By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher, GwinnettForum.com
FEB. 24, 2015 — Lots of good things have been happening and are planned in the City of Lilburn. The city really seems on the move. Yet its city council approved a measure recently that raises some questions.
The Council voted 4-0 to approve a Community Meeting Room Policy regarding the reservation and use of the City Hall Community/Meeting Room. The policy applies to the current City Hall (to be implemented after 90 days) and future City Hall meeting room that will be shared with the Gwinnett County Public Library.
The meeting room will be available for educational, civic, cultural, or governmental meetings during normal business hours of City Hall and the Library, with a maintenance fee of $25 for first hour and $15 for each additional hour.
What’s this? Government charging for allowing its citizens to meet within this public facility? Ok, they may want to cover an expense, but something seems odd about a public building charging citizens to meet there. Don’t citizens already pay taxes to have meetings in public buildings? Isn’t that what public buildings are for?
Come on, Council and Mayor Johnny Crist. Lighten up.
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Before you know it, prom season will be upon us in these parts. We saw a report recently where in one town, boys were coming up with creative and novel ways to send out invitations to their hoped-for prom date. Among those ideas:
- Using blank post-it notes to spell out “PROM” on the hood of an automobile.
- Directing your potential date to the football field, where “PROM” is spelled with pom-poms.
- Taking a box of 12 donuts to your potential date, with “PROM” written out in white on the middle row on four chocolate donuts.
- Using the tennis court and lots of tennis balls to spell the word “PROM.”
Do you know of such creative innovations around here?
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For your calendars: Coming soon will be Daylight Saving Time. It begins in the USA on Sunday, March 8, and ends on November 1. In Europe there is a slightly different schedule, not starting until Sunday, March 29. During those three weeks, time zone differences between most of the US and Europe will be one hour less than usual. Daylight Saving Time in Europe ends October 25. Remember for Daylight Saving Time, clocks are turned forward one hour. It’s soon “Spring forward; fall back.”
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Inside U.S. Sen. David Perdue’s desk in the Senate chamber.
Senate seats: Now that you know where Georgia’s two senators sit in deliberations in the U.S. Senate Chamber, perhaps you would like to see what’s inside Senator Perdue’s desk. Carving tell (see photo) of other Senators who have sat at this desk. You may recognize some prominent names.
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Richest: What’s the richest city in Georgia? The Daily Mail says it is Berkeley Lake, Ga. See other states richest cities at this link. City Data says Berkeley Lake’s estimated per capita income (2012) was $48,704.
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Congratulations to Lilburn’s David Chandley, now the WAGA-TV (Channel 5) Storm Team Chief Meteorologist. He was previously for more than 25 years at WSB-TV (Channel 2). He is a graduate of the University of Georgia, and while there, David was a student trainer and member of the 1980 National Championship football team.
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Michael Keefe of Lawrenceville responds to the new entrance-way sign at Briscoe Field: “I thought you might like more information about the ‘futuristic looking’ aircraft featured in GwinnettForum recently and mounted at the entrance to Briscoe Field. It is actually a real glider that was constructed as a project by the local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association. The story behind the monument is interesting and can be found online at this link.
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