5/11: Rail lease expires; Making sense of political candidates

WHAT WAS ONCE an eyesore for motorists traveling along Mitchell Road in Norcross is now an artistic mosaic mural, stretching for 130 feet. The work is the contribution of over 1,000 Norcross area students, teachers, parents and even grandparents. For more details, see Notable below.

TODAY’S FOCUS: W&A Rail Lease Expires Soon; Is It Georgia’s Most Valuable Asset?

EEB PERSPECTIVE: Here’s a Way to Make Sense out of the Many Political Candidates

SPOTLIGHT: Mingledorff’s

McLEMORE’S WORLD: Sound Mind

UPCOMING: Gwinnett Human Relations Commission Names First Hispanic Chairman

NOTABLE: Mitchell Road Mosaic Mural Completion Is First of Its Kind in County

RECOMMENDED: Sleeping Above Chaos by Ann Hite

GEORGIA TIDBIT: In 21st Century, Poverty Is Still Endemic In Many Parts of Georgia

MYSTERY PHOTO: Stately Mansion Asks for You to Determine Where It’s Located

CALENDAR: Shoal Creek Water Plant Plans Open House and Festival

W&A rail lease expires soon; Is it Georgia’s most valuable asset?

By Robert H. Hanson

LOGANVILLE, Ga.  |  The year 2019 marks the end of the current lease of the Western and Atlantic Railroad, now held by CSX Transportation, and the re-negotiation of a new lease, most likely with the same lessee.  The question might be raised: is this lease the State of Georgia’s most valuable asset?

Hanson

The W&A, as it became known, was created by an act of the Georgia State Legislature on December 21, 1836. The celebrated first surveyor’s stake marking the southern terminus of the railroad was driven by a surveying crew, headed by Col. Stephen H. Long, in September of 1837.  I say “celebrated” because this stake marked the “Zero Mile Post,” the termination of the route.  Around the mile post grew a settlement originally called “the terminus,” later  known as Marthasville, and still later, what is now Atlanta.

The railroad line was completed to Chattanooga in 1850 and within a few years it became part of a through route from Savannah to Nashville, Memphis, and the Midwest.  It still forms a strategic link in the through-freight route from the Midwest to Florida of CSX Transportation.

The W&A gained a degree of fame in 1862 when it was the locale of the Andrews Raid, also known as the “Great Locomotive Chase.”  That fame was renewed in 1956 with the release of the Walt Disney feature film, The Great Locomotive Chase, starring Fess Parker (of “Davy Crockett” fame) and Jeffrey Hunter.  Both major participants in the chase, the locomotives General and Texas, still exist, in exhibit at Kennesaw and Atlanta, respectively.  (The Texas has been housed for years at the Georgia Cyclorama, but will soon be in a new home at the Atlanta History Center, to open next year.)

The State of Georgia operated the W&A railroad successfully on its own behalf for a number of years. However, following the Civil War, the W&A became such a political football that in 1869 the legislature voted to lease the railroad to a group headed by former Governor Joseph E. Brown.  The group included a number of prominent railroad and express men and it was felt that the move would take the W&A out of the realm of politics and place it in the hands of capable railroaders and other business men.

In 1890, this lease expired and the W&A was leased to the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway, the W&A’s primary connection at Chattanooga. The W&A has remained in the hands of the NC&StL and its successor companies, first the Louisville & Nashville Railroad and now CSX Transportation, since that time.

The current lease was renewed in 1969, modified in the 1980’s, and as noted earlier, expires in 2019.

Under the present lease, CSX Transportation pays the State of Georgia a base rental payment of $7,727,400 annually.

On August 25, 1925, the Georgia State Legislature passed a resolution stating that “….the Western & Atlantic Railroad is recognized as the most valuable asset of the State of Georgia…”

The W&A has long since paid for itself and continues to generate revenue for the state.  While it may not – or may– still enjoy the distinction of being the state’s most valuable asset, it remains a reliable source of revenue that the state has to little but cash the rental checks.

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

Here’s a way to make sense out of the many political candidates

By Elliott Brack
Editor and publisher, GwinnettForum

MAY 11, 2018  |  Notice today’s date, May 11. That means there’re only 11 days left until the 2018 Georgia General Primary, coming on May 22.

What we’ve heard from lots of people is that there seems to be little interest in these races, and some mighty big offices are open to be filled. Remember the race last year to fill the Sixth District seat in Congress between the winner, Karen Handel and Jon Ossoff?  It got loads of publicity, constant television advertising, and oodles of money funneling from out of state.  Compared to that race, this election season is a sleeper.

And there are so many candidates that it nearly boggles the mind.  In case you missed it, we counted the number of combined party candidates in races on the Gwinnett ballot. Take a look:

• For governor, eight people are running.
• For lieutenant governor, there are five people in this race.
• For secretary of state, the ballot has seven candidates.
• For insurance commissioner, five people are running.
• For Georgia superintendent of schools, count five candidates.
• For labor commissioner, three people seek this office.
• For two seats on the Public Service Commission, there are eight running.
• For Congress from the Fourth District, three candidates.
• For Congress from the Seventh District, there are eight candidates.
• For Congress from the Tenth District, count six candidates.

Now in races for the Georgia Senate and House:

• Senate District 5: Two candidates.
• Senate District 40: Three people.
• Senate District 41: Two running.
• Senate District 55: Three in the race.
• House District 81: Three people.
• House District 94: Two persons.
• House District 97: Biggest contested house race: eight people.
• House District 99: Two candidates.
• House District 102: Three in this race.
• House District 105: Three running.
• House District 107: Two people.
• House District 108: Two running.

For seats on local boards:

• County Commission District 2: Three candidates.
• County Commission District 4: Three candidates.
• Board of Education, District 2: Four candidates.
• Board of Education, District 4: Four candidates.
• Solicitor General, Two candidates.

Non-partisan judicial candidates:

• For the Court of Appeals: Two candidates.
• For Superior Court, Davis seat: Five lawyers seeking this post.
• For Superior Court, Turner seat: Three attorneys vying.
• For State Court, Iannazzone seat: two candidates.

We hope this doesn’t overwhelm you. (There are numerous candidates unopposed, which we did not list.)

What this field of many candidates says to me is that voters are going to have to study the candidates and the ballot more closely than ever because of the many people seeking the offices. We all want to elect the best possible persons to represent us in these many offices.

We commend the candidates’ own words to you to determine who you will vote for. Simply click to GwinnettForum’s “Read What They Say” at the top right of each issue. Then what pops up is a list of all offices. Click all the blue names (the candidates who responded to us asking them six questions to answer in 100 words or less) and you can read what 68 candidates say about six issues we put to them.

Make up your own mind for your selection well before you go into the voter’s booth. You will be participating in the most informed way about choosing your candidate. We hope your choice wins.

That’s choosing responsibly. It makes our democracy work better.

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

Mingledorff’s

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

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

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Gwinnett Human Relations Commission names first Hispanic chairman

For the first time in history, the Gwinnett County Human Relations Commission (HRC) has elected its first Hispanic chairman. He is Fernando Andrade, who has served on the HRC since 2015 as vice chairman and criminal justice committee chairman. The position was previous held by Dan DeVore, who was successful revising the commission’s bylaws and handbook to clarify the commissioners’ responsibilities, duties and mission.

Andrade

Mr. Andrade is head of Andrade and Associates Consulting Services, and is a mediator and interpreter for the judicial system.  He is a 27 year resident of Gwinnett, now living in Sugar Hill, and is originally from Chile. He has worked for the courts system for 28 years, and is one of the pioneers of interpretation services in Georgia.

Chairman Andrade plans to focus on efficiency and effectiveness in his role. New members of the executive committee include Dr. Nikki Hughes as vice chairman; Dr. Catrina Jones as adviser; Raven Fleming-Brannon as treasurer; and John Grinder as secretary.

Andrade describes the commission as “a diverse group of people working together to overcome differences and disagreements for the best interest of the community.”

Gwinnett County residents are invited to learn more about the HRC at their annual Open House on Wed., May 23 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Tacos and Tequilas Mexican Grill, 3480 Financial Center Way in Buford. Residents will have an opportunity to network with HRC commissioners, hear updates on their 2018 work plan and ask questions.

New funding should help speed traffic on Four Key Roads

Gwinnett Commissioners recently approved installation of infrastructure that will allow County transportation engineers to communicate with traffic signals and cameras along four high-traffic corridors in Gwinnett. The Georgia Department of Transportation is funding the lion’s share of the construction contracts while the County’s portion comes from the 2009 SPLOST.

Installation of fiber optic cable and wireless radio communications will allow interaction between Gwinnett’s Traffic Control Center and the signals and traffic monitoring cameras along the routes.

The roadways receiving these upgrades are:

• Ronald Reagan Parkway from Pleasant Hill Road to SR 124. The state is funding 78 percent of the project. Of the five responses received, American Lighting and Signalization, LLC, was the low bidder at $1,355,502.
• Old Peachtree Road from Sugarloaf Parkway to Dean Road. The state is funding 80 percent of the project. Of the five responses received, American Lighting and Signalization, LLC, was the low bidder at $465,687.
• State Route 316/University Parkway from SR 20 to the Barrow County line. The state is funding 80 percent of the project. Of the five responses received, Brooks Berry Haynie & Associates., Inc., was the low bidder at $1,564,040.
• Five Forks Trickum Road from Rockbridge Road to Sugarloaf Parkway. The state is funding 80 percent of the project. Of the five responses received, American Lighting and Signalization, LLC, was the low bidder at $1,038,570.

These projects will increase the County’s traffic monitoring capabilities along these corridors by installing 29.5 miles of fiber optic cable and 55 new traffic monitoring cameras and adding communication technology to 31 traffic signals.

Mitchell Road Mosaic Mural completion is first of its kind in county

The Mitchell Road Mosaic Mural in the City of Norcross has been completed! First presented to Norcross City Council in February of 2014, this project is the first of its kind in Gwinnett and set out to cultivate community awareness and strengthen relationships while developing civic pride and beautifying an otherwise bland, unremarkable wall.

In what began as a spark of creativity for local artist and Norcross Elementary teacher Bobbie Adamczyk, the Mitchell Mosaic quickly became a movement that goes far beyond art and cultural awareness, embracing ideas of community and togetherness.

Adamczyk says: “Although the lessons in art are important, the mural represents a great deal more for the Norcross community. This project has enabled a segment of the community to feel grounded, brought parents into the classroom and provided a connection point for students and the community.”

Over 125 mosaic disks are now installed on five panels stretching 130 feet long, thanks to the contribution of over 1,000 Norcross area students, art educators, teachers, parents and grandparents. In addition, volunteers from both Discovery Garden Park and the Norcross Garden Club worked on the project.. Each piece is a celebration of nature, with depictions of seasonal colors, wildlife and plants.

Students participated from Norcross Elementary School, Beauty Baldwin Elementary School, Beaver Ridge Elementary School, Summerour Middle School, and Norcross High School.

Of special note is the contribution of Precision 2000, Inc., a Hispanic and female-owned construction company out of Atlanta, which donated manpower, materials and equipment to sandblast the old anti-graffiti paint off the wall. This donation (valued at $10,000) enabled the entire project to be completed.

Sugar Hill’s E Center garners award from Gas Authority of Georgia

The Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia has recognized the City of Sugar Hill for marketing excellence. The award is presented annually to municipally-owned natural gas systems served by the Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia for unique marketing initiatives. The City of Sugar Hill was recognized for its E-Center project, which will include state-of-the-art gas heating and water heating appliance technologies. Sugar Hill City Manager Paul Radford is shown with Scott Tolleson, director of the Municipal Gas Association of Georgia. The City of Sugar Hill is constructing a 43,000 square foot downtown centerpiece that will include office, retail, and restaurant space, a community gymnasium, theater, and other amenities. The City incorporated natural gas technologies in the design of the facility, including five 14-ton, 3-pipe, and one 8-ton Yanmar Gas Heat Pumps totaling 78 tons, as well as nine Rinnai tankless

water heaters for the building’s hot water needs.

Woody joins InsuranceHub in sales and customer service role

Woody

Diane Woody is the new leader of the sales and customer service teams for the consumer division at InsuranceHub in Lawrenceville. Jim Lloyd, founder and CEO of InsuranceHub, says:  “We are delighted to add Diane to our team. She has embraced our company culture and is quickly proving herself to be an excellent leader.” Woody was initially attracted to the insurance field because of her history of being part of a close-knit family and the Lao Asian community where she was taught to aid those in need. “I come from a large family – I’m one of seven sisters, so I was really drawn to the family-feel at InsuranceHub,” says Woody. She is a member of the board of the Lao Asian Community Services of Georgia, a non-profit organization focused on preserving cultural traditions and helping its members. When not working or volunteering, Woody can be found watching SEC college football on game day Saturdays or taking in the latest Marvel Superheroes movie.

Sleeping Above Chaos by Ann Hite

Reviewed by Karen Harris, Stone Mountain  |  This is an engrossing story about tangled relationships, haints on Black Mountain in North Carolina and family secrets that span generations.  Buster and Lee Wright are the sons of the sheriff of Swannanoa. They do not get along, and as they get older their conflicts intensify.  Ella Ruth Allen was born on Black Mountain.  Her mother, a talented artist, runs away with another man and leaves Ella Ruth with her father, Paul Allen, a villainous personage who wreaks havoc on Black Mountain. Paul leaves Ella Ruth with his mother, who did not at all approve of Ella Ruth’s mother’s city ways and behaviors. Ella Ruth finds clues to her parentage and in particular her mother’s untimely death, through meetings with the spirits on Black Mountain.  The relationship between Ella Ruth and the two Wright Brothers becomes tumultuous with the story building to a most satisfactory, if poignant conclusion.

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

In 21st century, poverty is still endemic in many parts of Georgia

(Continued from previous edition)

Although the stereotype of the poor white southerner in the early 20th century, as portrayed in popular media, was exaggerated, the problem of poverty was very real. The national mobilization of troops in World War I (1917-18) invited comparisons between the South and the rest of the country. Southern and Georgia whites had less money, less education, and poorer health than white Americans in general. Only southern blacks had more handicaps. In the 1920s matters became worse when the boll weevil devastated the South’s cotton culture and its economy.

Although the Great Depression of the 1930s shook the whole national economy to its foundations, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt isolated the already depressed South as an especially desperate economic problem. Erskine Caldwell, particularly in his phenomenal best-selling novels, Tobacco Road (1932) and God’s Little Acre (1933), provided the most indelible impressions of rural poverty in the South and continued to do so in both stage and screen versions.

Harry Crews‘s autobiography of his early days as part of a sharecropping family in Bacon County in southeastern Georgia, entitled A Childhood: The Biography of a Place (1978), is an equally poignant depiction of white poverty in the 1930s, as is Rick Bragg’s Ava’s Man (2001), a portrait of Bragg’s maternal grandfather and his children in and around Floyd County in the northwestern corner of the state.

World War II (1941-45) began the great economic revival for Georgia and the South. In and out of the armed forces, unskilled southern whites, and many African Americans as well, were trained for industrial and commercial work they had never dreamed of attempting, much less mastering. Military camps grew like mushrooms, especially in Georgia, and big industrial plants began to appear across the once rural landscape.

Soon, blue-collar families from every nook and cranny of old Georgia found their way to white-collar life in metropolitan areas like Atlanta. By the 1960s blacks had begun to share in this progress, but not all rural Georgians were beneficiaries of this recovery. Janisse Ray‘s Ecology of a Cracker Childhood (1999) describes her upbringing in a junkyard in Baxley in the 1960s and 1970s and the ways in which her family coped with the poverty that shaped their lives.

Such works remind us that although the late 20th century was a time of unprecedented prosperity for Georgia, poverty is still endemic. Inadequate public schools, disintegrating families, high crime rates, urban decay, drugs, and many other problems present obstacles for many Georgians, but the old curse of poverty no longer seems inescapable. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/poor-whites

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

Stately mansion asks for you to determine where it’s located

Today’s Mystery Photo is a stately mansion, which somehow reminds us of the Callanwolde Arts Center in the Druid Hills area of Atlanta. No, we’re not giving away where this picture is, just telling you that it reminds us of it. But where and what is this?  Send your idea along to elliott@brack.net, and include your current hometown.

Larger version of last issue’s mystery,
which focused only on the flag motif in the middle.

What we thought would be an easy Mystery Photo for the last edition turned out to be a stumper for everyone except Jim Savadelis of Duluth.  He wrote: “I believe the picture is the hub of the Atlanta Ferris Wheel,” and he was right. Here is a longer view of the Ferris Wheel, showing how the previous mystery was the center piece. The photo came from Jerry Colley of Alpharetta.

And all you others, well, you just struck out!

Local DAR chapter presents GwinnettForum with award of excellence

The Philadelphia Winn Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) of Lawrenceville has honored GwinnettForum with an award for Excellence in Local Media. Regent Kitty Watters says that “GwinnettForum and Elliott Brack consistently promote the work of Philadelphia Winn Chapter as well as all things Gwinnett!  First and foremost, Elliott is a newspaper man. To list all of his past and present accomplishments and activities would fill a book!  It is his dedication to the state of Georgia, especially Gwinnett County, and the work of selfless volunteers that keeps him engaged in the important issues, year after year.”  Ms. Watters is at the right, with Corresponding Secretary Lee Schermerhorn flanking the honoree.

Final Performance of the season by the Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra will be Saturday, May 12, at 7:30 p.m. at the Johns Creek United Methodist Church. The program is entitled “The American Dream, ”conducted by Maestro J. Wayne Baughman, and will feature Roger Wise as narrator and Brent Davis, baritone.

A “tale” of Georgia’s Eagles will be presented at the Southern Wings Bird club on Monday, May 14, at 7  p.m. at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center. Dr. Robert Sargent will tell of bald and golden eagles at the meeting. As program manager of Georgia Department of Natural Resources’s nongame office in Forsyth, he supervises a team of biologists, and is the agency’s lead for the conservation of raptors.

21st Season Finale of the Gwinnett Symphony Orchestra is Monday, May 14 at the Infinite Energy Center Theatre. Beginning at 6:30, the Youth Orchestra will perform “American Landscapes,” followed by the Orchestra and Chorus at 7:30 p.m. with “Songs of Mother Earth.” In this spectacular homage to Earth, the orchestra presents Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5 conducted by Mr. Robert Trocina and Rossini’s William Tell Overture conducted by Dr. Gregory Pritchard.  The chorus, conducted by Rick Smith, will perform an eclectic mix of spiritually evocative pieces.

(NEW) Chamber of Commerce Give Back: Friday, May 18, from 10 a.m. to noon. Help give back to the community and join a group at Peachtree Ridge Park, 3170 Suwanee Creek Road in Suwanee. The group will be spring cleaning the park’s grounds, planting and refurbishing green spaces, and generally sprucing up and readying the park for spring, summer and fall activities. Come and wear suitable clothes; bring work gloves. All work-related tools will be provided.

(NEW) Open House and Festival activities at the Shoal Creek Filter Plant of the Gwinnett Department of Water Resources.  This will be on May 18, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and features tours of this award-winning facility.  There will be crafts and games for kids, festival activities, and free fairground food. The Shoal Creek Filter plant, located at 1755 Buford Dam Road in Buford, has won the Georgia Association of Water Professionals Plant of the Year.  The facility can produce 75 million of drinkable water every day.

(NEW) Living for tomorrow: Cancer Prevention: Join Family and Consumer Science Agent Ines Beltran to learn about recommended breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screenings.  Also learn nutritional and physical activity guidelines for cancer prevention, healthy recipes, and resources to receive free cancer screenings in your community! Hosted by Gwinnett County Public Library, the program will take place Saturday, May 19 at 2 p.m. at the  Lawrenceville Branch Library, 1001 Lawrenceville Highway, Lawrenceville.  Registration is requested, but not required. RSVP to rachel.warner@gwinnettcounty.com. For more information, visit www.gwinnettpl.org or call 770-978-5154.

Free Photography Workshop at the Gwinnett County Collins Hill library, 455 Camp Perrin Road in Lawrenceville, on May 19, at 2 p.m. Join the Georgia Nature Photographers Association for this informal talk and Q&A photography workshop.  There will be information about cameras, editing software, and tips for getting better photographs with the equipment you already have.

Open House of the Gwinnett County Human Relations Commission on Wednesday, May 23. Stop in between 6 to 9 p.m. and be welcomed by commission members, learn about the commission’s mission and the progress of the 2018 work plans. The event will be held at Tacos and Tequilas Mexican Grill, 3480 Financial Center Way, Buford.

Fourth Annual Fast Track 5K will be Saturday, May 26 at the Southeastern Railway Museum. The race will start at 8:30 am near Downtown Duluth’s Town Green. Proceeds of the race will benefit the education and equipment restoration and conservation programs of the Museum. The event is co-sponsored by the City of Duluth.

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• Contributing columnist: George Wilson

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