11/20: Walton EMC responds; Congressional seats; Anti-Semitism

HEAVY DEBRIS and numerous broken poles made for lengthy repairs for Walton EMC crews rebuilding the electric grid in Southwest and Central Georgia after Hurricane Michael. For more information on how Walton EMC assisted other cooperatives, see This Edition below. (Photo credit: Greg Pannell, Walton EMC.)

Next GwinnettForum edition will appear on Nov. 27

Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, the next edition of GwinnettForum will appear on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2018. Meanwhile, we wish all our readers a great and safe Thanksgiving.—eeb

TODAY’S FOCUS: Walton EMC Assists Six EMCs in South Georgia in Restoring Power

EEB PERSPECTIVE: Congress Is Sole Judge of Who Should Be Seated in Both Houses

ANOTHER VIEW: Anti-Semitism Growing: When Good People Fail to Act, Evil Grows.

SPOTLIGHT: Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce

RECOMMENDED: Movie: Instant Family

GEORGIA TIDBIT: Savannah River Forms the Boundary with South Carolina

MYSTERY PHOTO: Menacing Giant Spider Seeks Someone To Figure Where Located

LAGNIAPPE: Ten GACS Athletes Win College Scholarships

CALENDAR: Nature Photo Workshop To Be November 30 at Suwanee Library

Walton EMC assists 6 EMCs in south Georgia in restoring power

By Greg Brooks

MONROE, Ga  |  Only 73 hours elapsed from the time Hurricane Michael was officially named until it came ashore. But in the warm Gulf of Mexico waters and with favorable upper atmosphere, that short period proved to be enough time for the hurricane to become a strong Category 4 storm – and almost a Category 5 – before making landfall.

Once on shore, the storm made a beeline to Southwest Georgia where it was still a strong Category 3 hurricane, packing winds of 111 to 129 miles per hour as it pummeled the countryside. In the aftermath, several Electric Membership Cooperatives (EMCs)  in a swath from the southwest corner of Georgia to the central part of the state were in the dark.

As the massive job of getting the electricity restored got underway, some EMCs predicted outages of five to six weeks. More than 210,000 EMC customer-owners were out of power across the region. The call went out for help, and Walton EMC answered.

By the time the relief effort was over, Walton EMC had assisted Colquitt EMC in Moultrie; Grady EMC in Cairo; Mitchell EMC in Camilla; Oconee EMC in Dudley; Sumter EMC in Americus; and Three Notch EMC in Donalsonville.

The damage rivaled other hurricanes Walton EMC lineman had fought with one major difference: Michael’s damage was much more inland than what they had experienced with other storms.

In deepest southwest Georgia, at Three Notch EMC, besides every customer-owner being without power, the utility’s office was also uninhabitable after the roof blew off.

Walton EMC Right-of-Way Coordinator Greg Pannell  says: “One storm I worked before was Katrina, and this rivals it pretty well.” Pannell, who is also a journeyman line technician, adds: “It was pretty much the same scene again.”

Line Superintendent Kevin Underwood concurred. “The damage reminded me of Hurricane Hugo, without all the standing water.”

Powell added: “For every 15 to 20 spans of line, there was at least one to two broken poles and five to six spans of wire down.” A span is the area between two poles of a power line.

Underwood also spoke of massive destruction. “Some damage was so bad, we just abandoned what was already there and ran new wire. It would have taken too long to fish it out of all the debris.”

Not only did your co-op assist with rebuilding power lines, it also helped reestablish lines of communication.

When the job was finished, initial estimates of outage durations proved to be wrong. Instead of five to six weeks, EMCs generally had most customer-owners’ power restored in just two to three weeks.

The only customers-owners now without power are those whose homes are still too damaged to be reconnected to the grid.

Pannell sums it up: “For a lineman, that’s what you’re striving for, to get the lights back on. When one person comes up and says thanks, and you see how grateful they are, that’s what makes it worthwhile.”

Walton EMC is a customer-owned power company (also called a cooperative) that serves 128,000 accounts over its 10-county service area between Atlanta and Athens.

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

Congress is sole judge of who should be seated in both houses

By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum

NOV. 20, 2018  |  The hullabaloo over voter fraud all across the country, we suspect, is much ado about not much. Yet here in Georgia, we’ve heard of some who say they were, in one way or another, blocked from voting. Most election officials are upright citizens, and wouldn’t stand for it if they suspected fraud.

However, it wasn’t always so. Down in Telfair County, back in 1947, the dead were voted. Reporter George Goodwin recognized the fraud when he saw that many of those voting had done so alphabetically. Checking the cemetery records, he found them all dead. For this solid reporting, Mr. Goodwin won the Pulitzer Prize for The Atlanta Journal for uncovering this story.

While stealing elections via voting the dead may be one way of insuring that your candidate wins, the U.S. Congress has a provision that could threaten some duly-elected persons to be seated in Washington.

We heard about this on Georgia Public Radio’s Operation Rewind, as this panel of media people talked about the results of the recent Georgia election. The provision concerns who determines the winner for a seat in both houses of the Congress.

The rule that applies reads: “Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members.”

You read that right. Each chamber may exclude or refuse to seat a member-elect. Because of unusual circumstances, this has happened, though not often.

• Louis C. Wyman(R–New Hampshire) was declared the victor of the  US Senate contest in 1974 in New Hampshire by a narrow margin on Election Day (355 votes). A first recount gave the election instead to John A. Durkin (D–New Hampshire) by ten votes, but a second recount swung the result back to Wyman by only two votes. The state of New Hampshire certified Wyman as the winner, but Durkin appealed to the Senate, which had a 60 vote Democratic majority. The Senate refused to seat Wyman while considering the matter. After a long and contentious debate in the Senate, with Republicans filibustering attempts by the Democratic majority to seat Durkin instead, a special election was held, with Durkin winning handily and becoming Senator.
• From 1869 to 1900, the House of Representatives refused to seat over 30 Southern Democratic candidates declared the winner by their states because the House Elections Committee concluded that fraud, violence, or intimidation had been used against black voters, or, in some cases, that the election statutes of the states themselves were unconstitutional. (Giles v. Harris(1903) ended the latter practice.) In some cases a new election was ordered, while in others the defeated Republican or Populist candidate was seated instead.
• Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.(D–New York), a sitting representative, was excluded by the House of Representatives in 1967 because of allegations of corruption. He successfully sued to retain his seat in a landmark Supreme Court decision.

There are other examples.

Woodall

Bourdeaux

What if House Democrats decide to take as hard a line as Sen. Mitch McConnell did in blocking one Supreme Court nominee (Merrick Garland), and ramming through another Supreme Court jurist?  Could the Democrats look at several close elections (amid cries of “fraud”), and decide to seat the person who came in second?

You say it probably won’t happen this year?  Consider the close race between Rob Woodall and Carolyn Bourdeaux for the 7th Congressional District seat, where Woodall was declared the winner by 419 votes, and now Bourdeaux wants a recount.

Apparently the Congressional rules allow such. We doubt it will happen.  But during these turbulent political times?  Don’t count it out.

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

Anti-Semitism growing: When good people fail to act, evil grows

By Jack Bernard, contributing columnist

PEACHTREE CITY, Ga.  |  As a vice president with a national firm, I worked with the CEO of Forbes Healthcare System in Pittsburgh, Pa. He is active in the Jewish community. So, the mass murder of innocent elderly Jews in their synagogue was personal.

Jews are one of the better accepted minority groups in America. Many of our better-known Americans are or were Jewish. To name a few: Adm. Hyman G. Rickover; Bob Dylan, Bernie Sanders, Wolf Blitzer, Tony Curtis, Kirk Douglas, Jared Kushner, Hank Greenberg, and Natalie Portman.

Others have one Jewish parent, including: Bruce Seagal, Scarlett Johansson, Lisa Bonet, Harrison Ford, Robert DeNiro and Lenny Kravitz. Others have converted to Judaism, including Ivanka Trump, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Louis Armstrong, Ike Turner, Helen Reddy, Sammy Davis Jr. and Jackie Wilson.

Being Jewish has generally not been a point of contention in modern America. That is, until the Trump era. Anti-Semitism is now on the rise, stoked by the nationalistic rhetoric spouted by our President. But, the attacks are coming from both the left and right.

Per the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), there were 1,986 incidents in 2017: “The number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States rose 57 percent in 2017 – the largest single-year increase on record. The sharp rise was in part because of a significant increase in incidents in schools and on college campuses, which nearly doubled for the second year in a row.”

In Georgia, there were 58 anti-Semitic incidents in 2017. That is 58 too many. Many were simple vandalism, but there were a large number that were harassment. There were even several bomb threats.

But, these anti-Semitic incidents have not been confined to red, conservative states. Frankly, by far the worst anti-Semitism that I have witnessed was in liberal New York from blue collar ethnic groups consisting of relatively recent European immigrants.

California, my former home, is a liberal state with a large Jewish population… but had many more reported incidents, 286. Some attacks were from the left, combining verbal assaults on Israel with anti-Jewish statements, particularly at San Francisco State University.

As Americans, we must be vigilant and not let the plague of anti-Semitism grow. If you hear something bigoted, stand up and say something to the offender. If you know of anyone harassing Jews… or any other minority… report them to the authorities. When good people fail to act, evil grows.

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

Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce

The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s sponsor is the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce.  The Gwinnett Chamber is the forum for business, government, education, healthcare, arts/culture/entertainment, and philanthropic and public-service communities to come together to advance our region’s economy and enrich Gwinnett’s quality of life. The Gwinnett Chamber strengthens existing businesses, facilitates the growth of quality job opportunities and ensures success continues to live here.

• For more details, go to gwinnettchamber.org.
• For a list of other sponsors of this forum, click here.

Politics sometimes seems like playing checkers with a 2^nd grader

Editor, the Forum:

Not in all cases, but in the headline races, it reminds me of playing checkers with a second grader.  The rules change continually to benefit them, and they simply must win.  If they don’t, the board goes flying through the air and they throw a tantrum.

— Byron Gilbert, Duluth

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

Movie: Instant Family

From Cindy Evans, Duluth: My husband and I saw Instant Family recently and enjoyed it! It definitely had some sweet spots as well as comedy and some drama. Starring Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne as a childless couple, we watched them become foster parents to three siblings. Navigating all the changes and challenges, they handled it with humor and heart. Octavia Spencer also did a good job as one of the foster care workers. It is based on a true story and is one hour and 59 minutes long and rated PG-13. It was filmed in the Atlanta area.”

• 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

Savannah River forms the boundary with South Carolina

Talmadge Memorial Bridge in Savannah over the Savannah River.

The Savannah River basin includes portions of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia and flows through the Blue Ridge Mountains, Piedmont, and Coastal Plain of Georgia.

The Savannah River forms the boundary between South Carolina and Georgia and begins at Lake Hartwell, in Hart County, at the confluence of the Seneca and Tugaloo rivers. From this point it flows southeast to Savannah, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean.

Above the junction of the Seneca and Tugaloo rivers, the major headwater streams of the Seneca River are the Keowee River and Twelve Mile Creek. The Tugaloo River is formed by the union of the Tallulah and Chattooga rivers. These headwater streams originate on the southern slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina and Georgia.

Savannah River watershed

Flow, sediment load, and the flood plain of the Savannah River have been modified by 11large dams above the fall line, which impound more than 180,000 acres of water.

Below the fall line, dredging and channelization have altered the historical legacy of the Savannah. As a result the Savannah lacks the vast vegetated flood plains in the freshwater tidal zone that are characteristic of such other Georgia estuaries as the Altamaha River. However, the Savannah does have extensive developments of more saline intertidal vegetational zones near the sea. The Savannah National Wildlife Refuge seeks to protect, preserve, and educate the public about the diversity and fragility of this river system.

In the late 1990s the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) outlined significant man-made and natural threats to the Savannah River system. For example, the construction of dams to provide hydroelectric power and to reserve surface water to sustain municipal water requirements leads to releases of cold water with low dissolved oxygen, which can result in massive fish mortalities below the dam. Development in the watershed can lead to increased urban/storm water runoff, nonpoint source releases into the watershed, and the loss of critical wetland habitats.

Discharges and releases from the Savannah River Site, a nuclear materials processing center in South Carolina that was listed as an EPA Superfund site in 1989, also threaten the health of the Savannah. As the drought in Georgia continues, the water tables continue to drop farther beneath the surface. As the water tables drop, concerns increase over saltwater intrusion into groundwater supplies and the potential for an interaction with surface water supplies.

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

Menacing giant spider seeks someone to figure where located

Today’s Mystery Photo grabs your attention immediately. It’s menacing, and you hope that real spiders don’t grow that big! So your assignment, if you care to take it, is to tell what this is, and where it is located, plus name the artist who devised it. That enough?  Send your replies to elliott@brack.net and include your hometown.

The last Mystery Photo was that of a statue, with a mighty big clue looking at you. The statue was that of John Stith Pemberton, given credit for inventing Coca-Cola, and the statue is outside the World of Coke in downtown Atlanta.  Several people quickly recognized it. Among those easily recognizing it were Jim Savadelis, Duluth; Molly Titus, Peachtree Corners; Philomena Robertson of Oakwood; and Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill. Rob Ponder of Duluth said: “Way too easy with the Coca Cola visible on the glass.” The photo came from Jerry Colley of Alpharetta.

George Graf of Palmyra, Va.: “Pemberton served in the Confederate Army for the entire Civil War. During one battle involving a sword fight while on horseback, Pemberton was shot and slashed by a saber. Before the war, Pemberton was a chemist and druggist, so he had access to morphine and became dependant upon it to ease his pain after the war. He began to experiment with opium-free medicine, as he knew his morphine addiction was dangerous. Pemberton’s concoction used coca leaves and kola nuts and was called French Wine Coca. A local prohibition was enacted in 1886, forcing Pemberton to remove the alcoholic element and his formula thus became Coca-Cola. It was Pemberton’s partner and bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, who suggested that the logo should employ two letter ‘Cs’ in Coca–Cola, instead of Coca-Kola. Robinson was also responsible for the handwriting of the logo.”

Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas, added more information: “So, is there any truth to the legend that Coke used to contain cocaine? The short answer is “Yes, but not anymore.’ Although cocaine was not made illegal in the United States until 1914, by 1903 the tide of public opinion had already turned against the widely used (and abused) narcotic, leading Coca-Cola to remove nearly all cocaine from the company’s beverages. But Coke wouldn’t become completely cocaine-free until 1929, when scientists perfected the process of removing all psychoactive elements from coca-leaf extract.”

10 GACS students awarded college athletic scholarships

Ten students of Greater Atlanta Christian School have won athletic scholarships to colleges across the country. In the last three years, GACS has sent 60 student-athletes to compete at the college level. The students winning these scholarships include, from left on the first row are Kennedi Williams, basketball, Liberty University, Douglasville; Shantel Hutton, soccer, Texas A&M, Duluth; Savannah Mitchell, swimming,  Arizona State, Tucker; Maya Timberlake, basketball, USC Upstate, Suwanee; and Kennedy Tolson, soccer, University of Maryland, Duluth. On the second row are Pete Klueber, lacrosse, Mercer; Dacula; Shane Lusser, baseball, Wofford College, Duluth; Ben Sheppard, basketball, Belmont University, Suwanee; Kevin Hood, swimming, Providence College, Duluth; and Josh Rose, Lacrosse, University of Utah, Duluth.

TURKEY TROT: on Thanksgiving morning, November 22, with the Women’s Club of Sugarloaf Country Club Charities, Inc. sponsoring its annual 5K run.  Proceeds benefit six local charities:  Rainbow Village, Duluth Co Op, Partnership Against Domestic Violence, The Next Stop, Connections Homes and New Directions. The race begins at 9 a.m. Packets may be picked up at 8 a.m. at Sugarloaf Clubhouse parking lot that morning or from 4-6 p.m. on November 21. For more information contact: Judy Gagne at jbgagne@aol.com.

FIRESIDE CHAT with Dr. Mark Bouzyk, co-founder and chief scientific officer for AKESOgen will be November 29 at 9:30 a.m. at Gwinnett Technical College, in the Life Science Building 900. Cost is $10. Learn how your family history impacts your DNA; learn the difference in genetics and genomics; and join the discussion of having a choice in healthcare.

FREE NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP at the Gwinnett Library Suwanee Branch, 361 Main Street in Suwanee, on November 30, at 2 p.m. Join the Georgia Nature Photographers Association for this informal talk and Q&A nature photography workshop.  They will provide information about cameras, editing software, and tips for getting better photographs with the equipment you already have.

GwinnettForum is provided to you at no charge every Tuesday and Friday.

Meet our team

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

More

• Location: We are located in Suite 225, 40 Technology Park, Peachtree Corners, Ga. 30092.
• Work with us: If you would like to serve as an underwriter, click here to learn more.

Subscriptions to GwinnettForum are free.

• Click to subscribe.
• We hope you’ll keep receiving the great news and information from GwinnettForum, but if you need to unsubscribe, go to this page and unsubscribe in the appropriate box.

© 2018, Gwinnett Forum.com. Gwinnett Forum is an online community commentary for exploring pragmatic and sensible social, political and economic approaches to improve life in Gwinnett County, Ga. USA.