IN THE RACE: Keen Ice is an entry in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes. Can this horse upset the favorite, American Pharoah, in the final of the Triple Crown races, the Belmont, on Saturday in New York? Owning a small stake in Keen Ice is Keith Mason of Atlanta, formerly of Gwinnett, who writes about the race in Today’s Focus below.
ISSUE 15.19 | June 5, 2015IN THIS EDITION
TODAY’S FOCUS: Here’s a Gwinnett Angle to Belmont Stakes Saturday in New York
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Unique New Entertainment Center Coming to Peachtree Corners
ANOTHER VIEW: Steps We Need To Take To Reform the Criminal Justice System
UPCOMING: City of Duluth Begins Demolition of Three Acres Downtown
NOTABLE: Medical Center Expands Treatment of Adults with Concussions
BOOK RECOMMENDATION: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Book about Georgia Chain Gang Proves To Be National Sensation
TODAY’S QUOTE: Somehow There Seems Like Something Is Wrong with This
MYSTERY PHOTO: Few Recognized Church of Ireland in Dublin
LAGNIAPPE: Check Out a the Snake-Necked Turtle from New Guinea
TODAY’S FOCUS
There’s a Gwinnett angle to the Triple Crown horse race Saturday
By Keith Mason
NEW YORK, N.Y., JUNE 5, 2015 | This weekend, millions of Americans will see American Pharoah compete for a Triple Crown in the Belmont Stakes in New York, the final leg of America’s oldest continuous outdoor sport—horse racing.
Larry Connolly from Atlanta and Keith Mason, fellow investors in racehorses.
I will be at the Belmont Saturday with a stake in the race, as a partner in Donegal Racing’s thoroughbred, Keen Ice, who will run from post position No. 7. A racing fan for years, I am in an awkward position—pulling against a Triple Crown contender in my favorite sport. I would not be terribly disappointed to finish behind what could become America’s first Triple Crown winner since 1978. But I would be exhilarated to actually win the Belmont against such an outstanding horse.
I first attended the Kentucky Derby in 1991 when chief of staff to then-Governor Zell Miller. We had a relationship with the then Kentucky Governor and a little known Washington, D.C. political consultant, James Carville. Later I helped Governor Miller introduce then-Governor Bill Clinton to Carville, who ran his first successful race for president. As a result, I had the opportunity of the lifetime to work in the White House in a senior staff position.
This year, I attended my 10th Kentucky Derby but my first as a part owner of a horse competing in the Derby. My wife, Twinker, also a racing fan, joined me in making this investment and accompanied me, along with my parents, Ann and Wayne Mason, to the Derby. Our good friends, John and Beverly Stephens, accompanied us and drove my parents to the Derby.
Keen Ice finished seventh out of 18 horses in the Derby. Walking over from the barn on the track at Churchill Downs with our group and Keen Ice in front of 170,000 fans was one of the more thrilling experiences I had ever had. Keen Ice had the third highest odds of the field and finished the final 1/8th mile at the second fastest speed. With more fire still to go and the Belmont a longer race, (1½ mile), we’re hoping. The way I looked at it, over 20,000 thoroughbreds were born the same year as Keen Ice. Eighteen qualified and ran in the Kentucky Derby. We beat 11 of them. Not bad for beginners.
This weekend, Twinker and our twin 15 year old daughters will venture to New York City for the Belmont to see if American Pharoah can achieve what 12 other horses since the last Triple Crown winner in 1978 have failed to do. One of our daughters saw Keen Ice win his first race last September at Churchill. Our other twin daughter, a miracle in her own right, having been born with severe intellectual disabilities and predicted to not live past the age of two, will be watching her first horse race and pulling for another miracle with our odds standing at 25-1 in the eight horse field.
I watched our horse, Keen Ice, work out a couple of weeks ago at his home track at Churchill Downs with our trainer, Dale Romans. Dale said on Tuesday of this week, “He wants more and he wants it now. He will win the Belmont unless Pharoah proves to be some kind of super horse.”
Keen Ice and American Pharoah both arrived together on the same airplane from Louisville to New York Tuesday. Wonder what they were saying to each other? I don’t know, but….already feel like a winner just getting here from growing up in the once small town of Snellville in the 1960s.
It has been a great ride thus far!
EEB PERSPECTIVENew indoor recreational park, Slingshot, to open in Peachtree Corners
By Elliott Brack
Editor and publisher, GwinnettForum
JUNE 5, 2015 | A new $6.5 million recreational entertainment center is coming to the former BJ’s Warehouse location at Jimmy Carter Boulevard and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard in Peachtree Corners with an anticipated opening of around July 1. It will be called Slingshot Entertainment, with electric Go-Kart race courses for both children and adults. There will also be 14 lanes for bowling, Ninja adult and kids obstacle courses, and a full service 100+ seat restaurant and bar in the 130,000 square foot building. In addition, there will be an arcade area, plus conference rooms and party space.
Funded by a family from Washington state and Washington D.C. which has operated indoor Flight Trampoline Parks in four locations of the northeast for the last two years, it anticipates that up to 600 to 700 people could be having fun in the facility at the same time.
Dusten Estes, Cameron Gentry and Dustin Ward , all of Washington state, are the developers behind the operations. The Estes family operates trampoline parks in Springfield, Va., New Britain, Conn.; near Pittsburgh, Pa.; and Albany, N.Y. The family funding the property has operated franchises for Five Guys and Little Caesars operations in Washington state.
Click on the image to see a larger drawing.
Slingshot Entertainment in Peachtree Corners will be their first operation encompassing as many indoor entertainment elements. The all-newly designed Peachtree Corners operation is seen as a prototype for other such venues in the future.
Taking up the most space in the building will be the adult and kids Go Kart areas. There will be 12 adult Go Karts competing in races at any time, and six Go Karts operating on the kid’s track at one time. Slingshot will actually have twice that many karts for each track, with those awaiting their turns being briefed with safety precautions while the first set is racing.
The Go-Karts come from the French manufacturer, Sodi. They have recently arrived at the facility from the European manufacturing site. Slingshot will also serve as a showroom in the Untied States for other firms wanting to see how the karts look and operate. Each of the vehicles is capable of going up to 40 mph, but in the winding, curvy Slingshot Go Kart track, the top speeds for adults will be perhaps 30 mph, and for kids, maybe 18 mph, Keona Blocker, marketing manager, says. Kids may not drive the karts until they are a certain height, anticipated to be 48 inches.
A Sodi Go Kart
Watching its construction area last week, the overall Go Kart track area is enormous, 370 feet long by 145 feet wide. The adult Go Kart area will be 285 feet long, while the kid’s course is 85 feet long. Drawings indicate the challenge of the winding outline of the race course, as workers have yet to start the track layout.
Both the kid’s and adult Ninja play area will be the largest in the Untied States, with more than 12,000 square feet. It will be full of netting to catch the participant in case they fall. Challenging obstacles face the participants to complete the course.
It’s anticipated that the Slingshot will open with at least 100 employees, but at full capacity, more than 200 employees will be required. The area will operate seven days a week, from 10 a.m. until midnight, while on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturday, Slingshot will remain open until 2 a.m.
Slingshot hopes to be a new feather for entertaining in Gwinnett County.
Great Father’s Day idea: Bid on next-to-last Gwinnett history book
Here’s a distinctive idea for Father’s Day if your father is interested in either history, or Gwinnett County. Get him a copy of the award-winning Gwinnett County history, Gwinnett: A Little Above Atlanta. Only two copies remain from the second printing. Bidding for the next-to-last book begins at $80. If you are wanting a copy of this 850 page history of Gwinnett Count, send in your bid by email to elliott@brack.net.
Once a bid is received, subsequent bids must increase by $10. All bidders will be kept alert by email until the deadline. This bidding for the next-to-last book will end at 10 a.m. on Monday June 8. These two books are the last in circulation from the second printing. GwinnettForum, publishers of the book, says that there will not be a third printing. So, if interested in Gwinnett history, now’s the time to move with this bidding. Proceeds from the bidding of the last five books will benefit the Salvation Army.
ANOTHER VIEWSteps we need to take to reform the criminal justice system
By George Wilson
JUNE 5, 2015 | The criminal justice system is not working. It has exacted steep tolls on tax dollars and also in damaged lives and significant losses to the economy. We lock up a higher percentage of our population than any other industrialized country.
Wilson
One reason for this is the Community Mental Health Centers Act in 1964, resulting in the de-institutionalization of the mentally ill. The well-intended law was designed to ensure persons discharged from state psychiatric hospitals would have access to community-based mental health treatment.
Unfortunately, the level of care required to adequately treat this population never materialized and was a major contributing factor to the criminalization of mental illness and the alarmingly high rate of the mentally ill in our jails and prisons. Another reason is as one public defender in Georgia said:
“Too often, in Georgia, young black men are unlawfully detained and thereafter arrested for minor crimes. Once they get to Court, finally, they enter a plea of guilty to “get it over with” or “to get out of jail.” These motivations should not be the reality for such a large segment of the population. Once an individual enters a plea, even to a non-violent misdemeanor, his (predominately a male) chances of having a productive life decrease, e.g., this conviction impacts his ability even to secure hourly employment.”
Here are a few suggestions for reform:
- Provide educational opportunities with a GED and or a skilled trade.
- Seal the prison records.
- Eliminate mandatory sentencing for low level drug offenses.
- Provide more counseling for drug and alcohol use.
- Address the mental health funding issue.
This is an issue that both the political left and right could unite on to get something accomplished. Another impetus for reform is that every 10th worker in America is eligible to retire this year or next. So, where will new employees come from?
IN THE SPOTLIGHTPrimerica, Inc.
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Primerica, Inc., headquartered in Duluth is a leading distributor of financial products to middle-income families in North America and is Gwinnett’s fourth largest employer, with 1,700 employees. Primerica representatives educate their Main Street clients about how to better prepare for a more secure financial future by assessing their needs and providing appropriate solutions through term life insurance, which it underwrites, and mutual funds, annuities and other financial products, which it distributes primarily on behalf of third parties. In addition, Primerica provides an entrepreneurial full or part-time business opportunity for individuals seeking to earn income by distributing the company’s financial products. It insures more than 4.3 million lives and approximately two million clients maintain investment accounts with them. Primerica is a member of the S&P MidCap 400 and the Russell 2000 stock indices and is traded on The New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “PRI.”
- For more information, visit www.primerica.com.
- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, go to: https://www.gwinnettforum.com/about/sponsors.htm.
Duluth begins demolition of 3-acre tract downtown
Progress continues in Duluth as redevelopment of the Downtown District goes into the next phase. During the week of June 1, the City of Duluth has begun strategic demolition for portions of “The Block,” a three-acre plot of land across Lawrenceville Street from Duluth Town Green.
The historic pastorium building will remain as well as the sanctuary portion of the Old Duluth City Hall Building. The back portion of the Old Duluth City Hall Building (referred to as the Administration Tower) will be removed with the granite block façade being saved for use in future development. Other structures on the property will be removed to allow for construction of restaurants and retail shops. Demolition activity of “The Block” will be completed by the end of summer, 2015.
The selected contractor (TOA, LLC) will be mobilizing on site and preparing the buildings for demolition. Asbestos abatement will occur first, followed by work that will include weatherization of exposed surfaces on separated buildings, demolition, debris removal, site stabilization, and resource recovery.
Free family fishing clinic comes Saturday to Jones Bridge Park
In conjunction with National Fishing and Boating Week, reel in some family fun with this free fishing event on Saturday, June 6 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Jones Bridge Park.
Enjoy hot dogs and drinks, prizes, and fishing for all skill levels. A fishing rod and bait will be provided while supplies last, and helpers will assist in baiting hooks and removing fish. Buford Trout Hatchery will stock over 2,000 Rainbow Trout on the morning of the event! No fishing license will be necessary.
The event is in partnership with Kiwanis of Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Duluth and Johnsonville. Children ages 16 and under are invited to fish and must be accompanied by an adult. Life jackets are recommended. All ages are welcome.
District 2 Commissioner Lynette Howard will be at the playground for a play date and make-and-take craft. For more information, call 678-277-0920 or visit www.gwinnettparks.com. Jones Bridge Park is located at 4901 East Jones Bridge Road, Peachtree Corners.
You can “Give Back” when working on National Trails Day
National Trails Day events across Georgia provide an opportunity to give back.
On Saturday, June 6, hundreds of volunteers and partners will work side by side on national forest trails across Georgia. From the Ocmulgee Bluff Equestrian Trail near Monticello to the Panther Creek Trail near Clarkesville, there is a workday opportunity for all forest users to give back to the trails they love.
Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests Supervisor Betty Jewett says: “It’s really heartening to see the passion of trail users and witness the huge difference that folks make right here in Georgia. And along with us, trail users across the country will be celebrating trails, keeping them maintained and sustainable.”
The Forest Service, CoTrails, partnering organizations and volunteers will host eight events across the Chattahoochee and Oconee National Forests in celebration of the 24th annual National Trails Day. Work day activities include invasive plant removal, trail surface hardening, and sling blade work, among other maintenance tasks. All skill levels are welcome.
- For a list of the sites where work is needed, click here.
Kudzu opening largest exhibit of year on Friday, June 5
Kudzu Art Zone in Norcross is opening its largest exhibit this year. The 2015 Juried Open Show is open to any Georgia artist and there are many entries and very stiff competition, as expected.
The result is an exhibit featuring several artists new to Kudzu with fresh new approaches and works. Some of these are a large, colorful figure painting by Summer Lowe, whose muses include Matisse; a watercolor gem by Carol Luttenberg; a harmonious abstract painting by Karen Phillips; and many other paintings in diverse styles and this year’s exhibit includes several three dimensional pieces which are thought-provoking.
The Opening Reception is Friday, June 5 from 7 to 9 p.m. Kudzu Art Zone is at 116 Carlyle Street in Norcross. Gallery hours are Fridays and Saturdays 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.. Check the website for additional information on this exhibit and for all the classes and events at Kudzu at www.kudzuartzone.org.
NOTABLEMedical Center expands treatment of adults at Concussion Institute
Gwinnett Medical Center (GMC)-Duluth has expanded and is now treating adults at its Concussion Institute. Dr. David Schwartz, a neuropsychologist who recently joined GMC-Duluth, is leading the new program.
While sports-related injuries are the leading cause of concussion in children, falls or auto accidents are among the leading causes of concussions among adults. Because the sooner a concussion is treated, the better, GMC-D’s Concussion Institute is taking a multi-pronged approach as it relates to the education about concussions among adults.
Limited educational outreach is focusing on police officers, firefighters and those in the construction industry. Dr. Schwartz says: “Many of these patients rely heavily on their ability to balance so it’s important they are treated comprehensively. Treatments like vestibular therapy can help them to return to work safely and quickly.”
Schwartz
According to Dr. Schwartz, many patients who have concussion-related injuries initially visit a hospital emergency department so it’s critical that those nurses and doctors have the proper evaluation tools. “By using a resource like the Acute Concussion Evaluation or ACE, or other specialized tools for an initial evaluation, nurses, doctors, and patients know to quickly see a neuropsychologist to control and limit the impact and effects of concussions,” he said.
Dr. Schwartz specializes in assessment and treatment of concussion and traumatic brain injury, neurorehabilitation and intervention in learning and educational issues. His work on integrating technology in rehabilitation and returning to activity has been published. He holds a joint PhD in Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, with a specialization in Neuropsychology and consults nationally and in Canada with school districts, state departments of education, provincial school boards and clinical groups.
He is the executive director and a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatric Neuropsychology, as well as an adjunct faculty member at Kennesaw State University, Argosy University–Atlanta and Georgia State University.
GGC unit gets grant for help promoting women in technology
Women in Information Technology at Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) has received a $1,000 National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) Student Seed Fund gift sponsored by Symantec.
Specifically, the group will utilize the grant to host a Fall Kick-off and Spring Celebration to allow students to familiarize themselves with opportunities in the GGC community of Information Technology (IT) majors. They also will host a three-day WIT Boot Camp where students learn technical skills while forming a community of support.
The mission is to develop a community of female IT majors to provide a better understanding of technologies. The group also provides multiple opportunities for members to attend events that enhance professional, leadership and networking skills. The national Fund has partnered with Symantec to award a total of $83,250 to 110 student-run programs with the goal to recruit, retain and support women in computing. These groups have provided outreach, mentoring, peer support, training and professional development opportunities to more than 3,700 elementary, middle-school, high-school, undergraduate and graduate students
RECOMMENDEDAll the Light We Cannot See
A novel by Anthony Doerr
“This is a magnificent book depicting World War II from two main characters, a young blind French girl, and a German white-haired boy who becomes a wizard with radio, which finally brings them together briefly. Wartime conditions are shown in their harsh reality. It is more than 500 pages long, but broken into 166 short chapters, concentrating on the eventual fall of St. Malo on the Brittany coast, and also on conditions in wartime Germany and on the Eastern front. The author, who won the recent Pulitzer Prize for this work, spins the tale in concise flashbacks and forwards, keeping the reader alert. It somewhat reminds you of a modern Gone with the Wind, without the swashbuckling and romance. The author shows how people try to be kind to one another, even in war. You keep looking forward to the next twist. It deserves the Pulitzer.”–eeb
An invitation: what books, restaurants, movies or web sites have you enjoyed recently? Send us your recent selection, along with a short paragraph (100 words) as to why you liked this, plus what you plan to visit or read next. –eeb
GEORGIA ENCYCLOPEDIA TIDBITBook about Georgia chain gang proves to be national sensation
I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang! was a sensational best-selling book by Robert Elliott Burns. Published in 1932, it recounts the dramatic story of the author’s imprisonment in Georgia and his two successful escapes, eight years apart, with seven years of freedom, business success, and emotional intrigue in between. It was also the basis of a popular movie entitled I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, produced later that year by Warner Brothers.
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Burns was a drifter and a battle-scarred World War I (1917-18) veteran who found himself living in a cheap hotel in Atlanta in 1922. In February of that year Burns and an accomplice stole $5.80 from a local grocer, Samuel Bernstein. They were arrested instantly; Burns was swiftly tried, convicted, and sentenced to six to ten years on the Campbell County (later Fulton County) chain gang.
It did not take the stunned northerner long to comprehend that ten years on the chain gang was practically a death sentence. Southern chain gangs, notorious across the rest of the nation, had their origins in the scandalous convict lease system of the late 19th century. When convict leasing was abolished in 1908, with the demand for convict labor still growing, the chain gang took its place.
Burns’s book is full of sensational, lurid, yet mostly verifiable descriptions of mistreatment, brutality, disgusting food, and labor so unrelenting and exhausting that it left men in a stupor. As he soon learned from his wretched fellow prisoners that to leave the chain gang a man had to “work out, pay out, die out, or run out,” Burns decided to run out.
He did so in June 1922, after serving only a few months’ time. Burns’s dramatic escape to Chicago was crowned by brilliant success in the publishing business, social recognition, and marriage. But years later when he proved an unfaithful husband, his wife, Emily, turned him in to the authorities. His arrest on May 22, 1929, caused a sensation in Chicago. Burns had never told Emily about his past, but she discovered his secret by opening letters from his brother, the Rev. Vincent Burns, an Episcopal priest.
In negotiations with officials from Georgia, Burns arranged to return to Georgia, take a soft job in the prison system, and receive a pardon after one year—or so he believed. But the state of Georgia was unrelenting, and Burns once more faced the hardships of the chain gang, this time at a prison in Troup County.
In September 1930 he escaped a second time and made his way to Newark, N.J. There he wrote, “Georgia cannot win!… I have decided to write the true story, while in hiding, of my entire case.” Burns’s memoir, first serialized in True Detective Mysteries magazine, was published in January 1932 and was an instant success. “It would be hard to find a more thrilling story in either truth or fiction,” a New York Times reviewer wrote.
(To be continued)
- To access the Georgia Encyclopedia online, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Does greenery help?
CLUE: Does the stone, wood and greenery give you a clue where this building might be located? If you think you know its location, send your idea to elliott@brack.net. You might be surprised where this is. And be sure to include what city you live in or near.
Several people recognized the last Mystery Photo. Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill was first in, saying: “The mystery photo today is the tower at St. Audoen’s Church in Dublin, Ireland. (I was there in January two years ago.) I think it’s the city’s oldest medieval church and it was built in the late 12 century. Though in Ireland, it’s not a Catholic church, although there is a Catholic church of the same name. It’s a ‘Church of Ireland’ sanctuary which is more like an Episcopal church.” Sending in the photo was Karen Garner of Dacula.
Bob Foreman of Grayson wrote: “You thought you could fool us by leaving the nave out of the photo, but you managed to leave a major hint visible. The sign appears to say Church of Ireland. This is St. Audeon’s Church in Dublin. This is not Gothic revival. It is the real thing.” Also correctly identifying the church was Lou Camerio of Lilburn.
LAGNIAPPENew Guinea turtle
Roving Photographer Frank Sharp was at the Gwinnett County Environmental and Heritage Center to see all the turtles on National Turtle Day created by the American Tortoise Rescue, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting turtles and tortoises throughout the world. This is a Snake-Necked Turtle from New Guinea. His wife, who is of Asian descent and familiar with Chinese customers, says that in the United States if you want to insult someone, you can them a monkey. But if in China, you insult them if you call them a turtle.
CREDITS
GwinnettForum is provided to you at no charge every Tuesday and Friday. If you would like to serve as an underwriter, click here to learn more.
- Send your thoughts, 55-word short stories, pet peeves or comments on any issue to Gwinnett Forum for future publication.
- MORE: Contact Editor and Publisher Elliott Brack at: elliott@gwinnettforum.com
Follow Us