3/7: Gwinnett Challenge; Baseball’s pressure; Fishing time

BUILDING CONCENTRATION: A Cubelets set purchased by the West Gwinnett Chapter of the Friends of Gwinnett County Public Library is being used by Friends members as a great draw in getting interest in the library. Representatives of the Friends visited recently a Latin American Association Festival at Metropolitan State College, speaking to more than 200 people. The Gwinnett Friends were the only library group in attendance at the festival. Cubelets Robot Blocks provide a way to inspire kids to become better thinkers. They make it fast and easy to engage children as young as four in learning by building robots.

TODAY’S FOCUS: GC&B Plans 19th Gwinnett Challenge in Great American Cleanup

EEB PERSPECTIVE: Fans Bring Pressure on Major League Baseball To Shorten Games

ANOTHER VIEW: Nostalgia Time as Many Proclaim, ‘I Can’t Wait to Go Fishing”

SPOTLIGHT: BrandBank

UPCOMING: Duluth “Spring Fling” Fitness Camp To Benefit Rainbow Village

NOTABLE: Sonesta Gwinnett Place Adds Bardugon to its Catering Department

RECOMMENDED: The Wars of the Roses by Dan Jones

GEORGIA TIDBIT: Gen. Lafayette Travels 400 Grueling Miles Across Georgia

TODAY’S QUOTE: Why Dogs and Cats Jump Into Your Lap

MYSTERY PHOTO: Can You Tell Us Which City Has This Skyline?

LAGNIAPPE: Philadelphia Winn DAR Chapter Names Outstanding History Teacher

CALENDAR:  Take a look at coming events

GC&B plans 19th Gwinnett Challenge in Great American Cleanup

By Kasie Bolling, Lawrenceville, Ga.  |  Gwinnett residents and businesses have three months, between now and May 31, to take part in the Great American Cleanup – Gwinnett Challenge by completing a project geared toward community improvement.  By then submitting the results, they have a chance to win a cash prize of up to $500.

Celebrating its 19th year here in Gwinnett, the Great American Cleanup represents the nation’s largest annual community improvement program. In the years since it was first launched by Keep America Beautiful in 1999, Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful (GCB) has brought that same spirit of action a little closer to home by motivating countless aspiring environmental stewards to help keep the local community green, clean and beautiful. At the end of the campaign, GCB will select three winners from submitted projects that fall into one of three categories:  Get Educated, Get Engaged and Get Inspired.

GCB Executive Director, Schelly Marlatt explains: “For the Get Educated category, we feel an important component to being a good environmental steward is to get educated about the environment and the impacts – both positive and negative – we can have on it. By becoming educated, we can help others on a variety of subjects of important environmental concern.

“Get Engaged projects comprise more hands-on cleanup endeavors and are really great for families, green teams, neighborhood associations, companies and other groups.

“Get Inspired projects involves a more creative approach such as a unique or artistic use of a resource, creation of a video to promote sustainability or showing real innovation at home, work or school related to sustainability.”

In order to get started, Great American Cleanup participants are asked to visit the event page on the Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful website at www.gwinnettcb.org. There, they can take a pledge of environmentalism, submit a project idea and learn more about Challenge requirements.

Cleanup participants have between now and May 31, 2017 to complete their projects and submit the results of their efforts. Final project results and photos documenting their project should be submitted by June 9, 2017 via online Projects Results Form at www.gwinnettcb.org in order to be considered for a cash prize. Winners will be selected by the end of June 2017.

Marlatt adds: “We’re really challenging Gwinnettians to flex their creative muscles for the good of the environment this year during Great American Cleanup 2017.We can hardly wait to see the projects submissions at the beginning of June.  Good luck everyone!”

The 2016 winners included:

• United Peachtree Corners Civic Association and City of Peachtree Corners for the “Keep ME Clean – Stop Litter and Graffiti” Category, 55 volunteers collected 1,260 pounds of trash at six locations.
• Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation for “Make ME Green– Beautify your Neighborhood,” where 33 volunteers spent 99 total man hours picking up trash and beautifying Lucky Shoals Park.
• Lanier High School, for the “Educate ME – Teach Others How to Rethink the Way They Recycle” 1,700 volunteers spent more than 900 total man hours to collect hundreds of books for Friends of Refugees.
• Raw Evolution Studios, in a visually stunning response to the “Inspire ME – Discover a Creative Use of a Resource” category, two volunteers upcycled items thrown away in the trash to create six unique pieces of original art décor.
• Peachtree Corners Green Committee for the “Protect ME – Safeguard our Waterways,” where eight volunteers collected 10 bags of litter along a half-mile stretch of Crooked Creek Road.

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

Fans bring pressure on Major League Baseball to shorten games

By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher |  For those of us who are baseball purists, and for most everyone enjoying baseball these days, there is  growing discomfort with the length of baseball games.

As baseball begins, it’s spring training, we thought we might consider some suggestions for improving the game. Most of these comments came from a long story in the New York Times recently, as they had suggestions from people all over the country about improving the game.

Some people wanted radical changes, like moving regulation games to seven innings, or three balls for a walk, or allowing players to re-enter the game, like in football or baseball. We’re not so much for changing the basic rules as we are taking giant steps to speed the game with the current rules. There are lots of ways.

Many TV Commercials: The length problem games today is because of television. Though keeping baseball popular, the amount of “down time” during the commercials are perhaps the one single factor that sends games longer and longer. Cut each half inning commercial break by one minute and  you save 18 minutes in a regulation game. The networks can charge the same for the advertisements, only make each a few second shorter.

Batsman’s Delays: One popular thought from fans would be to require batters to stay in the batters box while awaiting the pitch, instead of in-and-out between every pitch. The penalty if they stepped out: have a strike assessed against them.

Mound Visits: Another common theme: cut the number of eliminate the visits to the mount by coaches and managers, or even catchers. Another:  limit the number of pick-off throws to first base.

Day Games: To attract more young fans, how about at least one World Series (and playoff?) game be required to be played during daylight. The feeling here is that major league baseball is losing younger fans, who aren’t allowed to stay up to midnight for these championship games. The number of daytime games during the regular season can improve, since these games are so popular.

Other suggestions:

• Institute a pitch clock, and if the time is violated, a ball is charged against the pitcher. If the pitcher violates it five times, he’s ejected.
• Outlaw batting gloves. They encourage the batter to step out of the box, slowing the game.
• Give more control to umpires. Reward umpires with a bonus of $500 each if the game ends in two hours 40 minutes. Make it $1,000 if the game lasts less than 2 hours and 25 minutes.

Here’s a zany one: If no one is on base, let the batter run in either direction, to either first or third. All batters and runners that follow that half-inning would have to go in the same direction. It might not speed the game, but it would add luster and suspense.  (Of course, this is a major rule change, but interesting suggestion.)

But mainly, cut the accompaniments that don’t harm the rules, starting with length of commercials.  Baseball is too much a part of our culture to see it ruined by Major League Baseball not disciplining the game.

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

Nostalgia time as many proclaim, ‘I can’t wait to go fishing”

By Debra Houston, contributing columnist  |  Nostalgia hits around this time of year — spring that is, when fishermen like my husband proclaim, “I can’t wait to go fishing.”

I yearn for simpler times, like when I was little, I’d go fishing with my dad. We used an old cane pole, a little red bobber at the end of the line, and a slimy earthworm for bait. That’s how we fished.

Today we live in a digital world and it’s no less high tech in the sport of fishing. One Christmas I gave Eddie a depth finder. He attached it to his boat and it peered deep into Lake Lanier and spat out a scroll that etched a piece of world below and around the boat. Eddie has found old bridges, ladders, and roads, remnants of communities before they were flooded and the lake created. It’s a ghost town for fish.

This past Christmas, Eddie requested another depth finder, because then he’d have one where he drives the boat and another near the trolling motor.

But I doubt if depth finders can replace native knowledge, in which Eddie abounds.

“When fish spawn, they go on-bed,” he tells me. “They go shallow where the water is warmer. The female lays the eggs and the male guards the nest. They might grab a quick bite. But really, they’re too busy to eat.”

Jot that down. Don’t go fishing while the fish are on-bed.

“The most surefire times to catch fish,” he continues, “are when the fish fatten up before winter hibernation, and then when they come out at spring.”

So fish are like ravenous bears running out of the den after hibernation. That’s a good time to fish.

Top dogs in the fishing world for Eddie are the largemouth and spotted bass. They’re bigger and fight better. The state record for a largemouth occurred in 1932 when a man snagged one weighing 22 pounds and 4 ounces. Eddie has never caught one more than 5 pounds, but therein lies the challenge.

This fisherman’s wife marvels that two depth finders haven’t translated into more caught fish. And I wonder how ancient man caught fish without depth finders.

They probably used cane poles.

High-tech is here to stay. And whether or not the fish are biting, go to the lake anyway. The geography below the surface will fascinate you, and you may even see a fish swim by.

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

BrandBank

The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers.  Today’s sponsor is BrandBank, Gwinnett County’s oldest locally-owned community bank with total assets of $2.4 Billion.  Chartered as The Brand Banking Company in 1905, BrandBank was recently named #1 in Customer Service among all banks its size in the United States as surveyed by CSP, Inc.  The full-service bank is committed to the communities it serves by combining best-in-class personal service with innovative products and services using state of the art mobile technology.  In addition to operating branches in Buford, Duluth, Flowery Branch, Grayson, Lawrenceville, Snellville, and Suwanee, BrandBank has a loan production office in the Buckhead area of Atlanta and in Cobb County.  BrandExpress offices are located in Buckhead, Suwanee, and Winder.

• BrandMortgage is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Brand Banking Company and has an extensive menu of innovative lending products in 10 states.

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

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

Duluth “Spring Fling” fitness camp to benefit Rainbow Village

Duluth Fit Body Boot Camp will host the first ever charity “Spring Fling” on Saturday, March 18 to benefit Rainbow Village of Duluth. It will start at 8 a.m. at 3142 Hill Street in Duluth.  The event will feature three free workout sessions, local vendors, a raffle for various gift certificates, a live DJ, and a jump house for kids. The event will be streamed live on Gwinnett Business Radio X.

Fit Body Boot Camp is a fast growing indoor boot camp franchise with hundreds of locations worldwide. The brand combines individualized training from certified personal trainers, specially created Afterburn workouts, and personalized nutritional guidance to help clients lose weight, gain muscle, and burn excess body fat.

Bob Patrick, owner of Duluth Fit Body Boot Camp, says: “I’m just grateful to be blessed with a platform to be able to give back. This is just a dream of bringing a community together to support a common cause.”

A host of vendors will be in attendance showing support for Duluth Fit Body Boot Camp and Rainbow Village. These sponsors include Keith Harris Realty, Inspire Chiropractic, NE Georgia MFR, TLS Weight Loss Solution, Isotonix, Motives Cosmetics, Gwinnett Business Radio X, the Duluth High School soccer team, Lashful, Steam Master, Taylor Made Jewelry, Waffle House, Damsel in Defense, Ankle Biters Tennis, ATA Karate Atlanta, Suwanee Meditation, and Shadow Brook Dental Care.

Giveaways include a free six-month membership (to either Duluth or Suwanee FBBC), handmade jewelry from Unik Hand Creations, and gift certificates to Steam Master, Kroger, Cato Gitano Alpharetta, Eye Candy Art Studio, NE Georgia MFR, Zenit Hair Salon, Trendy Nails, Dreamland BBQ, Piatto’s, and the Eddie Owens Theatre. All of the raffle proceeds will go directly to Rainbow Village, a charity that helps rebuild the lives of homeless people in Georgia.

What else should guests expect from Spring Fling? “You can expect lots of laughs, fun, and a special guest,” says Patrick, “Maybe one with puppies!”

Patrick hopes the event will give newcomers a taste of what his gym offers, saying, “If your mind is right, your body will follow.”

Seventh annual Suwanee American Craft Beer Fest is next weekend

The seventh annual Suwanee American Craft Beer Fest returns on Saturday, March 18 in Towne Center Park. The festival will take place from 1 to 5 p.m. with an exclusive VIP tasting starting at noon.

Recognized as one of the biggest and best craft beer festival in the Southeast. the Fest attracts people from all over the country to claim their share of unlimited tastings of over 350 craft beers. Named Best Festival in Gwinnett by Gwinnett Daily Post Readers Choice Awards for the past three years running, the event offers live music, games, local food vendors and a home brew contest.

With the addition of an exclusive Georgia Craft Beer Garden and an even bigger festival footprint, festival attendees saw national breweries like Terrapin being poured alongside local favorites like Cherry Creek and Creature Comforts.

Many breweries use the experience as an opportunity to debut new or rare seasonal beers at the festival.  They also brew specifically for the annual Brew Battle Competition powered by DraftServ Technologies – a brewery contest that tracks which beers are being poured the most on a live, interactive beer trailer. For more information or tickets, visit www.suwaneebeerfest.com.

Sonesta Gwinnett Place adds Bardugon to its catering department

Sonesta Gwinnett Place Atlanta is announcing an addition to its catering department, as Tracy Bardugon joins the team. Previously the catering coordinator and food and beverage manager-in-training at the hotel’s Hilton Head Island and New Orleans locations, Bardugon brings experience and energy to the Gwinnett location.

Bardugon

The Georgia Southern University graduate and native to the Peach State is looking forward to working with her new Sonesta family in Gwinnett.

Bardugon has spent  almost three years at the Sonesta Resort Hilton Head Island, giving her an understanding of the company and brand. She says: “I really love the food and beverage side of the hospitality industry. I enjoy building relationships with clients and seeing the entire execution of an event that I worked so hard to coordinate. Creating lasting memories and seeing everything come to fruition is why I ultimately love what I do.”

Bardugon has continued to grow within the Sonesta brand, starting her career as an intern. She will be assisting the director of catering sales with planning and execution for weddings, proms, birthday parties and other special events.

David Kohlasch, general manager at Sonesta Gwinnett Place Atlanta in Duluth, says: “We are excited to have Tracy on our growing team. In keeping with our goal of providing the best customer service possible, we know Tracy will play a huge part in ensuring our guests will have an enjoyable and memorable experience.”

The Wars of the Roses by Dan Jones

By  Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill  |  This nonfiction book tells the story of the destruction of the great English medieval royal dynasty, the Plantagenets. It also tells how a little-known Welsh family named Tudor emerged from the slaughter and chaos of the family wars between the Plantagenet branches of York and Lancaster and rose to power. Promising to be authentic and not spout the myths the Tudors promoted when they came to power, Jones begins the story in 1420, a time when England was arguably the most powerful nation in Western Europe. At that time, the idea that a crisis of authority and legitimacy was on the horizon was unthinkable. This book is long and, at times, too detailed for me. But it’s both educational and entertaining. I believe if you like British history (or Game of Thrones), you may like this tale of destruction, usurpation, murder and madness. This is juicy stuff. And it’s true!

• 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

At age 67,  Lafayette travels 400 grueling miles across Georgia

Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834), came to the United States from France at the invitation of Congress and toured all 24 states between August 1824 and September 1825.

A portrait of LaFayette in 1825.

Lafayette had fought in the Revolutionary War (1775-83) at the crucial Battles of Brandywine in Penn,. and Yorktown, Va., in 1781, and in his old age, he hoped to attend ceremonies for the 50th anniversary of Boston’s Bunker Hill in 1825. His friend, U.S. president James Monroe, prompted Congress to extend the invitation for Lafayette to visit the United States one final time. To honor the last surviving Revolutionary War major general, Georgia governor George M. Troup arranged an elaborate journey across the state from the coast and the inland cities to the Creek lands in the west.

Arriving in Savannah on March 19, 1825, the 67-year-old Lafayette disembarked from his steamboat to a salute from the Chatham Artillery and the cheers of the crowd. The most poignant moments of his stay in Savannah came when he laid the cornerstones for monuments honoring two other Revolutionary War heroes, Count Casimir Pulaski and General Nathanael Greene.

Accompanied by his son, his secretary, and Governor Troup, Lafayette traveled up the Savannah River by steamboat and arrived in Augusta on March 23. In both Savannah and Augusta he received delegations of French descendants. He extended his overnight stay in Augusta by an additional day to allow time for a public banquet and a ball. The general, suffering “a fatigue,” presided over the ball seated beneath a canopy of silvered lace.

Lafayette’s party traveled inland from Augusta on the Milledgeville Stage Road. The road was so treacherous with potholes and ruts that the four-horse carriage nearly broke down, and the general became ill from the jolts. After resting overnight in Warrenton, Lafayette continued on to Sparta and then to the capital, Milledgeville, where he arrived on March 27.

He met first with Revolutionary War veterans; Lafayette was delighted to find the man who helped carry him off the battlefield at Brandywine, where he had been wounded. Governor Troup hosted the general at an outdoor supper and ball in the emptied state capitol building.

The schedule then called for Lafayette to travel the 120 miles from Milledgeville to Fort Mitchell, on the Alabama side of the Chattahoochee River, in two arduous days. Accordingly, he left the capital early on March 29, and reached Macon by midday. Lafayette paused for lunch with the townspeople but journeyed on that afternoon to the Old Creek Indian Agency in western Crawford County.

Travel west of Macon was through Creek lands, where both roads and accommodations were primitive. The coach, scraping bottom in a gully, nearly shattered. The party’s progress was also slowed by a thunderstorm in present-day Marion County, where Lafayette joined a group of Creeks at a tavern to dry his clothes in front of the fire.

Miles away from their destination of Fort Mitchell, the entourage spent the night in bark-covered log cabins at a stage stand in present-day Chattahoochee County. The next day, March 31, Lafayette finished his 13-day, 400-mile trek across Georgia and crossed the Chattahoochee into Alabama. Lafayette completed his circuit of the nation that spring by visiting all the southern and western states before returning to Massachusetts for the Bunker Hill celebration in June 1825.

In 1836 the county seat of Walker County was named LaFayette in his honor.

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

Can you tell us which city has this skyline?

This edition’s Mystery Photo is of a modern city…….but which one?  Send in your thoughts to elliott@brack.net and be sure to include your hometown.

Tamara Betteridge, Peachtree Corners immediately identified the most recent Mystery Photo. “That’s Pack Square in downtown Asheville, N.C. although not taken recently, as there are some beautification projects and changes to that busy intersection.”  We’re a little mystified as who sent in the photograph. We thought more people would identify it.

George Graf of Palmyra, Va., gave more details, saying it was the Vance Monument for Governor Zebulon Baird Vance in downtown Asheville.  “For more than a century, the Vance Monument has marked the center of town.  When it was built in 1896, the 50-foot obelisk was a towering structure, meant to be seen from the distance, to reflect the far-reaching influence of Zebulon Vance, a former governor and U.S. congressman.  Its prominence has also raised concerns because of Vance’s ties to slavery. The Civil War-era politician owned slaves, just as he owned a reputation for preaching compassion for other marginalized people.  Initially a unionist, Vance became a supporter of the Confederate cause in 1861 when fighting broke out at Fort Sumter.  He then went to Raleigh and organized the ‘Rough and Ready Guards.’ That same year he was elected as commander of the 26th North Carolina regiment.  He was arrested when the war ended in 1865, but was later pardoned and elected to the U.S. Senate.”

An even better scene of a recent Mystery Photo came from Rick and Sandy Krause of Lilburn, of the Mural de la Prehistoria in the Viñales Valley located in the Sierra de los Órganos mountains in the Pinar del Río Province, Cuba.  They said: “We took this photo when we were there in early November 2014.”

Philadelphia Winn DAR names Morris outstanding history teacher

Morris

Elizabeth (Beth) Roseveare Morris has been named the Outstanding Teacher of American History for 2017 by the Philadelphia Winn Chapter National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She is a middle school history teacher at Parkview Christian School in Lilburn.  Mrs. Morris teaches European Renaissance to the American Colonies to the sixth grade; The American Revolution to the Civil War to the seventh grade; and Reconstruction Era to September 11, 2001 to the eighth grade.  Mrs. Morris will receive a DAR Certificate, $500 cash award from the Chapter, and a subscription to the DAR’s award winning magazine, American Spirit.  Mrs. Morris earned her Bachelor Degree in Elementary Education from Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia and Master of Education Degree from Mercer University in Atlanta.

Cartooning for Teens and Cool Adults, with Lawrence Hardy. Drop-ins Welcome. Have you ever wanted to learn how to draw from your imagination? Want to learn how to draw action figures, faces and more? Welcome artist Lawrence Hardy as he shows you the fundamentals of drawing. The class is for the beginning to intermediate artists. Come sharpen your skills and pencil at Kudzu Art Center!  Through March 11, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. To register for classes, go to www.kudzuartzone.org.   Kudzu Art Zone is located in Norcross at 116 Carlyle Street, Norcross, phone 770-840-9844.

Business Start-Up Basic Workshop, Tuesday, March 7 at 6 p.m. at the Five Forks Branch of the Gwinnett County Public Library. Partnership with SCORE Atlanta, the library, participants will learn financial realities, success factors, assessing the market and business plan elements. The workshop is free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.gwinnettpl.org or call 770-978-5154.

Veterans’ Roundtable: Wednesday, March 8 at the Buford Branch of the Gwinnett County Public Library. Enjoy free coffee, comradery, and expert advice on filing VA claims, medical and educational resources, housing, and more.  No reservations are needed.  Drop-in between 1-3 p.m. For more information, visit www.gwinnettpl.org or call 770-978-5154.

Painting Flowers, Alla Prima in Oil, at the Kudzu Art Zone in Norcross, March 8-9-10 a.m. from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Pat Fiorello will lead this workshop  with demonstrations, instruction, critique and guidance. while you learn from Pat. Work from a photograph on day one, then from your own fresh flower set ups on the next two days. For details, supply lists or to register for classes, go to www.kudzuartzone.org.

Fix-a-Leak Workshop, Thursday, March 9 at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration, 75 Langley Drive in Lawrenceville. Time: 7 p.m. Plumbers will be on-hand to provide guidance and tips on solving problems at home. To register for this free work­shop, call 678-376-7126 or visit www.gwinnettH2O.com.

Electronic Assembly and Forklift Training at the Lawrenceville Branch of the Gwinnett County Public Library. Classes will be March 10 at 1 p.m. and March 11 at 12:30 p.m. Presented in partnership with Goodwill Industries and the library. Email events@gwinnettpl.org for questions or information, or visit www.gwinnettpl.org or call 770-978-5154.

Spartan Sprint 5K and one mile Fun Run, March 11 at 7 a.m. at Greater Atlanta Christian School Spartan Stadium. Dress like a Spartan! For details, go to: https://www.greateratlantachristian.org/page/campus-life/spartan-sprint-5k–fun-run.

Author Visit: Saturday, March 11 at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, 5141 Peachtree Parkway, at the Forum in Peachtree Corners. Brad Parks is the only author to have won the Shamus, Nero, and Lefty Awards, three of crime fiction’s most prestigious prizes. Parks is a graduate of Dartmouth College and a former journalist with The Washington Post and The (Newark, NJ) Star-Ledger. This event is free and open to the public.  Books will be available for purchase and signing. For more information, visit www.gwinnettpl.org or call 770-978-5154.

Quince Girl Expo will be Saturday, March 11 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Pinckneyville Community Recreation Center. Party planning professionals are invited to feature interactive demonstrations, fashion shows and share ideas on planning the perfect Quinceañera celebration! The event is free for attendees and will feature do-it-yourself workshops. Interested exhibitors and demonstrators are encouraged to reserve space early by calling 678-277-0920 or visit the website for information on the event www.gwinnettparks.com.

The Foreigner, by Larry Shue, will be presented March 17 through April 2 at the Lionheart Theatre in downtown Norcross. Set in a fishing lodge in rural Georgia, a shy man who “speaks no English” learns more than he should. Runs Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 and Sunday at 2 p.m. Details: http://lionhearttheatre.org/buy-tickets/.

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.

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.comVisit his Facebook page at Neza construction and home repair to see some of his past work.

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• Managing editor: Betsy Brack
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• Contributing columnist: Debra Houston
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