. We learned last week from Joan Moliki of Dacula, who also attended these lunches and was a friend of Frank, that he had died.
She had visited his home and Frank was not doing well. She got him to go to a hospital and visited him there. The hospital had transferred him, but as a non-relative, Joan was unable to learn where. Finally, somehow, she found that Frank had died on Feb. 20, 2025 at age 83. His two stepsons did not have a funeral service or write an obituary. His body was cremated.
Over the years that we knew Frank, we often would have lunch with him in places around Gwinnett, or he would visit our office, or I would see him at his home. He was smart as a whip, had a good education and was fun to talk to. He had worked with several major corporations, and had a good retirement. From time to time, he would show off a new camera and tell what special features it had.
Knowing of the gathering in Tennessee of Frank’s classmates, we decided to visit with them at a remembrance last Saturday. In a phone call, a cousin of Frank’s from Michigan, Peggy Wilson, told us that Frank’s grandmother had a husband also named Frank, and decided to call the guy we knew as Frank as Tommy. It stuck. His classmates knew him as Tom or Tommy.
A classmate, Julie Love, said (of Tommy): “Oh, he was so very smart, the smartest in our class. Where all of us took four subjects, Tommy took five subjects and did well in all of them.” A photo in the class yearbook showed Frank with his crew-cut hair. There were 102 in Frank’s graduating class. Steiner says that 48 members are still living.
It was a delight hearing Frank’s (Tommy’s) classmates remember him. The Rev. James Russell concluded the remembrance with a prayer in his memory.
Frank Sharp: 1941-2025: May you rest in peace.
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On school superintendent: What, not again!!!
Editor, the Forum:
When the news broke regarding the sole finalist for GCPS Superintendent, I think I can speak for many parents when we said: “What, not again!” A candidate that a simple Google search should have eliminated is now poised to lead one of the largest school systems in the country.
We had our concerns about ALMA (consulting firm hired to find superintendent) as the firm has placed very few actual superintendents and none for a system of our size. The concerns were validated with this hire. Dr. Estrella has never managed a district larger than 14,000; she was given a no-confidence vote from the teachers’ union where she is employed, and she hosted a drag show talent show for an elementary school. These are just a few of the concerns that came up with a simple Google search. What else is out there that we do not know about?
Many are willing to give someone a “do over,” but typically that does not involve a promotion to a system 15 times the size of their old system, or a $3 billion+ budget that needs a steady experienced hand to guide them out of the current crisis.
The board had that steady experienced person in Al Taylor, the current interim. But unfortunately, the board was looking to check boxes, not do the hard work to find the experience that the GCPS staff, students and parents deserve.
– Lisa Ramsay, Sugar Hill
Looks forward to time of midterm elections
Editor, the Forum:
The Iran story sounds like something directly out of the mouth of the biggest liar in politics. Trump claimed, months ago, that the United States had demolished Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
And now, in an effort to halt people from throwing him in jail for the pedophile he is, he has created an illegal war—not some little conflict. The Congress we have elected refuses to halt the emperor’s illegal conduct…in so many adventures, that they are virtually useless.
Luckily the country has elections coming up to do away with the Trumpian bow-downers and put some brave men and women into office. I hope so.
– Mike Eberlein, Peachtree Corners
Finds himself gobsmacked with financial analysis
Editor, the Forum:
As per the norm with the Gwinnett Forum, there’s no shortage of interesting biased fodder to behold. I decided to settle in on John Titus’s Letter to the Editor and his thoughts re: the beneficence of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
While Mr. Titus lauds USAID and all of the “good” it offers globally, I’d suggest he examine, even peripherally, the recent history of organizations like USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). For instance, thoughtful counter-arguments have posited that USAID functions as the handmaid for CIA operations that are too sensitive or “dirty” for direct CIA involvement providing a shield of “plausible deniability.”
Then there’s the allegation that USAID funds censorship networks globally instructing media on “strategic silence,” supporting fact-checkers/non-governmental organizations (NGOs) tied to various foreign censorship laws and disinformation campaigns (e.g. the EU). More broadly one might examine USAID’s ties w/NED for political ops, drug networks, and exporting U.S. censorship tools abroad. I find it interesting that you don’t hear many governments complaining that they are no longer receiving their USAID money; wonder why?
I’m gob-smacked that “advocates” suggest things like “….it’s just 1/10th percent of the budget.” Well, that equates to ~ $74B annual spend. Sorry, in my house that’s still a lot of money. Too, for anyone who’s run a multi-million dollar business, that figure alone leaves a LOT of margin for ….error.
– Jeff Gorke, Suwanee
Dear Jeff: To raise a similar vein, does the dollar amount of explosives launched on Iran also gobsmack you?—eeb
Worst kind of ridin’ beats the best kind of walkin’
Editor the Forum:
Your article about horse-drawn wagons, and the “joys of riding in a one-horse wagon” reminded me of what my grandmother used to say: “The worst kind of ridin’ beats the best kind of walkin.”
– Elizabeth Truluck Neace, Dacula
Remembers horse drawn wagons and hayrides
Editor, the Forum:
I remember horse-drawn wagons. A few times a year, a local farmer would fill his wagon with hay and us kids would all just pile into the wagon for a ride. There was no back on the wagon or seating. You just grabbed a spot and the wagon rails were very low so the little kids could see the landscape as we rode around. I think these rides ended a long time ago in our rural neighborhood.
– George Graf, Palmyra, Va.
Dear George: Yes, for many those hayrides were great for a young teen’s initial courting sessions. The rides were relatively short, and the driver handled the decorum. –eeb.
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Several GGC groups opt for alternative spring break
Ah…..spring break, the time when students enjoy a week off from studying, head to the beach, sleep late and relax. But for a group of Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) students, the break offered something different: the opportunity to roll up their sleeves and learn firsthand about volunteering and the impact it can make on a community.
J.P. Peters, assistant director of student outreach and service at GGC, says: “Alternative Spring Break is more than service. It’s an opportunity for students to step outside their comfort zones, connect with communities and return with a deeper understanding of the world around them.”
This year, more than 70 GGC students participated in Alternative Spring Break.
For Yamil Castillo, a sophomore majoring in accounting, the week meant volunteering with fellow students in and around Lawrenceville. One of their stops was Just People Inc. in Norcross, which offers programs for adults with developmental disabilities, mental illness and head injuries. “This is my second year volunteering and I really enjoyed it,” Castillo says. “They have villages where residents have the chance to live together and build independence. It’s kind of like a college experience.”
Dr. Tonya Millsap, joined the organization five years ago after retiring from teaching. “I’m a developmental disability professional, so I wear many hats here and I’m in charge of the continuing education program,” she says. “I like seeing college students get more comfortable and warm up to the special needs community.”
Kayanna Johnson, a Bahamas native and GGC sophomore majoring in environmental science, said she learned about the opportunity in an anthropology class taught by Dr. MaryBeth Chrostowsky. “We were doing kinship charts and Dr. Chrostowsky mentioned Alternative Spring Break,” Johnson says. “I followed up with her in January and signed up. I wanted to find different places where I could volunteer and give back to my community, because it’s something I’m passionate about.”
During the week, students also volunteered at the Rowen Foundation, Habitat for Humanity ReStore, downtown Lawrenceville and explored Treetop Quest Gwinnett.
In addition to the Lawrenceville projects, other groups of GGC students and faculty volunteered with organizations in Asheville, N.C.; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Clarkston, Ga.; Mobile, Ala.; Richmond, Va.; and Walland, Tenn.
GGC basketeers end season in NAIA opening round
The Georgia Gwinnett College men’s basketball team capped its historic inaugural 2025-26 campaign with a 66-53 loss to Hope International University on Friday night in a First Round game of the NAIA tournament. The No. 3-seeded Royals (24-6) used a 14-4 offensive run over a four-minute span at the midway point of the first half to build a commanding 24-11 lead.
A three-point field goal from junior Devontre Chaney brought the No. 14-seeded Grizzlies (25-7) within 10 points, at 33-23, with 13 seconds left of the first half. However, Hope International’s Jorren Edmonds buried a 3-pointer in the closing seconds to stretch the halftime lead to 36-23.
GGC’s 53 points were a season low in a game. The team made just four of its 29 shots from behind the 3-point arc (13.8 percent) for the game, and had 13 of its 17 turnovers during the opening 20 minutes of action. Freshman Patrick Johnson scored a game-high 17 points while having 11 rebounds. Chaney also had a double-double performance with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman Amari Morgan tallied nine points.
Coach Chase Teichmann summed it up: “This is a tough pill to swallow. Our offense which has been tremendous all year, let us down in the biggest game of the year. Hope International did a great job making things difficult for us, but we just didn’t execute. I am proud of our defensive effort. We fell short of our goals, but I’m still proud of the kind of teammates and men these guys are.”
PCOM Georgia hosts regional science fair
This year marks a decade that PCOM Georgia has served as the presenting sponsor of the Gwinnett Regional Science, Engineering + Innovation Fair. This is a major community event that showcases the STEM talents of elementary, middle, and high school students across public schools in Gwinnett County.
Hundreds of student-led projects were displayed at Gas South on Friday, February 27. More than 80 faculty, staff, and students from PCOM Georgia participated in the fair as judges, volunteers, and representatives helping to judge projects, and through hosting hands-on activities designed to provide a glimpse into healthcare careers.
One such activity included breakout sessions called “Build the Body, Build the Future” led by Christy Dinkins, EdD, director of Campus and Community Partnerships at PCOM Georgia, which challenged students to test their anatomical knowledge. Over 600 middle and high school students participated in an interactive exercise, rearranging cutouts of body parts such as the brain, kidneys, heart, liver, large intestines, gallbladder, and sinus canals while also identifying the medical specialists responsible for each.
“The best part about this fair is seeing how excited the kids get,” said Dinkins. “Their faces light up when I ask them about their science fair projects. My office has the opportunity to work directly with many of these students throughout the school year, and seeing how proud they are of the finished product makes me excited for them. The future is bright for these amazing scholars!”
Milton Cuisine and Cocktails, Milton, Ga.
From Alan Schneiberg, Sugar Hill: My wife and I had the pleasure of sharing a visit to Milton Cuisine and Cocktails in Milton, Ga. with our out-of-town relatives. The restaurant is in the John B. Broadwell house, a southern vernacular house built in the 19th century. We shared some wonderful foods on tables with tablecloths. We found a very attentive waitstaff. There is outdoor dining and fireplaces inside. The restaurant features locally-sourced food. Our table shared deviled eggs, sweet potato shrimp fritters, green tomatoes, pepper crab soup, and blueberry pancakes. The bellinis made the Sunday brunch a special treat. It is open seven days a week and has a new business lunch.
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Georgia has diverse group of living history museums
Georgia offers a diverse group of living history museums, which are museums that offer a three-dimensional pilgrimage into a particular historical era.
Today, hundreds of living history museums across the United States actively promote the public’s understanding of history and historic preservation. Many offer workshops and special activities for school groups and educators. These museums often illustrate events and causality more effectively than a textbook and, by virtue of their entertainment value, draw in thousands of visitors who might not otherwise be interested in history.
Located in Tifton, the Georgia Museum of Agriculture and Historic Village (formerly the Georgia Agrirama), contains ninety-five acres of agricultural museum space dedicated to illustrating the history of the state’s wiregrass region from 1870 to 1910. More than 35 structures were relocated to the site, and costumed interpreters help bring south Georgia’s rural culture to life. Opened in 1976, the museum features an 1870s farm community, an 1890s progressive farmstead, a rural town, and such late-nineteenth-century industrial buildings as a gristmill, sawmill, and steam-powered cotton gin.
One of Georgia’s premier living history museums, Westville first opened in 1970 near Lumpkin in Stewart County. It depicts an 1850s village, with rural businesses, a church, a school, and the Chattahoochee County Courthouse (ca. 1854), one of only two surviving wooden courthouses in the state. Westville has hosted several annual events, including a spring festival, an Independence Day celebration, and a Yuletide celebration, as well as numerous special events, including a reenactment of an 1836 battle between Creek Indians and white settlers, and vintage baseball games with the Westville Biscuits. In 2015, Westville closed in preparation for a move to nearby Columbus. The museum reopened to the public at its new home in 2019.
The Shields-Ethridge Heritage Farm, located in Jefferson, in Jackson County, is an outdoor museum that seeks to use preservation and the natural environment to increase awareness and understanding of Georgia’s agricultural history. The farm, founded in 1799 by Joseph Shields of Virginia, has remained in the same family since its founding and has witnessed colossal changes in agriculture. Originally, the owners planted tobacco, then switched primarily to cotton in the mid-1800s. By the early 1900s, the farm’s new owner, Ira W. Ethridge, transformed the landscape into a sharecropping village.
A true rarity among living history museums, Seabrook Village in Liberty County portrays a late-19th and early-20th-century coastal African American community. After the capture of Savannah during the Civil War (1861-65), Union general William T. Sherman issued Field Order No. 15, which confiscated land along the coast and redistributed it to newly freed Black families. Freedmen and -women forged new communities anchored by their culture, including the Geechee dialect and a common history of bondage.
The Tullie Smith Farm, part of the Atlanta History Center, retains its historical appearance and illustrates the lives of Georgia yeoman farmers. The 1840s farmhouse survived Union general William T. Sherman’s occupation of Atlanta during the Civil War. Featuring such traditional outbuildings as a blacksmith shop, smokehouse, and double corncrib, the rural yard comes to life with animals, costumed interpreters, and such crafts as candle making, spinning, and blacksmithing.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Can you locate this mountain knob?
Today’s Mystery Photo scene might be known to some as a “knob” with this rounded feature on top. See if you can figure out where it is. Then send your idea to ebrack2@gmail.com. Be sure to list your town of residence.
Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas, recognized the latest mystery: “Today’s mystery photo is of the main stairway and cascading fountain in Lillian Webb Park in historic downtown Norcross. The park is named in honor of Essie Lillian Hicks Webb (1928–2016), a lifelong resident of Norcross, and a pioneering figure in Georgia politics, who served as the first female mayor of Norcross and the first woman to chair the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners.
“The 4.2-acre park was officially opened to the public in 2009 and was created to provide a community gathering space for concerts, events, and recreation. The park features a large open meadow, a gazebo, walking trails, and an interactive splashpad for children to cool off during the hot summer months. Every July 3rd, the park hosts the “Red, White and Boom!” Independence Day Celebration event.
“There are also a couple of “hidden” features in the park. In fact, the size and scale of the park itself is rather hidden, since, as you approach the main entrance from College Street, you really do not see much of the park itself…until you reach the top of the steps and look down. That is when you see the true scale of the brick stairway, cascading fountain, splashpad, and park grounds. At the Buford Highway edge of the park is the Norcross Library.” The photo came from Molly Titus of Peachtree Corners.
Others recognizing the photo were Jay Altman, Columbia, S.C.; Kay Montgomery, Duluth; Jim Blum, Peachtree Corners; Alexis Kelley, Norcross; Stewart Woodard, Lawrenceville; James Lee, Duluth; Virginia Klaer, Duluth; and Howard Hoffman, Berkeley Lake.
- 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.
Master gardeners kick off season March 21
The Norcross PDC (people drinking coffee) meets each Wednesday at 8:15 a.m. at the 45 South Café in downtown Norcross. The March 18 meeting will feature Jacques Laurent, a candidate for the Georgia statehouse from District 97. The event is free and visitors are welcomed.
Annexation meeting: A public information meeting in Lawrenceville about the proposed upcoming annexation election will be held on Wednesday, March 18 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall. The meeting will be in the Council Chambers room on the fourth floor.
Author Jeannine A. Cook discusses her memoir, Shut Up and Read, which chronicles the improbable true story of how she left an abusive past to build a bookshop that survived the pandemic and became an international sensation. This will take place March 19 at 6:30 p.m. at the Snellville Branch of Gwinnett County Public Library.
Enjoy an evening of connection, celebration, and impact at Raise Your Glass!, Spectrum Autism Support Group’s signature spring fundraiser, taking place Thursday, March 19, at 6:30 p.m. at The Hudgens Center for the Arts and Learning in Duluth. For tickets, go to spectrumautism.org/events/raise-your-glass.
Help Master Gardeners kick of the spring season at the Spring Blooms Market. We are looking for local vendors offering handmade treasures, vintage finds, and tasty food! To be considered, fill out an application and return to this email address. The event is Saturday, March 21 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. WHERE
Author Marissa McFarland will discuss her debut novel, When Goodbyes Begin, a multi-generational story about identity, sacrifice, and coming home. She will speak on March 25 at 6:30 p.m. at the Duluth Branch of Gwinnett County Public Library.
DIY Fix-A-Leak Workshop: Learn to save water and money at this hands-on workshop with the Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources. This will be on March 31 at 6 p.m. at the Snellville Branch of Gwinnett County Public Library.
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