JULY 7: Aurora’s 20th season, term limits, more

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT: The Aurora Theater ensemble provided musical entertainment for the Fourth of July celebration on the eve of the holiday. Roving Photographer Frank Sharp says that “The weather was perfect (not too hot) and the play and music by the Aurora Theater was superb.”

IN THIS EDITION

TODAY’S FOCUS: Beginning 20^th Season, Aurora Theater To Present Memphis
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Turnaround: Why It’ll Be Good To Have Term Limits
FEEDBACK: Reader Really Wants County to Have Mass Transit
UPCOMING: Nickels and Quarters of Thank Offering Grant Rainbow Village $75,000
NOTABLE: Gwinnett Installs One-Fifth of Area’s Water Saving Toilets
RECOMMENDED READ: The Last Days of Dogtown: A Novel by Anita Diamant
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base Was First an Army Base
TODAY’S QUOTE: One Reason You Cannot Have a Bank Account
MYSTERY PHOTO: Only One Recognized Giant Sculpture in Barcelona
LAGNIAPPE: Fireworks for the Fourth of July celebration in Lawrenceville.

Aurora Theater’s 20^th season begins with the musical, Memphis

By Chelsea Bohannon

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga., July 7, 2015 – Jive along to the brassy beats of Beale Street in 1950s Memphis, where the birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll reels in an aspiring R&B DJ, who just happens to be white, to spark change in the deep South. Bringing powerhouse numbers to the Lawrenceville stage, Aurora Theatre debuts its 20th Anniversary Peach State Federal Credit Union Signature Series with the regional premiere of the hit-musical sensation Memphis, playing July 23- August 30, 2015. A co-production with Theatrical Outfit, this tuneful tale is sure to strike a chord with music lovers of all ages!

Producing Artistic Director Anthony Rodriguez says: “When you take a mega musical like Memphis and produce it in Aurora’s intimate theatre setting, what you get is an unparalleled experience of fierce emotion, dynamic theatrics and the ability for audiences to immerse themselves in the story and characters. All of these elements combined are what make this an unforgettable season debut!”

Loosely based on real-life rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Dewey Phillips, Memphis follows the story of quirky and irreverent DJ Huey Calhoun and his transformation of the iconic sound from the radio to the television.  Breaking racial barriers along his journey, he falls in love with a soulful black singer and a cultural revolution is ignited. Winner of four 2010 Tony Awards including Best Musical, this story of passion, determination and sacrifice presents a moving musical for all to cheer for.

Memphis boasts an original score by Bon Jovi’s founding member and keyboardist David Bryan with book and lyrics by three-time Tony Award-winner Joe DiPietro. At the helm of this production are three of the region’s top arts leaders; directed by Theatrical Outfit Artistic Director Tom Key, musical direction by Aurora Theatre Co-Founder and Associate Producer Ann-Carol Pence and choreography by Ballethnic Dance Company Artistic Director Waverly Lucas. Leading a 25-member company of Atlanta’s best performers, this is a spectacle of powerful, roaring rock ‘n’ roll melodies, exuberant dance sequences and not-to-be-missed production values.

Memphis is presented at Aurora Theatre, July 23- August 30, 2015. Two discount weekday matinees will be offered on Wednesday, August 12 and 19 at 10 a.m. for $20-$30 per person. Regular show time tickets can be purchased starting July 1 for $30-$65 per person online at tickets.auroratheatre.com or by calling the Box Office at 678-226-6222. Season tickets and group tickets are currently on sale.

Show times are as follows:

• Wednesday – Friday: 8 p.m.
• Saturday: 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.
• Sunday: 2:30 p.m.

The co-production of Memphis will continue September 10-20, 2015 at The Rialto Center for the Arts (80 Forsyth St., Atlanta) with tickets available from Theatrical Outfit online at www.theatricaloutfit.org/shows/memphis or by phone at 678-528-1500.

One-time bugaboo of term limits now seems like a good idea

By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher

JULY 7, 2015 | It’s funny what makes you change your mind.

All these years I have been against term limits for elected officials. My reason: having old-timers around who knew the ropes made our government better by their insights. But one incident recently made me change my mind on the subject. Now I feel comfortable for being positive on limiting public officials’ terms of office.

Until recently, there were other reasons I had been against limiting the time a public official could serve. First, there is an automatic term limit, that is, an election every few years, with the voters deciding whether to keep (or limit) the public servants in office. Yes, it’s an unofficial limit.

Another reason against term limits is to provide continuity for government. If you had term limits, the thinking went, that would mean our governments would lose many solid, good public servants periodically, and those in office would not have years of background. To me, previously, that was a bad move.

What changed my mind was the decision this year by the Nebraska’s unicameral legislature to abolish the death penalty. Who would have thought a Midwest conservative Republican legislature would turn over the death penalty? They even did it over the veto of the sitting Republican governor. How unusual! How brash! What an improvement!

Then I heard the reason for the change in Nebraska, some maintain. It’s because that state now has term limits, meaning that Nebraska is not served by the same old gang of politicians that returns to the Lincoln capitol year after year and legislates the same way all the time. Certainly other states with long-serving legislators don’t make fast turns-around like Nebraska has.

Of course, with term limits, sometimes legislators may change long-established laws faster than is good for the state. That may be the outcome of Nebraska abolishing the death penalty, though we don’t think so. But this group of relatively-new legislators have moved quickly with much of the new thinking about the death penalty, and get our “thumbs-up” for this decision.

What it tells us is that in states ruled by the same mostly-re-elected bunch of professional politicos, term limits would be welcomed by the rank-and-file voter. It would really be upsetting the political apple-carts, and bring new life to any Legislature. It should also encourage “citizen-legislators,” rather than always-hanging-around politicians.

Our citizenry would soon recognize that now they had a chance to influence those new in office, and even possibly get good legislation passed. We would hope that the newly elected officials could resist the attempts by the high-paid lobbyists to be such an influence on our governing bodies. One good change from adopting term limits is that it would return our governing system to what many of the Founding Fathers envisioned: everyday citizens giving time to serve their country for a few years, then retiring to make room for other everyday people to get involved in government. Eliminating the hanger-on professional politicians would not be a bad move.

Any change to favor term limits will be a radical move for many people. Yet the Nebraska vote caused us to “think outside the box” about term limits. What we thought was a bugaboo……seems like a pretty good idea now.

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Demands that area improve mass transportation system

Editor, the Forum:

Gwinnett County absolutely must have public transportation! I don’t know anyone from Gwinnett County that will ever go to the new Braves Stadium because of the stupid road system and lack of management of the roads by the Department of Transportation (DOT).

We have an international airport in this area and it’s deplorable that the airport would allow such mismanagement of the roads to get there.   I personally know people that have missed flights due to roads being closed down.

Is it actually DOT’s job to make sure roads are closed down as long as possible?  Or, are they just stupid?   We need trains….mass transit!

That (&*%$) new tax on gas better be used for rail!

— Trish Gates, Lilburn

Send us a letter.  We encourage readers to submit feedback (or letters to the editor). Send your thoughts to the editor at elliott@brack.net. We will edit for length and clarity.  Make sure to include your name and the city where you live. Submission of a comment grants permission for us to reprint. Please keep your comments to 300 words or less. However, we will consider longer articles (no more than 500 words) for featuring in Today’s Issue as space allows.

Nickels and quarters of United Thank Offering grants $75,000 to RV

Rainbow Village, a transitional housing non-profit in Duluth, has received a $75,000 grant from the Episcopal Church’s United Thank Offering program. The grant will help fund Rainbow Village’s new early childhood development program, which will begin later this year.

The Thank Offering program says: “The program will provide children, from newborn to four years old, with healthy development and quality early learning activities to ensure they enter kindergarten prepared to succeed. These children are experiencing the crisis of homelessness and often are victims of poverty and/or domestic violence.”

The grant to Rainbow Village was one of the largest grants of the 55 awarded by the Episcopal Church. In total, $1,558,006.85 was given in grants to non-profits and religious organizations worldwide. The United Thank Offering program collects small amounts daily, but those nickels and quarters add up. The coins come from churchgoers who donate them an offering of thanks for the positive aspects of their lives.

About $75,000 worth of those nickels and quarters will help Rainbow Village provide education and mental health services to young children. According to Rainbow Village, 42 percent of children in homeless families are under the age of six. One out of every five children experiencing homelessness has emotional problems serious enough to require professional care, and all homeless children have twice the rate of learning disabilities as their peers with stable housing. By providing an early education program, Rainbow Village will help children do better as they begin schooling.

Rainbow Village focuses on providing homeless family members of all ages with the tools to improve their lives. The non-profit provides homeless families with a fully-furnished house to live in for 1-2 years while going through a number of programs to help them get back on their feet. Adults are required to work at least 30 hours a week, while children must attend mandatory after school programs that offer tutoring and homework help, along with character building classes once a week.

“It’s so much more than transitional housing, it helps people improve themselves,” says Nan Ross, director of communication for the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta. “It’s about giving people a second chance.” For more on the United Thank Offering, go to https://uto2014.wordpress.com/.

Interview coaching workshop planned at 2 Gwinnett libraries

An interview coaching workshop is on tap at the Collins Hill Branch at 455 Camp Perrin Road of the Gwinnett County Public Library with Human Resources Coach Butch Reiser on July 13. The program will be presented again on July 16 at the Hamilton Mill Branch. Both programs begin 6:30 p.m.

Reiser has over 25 years of experience as a human resources professional and has recruited for UPS, Penske Corporation, and Marriott.

Coach Reiser, who holds a Master’s Degree in HR Management, has interviewed and watched thousands of people make major mistakes during the interview process.  Now, in a new Career Development Series through Gwinnett County Public Library, Coach Reiser is offering a free Interview Coaching Workshop that is sure to help anyone discover the inside secrets to becoming the top candidate in today’s highly competitive job market.

• For more information, call 770-978-5154 or visit www.gwinnettpl.org.

Gwinnett installs one-fifth of area’s water-saving toilets

The Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources has reached a milestone of 20,000 toilet rebates, contributing one-fifth of the total rebates issued in the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District since the program started in 2007.

Pegasus Residential installed Gwinnett’s 20,000th toilet at Spring Lake Apartments in Norcross in June. Lindy Ware, Pegasus Residential CEO, says: “Since the program’s inception, Pegasus Residential has replaced nearly 2,000 toilets in two apartment communities in Gwinnett County. Not only has Pegasus Residential been able to take advantage of the County’s rebate program, we have seen a cost savings in our water bill by 23 to 33 percent per month in each community.”

Residents of single-family households built before 1993 who replace existing toilets with water-efficient units can receive a $100 rebate per toilet. The program expanded to multi-family residences in 2012. Participating apartment communities have decreased their water consumption by an average of 37 percent.

Water Resources Director Ron Seibenhener says: “While water is a renewable resource, it is limited, and as a community we need to do all we can to reduce consumption and minimize our impact on the resource as a whole. Reaching this milestone is another example of how this community has been able to change the way we manage water and achieve significant conservation gains.”

In addition, Gwinnett County has kept more than 384 tons of old and broken toilets from ending up in a landfill. The porcelain from recycled toilets is turned into a stone aggregate that can be used for construction projects.

Single- and multi-family households can still participate in the toilet rebate program. Details about the program and applications can be found on the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District’s website, www.northgeorgiawater.com.

Two from Loganville complete AADD Partners in Policy program

Pursley

Adams

Tamara Pursley of Loganville and Daphne Adams of Lawrenceville gained the tools to become better advocates for all individuals with disabilities in Georgia recently by participating in All About Developmental Disabilities’ (AADD) Partners in Policymaking program. AADD is an Atlanta-based non-profit organization dedicated to providing family support, advocacy and training opportunities for individuals and families living with developmental disabilities.

The goal of the program is to establish and maintain productive partnerships between people needing and using services and those who make public policy and laws. As participants become educated about current issues and best practices and familiar with the legislative processes at the local, state and federal levels, they learn what they can do to act as a catalyst for change.

Over the last 20 years, Partners in Policymaking has produced hundreds of graduates like Pursley and Adams across the state.  These parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, sisters and brothers have become advocates and voices for individuals living with developmental disabilities.

For 14th straight year, Snellville named to “Tree City USA” status

For the 14^th consecutive year, the City of Snellville has been named a Tree City USA community.

Jason Thompson, interim director of the city’s Department of Planning and Development says: “Being named a Tree City for 14 consecutive years shows the city is dedicated to caring for the trees in the community. This designation is something we are proud of in Snellville and we will continue to work hard to keep this title.”

The Tree City USA program provides the framework for community forestry management for cities and towns across the country.

Communities achieve Tree City USA status by meeting four core standards of sound urban forestry management: maintaining a tree board or department, having a community tree ordinance, spending at least $2 per capita on urban forestry and celebrating Arbor Day, according to www.arborday.org.

Participating communities have demonstrated a commitment to caring for and managing their public trees. More than 3,400 Tree City USA communities serve as home to more than 135 million Americans, according to the organization.

The Last Days of Dogtown: A Novel

By Anita Diamant

These days, it seems a popular formula to set stories in specific, well-known areas, and grow a tale from there. The novel is set in the now abandoned settlement of Dogtown, on the rocky granite headlands of Cape Ann, Mass. Early settlers in the collection of huts and lean-tos were typically rough and crusty people, ducking their pasts during a time of strict adherence to social mores. The author has a varied cast of characters – drunkards, abusers, people of varied sexual persuasions and none, multi-racial romantics, and spiteful tattlers. It makes for a roller-coaster reading experience, and in the end, the characters disappear in time. I bought the book because I love Cape Ann, and it was an amusing side note as details of the area were sprinkled in the story. Not great literature, but a fun read.

— Karen Garner, Dacula

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

Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base was first an Army base

Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base, located at St. Marys, in Camden County on the south Georgia coast, is the home port for the nation’s Atlantic Fleet’s most modern nuclear ballistic submarines, the Trident or Ohio-class subs. It is the only navy base with the capability to support the Trident II missile, the most sophisticated nuclear missile designed to be launched from a submarine. The highly secure facility encompasses approximately 16,000 acres, 4,000 of which are protected wetlands. In 2015 approximately 9,000 military and civilian personnel, including contract personnel, made up the installation’s workforce.

The Kings Bay base was commissioned in July 1978. Its original mission was to serve as the forward refurbishment site for Submarine Squadron 16, which was stationed at Rota, Spain. The navy

funded a four-year, $125 million construction program, which provided shore facilities that included waterfront operational facilities, industrial and support facilities, and family housing. The construction was the largest peacetime project ever undertaken by the navy.

In May 1980 the base’s mission changed. It was named the Atlantic Fleet home port for the Trident submarines. A massive nine-year construction effort was initiated in 1981. This $1.3 billion project included construction of facilities to support a squadron of Trident submarines; facilities were built for submarine maintenance and repair, crew training, weapons handling and storage, and personnel support.

The base became a naval submarine support base in April 1982. The first Trident submarine, the USS Tennessee, arrived at the base in January 1989. The Tennessee was followed by the USS Pennsylvania, USS West Virginia, USS Kentucky, USS Maryland, USS Nebraska, USS Rhode Island, USS Maine, and USS Wyoming. The USS Louisiana was the last Trident II submarine commissioned in Kings Bay, in September 1997.

Between 2002 and 2005, five of these submarines, the USS Kentucky, USS Louisiana, USS Maine, USS Nebraska, and USS Pennsylvania, were reassigned to the Naval Submarine Base Bangor in Bremerton, Washington, in an effort to balance the navy’s fleet between the two coasts.

In 2006 Kings Bay became the new home port for the USS Florida, a renovated guided-missile submarine. A second renovated guided-missile submarine, the USS Georgia, arrived at the base in December 2007. A return-to-service ceremony for the vessel, the only submarine to reside in the same state for which it is named, was held in March 2008.

• To access the Georgia Encyclopedia online, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org

Just one person recognized latest mystery photo in Barcelona

For this edition’s mystery photo, get out your thinking caps and see if you can identify this town square. There are several hints if you know your geography. Send in your answers to elliott@brack.net and be sure to include your home address.

Only one reader recognized this photo of a giant fish sculpture sent in by Tom Merkel after his recent trip to Spain. The photo was taken in Barcelona, near the Ritz Carlton Hotel, adjacent to the Olympic Marina. The sculpture was one that was installed prior to the recent Olympics in that city. Only Ross Lenhart of Pawley’s Island, S.C., recognized it.

Fireworks over Lawrenceville Lawn for the Fourth of July celebration

That’s the spire of the First Baptist Church of Lawrenceville on the right in this explosive photograph of the fireworks on the Fourth of July taken from Lawrenceville Lawn. Roving Photographer Frank Sharp made this picture of the crowd, estimated at 6,000 for the event. The fireworks were launched from near the Gwinnett County Justice and Administrative Center.

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