MOVING SOON: This building on Buford Highway in Norcross will on July 25 become the new home of the Good Samaritan Health Center of Gwinnett. The Center operates on Shackelford Road until the move. For more details, see Upcoming below.
EDITOR’S NOTEThere will be no GwinnettForum on July 12. The next edition will be published on July 15. –eeb
IN THIS EDITIONTODAY’S FOCUS: Sealer Applied To Two Older Buildings at Elisha Winn House
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Continued Presentation of Gory Journalism Hurts the Media
ANOTHER VIEW: Time and Education Will Solve the Country’s Racial Problems
SPOTLIGHT: Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce
FEEDBACK: Seeks Signatures on Petition; Agrees with Houston Column
UPCOMING: Good Samaritan Health Center To Move to Norcross June 25
NOTABLE: Here’s an Incomplete List of Unusual Community Names of Georgia
RECOMMENDED: Moneyball, by Michael Lewis
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Savannah River Has One of Largest Freshwater Flows in Southeast
TODAY’S QUOTE: What Happens If You Are Not Living on the Edge
MYSTERY PHOTO: Few Clues in This Mystery May Make Identification Difficult
TODAY’S FOCUSSealer applied to two older buildings at Elisha Winn House
By Ed Williams Sr., treasurer, Gwinnett Historical Society | The application of exterior wood sealer to the historic barn and school house at the Elisha Winn House in Dacula is now complete.
Williams
Funding for this project was made possible through the sponsorship of the Philadelphia Winn Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution of Lawrenceville. It was at the Elisha Winn home where Gwinnett County government held its first session in 1818.
The application of sealer will provide protection to the buildings for many years. Co-President Betty Warbington of the Gwinnett Historical Society (GHS) says: “It’s a small job that will make a big difference in the preservation of these historic buildings. We at GHS appreciate the support of the Philadelphia Winn Daughters on this project.”
The 38th annual Elisha Winn Fair will be held in October, and the school house, barn and plantation house will be open for tours. GHS members will demonstrate period activities, and Philadelphia Winn Daughters will be on hand to commemorate a plaque that will be erected recognizing the contribution of the DAR to the GHS preservation efforts.
Old school
The Walnut Grove one-roomed school, circa 1875, was first located near the present Walnut Grove Baptist Church and across the street from the Methodist Campground on Braselton Highway northeast of Lawrenceville. When a new school house was built in 1911, the little school became a grist mill and later on a carpenter’s shop. The Hamilton Davis family owned the school and donated it to the GHS in the 1980s. The GHS had it moved to its Elisha Winn House location on Dacula Road. The multi-stall barn dates to around 1915 and replaced the original barn on the plantation site. Neither the school house nor the barn has ever been painted or sealed.
The Gwinnett Historical Society’s Grant application was sponsored by the Philadelphia Winn Chapter, and the National Society awarded the grant in the amount of $766 on April 30, 2016. First Vice Regent Ann Story, who has worked tirelessly on the project, says: “DAR was founded upon patriotism, historic preservation, and education. We saw all of our core beliefs represented in this project! Throughout the school year, busloads of school children visit the plantation, where learning history becomes fun and hands on.”
Winn House
The DAR grants program was started in 2010. Funding is awarded to support projects in local communities which promote the organization’s mission areas.
The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890 to promote patriotism, preserve American history, and support better education for our nation’s children. Its members are descended from the patriots who won American independence during the Revolutionary War. With178,000 members in approximately 3,000 chapters worldwide, DAR is one of the world’s largest and most active service organizations. To learn more about the work of today’s DAR, visit www.dar.org. For more about applying for a Special Projects Grant from DAR, visit www.dar.org/grants.
- For more information regarding the Philadelphia Winn Chapter of the NSDAR and the Gwinnett Historical Society, visit Philadelphiawinn.georgiastatedar.org.
Continued presentation of gory journalism hurts the media
By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher | Are you as frustrated as I am over the cheap way the media is now covering “local news?”
Several years ago, it was the electronic media, principally local television, which began showing us more “blood and guts” in local news. But now, even the major daily in the area, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is headlining blood and guts stories with vigor. It almost makes you want to stop reading the newspaper. There are far better stories that the newspaper is not reporting.
To insure the record is straight, I say all this while getting a good pension from the Atlanta newspaper. I want the paper to prosper, but flinch at the way it is reporting the news today.
There’s a reason why we get all this gore and mayhem in our news. Simply put, it’s cheaper to chase ambulances and run to the areas where gore takes place than it is to delve into the significant news of a community. The television stations (all of ‘em) even take pride in showing us footage of a site “where the shooting occurred.” What good is that? Or a picture of the street corner “where the truck turned over.” Useless!
Picturing that scene only makes it worse. That footage or photo means little to the story. It appears that this is merely a way to “take up time or newsprint.” It follows in the tradition of Rebecca West, the British novelist, who in 1956 said “Journalism—an ability to meet the challenge of filling space.”
Mainly, filling space with blood and gore is far cheaper than deep investigative reporting.
Oh, were that it was not so!
All this amounts to putting out a lousier newscast or newspaper because that’s more profitable than doing the job these institutions should be doing. It is a poor record of accomplishments.
Now we recognize: even with the smaller staff than they presently have, the media cannot have a blockbuster story every day. Producing deep investigative stories takes time, sometimes lots of time, as reporters search records, follow-up on sources, and dig all they can to produce readable, substantial stories. Media staffs today are cut to the bone, and while they have these more substantial stories from time to time, they cannot have one in every edition.
That’s not what bothers us. It’s their selection of the news that bugs us. Every shooting, accident, family feuds, and celebrity hi-jinks, are just not necessary for a community to know about to govern itself. Now if five people are killed in an accident (remember the story out of Savannah), then that’s news. But we don’t benefit from knowing about every bloodletting that comes down the pike.
While cagey news-gatherers shirk away from “happy news,” at least they should strive for a balance of news, and not give us only grit-and-grime all the time.
We counted one media’s online edition’s front page the other day. There were six stories. All were blood-and-guts. Surely there are more activities going on in that community that are worthy of reporting and are not of this nature!
What is really unacceptable is that you might think that the media wants more viewers or subscribers. Their methods and selection of what to report serves to run off more people than to attract them. Yet these media people seem incapable of sitting back to take a long look at what they are doing, recognize it, and respond accordingly.
That’s my rant for today. We bet many of you are just as upset with us being fed little but gore journalism.
ANOTHER VIEWTime and education will solve country’s racial problems
By Alvin Leaphart, Jesup, Ga. | I read constantly of the racial strife that this presidential election has caused. I feel that most of the strife is created among those of little education and life experience by people of both races who have a financial interest in keeping the differences alive.
Of course, it is puzzling that a great deal of the stimulus has been by a GOP candidate from the privileged class of New York, Donald Trump. What is amazing, as well as amusing, is that the strife has erupted in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States, and California. In the South where everyone seems to think it exists, it seems that everyone gets along fairly well.
In the South there has always been a close relationship between the races. Over several hundred years, there evolved a set of unwritten “Rules of Engagement” adhered to by both races. These rules were somewhat one sided but maintained a stable community. In order for the Civil Rights movement to be successful these rules of engagement had to be done away with, so the emergence of “Civil Disobedience.” We had a cultural revolution in this country. In most of the world, when the revolution is over, new rules are set up to govern society, and civility returns. In the South, because of the close relationship between the races, this has not been too hard to accomplish, although we still have a way to go.
In the rest of the country where communities effectively segregated themselves for over a hundred years, such as New York, Boston, Detroit and Los Angeles, is where most of the strife occurs. In these areas there is virtually no real personal relationships existing among the various racial and cultural groups, except among those in the upper financial and educational strata. No one has any basic understanding of the others’ thinking or motivations, all through their failure to socially interact.
After I served in the Coast Guard, I attended law school in Atlanta. After passing the bar, I worked as a law clerk for a Fulton Superior Court judge. This was in the 60s during the Civil Rights movement.
Leb’s, a restaurant on Lucky Street, was popular with businessman for lunch. One day a number of Civil Rights activists came in and took up the counter and ordered lunch. They were refused. Police arrested a number of people, mostly activists.
The next day the same thing happened with arrests. The third day they were back. There were a few words exchanged but most customers said, “To hell with it . . . I’m not going to let this spoil my lunch,” and ignored the demonstrators. Shortly after that, all the restaurants in Atlanta were successfully integrated, along with the states’ colleges and universities; and later the public schools.
The “Rules” had been upgraded. I’m not saying it was done without protests and some violence, but in a short time it was all over but the “cussing.” And that was generally by the unenlightened on both sides, prodded by those, who made a living from the chaos they promoted.
In Georgia, race relations, while not perfect, are good, especially when compared with the rest of the country . . . and the world. There appears to be a growing basic, tolerant, and friendly atmosphere where our two cultures are beginning to mesh. Time, and education, where the children are taught to read and enjoy it, will solve most of the problems.
IN THE SPOTLIGHTGwinnett Chamber of Commerce
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s sponsor is the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce. The Gwinnett Chamber is the forum for business, government, education, healthcare, arts/culture/entertainment, and philanthropic and public service communities to come together to advance our region’s economy and enrich Gwinnett’s quality of life. The Gwinnett Chamber strengthens existing businesses, facilitates the growth of quality job opportunities and ensures success continues to live here. For more details, go to www.gwinnettchamber.org.
- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, go to: https://www.gwinnettforum.com/about/sponsors.htm
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Seeks names on petition opposing Peachtree Corners bridge
Editor, the Forum:
Recently I started a petition on Change.org to have the Mayor and Council of Peachtree Corners reconsider the “iconic and remarkable ” bridge they are planning. Please post the petition on GwinnettForum so that I can reach a wider audience. The petition currently has 291 signatures.
Readers can go to https://www.change.org/p/mayor-and-council-of-the-city-of-peachtree-corners-stop-the-bridge.
— Mim Harris, Peachtree Corners
Disagrees with Demo sit-in; Agrees with Houston comments
Editor, the Forum:
After the “kindergarten” sit-in by Democrats, I agree 100 percent with the following:
“The nonsense didn’t end there. Congressman Charlie Rangel told reporters, ‘Law abiding citizens shouldn’t have to carry a gun.’ Yes, congressman, and if terrorists were butterflies, we wouldn’t need to. A Daily Caller reporter pointed out that armed police protect Rangel and his colleagues every day. He said: “Well, that’s a little different,” he said. “I think we deserve — I think we need to be protected down here.”
I think we all deserve protection. I relish the day when citizens turn the tables and terrorists die in a hail of bullets flying straight at them. I would love to be behind a terrorist at a function, see him pulling a gun, and shooting the terrorist right in the back and eliminating the entire situation. That’s exactly how I feel. Any terrorist, mental case, anyone who is about to kill a bunch of people, or try to, has to have citizens that are armed to protect and defend themselves. Debbie Houston is so right on – the entire article is very well thought out.
— Trish Gates, Lilburn
Dear Trish: We are pleased to see you using your First Amendment rights.-eeb
- Send us your thoughts: We encourage you to send us your letters and thoughts on issues raised in GwinnettForum. Please limit comments to 200 words. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Send feedback and letters to: elliott@brack.net
Good Samaritan Health Center to move to Norcross July 25
The Good Samaritan Health Center of Gwinnett is opening at its new location in Norcross on July 25. The address is 5949 Buford Highway, north of the intersection with Norcross-Tucker Road, and near a Regions Bank.
At present the facility is located on Shackelford Road, near Steve Reynolds Boulevard.
Greg Lang, executive director of Good Samaritan in Gwinnett, says: “Behind those doors at our new location is three times more floor space than what we have today. There is a six chair dental clinic waiting to serve the uninsured. There are more medical exam rooms, counseling rooms, volunteer facilities, and new equipment. There we are equipped to serve more of the poor and uninsured and train more rising healthcare professionals eager to help break the access barrier to quality care.”
He adds: “Please join us on Monday, July 25 for a casual celebration of the opening of our new clinic. We will host a Grand Opening at a later time. It is not necessary to RSVP, but if you would, we’d appreciate knowing you are coming so that we may prepare adequately. Contact melissa.deguibert@goodsamgwinnett.org for more information about attending the opening.”
- For more information, call 678 280 6630.
Only one run-off election on July 26 in Gwinnett County
Gwinnett County will have only one primary run-off election on July 26.
Duffie
That run-off will be in District, 81, partially in Gwinnett. The race pits two Republicans, Lane Flynn, who got 45.8 percent of the votes in the first voting; against Jim Duffie, who scored 33.4 percent of the vote. A third candidate, Alexa Mendez, won 20.75 percent in the first vote. GwinnettForum endorsed the candidacy of Mr. Duffie in the first voting.
The winner will face Democratic incumbent Scott Holcomb in the General Election in November. The District includes a small portion of Norcross and areas south of Buford Highway to Interstate 85. Polls are now open through the state for early voting, which will end on July 22.
NOTABLEHere’s an incomplete list of unusual community names of Georgia
The state of Georgia has many unusual names for its towns and communities.
Marlene Buchanan of Snellville recently asked friends to help her compile a list of these names, along with their locations.
Martha says: “My friends sent in names of over 175 towns, and I am sure that there are many others that were not included. It’s fun to learn of the many names, and see where they are located. In some instances, we have also been given the reason why the town or the community had an unusual name.”
- To see the complete list, click here.
Moneyball
Nonfiction by Michael Lewis
This is not a book for the casual baseball observer. It’s for the fan, who knows something about the game. The author gives great insight into the way the team with the lowest player salaries somehow competes with the big boys. It competes well because it has a general manager who doesn’t look at baseball the way most people do, but recognizes that the key point is not to make an out. Get on base, any way you can, but don’t make an out! He also relishes statistics that most teams don’t keep, put these to good use, and wins! Since Oakland started upsetting the American League with these tactics, other teams have adopted them: Toronto, Boston, and this year with great success, the Chicago Cubs. So others are catching up. This books goes behind the scenes in describing baseball as it has not been seen before.–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 TIDBITSavannah River has one of largest freshwater flows in Southeast
The Savannah River, one of Georgia’s longest and largest waterways, defines most of the boundary between Georgia and South Carolina. The river originates at the confluence of the Seneca and Tugaloo rivers in Hart County in eastern Georgia. The confluence also forms Lake Hartwell, a large reservoir built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
On a map, the Savannah River Basin roughly resembles an arrowhead. It encompasses 10,577 square miles, of which 175 square miles are in southwestern North Carolina, 4,581 square miles are in western South Carolina, and 5,821 square miles are in eastern Georgia. In Georgia, the basin drains portions of 27 counties.
From Lake Hartwell, the Savannah River flows southeasterly for 313 miles across the Piedmont and the Upper Coastal Plain until it empties into the Atlantic Ocean approximately 15 miles downstream from the city of Savannah.
At the U.S. Geological Survey river gauge near Clyo, in Effingham County, the Savannah’s average annual flow is 12,040 cubic feet per second, one of the largest discharges of freshwater from any river in the Southeast. (One cubic foot equals about 7.4 gallons.) The gauge at Clyo, approximately 61 miles upstream of the mouth of the Savannah, is the most downstream gauge that records river discharges. Below this point, the Savannah is tidally influenced, and conventional river-flow measurement is unreliable.
On its journey to the sea, the Savannah flows through forests, agricultural lands, large hydroelectric reservoirs, and extensive swamps. It is known for its high bluffs, some of which were the locations of prehistoric Native American villages.
The river provides drinking water to two of Georgia’s major metropolitan areas, Augusta and Savannah, and assimilates their treated wastewater. It is also a source of drinking water for the cities of Beaufort and Hilton Head in South Carolina and for many smaller municipalities in the basin. In addition, the Savannah supplies water for the Savannah River Site, which includes the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, in South Carolina, as well as for the two nuclear reactors of Plant Vogtle, a major electricity-generating facility operated by Georgia Power Company in Burke County.
On the coast, the Savannah River is the shipping channel for the Port of Savannah, the nation’s tenth-busiest port for oceangoing container ships, which is operated by the Georgia Ports Authority. Before emptying into the Atlantic, the Savannah forms a braided network of tidal creeks, salt marshes, and freshwater marshes, much of which constitutes the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge, one of Georgia’s prime bird-watching spots.
- For more on the Georgia Encyclopedia online, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Few clues in this mystery may make identification difficult
There may be not enough physical landmarks for GwinnettForum readers to pinpoint where this photograph was shot. You probably know the general area, but can you determine exactly where?
- Send in your thoughts to elliott@gwinnettforum.com and be sure to include your hometown.
Last edition’s Mystery Photo came from a new resident of Gwinnett, Molly Titus of Peachtree Corners. Paige Havens of Lawrenceville spotted it quickly, saying it is “…the Woven Whimsy Stickworks by Patrick Dougherty at the Atlanta Botanical Garden at Smithgall Woods in Gainesville.”
Also recognizing it was George Graf of Palmyra, Va. He says: “Sculptor Patrick Dougherty, also known as “the Stickman,” is widely revered for his signature temporary large-scale sculpture works. This most recent work, ‘Made from Scratch,’ was constructed at the Atlanta Botanical Garden in Gainesville. The five truncated conical shapes are entirely comprised of sticks sourced from sweetgum, sourwood and red maple saplings, bound and woven together until they stretch 14 feet into the sky.”
Also recognizing the photo was Tom McIntosh of Lawrenceville and Billy Chism of Cleveland.
By the way, loyal GwinnettForum readers, our email had an interruption of service between 6 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Wednesday. Others of you may have sent an answer to the mystery, but we failed to see your answer if you sent it during this time. Why? You figure out the Internet!
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- MORE: Contact Editor and Publisher Elliott Brack at: elliott@gwinnettforum.com
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