3/27: Suggested baseball rule changes; Dilapidated buildings; Climate change

EARLY PROGRESS: Work on the Sugar Hill E-Center is in the foundation stage.  This area will be the home of many of the city’s performing arts community and  indoor recreation programs, loaded with restaurants, shops and offices. A 380 seat performing arts theatre (to be named The Eagle), and rooftop bar will highlight the 100,000 square foot investment by the city.

TODAY’S FOCUS: Nine Rule Changes That Would Improve the Game of Baseball

EEB PERSPECTIVE: Crumbling Buildings in Rural South Georgia Can Depress You

ANOTHER VIEW: Say What You Want, But Facts Show that Climate Change Is Real

SPOTLIGHT: Precision Planning Inc.

FEEDBACK: Separate But Equal, R&R, Medicare and Life in Gwinnett

UPCOMING: New Library Program Offers Hi-Tech Coursework Design

NOTABLE: Upgrading of Crooked Creek Reclamation Plant To Cost $136 Million

NOT RECOMMENDED: Slow Horses by Mike Herron

GEORGIA TIDBIT: Fannin County Namesake Attends West Point, and Becomes Planter

TODAY’S QUOTE: George Carlin on the Intelligence of the Average Person

MYSTERY PHOTO: All You Have To Do Is Suggest Where This Waterwheel Is

LAGNIAPPE: Propellant by Hair Spray Project at GGC Emphasizes Data Importance

CALENDAR:  Coming events

Nine rule changes that would improve the game of baseball

By George Graf, Palmyra, Va.  |  After you wrote about potential changes in baseball rules, I sat down and put together my thoughts. Here are my ideas to speed up baseball games that just are dragging out longer and longer,

RULE #1 – Having two strikes and then hitting a foul ball would be strike three.

RULE #2 – Once a batter is in the batter’s box, he can’t get out of the box unless injury or equipment failure.  He can’t call a timeout and fuss around with his helmet or glove or bat or whatever.  If he steps out of the batter’s box, he is out.

RULE #3 – Relief pitchers coming to the mound do not get any warm-up practice pitches.  They’ve been throwing in the bullpen, so why should they get more warm-up time on the mound?  Pinch hitters don’t get time to hit some balls before coming in to bat, and pinch runners don’t get to run around the bases to warm up.

RULE #4 – The cat and mouse between pitchers and the opponent runner on first or second base should end.  Rarely do we see a pick off play anymore.  Instead, the runner on first or second base would indicate to the umpire that he wants to try to steal a base.  OK, everyone now knows what’s up.  The runner has a starting line off the base, then the pitcher throws to the catcher while the runner takes off and the catcher throws to second or third to try to tag the speedster out.  It’s a one time thing, not a back and forth time waster.

RULE #5 – OK, we cut down on commercials, but between innings we still see no action while the other team takes the field and tosses the ball around to warm up.  This is one of the biggest time wasters in baseball….the change of teams on the field.  How about we have three six-out innings?   For extra innings have three outs.  This would reduce the back and forth of teams on the field and keep more action going without players being left on base after a measly three outs.  I like this rule the best.

RULE #6 – I’m with Elliott Brack on this one: pitch clock..  Since the batter can’t leave the batter’s box (see my rule 2), the pitcher has a time limit to get off the next pitch.  NBA and NFL teams are on the clock for the hike or the shot, so why can pitchers take all the time they want?

RULE #7 – This is a no-brainer.  For an intentional walk, the catcher or pitcher should just tell the umpire the batter can go to first base without throwing all those meaningless pitches.

RULE #8 – Team managers get two or three challenges like the NFL.  Toss out the red flag and they get a review.  Managers don’t get to run on the field and eat up time arguing with the umpires.

RULE #9 – Mound visits just drag out the game.  Eliminate them altogether.  A manager should let the guy stay in or call for a replacement without having a mound visit.

And all this is to improve the game.

• Have a comment?  Send to:  elliott@brack.net

Crumbling buildings in rural south Georgia can depress you

By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher | Returning from South Georgia after attending a funeral this week, we got off the Interstates for a while, and enjoyed the less stressful driving on the back roads. All in all, it‘s much more enjoyable, too, as you see how the crops are doing (the Vidalias are green topped and ready for harvest), check out the small communities, and see Georgia in a way as it was in the past.

This time one particular element struck me: in much of rural Georgia, there are many, many homes, barns, and other outbuildings that are no longer in service, abandoned, deteriorating, and wasting away. The buildings remind you of nostalgic times. They sit there, virtually forgotten, a reminder of much of our past that was considerably more hardscrabble and tougher life than we have it today. It can depress you.

Often they are on land that has been virtually forgotten, no longer plowed, not even being used to grow timber, just worn out and not used for basic crops. It may tell us that it’s hard to get people to work the land these days, since farming does not always pay off handsomely.

Yet someone owns that land, and pays taxes on it, however low that may be.  On many acres of land in South Georgia, young pine trees are beginning to surge upward, though maybe only 3-4 feet tall, all laid out in precise rows. And yes, some farms lie fallow, timed to rotate crops.  Yet much other land and the abandoned building on it tells me that no one has plans to use this land anytime in the future.

It does not give a good impression for any part of the state to have an abundance of run down forlorn former homes and barns withering away for all to see. Oh, for the likes of some program, like Urban Renewal, which was used by cities, to clean up similar structures. But who would pay for this?  After all, it’s up to the landowner, and they see no return on it. But these same landowners have tractors, backhoes and even bulldozers that they use today in farming, and could simply attack these structures with these machines to give their land a better appearance. Yet what is the incentive?

Many of the key county seat towns are deteriorating themselves, as seen by the many boarded-up buildings in these towns. Some point to modern retailing, with the Wal-Mart infusion, as contributing to this problem.

While much of North Georgia is progressive, you see an entirely different Georgia south of Augusta, Macon or Columbus. While there are a few pockets of progress, such as seen in Douglas, Dublin, Thomasville, Statesboro, Tifton and Americus, they are few and far between. Much more common are communities which are not attractive to development, and seemingly wasting away. There is little incentive for outside individuals or firms to move into these communities.

Yet every once in a while, a firm will move into rural South Georgia, and rave about their good fortune to locate there. They cite a willing and happy labor force, and note how dependable they are. There just don’t seem to be enough of these companies who think this way and want to locate in South Georgia.

Much of our rural areas may never be the pristine, neat areas we would want. But a little house-cleaning, so to speak, or bulldozing would make the areas much more attractive.

(Photos by Brian Brown. To see a vast catalog of South Georgia scenes, visit vanishingsouthgeorgia.com.)

• Have a comment?  Send to:  elliott@brack.net

Say what you want, but facts show that climate change is real

By George Wilson, contributing columnist  |  Have you noticed this year that spring seems to have arrived about two weeks early and that it is getting hotter each year? Consider these thoughts below.

The real-world consequences of climate change are accelerating. The Great Plains is suffering its worst drought in a century, hurting many farmers. Pollen counts are rising, aggravating allergies. Warming oceans have killed huge sections of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, turning their glorious colors to a bleached white.

President Trump wants to reduce the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency budget by more than 30 percent and slash its staff—killing 3,200 federal EPA jobs and countless jobs connected with the EPA at the state level. Budgets are reflections of values and priorities, and Trump’s budget shows he puts the profits of corporate polluters and Wall Street billionaires before the health of our communities and the quality of our air and drinking water.

Moreover, here are some impressive facts.

• The United States is now the world’s largest producer of wind energy and Texas has become the nation’s biggest wind energy producer.
• Estimates differ, based on what energy-production jobs are counted, but a widely accepted number is about 80,000 coal mining jobs in the United States.
• In January, more than 100,000 wind energy jobs in the country existed. These are mostly construction jobs, but they’re jobs.
• Solar energy, which is particularly labor intensive, now employs more Americans than those producing electricity with oil, gas and coal combined.

Finally, it is despairing to see this work of President Obama eliminated by an administration hell- bent on destroying the EPA’s effectiveness with massive budget cuts. Even more disheartening are cuts to programs that measure climate change.

Perhaps ignorance is bliss. Remember the NRA lobbied to have the CDC quit studying the effects of gun violence. The less you know, the less you will complain to your representatives, who receive massive contributions from the fossil fuel industry.

• Have a comment?  Send to:  elliott@brack.net

Precision Planning Inc.

The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s underwriter is Precision Planning, Inc., a multi-disciplined design firm based in Lawrenceville, Georgia with a 34-year history of successful projects. In-house capabilities include Architecture; LEED® Project Management; Civil, Transportation and Structural Engineering; Water Resources Engineering; Landscape Architecture; Interior Design; Land and City Planning; Land Surveying; and Grant Administration. PPI has worked diligently to improve the quality of life for Georgia communities through creative, innovative planned developments, through the design of essential infrastructure and public buildings, and through promoting good planning and development principles.  Employees and principals are involved in numerous civic, charitable and community based efforts in and around Gwinnett County.  For more information, visit our website at www.ppi.us or call 770-338-8103.

• For a list of other sponsors of this forum, click here.

Wonders if comments mean back to separate but equal

Editor, the Forum:

See if I got this right. Mr. Ploussard’s comments suggest restacking the districts so that minorities will have their own districts in which they will be the majority. After which, minorities will have then aggregated enough votes to elect minority-oriented representatives for minority-majority districts.  Minority-majority districts will then be separate but equal to majority-majority districts. That sounds like a separate but equal argument to me.

Didn’t we fight that battle years ago only to wind up with “inclusion” goals? Blending separate but equal goals with inclusion goals has all the makings of an ambitious bureaucratic challenge. Here’s an alternative: let’s just hire more bureaucrats to argue about it until the issue resolves itself.

— Jim Kwater, Monroe

Does this mean we are back to the traditional definition of R&R?

Editor, the Forum:

It looks like R&R (“Repeal and Replace”) can go back to meaning Rest and Relaxation.

— Michael L. Wood, Peachtree Corners

What is long-term solution of keeping Medicare solvent?

Editor, the Forum:

First, I agree that Big Pharma has entirely too much influence with Congress through its lobbyists and is basically bribed by Pharma’s campaign contributions.

I enjoy the benefits of both Medicare A and B and am pleased to pay its premiums. I would be willing to pay more to insure its financial viability. Expanding Medicare seems like an easy solution, but it is my understanding that Medicare will basically be insolvent within the next decade or so. Expanding Medicare will just hasten that date. How does Mr. Bernard propose we solve that problem?

— John Titus, Peachtree Corners

Reflections on ways to improve life in Gwinnett County

Editor, the Forum:

Millennial Gwinnett citizen here; just stumbled across this article by Pat Boone (https://www.gwinnettforum.com/2016/11/1111-issue/) on improving life and wanted to say I agree with at least the first and especially the third of her proposals (although I don’t know enough to say one way or other about the second — still, I am inclined to agree).

First, the county should raise the littering fine, and make it a dollar amount or as an alternative, allow the litterer to pick up trash.  For example, let them decide to pay $1,000 or 10 hours picking up trash.  It’s been my experience that people who pick up other people’s trash stop littering.

Second, we should stop overloading the infrastructure with high density housing…

And third: the Gwinnett County Boards and commissions should have a way to get more people interested in governmental affairs. In Colorado, interested citizens signed up for specific advisory boards they were interested in, and the county commissioners or city council selected the members to fill those boards. There was a lot of citizen participation.  It encouraged people to help the commission find solutions, to specific problems, not just complain.

— Caleb Connell, Suwanee

Send us your thoughts:  We encourage you to send us your letters and thoughts on issues raised in GwinnettForum.  Please limit comments to 300 words.  We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length.  Send feedback and letters to:    elliott@brack.net

New library program offers high-tech coursework design

Gwinnett County Public Library (GCPL) will soon launch Treehouse, an online tool that brings technology education to people in order to help them achieve their dreams and change the world.

Treehouse offers over 1000 videos created by expert teachers on web design, coding, business, and more.

Once enrolled, students can learn how to build a website or mobile app, code, or how to get a business off on the right foot with coursework that includes corporate structure, marketing, and finance.

Students can practice what they’ve learned through quizzes and interactive Code Challenges and earn badges as they journey through an extensive library of courses. Treehouse seats are limited. Library card holders can apply at gwinnettpl.org/treehouse.

Now’s the time to apply for homestead exemption and save taxes

Tax Commissioner Richard Steele reminds homeowners that the deadline to apply for a homestead exemption for 2017 is April 1 and urges them to apply.

“Now is the time to make sure you are taking advantage of everything that can reduce how much you have to pay,” said Steele.

You must own and occupy the property as your primary residence as of January 1 of the tax year for which application is being made. No exemptions are granted automatically; however, once an exemption is granted, there is no need to apply each year.

• Visit www.GwinnettTaxCommissioner.com to apply online and upload supporting documentation, check your application status or view exemption requirements. Email tax@gwinnettcounty.com or call 770-822-8800 for exemption-related questions.

Community Services to begin managing Animal Welfare on April 1

The Gwinnett Animal Welfare and Enforcement Unit will be under the management of the Gwinnett County Department of Community Services effective April 1. The Gwinnett County Police Department has run the animal shelter and enforcement program since 1993.The new organizational structure has been planned for several months and is expected to leverage the community services department’s extensive volunteer resource infrastructure while allowing the police department to sharpen the focus on its already nationally recognized crime prevention and law enforcement services.

The Animal Welfare and Enforcement Unit’s recent improvements can be attributed in large part to partnerships forged by the Police Department with a dedicated corps of well-trained volunteers.

The Gwinnett County Animal Welfare and Enforcement Center is located at 884 Winder Highway in Lawrenceville and the kennel is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Information about animals available for adoption can be found at www.gwinnettanimalcontrol.com.

Upgrading of Crooked Creek Reclamation Plant to cost $136 million

Gwinnett Commissioners recently approved two items associated with the Crooked Creek Water Reclamation Facility improvement project construction package 4. The nearly $132 million construction contract was awarded to Alberici Constructors Inc. and the engineering design and engineering support contract with CH2M Hill Engineers Inc. will be increased by $4.2 million and extended by one year.

The project continues the modernization of the Crooked Creek WRF, including enhancements to the electrical system, efficiencies in chemical and power usage, and increased reliability through the replacement of older systems and equipment. Additional benefits of this project include improved protection of the environment, along with enhanced odor and noise control.

Crooked Creek WRF began operating as a one million gallon (MGD) per day treatment plant in 1972. Since that time, the facility has been upgraded and expanded several times to its present-day capacity of 16 MGD. The most recent upgrades, completed in 2016, included a new operational control center and maintenance facility, along with other renovations designed to increase efficiency and reduce energy costs.

The Crooked Creek plant, located in Peachtree Corners, is one of three water reclamation facilities operated by the Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources. The other two are the Yellow River plant (22 MGD capacity), located in Lilburn, and the F. Wayne Hill Water Resources Center (60 MGD capacity), located in Buford. Together the three locations reclaim over 19.3 billion gallons of water every year.

GACS student wins gold medal in national competition

Greater Atlanta Christian School senior high student, Sae In (Jenny) Park, received a National Gold Medal in the 2017 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Students receiving National Medals are within the top one percent of all submissions. Jenny’s Gold Medal work is titled Encroached in Surveillance and is a mixed media work.

In addition, Jenny was honored to have a second painting, titled Introspection, awarded a National Silver Key Medal. We are so proud of the creative talents that Jenny has developed while being a student at Greater Atlanta Christian.

The Scholastic Awards are the nation’s largest, longest running, most prestigious scholarship and recognition program for creative teens.
Jenny and her parents have been invited to New York City this summer to participate in the National Ceremony at Carnegie Hall, The exhibition will be on display at Parsons School of Design at The New School.

Slow Horses by Mike Herron

From Tim Keith, Sugar Hill  |  This book probably appeals to readers who like spy novels. I’m not one of them.  Slow Horses (released in 2014) is a group of agents in British Intelligence who are demoted for making egregious mistakes. The plot is odd: the second in command at Britain’s MI5 fakes the kidnapping of a Pakistani student to stimulate anti-immigrant groups and make a connection with Pakistan’s intelligence agency.  When things go wrong, the second in command tries to blame the slow horses, even though they had nothing to do with the kidnapping.  I won’t spoil the ending, but I guessed who solves the problems halfway through (although not every detail). The author’s style is odd, too: clipped sentences and ping-pong paragraphs, bouncing from one scene to the next.  The book reads more like a movie script than a novel. Humphrey Bogart would fit right into this thriller.

I do not recommend it.

• 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

Fannin County namesake attends West Point and becomes planter

Colonel James Walker Fannin Jr. distinguished himself in a number of skirmishes during the Texas Revolution. He commanded the ill-fated group of Georgia volunteers and Texans massacred at Goliad, Texas, on March 27, 1836.

Fannin

Born January 1, 1804, Fannin was the illegitimate son of a Morgan County plantation owner, Dr. Isham Fannin. He was adopted by his maternal grandfather, James W. Walker, and reared on a plantation near Marion. One of his cousins was Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor of the telegraph.

At the age of 14 Fannin briefly attended the University of Georgia, but in 1819, as James F. Walker, he entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York. At that time a female cousin described him as “gallant, handsome, and sensitive.” He was not very studious; academically he stood 60th in a class of 86. He resigned in November 1821 after dueling with a fellow cadet. Fannin returned to Georgia, where he became a merchant and married Minerva Fort, with whom he had two daughters.

Fannin resided in Twiggs and Troup counties successively, and in 1828 he moved to Columbus. There he was a master of the local Masonic lodge and pursued a judgeship but was disqualified for dueling. While in Columbus he also served as secretary of a temperance society and was division inspector for the Georgia militia. In the autumn of 1834 Fannin and his family moved to Velasco, Texas, where he became a planter and managing partner in a slave-trading syndicate.

(To be continued)

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

Suggest where this waterwheel is

An old wheel like this often was found in businesses, including mill houses. Can you suggest where this wheel was located when the photo was taken in 2011?  Send in your thoughts to elliott@brack.net and be sure to include your hometown.

Only two people recognized the most recent Mystery Photo, which we thought would be an easy one. Time GwinnettForum was posted on Friday, Lynn Naylor of Atlanta replied: “I think today’s mystery photo shows the gravesite of Hank Williams and his wife; this is in Montgomery, Alabama.” She was right. The photo came from Jerry Colley of Alpharetta, who has sent in several recently.

As usual, George Graf of Palmyra, Va. was able to supply more detail:

“Hiram King “Hank” Williams was nicknamed “Herky” by his friends when he was young.  Hank met his first wife Audrey Williams during a traveling medicine show and they were married in December 1944 at an Alabama gas station.  The Hank Williams Museum in Montgomery Alabama is near a Hampton Inn which has a suite named for Hank Williams.  Hank died in the back seat of his Cadillac while being driven to a gig on New Year’s Day 1953. Heart failure and hard living did him in. He was only 29. The Death Car — its back seat off-limits to everyone — is the centerpiece of the Hank Williams Museum in his home town of Montgomery.”

Propellant by hair spray project at GGC emphasizes data importance

As his students watch, Dr. Richard Pennington, associate professor of chemistry at Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC), demonstrates firing a potato from a potato cannon as part of a freshman chemistry Honors Program research project. The Honors Program students in Pennington’s CHEM 1212K class have been studying how to design a research project — in this case, examining the distances traveled by a variety of potato types when fired from a cannon, with various types of hair spray used as fuel. During this outdoor laboratory exercise, potatoes were shot as far as 184 feet across GGC’s intramural field. The exercise emphasized the importance of duplication in data generation and the necessity for careful generation and recording of data.

Fourth Annual Science WORKS Open House at Gwinnett Tech, Thursday, March 30 from 4 to 8 p.m. Middle school, high school and adult learners are invited to actively engage in dozens of interactive stations that offer unique insights into how science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) can be powerful launching pads for many exciting educational and career paths. The event is FREE to attend. Attendees are encouraged to register in advance at ScienceWorks at www.GwinnettTech.edu.

Exhibition Extended: World Through the Lens Photo Show of Frank Sharp at the Tucker Library, 5234 LaVista Road has been extended until April 28, 2017. The library is open on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. and on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.

11th Annual Supplier Symposium for firms wanting to do business with Gwinnett County. The symposium will be April 11 starting at 8:30 a.m. at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center.  Attendees will meet buyers and contracting officers from the Purchasing Division and other metro Atlanta agencies and take advantage of networking opportunities designed to create relationships.  For more information about the event and to register, visit this site.

HANDYMAN SERVICES: Whatever your home maintenance problem is, Isaias Rodriguez can help. An experienced painter, he is dependable in installing or repairing siding, gutters, ceramic tile, plumbing, garage doors, or any other problem around your home. He’ll even fix your bike! He is originally from Mexico and has been in Georgia since 1996. He is legally allowed to work in the United States and is insured. Give him a call at his home in Norcross at 404-569-8825 or email him at rodriguez_isais@yahoo.com. Visit his Facebook page at Neza construction and home repair to see some of his past work.

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• Editor and publisher:  Elliott Brack, 770-840-1003
• Managing editor: Betsy Brack
• Roving photographer:  Frank Sharp
• Contributing columnist: Debra Houston
• Contributing columnist: George Wilson

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