RECENTLY DEDICATE: The classical architectural style of the new Mary Our Queen Church, Peachtree Corners, is captured in the hour before its doors swung open for the March 17 Mass of Dedication. The construction partners included architects Harrison Design, general contractors Whiting-Turner and Catholic Construction Services. Read more in Today’s Focus below. (Photo By Michael Alexander.)
TODAY’S FOCUS: Mary, Our Queen Church Gets New Life Out of Buffalo, N.Y. Church
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Shackling of Juvenile Defendants in Courtrooms Usually Improper
SPOTLIGHT: Heaven and Alvarez, LLC
UPCOMING: Norcross To Present Findings of Survey of Extended-Stay Motels
NOTABLE: Jackson EMC Foundation Awards $55,000 to Gwinnett Charities
RECOMMENDED: Streaming television show, Corner Gas.
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Federal District Judge Emory Speer Also Headed Mercer Law School
MYSTERY PHOTO: From Monuments and Lighthouses to an In-Floor Design
LAGNIAPPE: Another View of a Movie Star at the Cyclorama at Atlanta History Center
CALENDAR: Ribbon Cutting Soon To Be Held at Renovated Club Drive Park
Mary, Our Queen Church gets new life out of Buffalo, N.Y., church
During the Liturgy of the Eucharist, Father Darragh Griffith, second from left, the current pastor of Mary Our Queen Church, Peachtree Corners, Father David M. Dye, second from right, senior priest and former administrator of Mary Our Queen Church, and Father Francis “Butch” Mazur, third from right, the last pastor of St. Gerard Church, Buffalo, New York, join their brother clergy on the altar, including Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, right, the principal celebrant. Photo By Michael Alexander
(Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from a story that first appeared in The Georgia Bulletin, newspaper of the Atlanta Archdiocese of The Catholic Church.—eeb)
By Anderson Redding
PEACHTREE CORNERS, Ga. | In 2008, Father Francis “Butch” Mazur closed and locked the doors of St. Gerard Church in Buffalo, N.Y., where he served as pastor.
For more than 100 years, St. Gerard had been a symbol of faith in downtown Buffalo. But as parishioners began moving to the suburbs, there were too few members to sustain the parish.
This spring, artifacts from this parish church have a new home at Mary Our Queen Church in Peachtree Corners. The parish had been using temporary space for worship, which will now be a parish hall and commercial kitchen.
Father Mazur can recite the history of the 100 years of St. Gerard as easily as his own family history. And now, despite more than 900 miles between them, St. Gerard has given new life to the Georgia church.
During the church’s dedication, parishioners craned their heads toward the high, sky-blue ceiling flanked by stained-glass windows that once belonged to St. Gerard.
Archbishop Wilton Gregory, Atlanta’s archbishop, celebrated the Mass of Dedication for Mary Our Queen, joined by its pastor, Fr. Darragh Griffith and former pastor, Fr. David Dye, along with Mazur and other priests.
In his homily, the archbishop said: “Please take home to the Diocese of Buffalo the gratitude of this whole community, and the assurance that they will cherish — as you cherished — the treasures of religious art and artifacts that once lived in the cold Buffalo region and now will sweat with us here in Atlanta.”
Jeff Armbruster, a Mary Our Queen parishioner for more than 20 years, is one of many parishioners involved in the project of moving artifacts from the beginning, when the plan was originally to bring the entire St. Gerard Church to Peachtree Corners — stone by stone.
When the cost was determined to be too great, they chose to go with the next best option — bringing inspiration and artifacts from the altar to the tabernacle, a representation of the pietà and the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The many elements from the Buffalo church are intermingled with features such as the Stations of the Cross, a Holy Family statue, and the crucifix and corpus from the temporary Mary Our Queen Church.
Mary Margaret Thomas, who served on the church’s interior committee, said the new church is “a perfect blend of the modern and classical.” She adds: “When I walk in, I’m just in awe. I’m so excited for our parish and for the Catholic community to have this special space.” Also walking through the church doors in awe were members of the Ciezki family — 90-year-old Dick, his wife, Dorothy, daughter-in-law, Frankie, and son, Robb, who served as a deacon during the dedication Mass. Frankie Ciezki, with tears in her eyes, showed a photo of her and her husband on their wedding day, standing in the expanse of St. Gerard Church. Dick Ciezki said walking into Mary Our Queen was “just like being back home.” As the final trustee of St. Gerard, Ciezki said it was difficult to say goodbye to the parish he called home for more than 30 years.
“I signed the paperwork that St. Gerard was closed,” he said. “I was there when we closed the doors. And here we are today. Isn’t that just wonderful?”
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Shackling of juvenile defendants in courtrooms usually improper
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
MAY 14, 2019 | Someone did a good job eons ago when the first chain was developed. It’s proven to be a useful tool to mankind in all sorts of ways.
Heavy metal chains, when hitched to a car or truck, have the strength to snatch a car out of a ditch, or even a ravine.
What pleasure you can get from a chain when you hang it around a stout oak limb, and attach a swing. Kids, as well as adults, are absolutely transformed while swinging.
Look at the attractiveness of a pendant attached to a gold chain around a woman’s neck. Even some men like often-massive gold chains around their necks. Not for me.
Not all usage of chains are wonderful. Chains have been used for ages to keep slaves or prisoners from escaping. The very phrase, “Chain Gang,” especially here in the South, brings to mind years of cruelly shackling people so as to limit their mobility. It’s not pretty.
All this came to mind when reading about a Clayton County judge who does not particularly like to see juveniles shackled in chains in his courtroom. That comes from Juvenile Court Judge Steven Teske who recognizes the impropriety of chaining youths in his court. Allowing these juveniles to come into his court without chains around their ankles and wrists, promotes decorum, allows the prisoner to be seen less intimidating, and encourages the administration of justice.
Teske
Judge Teske has long been an advocate for saner treatment of people before him. He was recognized in 2018 by the National Juvenile Law Center, the oldest public interest law firm for children in this county. He was one of the recipients of its Leadership Prizes for substantially improving the lives of the country’s most vulnerable youth .
When someone before a court is chained, it can include handcuffs, straitjackets, leg irons, belly chains and others. To us, the mere chaining of a person before the court casts a certain aura of implied guilt about the one chained. It says to the world, “Watch out for this person. They may try something, so we had better restrain him.”
Some 24 states do not allow juveniles to be chained. Efforts in recent legislative sessions in Georgia to eliminate juvenile chaining have not produced results. In the last session, Rep. Mandi Ballinger of Canton, chair of the Juvenile Justice Committee, introduced House Bill 438 and got a hearing, but nothing more came of it. South Carolina enacted legislation in 2014 that prohibits the use of restraints for juveniles appearing in court, unless the judge finds they are necessary to prevent harm and no less restrictive alternatives are available.
According to the National Juvenile Defender Center, the practice of restraining youth who pose no safety threat can humiliate, stigmatize and traumatize young people. In many jurisdictions, young people are automatically shackled for court appearances, even if they are accused only of misdemeanor, non-violent or status offenses.
Proponents of shackling argue it is a necessary security procedure to protect the judge, lawyers and other courtroom observers. However, with deputy sheriffs and bailiffs present, often armed, it would seem that the officials could easily protect people within the courtroom should a juvenile attempt anything.
Chaining is routinely done in adult courts. When a person appeared in chains, think of the impact that makes on the jury. “That guy must be dangerous, for them have him in chains,” we suspect jurors are thinking.
Hurrah for Judge Steven Teske. He recognizes a problem, and is working to see that wrong righted!
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Norcross to present findings of survey of extended-stay motels
The City of Norcross’ LiveNorcross Initiative will present the findings of its months-long survey of the residents of extended-stay motels in Norcross. Join us, along with Mayor Craig Newton and other city officials, as we present the results of this one-of-a-kind study. The site will be the Norcross Cultural Arts and Community Center, 10 College Street in Norcross on Tuesday, May 21 at 6:30 p.m. The survey, the first of its kind in Gwinnett County, paints a picture of the population that lives in these motels.
Like in many other cities across metro Atlanta, there are limited residential options for working and middle-class families in Norcross. A defining feature of the housing landscape in this city of 17,000 is that it is dotted with extended-stay motels, and most of these are home to families and elderly individuals. In fall 2018, LiveNorcross surveyed the residents of the nine motels that serve as de facto housing to better understand who lives there and what barriers the residents face to finding permanent housing. The survey, the first of its kind in Gwinnett County, paints a picture of the population that lives in these motels
The City of Norcross was selected in 2017 to participate in a community development program that offers cities expertise and resources to address the need for more affordable housing. The City has partnered with schools, nonprofits and other community stakeholders to pursue innovative housing solutions that promote economic development and enhance the quality of life for all.
The program, known as the Georgia Initiative for Community Housing (GICH), is offered with support from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, the Georgia Municipal Association and UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government. LiveNorcross is the name for the GICH program in Norcross.
Tour of Lilburn’s Historic Wynne-Russell House will be May 18
Join house historian and author, Shannon Bradley Byers, and her husband, David Byers of Timeless Paranormal, for a Historic/Paranormal tour of the Historic Wynne-Russell House in Lilburn at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 18. It is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is at 4684 Wynne-Russell Drive in Lilburn.
Begin the tour to learn about the Wynne and Russell families and their amazing home that still stands on its original location 193 years after being built in 1826. You will hear about their ties to other prominent Gwinnett County and Atlanta families, results from an archeological dig conducted at the house, and tales of paranormal investigations at the house. (Skeptics are welcome). There will be demonstrations and explanations of the equipment that is used during an investigation.
The two hour tour is free (though donations toward the preservation of the home are always welcome) and family friendly. There will be copies of books on the house available for sale, with a portion of the sales donated to the WRH Preservation Fund. No reservations are required for the tour.
Jackson EMC Foundation awards $55,000 to Gwinnett charities
The Jackson EMC Foundation board of directors awarded a total $103,850 in grants during its April meeting, including $55,050 to organizations serving Gwinnett County.
$15,000 to Camp Twin Lakes, a not-for-profit organization that offers year-round recreational, therapeutic and educational programming for children facing serious illness and other challenges, to help children in Jackson EMC’s 10-county service area attend its state-of-the-art, fully accessible campsites.
$15,000 to Spectrum Autism Support Group, a parent-run nonprofit group in Suwanee that provides Gwinnett and Hall County families with support, education and resources for the entire spectrum of autism disorders, to help disadvantaged autistic individuals ages four to 22 attend the organization’s weeklong summer camp program, with daily activities that teach social skills lessons.
$10,000 to Extra Special People, in Watkinsville, to provide an opportunity for special needs or seriously ill children from low income or financially distressed families in Banks, Barrow, Clarke, Franklin, Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson, Madison and Oglethorpe counties to attend an eight-week camp experience where they can explore nature, discover their own abilities, master new skills and make new friends.
$6,550 to Path Project, a community and youth development organization dedicated to increasing graduation rates for at-risk children growing up in mobile home parks in Gwinnett and Hall counties, to help fund a summer soccer camp for 50 elementary school-aged children.
$6,000 to FOCUS (Families of Children Under Stress), a nonprofit agency serving children, teens and adults with developmental disabilities and their families, to help provide 20 children the opportunity to build social skills, self-respect, character and community living skills at Camp Hollywood in Lawrenceville.
$2,500 to Camp To Belong, (Foster Siblings Reunited), to enable children in the 10 counties Jackson EMC serves to attend a summer camp that reunites brothers and sisters living separately in foster care or other out-of-home care to strengthen relationships, increase self-esteem, create healthier attitudes and childhood memories.
D’Angelo gets promoted to new role at Gwinnett Chamber
D’Angelo
Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce announce the promotion of Cally D’Angelo to senior director, membership services/small business. In her new role, effective June 1, D’Angelo will manage the Gwinnett Chamber’s small business initiatives, including programming and consulting. In addition, she will direct some of the organization’s key membership offerings, such as its affinity programs, as well as oversee the Gwinnett Young Professionals portfolio. Currently the director of Programs and Events, she has successfully launched the creation and rebranding of several of the Gwinnett Chamber’s signature programs since 2013. D’Angelo was previously with the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce, Port Wentworth Chamber of Commerce, Visit Tybee and the Statesboro-Bulloch Chamber of Commerce and Development Authority. She earned her Nonprofit Organization Management certification from the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Organization Management (IOM) in 2017 and served as a class advisor for IOM Southeast Institute in 2018.
Jackson EMC linemen match well against others in competition
Jackson EMC linemen out matched many others from across the state at the 26th annual Georgia Lineman’s Rodeo, held May 4 in Fort Valley.
Four Jackson EMC Journeyman teams finished in the top ten out of a total of 29 teams. And, five apprentices finished in the top ten out of a group of 76 apprentices from across the state. These competitors completed a series of events that test traditional linemen skills and tasks. In total, Jackson EMC sent eight journeymen teams and 15 apprentices to the Georgia Lineman’s Rodeo.
Based on their experience and training, linemen who have worked in the industry for at least seven years, and show the necessary skills, receive the distinction of journeymen. For rodeo, a journeymen linemen team includes three competitors who test their skills in a series of four events. Apprentice linemen also compete in four individual events and complete a written test.
This year’s competitive events at the rodeo included: Hurtman rescue, switch relocation, armor rod replacement, jumper replacement, tank mount arrestor change, yard light replacement and insulator replacement on a cross arm.
Corner Gas
Streaming TV show on Amazon Prime
“Some people are hip, with the latest clothes, food, even what they watch on TV. We’ve just started watching a streaming show on Amazon, entitled Corner Gas. To show how hip we are, the show ran in 107 episodes of about 20 minutes each from 2004 to 2009. To us, it’s still fresh, since we just started watching. The show focuses on everyday, often ridiculous, topics,. However, it’s so well written and enjoyable, with barbs thrown in at every turn. It’s about a fictional town of Dog River in Saskatchewan, the only gas station for miles on those lonely Canadian plains. There are only eight main characters, each distinct, showing their own peculiarities, and boy, are some peculiar! You have to pay close attention to get all the wisecracks, but you come away happy to enjoy such a well-staged episodes. Not for everyone, but solid for us.”—eeb
- 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
Federal District Judge Speer also headed Mercer Law School
(Continued from previous edition)
Emory Speer’s success in Yarborough catapulted him to the federal bench. In 1885 Arthur appointed him to the federal judgeship for the southern district of Georgia, where he continued his support for civil rights, issuing important rulings in favor of federal election law and in opposition to peonage, an oppressive labor system that had developed throughout the post-emancipation South. Speer’s appointment required him to relocate to Macon, where he would also serve as Dean of the Mercer University Law School, a position he held for more than two decades.
Perhaps Speer’s most important work in protecting the rights of African Americans came in Jamison v. Wimbish (1904), a habeas corpus petition involving a black man placed on a chain gang by the city of Macon for his inability to pay a fine stemming from a drunk and disorderly charge. Outraged at the treatment of Henry Jamison, Speer freed him, while offering an expansive interpretation of the due process clause of the 14th Amendment that upheld the defendant’s right to trial by jury, a decision that prompted debate throughout the national legal community. When the city of Macon appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and won, Speer simply ignored the decision. A subsequent ruling by the Supreme Court of Georgia allowed Jamison to remain free, but it was Speer’s attack on the constitutionality of the chain gang that white Georgians remembered.
Some of Speer’s other views were less controversial. A nationalist who drew from the Civil War the lesson that the South needed to integrate into the nation, Speer pronounced himself a disciple of Alexander Hamilton and viewed economic progress as a means of binding the nation together. In a series of cases involving railroads, Speer attempted to balance the need for economic expansion with federal efforts to regulate in the public interest. And there were limits to his vision of constitutional equality, which placed him more within the southern mainstream. He strongly opposed a constitutional challenge to Georgia’s ban on interracial marriage, for example, and in a 1902 speech, he seemed to shift his stance on black voting when he publicly lamented that Reconstruction had gone too far in enfranchising African Americans.
Still, Speer made plenty of enemies in his career, and controversies eventually caught up with him. When he favored former president Theodore Roosevelt for the Republican nomination against the incumbent William Howard Taft in 1912, the Taft Justice Department began an investigation into Speer’s activities, which led to an inquiry the following year by a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee. Allegations included engaging in favoritism toward his son-in-law’s law firm, mishandling bankruptcy cases, defying the U.S. Supreme Court, and exceeding his own court’s jurisdiction.
The investigation culminated in two weeks of testimony before a three-member House Subcommittee in Macon and Savannah, in which 62 individuals directed a barrage of criticism at Speer, the majority of it relating to his behavior in the peonage and chain gang cases. Despite sensational publicity, the investigations failed to yield any charges. Although Speer was vindicated, the following year his opponents succeeded in passing a bill to divide the southern district of Georgia in two—in effect, cutting his geographical domain in half.
Speer died in Macon on December 13, 1918, four years after the investigations ended.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia online, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
From monuments and lighthouses to an in-floor design
Look at this handsome in-floor design. Now figure out what this Mystery Photo is about, and where it is, and send your answers to elliott@brack.net.
First in identifying the most recent mystery photo was Jo Shrader of Suwanee: “I think this is Pointe du Hoc Normandy Beach. This is what I found. We visited Normandy just last spring.” She’s right. The photo came from Jerry Colley of Alpharetta. Jo adds:”La Pointe du Hoc is a promontory with a 100 foot cliff overlooking the English Channel on the northwestern coast of Normandy in the Calvados department, France. During World War II it was the highest point between the American sector landings at Utah Beach to the west and Omaha Beach to the east. The German army fortified the area with concrete casemates and gun pits. On D-Day, the United States Army Ranger Assault Group attacked and captured Pointe du Hoc after scaling the cliffs, under heavy German fire.”
Another person from Suwanee, Scott LeCraw, also recognized the photo. He says: “Point du Hoc is a prominent terrain feature on the coast of Normandy, France. During World War II, the Germans established a battery of powerful 155mm guns that took advantage of the sweeping views of the coastline. The Allies knew those weapons were a huge threat to the D-Day landings. The job of neutralizing them was given to the Second Ranger Battalion, who scaled the cliffs and assaulted the position. Finding the guns had been moved, the Rangers fought through to the new position and succeeded in destroying the guns. The monument in the picture was the site of President Reagan’s famous speech on the 50th anniversary of D-Day where he spoke to ‘the boys of Pointe du Hoc.’My family and I will be travelling there in a few weeks for the 75th anniversary.”
Others recognizing it include Fran Worrall, Lawrenceville; Emmett Clower of Snellville; and Jim Savadelis, Duluth.
George Graf of Palmyra, Va. also nailed the mystery. “The monument was erected by the French to honor elements of the American Second Ranger Battalion under the command of Lt. Col. James E. Rudder. During the American assault of Omaha and Utah beaches on June 6, 1944, these U.S. Army Rangers scaled the 100-foot cliffs and seized the German artillery pieces that could have fired on the American landing troops at Omaha and Utah beaches. At a high cost of life, they successfully defended against determined German counterattacks. The monument consists of a simple granite pylon positioned atop a German concrete bunker with tablets at its base inscribed in French and English. The monument was formally transferred to the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) for perpetual care and maintenance on January 11, 1979. This battle-scarred area on the left flank of Omaha Beach remains much as the Rangers left it.”
Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. adds: “This World War II monument is located on a cliff eight miles west of Normandy American Cemetery, which overlooks Omaha Beach, France. It was erected by the French to honor elements of the American Second Ranger Battalion. The monument consists of a simple granite pylon positioned atop a German concrete bunker with tablets at its base inscribed in French and English. This battle-scarred area, on the left flank of Omaha Beach and potted throughout with deep craters left by the multitude of bombs dropped on the site during the siege, remains much as the Rangers left it in June 1944. My wife and I visited this monument in September 2018. We were in awe of the challenges that faced the US Armed forces, when we saw first-hand the 100-foot cliffs that had to be scaled to reach the German bunkers, and then by the deeply cratered landscape showing the impacts of the constant bombing by the Germans in their attempt to retake Pointe du Hoc (which they never did). I have included a couple of photos that I took during our visit. The first one is now a serene view of the cliffs as they appear today, and another of the massive cratered landscape caused by the falling bombs.”
Another view of Clark Gable at the Atlanta Cyclorama
Roving Photographer Frank Sharp visited the Cyclorama at the Atlanta History Center recently, and contributes this view of a wounded Union soldier, with the face of Movie Star Clark Gable. If you haven’t seen the new presentation of the Battle of Atlanta at the Cyclorama, put it on your list to get done. The upgrade of the staging is stunning!
Roots of Migration and Life After Resettlement: Join Gwinnett County Public Library and Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta for a community discussion on the history of war, imperialism, and refugee resilience that has shaped the present-day Southeast Asian American community across the country. Impact Litigation Director Phi Nguyen and Supervising Attorney Vân Huynh will explore the refugee crisis, refugee resettlement in the United States, and the impact that continued policing and limited resources has had on an often overlooked side of Asian America. This program will take place on Wednesday, May 15 at 7 p.m. at the Suwanee Branch, 361 Main Street. For more information, visit www.gwinnettpl.org or call 770-978-5154
Ribbon Cutting of renovated Club Drive Park is scheduled to be held at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, May 21. The park is located at 3330 Club Drive, Lawrenceville. The park is a short distance from the intersection of Shackelford Road and Pleasant Hill Road.
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