SIGNATURE PROJECT: The City of Peachtree Corners has approved the Town Center building elevations allowing Fuqua Development to begin the city’s signature project. The mixed-use development is on a 20.6 acre tract on Peachtree Parkway across from The Forum. Plans include up to 10 restaurants, retails shops, office space, a theater and townhomes plus a two+ acre town green for community gatherings. John Wieland Homes, developer for the three- and four-story townhomes, plans to build a total of 70 townhomes on the Town Center. Groundbreaking on the project is expected in second quarter of 2016 with the Town Center to open in July 2017.
IN THIS EDITION
TODAY’S FOCUS: Gwinnett Libraries Adapting to New Resource Materials
EEB PERSPECTIVE: New Operation near Helen Begins Bottling of Hard Cider
ANOTHER VIEW: Gwinnett: Time Now To Move Forward on Transit
FEEDBACK: More Reflections on Problems of Gun Violence
UPCOMING: Kudzu Artists at Unitarian Church; Snellville Plans Brick for Fallen Marine
NOTABLE: Alan Chapman Picked To Lead Gwinnett Dept. of Transportation
RECOMMENDED RESTAURANT: Taziki’s, In Suwanee
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Ministers’ Manifesto Leads to Peaceful Integration of Atlanta Schools
TODAY’S QUOTE: Something Inherent in Far Too Many Books
MYSTERY PHOTO: Some Have Way Wrong Guess on Previous Mystery
LAGNIAPPE: Gwinnett Lifeguards Win Fourth Title in Row, a New State Record
TODAY’S FOCUS
Libraries in Gwinnett adapting to new resource materials
By Charles Pace, executive director, Gwinnett County Public Library
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga., July 28, 2015 | The last few years have been a time of significant transformation in libraries across the United States. Many libraries, including the Gwinnett County Public Library (GCPL), have had to deal with severe budget cuts because of the economic recession. However, I firmly believe that those libraries that adapt and evolve with the times will emerge stronger and better than ever. As the dark clouds of economic turmoil recede behind us we are presented with new and exciting opportunities for growth and reinvention.
Pace
In order to keep pace with changing customer demands, GCPL has put more resources into purchasing electronic books and other digital resources. As a result of this greater emphasis, we are seeing strong growth in the use of electronic books and digital audiobooks. In the fiscal year that just ended more than 400,000 of these items were checked out! Of course one advantage of digital content is that customers can never return the item late. The items simply disappear from your device when the check-out period is over.
Other exciting digital resources include Mango Languages (an online resource for learning foreign languages) and Zinio, a recently added database that allows customers to download current issues of more than 60 popular magazine titles to their PC or mobile device. GCPL is also proud to be able to offer dozens of different online classes through our purchase of Gale E-Courses. These classes are done online with an instructor and run for a six week period and are all free of charge.
Even bigger changes are on the horizon for the library system. We recently completed a new strategic plan which focuses on three key areas: Awareness of the Library and its services, Outreach and Engagement with the community, and Meeting the Needs of the diverse populations that make up Gwinnett County. Some of our specific objectives include an increase in the use of volunteers and expanded resources for our foreign language speaking customers. Having these goals will help us sharpen our focus and deliver the best quality services to our citizens.
On June 9 of this year we broke ground on the new joint Lilburn Public Library/City Hall project. This innovative public/public partnership will put a library and city hall under one roof and allows us to leverage our resources with those of other governmental entities in Gwinnett County. The new facility will be much larger and more visible than the former Lilburn library and will feature expanded children’s and teen areas, more technology, and a shared meeting room space. The Lilburn Library project should be completed and open to the public before the end of 2016.
We are also in the early planning stages for new libraries in Duluth and Norcross, to replace the current outdated facilities. These new buildings may include such features as small meeting and study rooms, enhanced technology access, Makerspaces for the use of 3-D printers and other design projects, and possibly digital content creation spaces.
Stay tuned for more details on these and other exciting projects coming to your public library!
EEB PERSPECTIVEHard cider maker starting operations in North Georgia mountains
By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher
JULY 28, 2015 | There’s a refreshing, vibrant new bottler operating in the North Georgia mountains near Helen. No, it’s not a winery. It’s a cider maker — Sautee Hard Cider — that’s the newest bottler in Georgia.
The company shipped its initial batch of hard cider, apple and peach, to its first customer this week — to Ingles supermarket warehouse. It’s sold under the “Bull Dog” brand.
The guy behind this new venture is no amateur. In fact, he’s the person who in recent years popularized cider in the United States under the Woodchuck label. His name is Joe Cerniglia, a third-generation Italian raised in the Bronx whose family was originally from Sicily. They lived in a three-room flat, and his father was a contractor.
Cerniglia
Once Woodchuck started, it was a super success, and had 62 percent of the market out of its Proctorsville, Vermont, operation. Soon the beer makers recognized that many Americans enjoyed cider, and started cider brands of their own. Today Woodchuck has much less of the U.S. market, though the consumption is much bigger.
Cerniglia, now 76, is a high school drop-out who tired of New York City and bought a 228-acre farm in Vermont. With his brother-in-law, he started at first making wine. Then he switched to cider, beginning in 1991, and the result was Woodchuck Cider, all natural and without preservatives.
Cerniglia is credited with revising the taste for cider in the United States. Back during colonial times, and especially during Prohibition, cider was the drink of choice for many Americans. When Prohibition was voted out, Americans changed their drinking choice to beer, and cider was dormant for years.
Then came Cerniglia in 1991 with the Woodchuck brand. He asked 10 friends, “working stiffs,” he says, to put up $15,000 each for the venture “on a handshake.” When he sold Woodchuck eight years later, they each got $200,000. “Not bad,” he says.
In 1999, he sold his cidery for what is said to be $30 million, which he doesn’t deny, and retired, to Skidaway Island, near Savannah. Meanwhile, Woodchuck continued to thrive, and in 2012 the renamed parent company was sold to the C&C Group of Ireland for $305 million. The firm owns several cider labels in Europe.
In organizing Sautee Hard Cider, Cerniglia used his previous approach for capital, this time asking 20 individuals to put up $20,000 each, again on a handshake. “The bankers couldn’t believe it,” he says. It’s been two years since the business began. Today the firm has six employees, and is “just getting started in production.”
Cerniglia brings in apple juice concentrate from Washington state to make his apple cider. At Woodchuck “We did everything, from crushing the apples to bottling, and took it from there. But today we just use the concentrate to make the cider. It’s a whole lot easier.”
Today the full-bearded Cerniglia (he looks like the Burt’s Bees label guy) is a sometimes resident of White County, with a home near Sautee while overseeing his up-and-coming cidery. For his brand name of “Bull Dog Cider,” he got the idea when visiting the home of a friend in the North Georgia mountains. “She had bulldog statues everywhere, all around the house. That’s when the idea hit me.” The Bull Dog logo looks ferocious. The label says it’s cider “with a serious attitude.”
The bottle caps are distinctive, with a “JC” initial on them, for the president and CEO of the firm.
Look for the Bull Dog Cider brand to grow in popularity — if Joe Cerniglia’s present venture in White County, Ga. takes off like his earlier effort.
ANOTHER VIEWRare time now for county to make key decision on rail transit
By George Wilson
JULY 28, 2015 | A county stands and falls on the decisions and vision of her leaders. All too rarely, a county has an opportunity to decide an issue that will set its future course for generations to come. Such is bringing of rail to Gwinnett County. Now is the time to act and show some bold leadership and not be bureaucratic care takers of the status quo. There are many good reasons to start:
- Already an aging population in Gwinnett will need other modes of transportation other than cars;
- Continued economic development and growth; later on costs will only be higher;
- Polls show a high favorability level; and
- Traffic is bad now, and is only going to get worse.
This is not the ‘70s when people rejected MARTA because of race and the fear of crime. This in my view was a disappointing and negative argument. This argument is even less potent today because the minorities are already here. Moreover, the times, and demographics have changed in Gwinnett so that most people now want the benefits of rapid transit.
Finally, what we need is leadership to start this process. When will the voters demand that it happen?
IN THE SPOTLIGHTHayes Family Dealerships
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s sponsor is Hayes Family Dealerships with Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC. Mike, Tim and Ted Hayes of Lawrenceville and Gainesville with Terry Hayes of Baldwin and Stan Roberts of Toccoa invite you into their showrooms to look over their line-up of automobiles and trucks. Hayes has been in the automotive business for over 40 years, and is North Georgia’s oldest family-owned dealerships. The family is the winner of the 2002 Georgia Family Business of the Year Award.
- Check their web sites at: www.hayeschrysler.com or www.hayeschevrolet.com or www.hayesgmcars.com.
- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, go to https://www.gwinnettforum.com/about/sponsors.htm.
More shootings since the last perspective was published
Editor, the Forum:
Your observation that another outbreak of gun violence came true between the time you wrote it and the time the piece was distributed. After you wrote that, and before it was posted, three people died in a shooting in a theater in Lafayette, La. And four people in Cumming died from shootings.
It happens, and will happen — again, and again, and again — until something is done about the proliferation of firearms in the hands of anyone and everyone who even has an inkling of an idea that he just has to have an AK-47 to go squirrel hunting.
— Robert Hanson, Loganville
Comment on previous column about gun violence: Well said
Editor, the Forum:
On your great column on gun violence! Well said.
— Femmer and Alana Moss, Duluth
Recognizes that continual gun violence is problem for the USA
Editor, the Forum:
As I read your article on curbing gun violence, I was not surprised at your approach to the problem. After all, you usually come down on the liberal side of things, so for you to subscribe to the idea of more legal control of guns does not surprise me.
However, we conservatives get a little tired of the same old arguments. For example, Chicago has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country, but the degree of violence in that city week after week makes one cringe. You suggest that we have enough guns to protect our citizens on a day-to-day basis, and interestingly enough you cite the military as one of them.
I guess you wrote your article before the shootings at the military installations recently. And on top of all that, you cite the lack of gun violence in countries such as Japan and Germany. Maybe you should take a look at some other countries, like France, and see how they are doing.
In summary, I could support the outlawing of weapons such as the AK47 and other assault rifles. Anyone who can argue that you need multi-shot guns such as these to hunt game animals is either a very bad shot or very naive. (I do not hunt so I don’t really have a dog in that hunt – no pun intended.)
I don’t have a solution to this problem (and I don’t think you do either) but it truly is a real problem.
— Dave Robertson, Lawrenceville
Comparing two cities on various statistics and homicide rates
Editor, the Forum:
Here is a tale of two cities: Interesting.
Chicago, Ill. Houston, Texas
Population 2.7 million 2.15 million
Median HH Income $38,600 $37,000
Percent African-American 38.9% 24%
Percent Hispanic 29.9% 44%
Percent Asian 5.5% 6%
Percent Non-Hispanic White 28.7% 26%
These statistics are pretty similar until you compare the following:
Chicago, Ill. Houston, Texas
Concealed Carry gun law No Yes
No. of Gun Stores 0 184
Homicides, 2012 1,806 207
Homicides per 100K 38.4 9.6
Avg. January high temp. 31 63
Liberal Conclusion: Cold weather from global warming causes murder.
I think the quickest way to solve the problem is de-annex New Orleans, Detroit, Baltimore and Washington D.C, from the United States. Do this and we fall to No. 18 of those 22 comparable countries in terms of firearm homicide rates.
It’s clear that gun violence is a problem that is concentrated in urban areas that have been under liberal leadership for years. So another solution might be to elect more conservative mayors. Just thinking outside the box here but as reasonable an idea as adding new gun laws.
— Patrick Malone, Blairsville
Dear Patrick: You sure went a long way to come up with such a puny conclusion. You can do better than this, we assume, from your previous conclusions. And while you say there are no gun stores in Chicago, going to Google finds many serving the Chicago area.–eeb
UPCOMINGCoalition says food stocks low at local food co-ops
The Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services reports that the Gwinnett County Food Pantry shelves are very bare and supplies are urgently needed to restock the shelves during these summer months.
Items urgently needed are:
- Peanut butter & jelly
- Rice
- Canned meats (turkey/ham)
- Cereals
- Mac & Cheese
- Canned soups/pastas
Any one wanting to help should contact these ministries:
- Norcross Cooperative Ministry – 770-263-8268
- SE Cooperative Ministry – 770-985-5229
- Lawrenceville Cooperative Ministry – 770-339-7887
- Duluth Cooperative Ministry – 770-623-9563
- North Gwinnett Cooperative Ministry – 770-271-9793
- Lilburn Cooperative Ministry – 770-931-8333
- The Quinn House – 770-962-0470
- The Salvation Army – 770-724-1662.
Kudzu artists on display at Unitarian Congregation through August
The Kudzu Art Zone’s studio artists are displaying their art works during July and until August 24 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta. These artists are all professional artists who exhibit regularly throughout the metro area and can be seen at work in their studios at Kudzu Art Zone in Norcross. Their work is very diverse in media and style and provides delightful variety in their presentation.
Unitarian Universalist Congregation church is located at 1911 Cliff Valley Way, Atlanta. Kudzu Art Zone and Galleries are in downtown Norcross at 116 Carlyle Street. Hours at Kudzu are Fridays and Saturdays 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The phone is 770-840-9844 and the website is www.kudzuartzone.org.
Brick in Snellville will remember Chattanooga shooting victim
A commemorative brick will be placed on Snellville’s Veterans Memorial in honor of Staff Sgt. David Allen Wyatt, one of the five service members killed in an attack on a military base in Chattanooga, Tenn. last week. Wyatt’s aunt, Robin Wyatt, is a Snellville attorney.
Mayor Pro Tem Tom Witts says: “The (Snellville Veterans Memorial) committee recognized that Sergeant Wyatt had connections with Snellville, so he belongs on our wall. That’s what the wall is about. The wall is about remembering and honoring the people who served and protected our country.”
Witts said he expects the brick, which reads “David Wyatt USMC Chattanooga,” will be on the Memorial by Veterans Day. Witts said there will be a ceremony honoring Wyatt on that day.
Wyatt, age 35, of Hixson, Tenn. was born Nov. 7, 1979 in Morganton, N.C. He grew up in Ozark and Russellville, Ark. An Eagle Scout through the Boy Scouts of America, he graduated from Russellville High School in 1998 and attended Piedmont Community College in Morganton, N.C., Arkansas Tech, and MSU in Missoula, Mont.
Following the events of 9/11, Wyatt joined the United States Marine Corp. He graduated Boot Camp from Parris Island, S.C. which began an 11-year career that led him to serve in multiple locations including Okinawa, Japan, 29 Palms, Calif., Camp Lejeune, N.C., Kuwait, and Korea. He fought in Operation Freedom in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
NOTABLEChapman named to serve as new county DOT director
Gwinnett County Administrator Glenn Stephens has appointed Alan Chapman as transportation director, a role he has filled in an acting capacity since October of last year. Commissioners will consider ratification of Chapman’s employment agreement during the July 28 commission meeting.
Chapman
Early in his career, Chapman worked for the Georgia Department of Transportation and served as an engineering and construction consultant. In 1997, he joined the Gwinnett County Department of Transportation as project manager for the road improvements capital program, which included oversight of the department’s SPLOST programs and coordination of the citizens’ project selection committee.
He was promoted in 2004 to the position of deputy director over the department’s pre-construction and construction divisions. A registered professional engineer in the state of Georgia, he holds an MBA from Georgia State University and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Georgia Tech. Chapman lives with his wife, Anne, and two daughters in Lawrenceville.
Snellville taking applications for Citizens Police Academy program
Applications are currently being accepted for the Snellville Citizens Police Academy. The first class will take place at 6 p.m. Sept. 3 at the Snellville Police Department. The class will run through Nov. 19.
The Snellville Citizens Police Academy was founded in the Spring of 2003. It is designed to educate the public about the operation of the police department and how the involvement of the community can help to deter crime.
This program is open to all Snellville and Gwinnett residents, 18 years and older. There is no charge for attending and attendees do not have to live in the city limits to participate. Applications are on the city website at snellville.org, or can be picked up at the police department. A background investigation will be conducted on all applicants prior to acceptance in the Academy. For further information, contact Lt. Robert Pendleton at 770-985-3555 or rpendleton@snellville.org.
Lawrenceville Senior Center to get $1.59 million renovation
The Lawrenceville Senior Center is getting a $1.59 million renovation. The facility at 225 Benson Street first opened its doors in 1994 and is a regular gathering place for adults 60 and older to enjoy activities including exercise, arts and crafts, games, speakers, entertainment, day trips and hot lunches.
The improvements include upgraded ADA-accessible restrooms, an enlarged dining area, a more accessible food service line, an upgraded billiards room, a new card room area, a new hearing loop system for the hearing impaired, and a new multi-use room. The existing patio will be enclosed to become a fitness room and a new entry vestibule will be added.
Multiplex LLC was the lowest of four bidders for the construction contract. Nearly 80 percent of the work is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 11 percent by Gwinnett’s 2014 SPLOST program, and about 9 percent by the Atlanta Regional Commission. A $250,000 Community Development Block Grant is expected to pay for expanding the dining room, retrofitting the kitchen area and creating more small-group meeting places.
The center will close for renovation on August 3. Activities will temporarily relocate to Pleasant Hill Baptist Church at 797 Moon Road in Lawrenceville and then move again in late September to the Rhodes Jordan Park Community Recreation Center until work on the center is complete.
City of Suwanee wins 2 national Voice of People awards
The City of Suwanee has been named a winner of two Voice of the People Awards for Excellence – in community engagement as well as recreation and wellness. These awards come from the International City/County Management Association and National Research Center. Suwanee is the lone community among 21 jurisdictions being recognized nationally to win multiple awards.
Voice of the People awards are the only awards given in local government based on community opinion. Ratings by residents on customized National Citizen Surveys determine local government nominees in a variety of service and community characteristic categories.
RECOMMENDEDTaziki’s, Suwanee
My husband and I tried the just-opened Taziki’s in Suwanee recently.
It was a real treat! I was in the mood for lamb and had to decide between the lamb gyro, the lamb salad or the lamb dinner! I opted for the lamb dinner which was delicious and also enjoyed the tomato-cucumber salad. There is seating both inside and outside. My husband got a Mediterranean gyro
which he liked and a cookie for dessert! I also considered the tilapia and salmon. They’re located on Old Peachtree Road by Satellite Boulevard. 678-804-4580). Online at: www.tazikiscafe.com.
— Cindy Evans, Duluth
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 TIDBITMinisters’ Manifesto helps lead to integration of Atlanta schools
In November 1957, after witnessing the school integration crisis in Little Rock, Ark., 80 members of the Atlanta Christian Council issued a statement of conscience discouraging city officials and ordinary citizens from pursuing a course of massive resistance to federal authority.
Better known as the “Ministers’ Manifesto,” the statement called for moderation, communication between the races, racial amity, and most important, obedience to the law. One year later, after the Temple bombing in Atlanta aroused new fears of racial extremism, more than 300 ministers issued a second manifesto calling for the creation of a citizens’ commission to debate alternatives to massive resistance. Both statements helped defuse the city’s racial tensions, and helped earn Atlanta a reputation as “the City Too Busy to Hate.”
When the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision, which called for the desegregation of public schools, southern legislators responded by adopting a program of massive resistance to federal authority. In state legislatures throughout the South, conservative lawmakers passed a variety of measures designed to prevent or indefinitely delay the integration of public schools.
In Georgia, a year prior to the Brown decision, lawmakers approved a constitutional amendment authorizing the General Assembly to privatize the state’s public school system in the event of court-ordered desegregation. In 1956 the General Assembly went a step further, amending the state constitution to enable public school teachers to retain retirement benefits at private institutions, and making arrangements to transfer all public school property to private hands.
At the federal level, a majority of southern congressmen and senators, including the entire Georgia delegation, indicated their opposition to Brown by signing the “Declaration of Constitutional Principles” of 1956. Called the “Southern Manifesto,” the declaration condemned the court’s decision as a “clear abuse of judicial power” and announced the signers’ intention to “resist forced integration by any lawful means.” When coupled with measures already taken by lawmakers at the state level, the manifesto was, according to one legal scholar, “a calculated decision of political war.”
Tensions came to a head in September 1957, when a federal court order forced the Little Rock Board of Education to admit a small number of black students to Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. At the behest of Arkansas governor Orval Faubus, the Arkansas National Guard assembled outside the school and, with the help of an angry white mob, blocked the students’ entry. Although U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower later resolved the matter by dispatching troops to restore order and force the school’s integration, the Little Rock crisis was an unfortunate ordeal, and many observers correctly speculated that the city’s economy and reputation would suffer as a result.
In order to prevent a similar scenario from occurring in Atlanta, 80 white members of the Atlanta Christian Council issued a statement that appeared in both the Atlanta Journal and the Atlanta Constitution on November 3, 1957. The ministers identified six tenets to observe during the city’s integration debates: freedom of speech, obedience to the law, preservation of public schools, mutual respect and goodwill, interracial communication, and the guidance of prayer. In a carefully worded disclaimer, the signatories explained that they spoke only for themselves, and they assured readers that their prescriptions were proffered “in a spirit of deep humility and of penitence for our own failures.” Their statement was nevertheless necessary, they concluded, because “men who occupy places of responsibility in the churches should not be silent concerning their convictions.”
(To be continued)
MYSTERY PHOTOSome mistake last week’s mystery for Durango rail line
It’s a commemorative statue, and your job to solve this mystery, is to tell us where this is, and what is happening in this mystery photo. Send your ideas to elliott@brack.net and be sure to mention your hometown.
First in with the right answer in last week’s edition was Rick Edinger of Lawrenceville, who recognized the narrow-gauge White Pass and Yukon Railroad in Alaska. Several people thought this was a photo of the Durango railroad. But they were wrong. The photo comes from Bob Foreman of Grayson.
Others recognizing it included Jim Nelems, a former Peachtree Corners resident; Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill, and Ruth Lachman Paul of Norcross who wrote: “The line was built in 1898 during the gold rush and passes between high cliffs. Some 450,000 tourists visit it every year. It runs
from Skagway to the high pass at 2,865 feet. This is not so much today for transport by train, but more as a tourist attraction.” The line is 20 miles long, and includes spectacular scenery. The line first came into operation during the Gold Rush days in Alaska. An adult round trip pass is $119, and this includes bottled water. The duration of the trip is 3.5 hours.
LAGNIAPPESets state record
For the fourth year in a row, a state record, Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation (GCPR) took first place at the annual Georgia Recreation and Park Association State Lifeguarding Competition held on Lake Oconee in Greene County on July 20. Team members are, from left, Daniel Lammons, Jordan Rubin, Philip Jenny, Nyota Edijidimo, Ronnie Taylor and Reagan Balog. The competition consisted of several events evaluating teamwork, athletic ability and lifeguarding knowledge. The team took first in both the triathlon and rescue events, second in the CPR and swim events and third in the rescue paddle board event. The team is supervised and coached by Aquatics Coordinators Christine Greenfield and Jason Cutchins.
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