3/22: Foundation’s record year; Gibbs Gardens; Cell phones

ON DISPLAY UNTIL APRIL 16 at the Georgia Campus of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (GA-PCOM) Library is a traveling exhibit from the U.S. National Library of Medicine. The Literature of Prescription: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and The Yellow Wall-Paper is a six-banner traveling exhibition that details the implications of Gilman’s short story first published in January 1892, and its significance in the social history of medicine. Georgia is one of just 11 states where the exhibit is traveling beyond the walls of the national library on the campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. The display illustrates Gilman’s life and her ideas of gender and women’s rights, especially in relation to healthcare in the late nineteenth century. Skye Bickett, assistant director of Library Services, said, “We hope that PCOM students, as future healthcare providers, see this exhibit as an example of the importance of respecting the patient’s beliefs, values and lifestyle during the course of care. For instance, the stigma surrounding postpartum depression, from which the author may have suffered, keeps many women from discussing their concerns with family and physicians.”

TODAY’S FOCUS: Community Foundation of Northeast Georgia Has Record Year

EEB PERSPECTIVE: Years After Concept Emerged, Gibbs Gardens Maturing Nicely

ANOTHER VIEW: Concerning Old Ben Franklin Not Owning a Cell Phone

SPOTLIGHT: Mingledorff’s

FEEDBACK: Jaywalking and Not Halting at Stop Signs Are Community Menaces

UPCOMING: Three Artists To Be On Display at Snellville City Hall Starting April 2

NOTABLE: Lilburn Stake of Latter-day Saints Men Pack Louisiana Relief Supplies

RECOMMENDED MOVIE: Miracles from Heaven

GEORGIA TIDBIT: Georgia Granite Used for Foundation of State Capitol, Opened in 1889

TODAY’S QUOTE: Note the Date When Spending Programs Are Eliminated

MYSTERY PHOTO: Do These Clues Give You Any Idea Where This Is?

Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia records banner year                                                                  

By Heather Loveridge

DULUTH, Ga., March 22, 2016  |  Hi-Hope Service Center; Annandale Village; Peachtree Christian Hospice; Eagle Ranch. These are just a few of the non-profits the Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia awarded grants to during 2015, the Community Foundation’s best year to date.

Loveridge

All told, the Community Foundation gave more than $6.2 million in grants last year, the most in the organization’s 30-year history. That brings the 30-year total to $60,951,261! The foundation also in 2015 received almost $11 million in gifts, another historic record.

To cap off a great 30th-anniversary celebration, the Community Foundation was voted Best of Gwinnett 2015 in the foundation category.

Executive Director Randy Redner says: “I really appreciate our community’s vote of confidence and helping us make 2015 our most outstanding year so far. We value the opportunity to work side by side with all our nonprofit partners to impact the lives of so many.”

The year held many other highlights, including the Community Foundation’s first Good2Give Gala, which also celebrated the tireless work done by former Executive Director Judy Waters and the ushering in of Redner.

Scott Phelan, president of the Community Foundation’s board and senior vice president/portfolio management director at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, says:  “Randy has brought a ton of energy to our organization and has a clear vision of where we want to go. That vision and energy helped us have a banner year in 2015 as we gave more money last year than we have ever given to help local charities. These charities do tremendous work and the generosity of our donors, along with the help of the foundation, allowed us to do some wonderful things in the community.”

As 2016 progresses, the Community Foundation is looking forward to building on the success of 2015.

Redner adds: “Congratulations to all of our donors for making 2015 a banner year and raising the philanthropic bar yet again for our community. Whether they are giving to our Good2Give fund to support our discretionary grants, through a charitable giving account to support their favorite causes, or crafting a legacy giving plan that will give back to our community for generations to come, they are touching and changing lives for the better each and every day!”

The Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia began operating as the Gwinnett Foundation, Inc, a nonprofit community foundation, on March 25, 1985. It was founded by a group of community-minded citizens to receive and disburse charitable funds for an improved quality of life throughout Gwinnett County. Today, the Community Foundation manages funds held in trust, donated by individuals, organizations and businesses.

• For more information, visit www.cfneg.org.

Years after concept emerged, Gibbs Gardens maturing nicely

By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher

MARCH 22, 2016  |  After 32 years of planning and maintenance, Jim Gibbs officially opened to visitors his carefully-manicured, 220 acre gardens in 2012, an artistic masterpiece, creating a new venue for all to enjoy. Today Gibbs Gardens is a beautiful new destination in the center of North Georgia, attracting people for its well-groomed beauty in a tranquil setting that soothes the soul.

Late winter and early spring, Gibbs Gardens is in the midst of its daffodil season, as two million daffodils are showing off their elegant colors. The 50 acres of daffodils are planted all over the gardens, though concentrated below Gibbs’s personal home, the Manor House.

Different seasons mean different colors overflow the gardens. All throughout the year, the Gardens spring into different colors. A Japanese Garden, for instance, in the fall is ablaze with the red, yellow and orange of the season.

Flowering trees burst out in their color and fragrance.  The entire gardens, these days in mature majesty, are carefully landscaped for maximum views and color, creating a compelling and satisfying venue.

Gibbs

Jim Gibbs saw in his family farm the possibility to create something distinctive that could, with his skill in landscaping, speak to garden lovers.  It all began in 1980, as he and his professional gardeners patiently cut into the mountain soil to nestle bulbs and bushes with certain designs in mind.

So years later, we are seeing the fruition of that design, which tends to overwhelm you as the blooms burst out among the natural mature hardwoods of North Georgia. Springs feed streams which meander through the area to add depth to the gardens. There are 40 acres of ponds, themselves hosting water lilies throughout.

After being open five years now, Gibbs Garden is awash with events that come annually. One natural festival after another sprouts out at you.

• Daffodils: March through mid-April.
• Cherry blossoms: Begin in March for two weeks.
• Dogwoods: Start in April.
• Azaleas: From April, continuing into early fall.
• Ferns: April through late October.
• Roses: Early May through November.
• Hydrangeas: May through early October.
• Watermills: May to in November.
• Daylilies: June through end of August.
• Crape Myrtles: July through August.
• Annuals and perennials: Starting in spring, continuing in summer through fall.
• Wildflowers: September through November.
• Fall color: October through November.

All during the year, the Gardens offer special appearances and talks by experts in garden topics.  Meanwhile, artists have also found the Gardens, often populated with Plein Air activities.  You also see photographers, amateur and professional, in the Gardens at all seasons, seeking out the best angles to show off the floral beauty. Musicians come to perform in the garden, to add their musical talents in this magnificent setting.

With the Gardens so extensive, while walking the Gardens may be the best way to enjoy the floral beauty, it’s perhaps wise for most visitors to buy a $5 tram ticket. That way at least when you are in distance parts of the Garden, you can hop the tram to return to the center of activities. The Gardens have placed comfortable outdoor chairs throughout the different areas for rest, or for waiting on the tram.

Back in 1980, Jim Gibbs’ early vision for the Gardens today is maturing magnificently in North Cherokee County. His idea is today a stunning realization to what nature, with mankind’s landscaping, can create. Hats off to Jim Gibbs!

DIRECTIONS: for Gwinnettians, take Georgia Highway 400 north to Georgia Highway 369. Turn west and continue about 15 miles to Yellow Creek Road, where you turn right, headed north. Gibbs Garden is about 10 miles.  An alternate route is to take Georgia Highway 53 west from Route 400, turning south on Yellow Creek Road.

Concerning old Ben Franklin not owning a cell phone

By Debra Houston

MARCH 22, 2016  |  A hearing on the Apple and FBI clash begins March 22. In my last comment I explained why Apple refuses to invent a path to unlock San Bernardino terrorist Syed Farook’s iPhone. Hackers would uncover the path and invade our privacy and worse. I noted, “This isn’t about San Bernardino.”

Well, the president has unwittingly proved my point. On March 11 he said, “If it’s technologically possible to make an impenetrable device or system, where encryption is so strong that there’s no key . . . then how do we apprehend the child pornographer? . . . What mechanisms do we have to even do things like tax enforcement?”

Did he say tax enforcement? I shudder at the thought of Lois Lerner fishing for dirt on my iPhone. Thanks, Mr. President, for confirming my suspicion. The FBI bases its case on the All Writs Act from the Judiciary Act of 1789. Correct me, but as inventive as he was, old Ben Franklin never owned an iPhone.

Understand that in your possession you carry a database of intimate details about you and your family. Then reconsider the president’s child pornography comment. Would you want a child molester to hack data from your iPhone and identify your child’s school and activity whereabouts?

In a recent Time Magazine article, Apple CEO Tim Cook says that hackers have evolved “…from the hobbyist in the basement to huge sophisticated companies.” He also fears foreign agents inside and outside the U.S. hacking our phones. He says strong encryption is needed to defend public safety, national security, and individual privacy.

Cook compares himself to a FedEx guy who delivers goods, not stores and opens them. With a subpoena, he says, the FBI can obtain vital data — such as call patterns, locations, incoming/outgoing numbers — from carriers like Sprint. We may feel violated, but at least our conversations are secure.

Cook calls for a public debate and for Congress to hold hearings and write legislation. Of course the government prefers the courts. I think we must oppose judges making our laws instead of our elected representatives.

“It’s not about one phone,” Cook says. “It’s very much about the future.”

Mingledorff’s

The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s featured sponsor is Mingledorff’s, an air conditioning distributor of the Carrier Air Conditioning Company. Mingledorff’s corporate office is located at 6675 Jones Mill Court in Norcross Ga., and is proud to be a sponsor of the Gwinnett Forum. With 34 locations in Georgia, Alabama, , Florida, Mississippi and South Carolina, Mingledorff’s is the convenient local source with a complete line for the quality heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and refrigeration parts and supplies you need to service and install HVAC/R equipment. Product lines include Carrier, Bryant, Payne, Totaline and Mitsubishi.

• For all of your HVAC needs, and information on the products Mingledorff’s sells, visit www.mingledorffs.com and www.carrier.com.

• For a list of other sponsors of this forum, go to: Our sponsors.

Jaywalking and not halting at stop signs are community menaces

Editor, the Forum:

I have no problem with the safety tips from Howard Hoffman. But remember, there are two other traffic safety violations that are out of control.

Only a short time back I thought Jaywalking was a thing of the past. But now it appears to be wide-spread and growing by the day.

Stopping at intersections is apparently a thing of the past. Now we have moved past even slowing down at these signs. Now when I approach a stop sign I check the rear view mirror expecting to see someone fast approaching to rear end me. After they hit me I fully expect them to jump out of their car and shout at me, “What the heck were you doing stopping like that!”

— Alex J. Ortolano, Duluth

• Send Feedback and Letters to:  elliott@brack.net

Three artists to be on display at Snellville City Hall starting April 2

Snellville City Hall will host the art of a trio of abstract artists for two months. Paintings by Carol T. Vey, Tara Hanlon Hamm and Sherry Robinson will be on display April 2 through June 2 in the Art Gallery in the Community Room of City Hall, 2342 Oak Road.

Vey

Vey said she is back to making art after a hiatus. “Having worked mostly with fused glass in the past, I am excited to be concentrating on the mixed-media components that I favored with my glass pieces, in addition to the photographic images that I’ve either captured or come across in multiple ways,” she said. “The design of my work has its beginnings from many sources, evolving as my life changes, adapting as my life sometimes complicates. I am a collector of the unusual image, phrase, or idea; always on the lookout for something that I can use in one of my pieces. My pieces of art are fraught with the seemingly unrelated, which upon further close inspection might reveal to the viewer just how my mind works!”

Hamm

Hamm, who grew up in upstate New York, attended both Maryland Institute, College of Art and Atlanta College of Art. Setting aside art, she moved on in the medical field but after 15 years she finally picked up her brushes again and hasn’t looked back since. Robinson is an Atlanta native and was an art major while attending Georgia State University. Following a more than 30-year career in Computer Technology, she took to her art work once again. She is also director at Kudzu Art Zone Gallery and Studios in Norcross.

Robinson

Robinson says: “At this point in my art work I enjoy experimenting with all realms of techniques, mediums, and subject matters. For me the discovery of something new is as exciting as a beautiful finished work of art. Many of my art pieces are from photographs I have taken; so my art work is a memory of an adventure or a representation of a story or person I care about.  I have created a company called Art a la Sherry in which to share my artwork with others.”

CIC Floors expanding and hosting celebration on March 31

CIC Floors is expanding after 15 years in the flooring business in Norcross to serve metro Atlanta residential and commercial customers with the absolute best flooring products and installation services at competitive prices.  As a locally owned family run business, CIC prides itself on its expertise in designing solutions to individual flooring challenges because no two jobs are exactly alike.

CIC owners, Clara and Cesar Olguin, are hosting a celebration for their customers and the community on Thursday, March 31 from 5 to 7 p.m. at its showroom at 1756 Wilwat Drive in Norcross. Lynette Howard, Commissioner of Gwinnett County, will conduct the ribbon cutting. Then, Salsambo will hit the floor with a dance performance.

As immigrants with eclectic backgrounds, Clara and Cesar bring an unique approach to their flooring business while focusing on service, craftsmanship and quality.  Clara is not only a soprano singer and music teacher, but she also has a law degree from her native Dominican Republic and a Masters in music management from Georgia State.

After serving in the military in Mexico, Olguin came to the United States to help family members already living here and decided to stay, after meeting Clara.  While working as a floor installer for more than 15 years, he wanted his own business. In addition to skill, precision and detailed organization, the couple bring an artistic touch to every flooring project.

• For more information, see cicfloorsllc.com.

Lilburn stake of Latter-day Saints men pack Louisiana relief supplies

The phone call came at 10 a.m. from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Headquarters in Salt Lake City and Robert Tanner, field specialist at the Bishops’ Storehouse in Tucker, answered the call.  With hundreds of families forced from their homes by record-breaking rains in Louisiana, Tanner was asked he could organize 840 food boxes to be sent to families staying in shelters in New Orleans by the next morning.

Tanner says: “We keep a large supply of food for all these types of emergencies, and there’s enough supply to meet demands for up to six months.  Supplies are replenished as soon as they are used so we are always prepared to help when we get a call.”

Though they had the supplies, the problem was the man-power needed to pack everything and have it loaded on a truck and ready to leave for New Orleans the next morning.  Tanner reached out to Tom Frost, stake president of the Lilburn Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and asked if they could supply the labor needed to complete the job in a timely manner.

Frost says: “They told me they needed 70 to 80 volunteers to put those boxes together and I started texting our Bishops looking for volunteers. Around 3 p.m. they asked if we were going to get enough people and I said we’d have more than enough.”

By 5 p.m., 130 volunteers were at the storehouse.  “We were done by 7 p. m,” continues Tanner. “It was unreal.  Two hours to assemble 840 boxes!”

Food boxes included powdered milk, peanut butter, jam, tuna, chili, beef stew, chicken noodle soup, granola, bottled water and cereal.  Other supplies such as hygiene kits containing soap, toothpaste and other essential items as well as bottled water, working gloves, and cleaning supplies will also be sent.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will work with the Red Cross to distribute the food to families in need in the Louisiana  area during this severe weather period.

Two Gwinnett youths selected for Washington Youth Tour

Two young leaders from Gwinnett County have been selected  by Jackson Electric Membership Corporation (EMC) for a national leadership development program.  They are Peachtree Ridge High School junior Elena Shao and Mountain View High School junior Zachary Miles.

Shao

Miles

They will participate in the national Washington Youth Tour June 9-16, an all-expense paid leadership development experience sponsored by Georgia’s electric cooperatives and organized by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA).  Since 1965, the Washington Youth Tour has given 3,000 Georgia students and more than 50,000 students nationwide the opportunity to take part in this once-in-a-lifetime experience.  The program was initially implemented at the request of President Lyndon Johnson to “send youngsters to the nation’s capital where they can actually see what the flag stands for and represents.”

• For more information on Washington Youth Tour, go to www.jacksonemc.com/wyt.

Miracles from Heaven

My husband, Mark and I enjoyed the just released movie, Miracles from Heaven, filmed here in Georgia. Based on the true story and book by Christy Beam, this was a most inspirational film. Starring Jennifer Garner, as the mom of a sick child, it is most touching emotionally. We also enjoyed the music by Third Day. It is ultimately uplifting, as you experience a child’s healing and God’s presence along with the family. Bring tissues and prepare to be blessed.

— 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 granite used for foundation of state capitol, opened in 1889        

(Continued from previous edition)

Georgia granite was used for the foundation of the Georgia state capitol, as were some 500,000 bricks salvaged from the 1884 demolition of the old city hall and county courthouse, which had served as the first statehouse in Atlanta.

On November 13, 1884, construction on the new capitol began, although the cornerstone was not laid until September 2, 1885. Estimates of the number present to watch the setting of the marble cornerstone ranged from 6,000 to 10,000 people.

Construction of the capitol took nearly four and a half years, with approximately 250 workmen involved. During this time, large steam-powered derricks, pulleys, and rock-polishing machines were set up. Construction was completed on March 20, 1889, two months later than stipulated by the legislature. The keys to the capitol were then delivered to Governor John B. Gordon.

During construction, the Kimball Opera House had continued to serve as Georgia’s statehouse, but on July 3, 1889, the members of the Georgia General Assembly marched as a body from the Kimball building to the new capitol. On the next day, July 4, the formal dedication of the capitol took place.

Housed in the new capitol were the offices of governor, treasurer, comptroller general, commissioner of agriculture, attorney general, secretary of state, adjutant general, school commissioner, state chemist, state physician, principal keeper of the state penitentiary, the geology department, and the railroad commission. Also located in the building were the Supreme Court of Georgia, the state library, and the house and senate chambers of the General Assembly. Offices for the Speaker of the House, the clerk of the house, and the president and secretary of the senate were provided, as well as twenty-three committee rooms.

If the capitol was only half filled in 1889, the growth of government was such that the keeper of public buildings, in his 1910 report to the legislature, was calling for the need to build an annex, which he predicted would be “an absolute necessity” within a few years. Indeed, state agencies soon began branching out to offices in downtown Atlanta. During the 1930s and 1940s, the state erected several buildings for use by state agencies, while also purchasing several existing structures for conversion into state office space.

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

Do these clues give you any idea where this is?

This edition’s Mystery Photo shows an older model automobile, a flagpole, and a structure with a round tower.  Now can you figure out where this photo was taken?  If so, send your comments to elliott@brack.net and include your hometown.

That old building featured as the Mystery Photo in the last edition caught all our readers wondering. It was the Bost Grist Mill in Concord, N.C., send to us by Beverly Lougher of Lawrenceville. Don’t you know many an afternoon has been whiled away as the corn and wheat of that area were turned into meal, grits and animal feeds in this pleasant setting!

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:

• MORE: Contact Editor and Publisher Elliott Brack at: elliott@gwinnettforum.com

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