THE FESTIVAL CENTER area of Duluth will be the site for the fifth annual Duluth Rotary Car show, to be held on April 14 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. The event is free for all. See Calendar below for more details.
IN THIS EDITIONTODAY’S FOCUS: Local Author Compiles History of Mountain Park-Trickum Community
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Gwinnett May Total More than 500,000 Registered Voters for Primary
ANOTHER VIEW: Comprehensive Single Payer Insurance Is the Right Answer
SPOTLIGHT: Walton EMC
McLEMORE’S WORLD: Runneth Over
UPCOMING: County Seeks 45 Acres of Parkland through Eminent Domain
NOTABLE: Snellville Police, CVS Pharmacy Partner for Safer Medication Disposal
RECOMMENDED: The Star Side of Bird Hill by Naomi Jackson
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Harry Crews’ Stories Are Rooted in the Southern Gothic Tradition
MYSTERY PHOTO: A More Leisurely Photo Requires Your Identification Today
CALENDAR: Rotary Plans Career Night at Norcross High on April 12
TODAY’S FOCUSLocal author compiles history of Mountain Park-Trickum community
Bikes and dirt roads in the 1940s.
(Editor’s note: a local author, Carl Tiegreen of Mountain Park, has penned a history of one of Gwinnett communities. Copies of this book about the Mountain Park area can be bought online at www.notesofthesouth.com or by contacting him at ctiegreen@bellsouth.net.)–eeb
By Carl H. Tiegreen
MOUNTAIN PARK-TRICKUM, Ga. | When a community reaches 200 years of existence, it is bound to have gathered a multitude of experiences. Just in the course of everyday living there is found joy and sorrow, peace and strife—an expected part of a journey through the years. All this which contribute to the foundations of interesting stories to which we all can relate.
Tiegreen
Gwinnett is turning an abundant 200 years old this year, reminding us that in this area much has been running below the surface of our lives to get us to this point in history. Unfortunately, when generations hand down their stories to younger generations, the memories and particulars of previous years often become lost. Only in their preservation do we have a chance at hearing the connection to the past, and realizing we are not starting from scratch.
Years ago I made an unexpected connection with Billy Moore, a descendant of such Gwinnett pioneer family names as Garner, Moore, Lee, Minor, Lanier, and Nash. These families all settled in the southern Gwinnett area, along the Five Forks Trickum Road corridor from today’s Mountain Park. In getting to know and becoming friends with Billy, I realized he had a wealth of knowledge of this community, its people, and much long-abandoned way-of-life details. I suppose he recognized in me an interest to learn, as I had been researching this same area for a number of years. So he found an inclined ear. He likes to talk. I like to listen.
Eventually, I received several serious suggestions—all about the same time—that I should compile a history of the Mountain Park area. As a professional genealogist, I’ve personally researched for families and in collaboration with a national research group, written magazine articles and histories for individual families, hence I knew this would be an enjoyable project. And, although Mountain Park is a community abundant in history, it had not been thoroughly researched and recorded. Sometimes life is explicit and lets you know what the next step should be.
Baptism at Garner Lake.
The next several months were a flurry of organizing my notes, tying up loose ends, checking facts, meeting and getting to know other amazing natives of this area, and writing late into each night. Those decades of local experiences, happenings, and memories found shape in the book History of Possum Corner, Trickum, Goddess and Mountain Park: As Seen from the William Garner Home of Gwinnett County.
At over 200 pages, it follows a remarkable community and the families and individuals that were formative from the early 1800s and into modern times. Dozens of historical photographs were used to compliment the account, and, as researchers will appreciate, an index of almost 500 names of locals was included.
With this being the Bicentennial of Gwinnett County, this is a good year to also recognize the local histories of its individual communities. Others too should be encouraged to document their own areas and experiences, whether small or grand. It’s an honor to be able to contribute in part to this preservation of the county’s history.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Gwinnett may total more than 500,000 registered voters for primary
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
MARCH 30, 2018 | Years ago, while at the Gwinnett County printing plant of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, when occasionally guiding groups on plant tours in the news print storage area, often people would ask ”How much newsprint do you use?”
We had the answer. In those days, we used a lot of newsprint, as they do today. But after a while, since people could not comprehend and interpret the fine points of usage, I would just say “Big number.”
(For your information, today the printing plant consumes about 277 tons of paper just to print all of its editions last week. Put another way, that’s 595,400 pounds, or 1,374 miles of newsprint . Can you comprehend? You see why I said, “Big number?”)
That thought came to me when checking with Lynn Ledford at the Gwinnett County Elections office.
How many people are now registered to vote in Gwinnett? I asked the elections people. And I got back a “big number?”
The answer is 493,227 people are registered in Gwinnett now.
Yep, and by the April 24 deadline for people to register to vote in the Georgia primary on May 22, Gwinnett may have nearly a half million people eligible to vote in the county.
We got to thinking about that number. With Gwinnett now totaling about 960,000 people, remember there are 178,000 students in the Gwinnett system, plus about another 54,000 youngsters not in school in ages 1-4, plus 6,872 in private schools. Take away the 500,000 voters not registered, and that means that there are still another 221,000 people in Gwinnett not registered to vote. That’s a “big number” too!
Yes, some immigrants are not registered, and that would reduce the eligibility totals. It shows that Gwinnett still has a way to go to having all its people registered.
For the candidates this year, the 493,000 now registered is a mighty vote. Several statewide races could hinge on how well a candidate does in Gwinnett.
Gwinnett’s population is larger
than 59 south Georgia counties.
We also checked the state records to show the counties with the most people registered. Here are the standings of people eligible to vote as of March 28, 2018, from the Secretary of State’s web site.
- Fulton, 640,302;
- Gwinnett, 493,220;
- Cobb, 466,913;
- DeKalb, 463,016;
- Chatham, 177,106;
- Clayton, 156,362;
- Henry, 144,250;
- Forsyth, 134,285;
- Richmond, 115,097; and
- 10.Muscogee, 107,701.
As for the smallest counties:
- Taliaferro, 1,174;
- Webster, 1,448;
- Quitman, 1442;
- Echols, 1,675; and
- Clay, 1,784.
Do you remember that a few months ago, a story in GwinnettForum pointed out that Gwinnett was larger than 59 counties in South Georgia combined? (Note map.) What does this mean if you are a statewide candidate, you might consider doing a lot of electioneering in Gwinnett. It also should tell you that how well you do in Gwinnett could put you in a pretty position to win the statewide race.
So watch out for the candidates! With Gwinnett’s “Big Number,” there should be a lot of political concentration in the county this spring preparing for the 2018 primary.
As of today, the primary is only 52 days away!
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Comprehensive single-payer insurance is the right answer
By Jack Bernard
Contributing columnist
MARCH 30, 2018 | Elusive coverage?
You may believe you have full healthcare insurance coverage…when you do not.
Georgia Senate bill 359 and House bill 678 address billing and other consumer protections.
I spent virtually my entire career in healthcare, and have two sons who are MDs, but I have still run into the coverage issue in my own family’s care. For example:
(1) being told after the fact by a major insurer that a particular surgical procedure would not be paid for because it was only approved as inpatient (versus outpatient)… although outpatient is much less expensive;
(2) having an insurance company state, once again after the fact, that I would have to pay a large “out of network” co-pay for a second surgeon who, totally unknown to me, was assisting my own “in network” surgeon ;
(3) having a physician run a test that was clearly unnecessary and unrelated to my condition, having the claim rejected by the insurance company, and then being told by the lab that I needed to pay the bill; and
(4) having a solo practitioner physician’s office say that they take Medicare, then submit the invoices to Medicare much too late and/or incorrectly and then come back to me to pay the full bill, charges (i.e. not even discounting it according to the much lower amount usually paid to them by Medicare).
In each of these instances, because I either had direct connections with providers or they knew my background, I was able to straighten out the insurance mess and maintain my 800+ credit rating. But, how about the working men/women who don’t know the score?
State stop gap measures in the bills above are a small step in the right direction, but what is the long-term solution?
Having fewer payers/insurers is the answer. With expanded Medicare for All, all credentialed physicians would participate; there is no out of network unless the provider is private pay only (i.e. doesn’t accept any insurance). And, patients are not billed. Further, regulations would be structured which put providers versus patients on the hook for unnecessary tests and procedures.
For those who say comprehensive single payer is too expensive, please be aware that our national per capita healthcare expenditures are currently the highest in the world. For example, we are three times that of Italy and double that of Canada. Further, these democracies provide full coverage for everyone, have better outcomes, better access and still manage to spend less.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Walton EMC
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McLEMORE’S WORLDRunneth over
- For more of Bill McLemore’s cartoons, see his page on Facebook.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
County seeks 45 acres of parkland through eminent domain
Gwinnett commissioners have approved authorizing eminent domain proceedings to acquire about 45 acres of land for a park located at Lawrenceville Suwanee and Old Norcross roads, an area lacking in recreational opportunities.
A master plan for the park will be developed with input from nearby residents. The park will be a community park for the Discovery High School area west of Lawrenceville. Studies of different recreational uses consistently show a gap in the area to be served by the park.
County officials tried unsuccessfully to negotiate with the owner of the two parcels, one about 40.2 acres and the other about 4.3 acres. However, the need for parkland in the area was so great that the county officials decided to employ eminent domain to acquire it. One of the county’s Parks and Recreation Capital Improvement Plan goals includes balanced acquisition of parkland in underserved areas.
Eminent domain refers to the process whereby a government can acquire property for a “public purpose,” such as roads, public utilities and parks. With the commission’s approval, the county will file paperwork with the Superior Court requesting the appointment of a special master, who will hear testimony from each side’s appraiser to determine just and adequate compensation for the property. Either side can appeal from the special master’s award to a jury trial in Superior Court.
Kudzu Art Zone plans three art workshops during April
Kudzu Art Zone in Norcross announces new art workshops coming up in April.
First is a “Loosen Up’ painting adventure led by the ever-popular Robert Burridge. His approach to painting is to be loose and free with one’s work. He often says, “Isn’t having fun why we started painting in the first place?” Join this sure to be enjoyable workshop April 1 to April 4.
A painting by Stabin.
Next, April 11 to 14, is a watercolor workshop by nationally known and admired Mel Stabin. He received the honor of Master status of the Transparent Watercolor Society of America and has been named one of the “Top Ten Watercolor Masters of Today.”
Kathy Kitz, an Atlanta award winning artist presents an Acrylic Abstract Painting Workshop on April 20 to 22. She is an inspiring teacher of watercolor and acrylic on canvas and paper, using color and texture to evoke a sense of mystery in her imaginative, thought-provoking work to speak to the viewers’ imaginations. For more information, go to https://www.kudzuartzone.org.
Smith to throw out first ball at Stripers game April 14
Former University of Georgia standout and consensus 2017 All-America linebacker Roquan Smith will throw out the ceremonial first pitch and meet with fans at the Gwinnett Stripers game on Saturday, April 14.
Smith will be on the Coolray Field main concourse approximately one hour prior to the 6:05 p.m. game against the Rochester Red Wings to sign autographs and take pictures with fans. He will then take the pitcher’s mound to throw out the first pitch.
Smith, a Montezuma native, helped lead the Bulldogs to the 2017 SEC championship over Auburn and to the 2018 National Championship game against Alabama. He was named 2017 SEC Defensive Player of the Year, First Team All-America by several outlets including Associated Press, Walter Camp, and the American Football Coaches Association, and received the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker.
Aside from the chance to meet Smith, the first 2,500 fans through the gates will receive a Stripers “Fishtail” Bobble, presented by Coolray Heating and Cooling. A twist on the conventional bobblehead, this bass modeled after the Stripers’ primary logo features a bobbling tail.
NOTABLESnellville Police, CVS Pharmacy partner for safer medication disposal
The Snellville Police Department has been awarded a grant for a drug collection unit as part of CVS Health’s Medication Disposal for Safer Communities Program. The new unit will be located at the Snellville Police Department and will provide residents with a safe and environmentally responsible way to dispose of unwanted, unused or expired medication, including controlled substances.
Tom Davis, R.Ph., vice president of Pharmacy Professional Services at CVS Health, says: “CVS Health is dedicated to helping the communities we serve address and prevent prescription drug abuse. Reducing the amount of unused and unwanted medication in the home is critical to preventing prescription drug abuse.”
The new drug disposal unit will help to reduce the amount of unneeded medicine in residents’ homes and decrease the potential for prescription drug abuse, which has soared in recent years, especially among teenagers. More than 70 percent of teenagers say it is easy to get prescription drugs from their parents’ medicine cabinets, according to a Partnership for Drug-Free Kids study. Proper drug disposal also helps to prevent the contamination of local landfills and water supplies from unused medication.
The medications can be dropped off with no questions asked. Snellville residents and CVS Pharmacy customers can also inquire about the Medication Disposal for Safer Communities Program at the toll-free phone number 1-866-559-8830 or visit http://www.cvs.com/content/prescription-drug-abuse.
Eastside, Navigate Lifeline launch peer recover programs at ERs
Eastside Medical Center and Navigate Lifeline Gwinnett have officially launched their peer recovery program in both Eastside’s Main and South Campus emergency rooms. Navigate Lifeline Gwinnett provides peer recovery coaches for emergency room patients of Eastside Medical Center who are in need of substance abuse support.
Eastside Medical Center recognized the growing need for services such as Navigate LIFELINE Gwinnett in their emergency rooms because of the growing opioid addition crisis in Gwinnett County and throughout the country. By collaborating with Navigate LIFELINE Gwinnett, Eastside is striving to make a difference in the long-term health and well-being of those who are struggling with addiction.
How does the program work?
Patients who are treated at an Eastside Medical Center emergency room for an overdose or suspected overdose are connected with a Navigate LIFELINE Gwinnett recovery coach as part of their care. A Navigate LIFELINE recovery coach will arrive at the ER within 30 minutes of contact and provide a coaching session that will explore the patient’s options for treatment, detox, recovery housing, recovery centers, continued recovery coaching and meeting sites. With patient consent, additional education and support will also be provided for accompanying loved ones who are present with the patient during treatment. If the patient agrees, the recovery coach will schedule a follow-up check for the next day.
GGC physicist proves stability of extreme black holes
Dr. Lior Burko, associate professor of physics at Georgia Gwinnett College, has demonstrated the stability of extreme black holes. The discovery will have long-reaching effects within theoretical physics.
Burko’s research is presented in the March 29, 2018, issue of the peer-reviewed scientific journal, Physical Review D as a Rapid Communication. He co-authored the work with Dr. Gaurav Khanna, professor of physics at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.
“Previous researchers were not wrong, but because their calculations’ perspectives were limited, they found instability,” Burko said. “Our computations took a broader view of the phenomenon, revealing stability.”
The team’s work is important for string theory because of the prominent role played by extreme black holes in this theory, as well as other areas of theoretical physics. This is not Burko’s first major discovery about black holes. In 2016, he determined that contrary to previous scientific understandings – and popular science fiction – objects like space ships approaching a black hole singularity would not necessarily be crushed.
RECOMMENDEDThe Star Side of Bird Hill by Naomi Jackson
Reviewed by Karen J. Harris, Stone Mountain | Sixteen-year-old Dionne and ten-year old Phaedra are dropped off at their grandmother Hyacinth’s home so that their mother Avril can get her life in order. While Phaedra is filled with questions and is curious, Dionne is filled with angst because of the separation and what feels like abandonment. Grandmother Hyacinth sees the likeness between Dionne and her mother and is concerned about her moodiness and unpredictability. Though the community wraps its arms around both girls, their uncertainty about their future prevents deep bonds from growing. When a tragedy occurs, the return of Phaedra and Dionne’s father creates another level of complexity. The Star Side of Bird Hill is a beautifully written coming-of- age story for all who are at crossroads in their lives. Readers will root for Phaedra and Dionne and cheer the resiliency of Hyacinth who proves to be the touchstone for them as they grow and evolve.
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. Send to: elliott@brack.net
GEORGIA ENCYCLOPEDIA TIDBITHarry Crews’ stories are rooted in Southern Gothic tradition
(Continued from previous edition)
Harry Crews‘s reputation as a bold and daring new voice in southern writing grew during this time. The well-known writer Norman Mailer said, “Harry Crews has a talent all his own. He begins where James Dickey left off.”
His writing is rooted in the Southern Gothic tradition, but Crews has claimed other influences, notably the British novelist Graham Greene. Most of his books are set in modern-day Florida or Georgia and are often edgy in their exploration of such extremities as blood sports, the limits of sanity, and bizarre compulsions and obsessions.
Crews, like Flannery O’Connor, has an affinity for the grotesque in his characters. He explains this fascination as being rooted in a specific childhood experience—waking up in a carnival trailer one morning, Crews witnessed a bearded lady and a man with a cleft face talking about their dinner plans and kissing. Crews claims, “And I, lying at the back of the trailer, was never the same again.”
After 1976 Crews didn’t publish another novel for roughly ten years. During this time his persona would increasingly become a source of interest to critics and readers. He was frank in interviews about his drinking and drug use and often changed his appearance by wearing a Mohawk, shaving his head, or getting tattoos.
Crews continued to teach during these years, and he wrote screenplays, plays, and nonfiction pieces, some of which are collected in Florida Frenzy (1982). He also became a regular contributor to Esquire, Playboy, Sport, and other magazines. A column he wrote for Esquire called “Grits” laid the groundwork for what many critics consider his best book, A Childhood: The Biography of a Place (1978).
In A Childhood Crews’s style is honest and unflinching as he describes the violence and desperation surrounding him as a young boy, yet he is also nonjudgmental and shows an affection and respect for people despite their flaws. This poignant account of life in rural Georgia among the very poor earned Crews wide praise from critics. The New York Times Book Review said of the work, “It’s easy to despise poor folks. A Childhood makes it more difficult. It raises almost to a level of heroism these people who seem of a different century…. A Childhood is not about a forgotten America; it is about a part of America that has rarely, except in books like this, been properly discovered.”
In 1997 Crews retired from his teaching career and continued to write. Published in France, Italy, Holland, Israel, and the United Kingdom, Crews was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in 2001. He is featured in the documentary Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus (2005), which chronicles the road trip of a country musician through the South.
His papers are housed at the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Georgia in Athens. Crews lived in Gainesville, Florida, until his death on March 28, 2012.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia online, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
A more leisurely photo requires your identification today
Today’s Mystery Photo reminds us of a more leisurely time, as compared to the bustling city previously. Figure out where this marina is located, and you’ve got the city. Send your idea to elliott@brack.net, including where you live.
That mystery photograph of a city was a zinger for all readers but one last week. The photo was sent in by Frank Sharp of Lawrenceville. The reliable George Graf of Palmyra, Va. finally found the answer: “Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Took a little more digging to find the exact location from where the photo was taken. I believe the photographer snapped this photo from the Leonardo Royal Hotel at the corner of Mailander Strasse and Route 3.
“When stationed in Germany during the Cold War days, I used to stay in the Guest House military lodging when doing business at V Corps headquarters’s or shopping at the Frankfurt PX. I believe a number of the Baader-Meinhof gang members (aka Red Army Faction) were captured after a shootout very close to the Frankfurt PX. On 24 May 1972, the gang set off a bomb in front of my building at Campbell Barracks in Heidelberg killing three service members. About the city:
- Frankfurt is the largest city of Hesse – one of the federal states in Germany. It is not, however, Hesse’s capital. This title belongs to another city – Wiesbaden.
- During ancient times, Frankfurt was the center of the Holy Roman Empire where kings – and later emperors – were crowned.
- Frankfurt has the largest inner-city forest in Germany, taking up around 80 sq. km. (a third of its territory), and the world-famous 20-hectare Palm Garden, which hosts plants from every climate zone on the planet.
- The city’s Henninger Tower is the highest beer reservoir in the world.”
“Spring Is Here” with the Jazz Orchestra Concert of the Gwinnett Symphony. This concert will be April 7 at 7 p.m. at the Johns Creek Christian Church, 10800 Bell Road in Johns Creek. Tickets may be purchased at the door or online through the website: www.gwinnettsymphony.org.
Career Exploration Night at Norcross High School will be April 12. This is sponsored by the Peachtree Corners Rotary Club, with co-hosts including the Peachtree Corners Business Association and the Southwest Gwinnett Chamber. This begins at 4:30 p.m. and lasts until 8:30 p.m. Share the story of your career path with students exploring opportunities.
30th year celebration of the formation of the Elizabeth H. Williams (Snellville) Branch Library of the Gwinnett County Public Library located at the 2740 Lenora Church Road will be Thursday, April 12 at 2:30 p.m. Members of the Snellville Historical are hosting this 30th Year Anniversary Celebration.
Rivers Alive clean-up event will be Saturday, April 14 in Braselton from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m., meeting at Thompson Mill Forest, 1470 New Liberty Church Road. After a safety briefing and sign-in, the group disperse to local streams and roadsides to pick up trash. Afterwards there will be a free lunch and share stories of our adventures in trash! For more information contact Yvette Wise 706-654-3915 ext. 1012 or email her at ywise@braselton.net/.
Fifth Annual Duluth Rotary Car Show will be Saturday, April 14, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. in downtown Duluth. Antique Classics, Foreign Sports, Hot Rods, Muscles, and Pickups are the featured cars of the event. Professional judges will choose three places in each category. Proceeds will benefit Operation One Voice which aids children and families of fallen Special Operations Forces. The event is free for all to enjoy. For more information, visit http://www.duluthrotary.com/.
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