CASTING AWAY: Roving Photographer Frank Sharp captured this idyllic scene on the Chattahoochee River, in what looks almost like a painting. The fisherman’s line is about to hit the water, giving one of the local trout a surprise. Note the depth of the water in the river as this unidentified sportsman enjoys the outdoors! A photograph like this would look wonderful framed!
TODAY’S FOCUS: Single Payer Health Care Plan Is Best for Our Country
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Bet on a Political Race? Would Have Better Chance on a Horse Race
ANOTHER VIEW: Questions Abound for Republicans Before the Next National Election
SPOTLIGHT: Georgia Gwinnett College
FEEDBACK: Chilling Response Concerning Where Our Lives Are Going
UPCOMING: Register Online for 200 Tickets To Session on 287 (g) Program July 31
NOTABLE: Medical Center Wins Heart Association Awards for World Class Care
RECOMMENDED: Front Page News in Dayton, Tenn.
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Callaway Family Has Changed the Face of Georgia in Many Ways
MYSTERY PHOTO: Colorful Mural May Be Telegraphing a False Clue
CALENDAR: U.S. Attorney for North District of Georgia To Speak Here
Single-payer health care plan is best for our country
By Jack Bernard, contributing columnist
“For every $1 increase in taxes, we’re talking about more savings through getting rid of premiums, copays, and deductibles. So, overall, people would do better.” — Adam Gaffney, M.D., (President, Physicians for a National Health Plan (PNHP), regarding Medicare for all.)
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. | As reported in The Hill (June 1, 2019), the American Medical Association (AMA) narrowly defeated (53-47 percent) a resolution to remove the AMA’s opposition to single payer (Medicare for all). Mostly younger physicians of PNHP led this revolt.
Generally, private enterprise is more efficient than government. However, these physicians realize the exception to the rule is healthcare financing. Medicare’s overhead is two percent versus 12 percent for the for-profit insurance companies.
A recent study analyzed quality, access, efficiency, equity and general health among seven developed nations (U.S., Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Australia, United Kingdom and the Netherlands). We ranked last (Commonwealth Fund, 2010). Other studies show the exact same thing.
Yes, this is partially due to our unique American life style (lots of guns, fast cars, lack of exercise, etc.). But, just as important, we have high proportions of uninsured people, interestingly enough, especially in our “red” states.
Repeated OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) analyses illustrate that Americans pay much more per capita than any other affluent democracy for healthcare… each year, every year. Typical per capita costs for other democracies are: Israel-$2,833; New Zealand- $3,682; Australia- $4,543; Canada- $4,826; and Denmark- $5,182…versus $10,209 here.
Short term, the ACA can be broadened as the AMA desires, although some might say that’s putting a Band-Aid on a catastrophic wound. Still, expanding Medicaid would greatly help Georgia, which has the third highest rate of uninsured working-age adults in the nation (Commonwealth Fund, 3-15-17). Only Texas and Florida are higher. It’s no coincidence that the worst six states are all in the conservative Bible belt of the Southeast and Southwest.
The report shows Georgia to have 19 percent of working-age adults uninsured. Every state which expanded Medicaid has a lower rate of uninsured, with Massachusetts (which has Romneycare, a GOP pre-ACA initiative) at just four percent. That’s not universal coverage, but it’s a lot better than what we have in Georgia.
How the most religious democracy in the world (Pew, 7-31-18) can justify letting its citizens go without solid short and long term health care is simply beyond reasoning. This comes when our President tells us that we need to spend more on a wall and our never-ending unwinnable wars, while cutting the taxes for the ultra-wealthy like him. But health care? We get little guidance from the President.
Step one is for Georgia to finally take the federal money to expand Medicaid…and not place weird restrictions via a “waiver” on who is covered.
Step two is for both congressional Democrats and Republicans to seriously and objectively look at the problems of healthcare cost, access it, and then write a consensus bi-partisan legislative proposal. If all the data is fully analyzed, that answer will be single payer healthcare.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Bet on a political race? Would have better chance on a horse race
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
JULY 26, 2019 | Horse races I’ll bet on. But an election? Never.
After all, in horse races, there are certain probabilities. You know the horse’s record and its ancestry, the jockey, trainer and owner’s record, and even track conditions. You also know lots about the horse’s opponents.
Not in politics. You may know some aspects about candidates, but no matter how much you know, unknown features can jump in at any moment. And small items always could influence an election. Essentially, any election can turn on a whim, an outburst, something out of nowhere.
And even superb candidates can lose. Most of us know good, credible candidates who have lost.
So expect me to take you up on a political bet? Won’t happen.
Yet all of us have our own opinions of the many races. Right now considering the upcoming presidential election, no matter which of the many Democratic candidates wins the nomination, these days my “money” is on President Trump. Somehow, he has a way with the public that turns elections. And he may even have an odds-on chance to again lose the popular vote, but win in the Electoral College.
Sad but true.
How any American can support the difficult-to-follow Donald Trump is beyond me. The one characteristic that I would wish him, as he seeks to run the country, is silence. He simply cannot keep his mouth shut or twitter presence quiet. His followers must love those outbursts. They disturb me. While I wasn’t around for the presidency of Calvin Coolidge, from what I’ve learned, that’s the demeanor in a president that I would wish Mr. Trump could emulate.
Most recently the president has been attacking four freshmen members of the Congress in ways that is simply uncalled for and awful. These four women minority freshmen have found ways to catch the media’s attention, similar to the way Mr. Trump does. And that seems to bug the president. He is taking on formidable foes with these women. They may egg him on in new ways to embarrass his presidency.
Our presidential election years never seem to be the same, in that unexpected elements seem to jump up out of the blue most years to bring uncertainty into the race. When John Kennedy ran, it was the element of his Catholic religion that raised questions. When Jimmy Carter ran, it was him being a Southern candidate that year, plus people poking fun of his ready smile. When Ronald Reagan ran, people questioned if we wanted a movie actor as a president, even though he had been a governor. And of course, with President Obama, it was his race.
In 2016, in the primaries, the Democrats had a new face that wasn’t even a Democrat, the independent Bernie Sanders, making waves. And there was the Hillary question, and some not wanting a female president. Then Donald Trump, a so-called outside businessman, was the big new element for the Republicans.
For 2019, with there being no doubt as who the Republicans will offer, the new question this time is which of the 20 or so Democrats will get nominated. Or maybe it could be even the possibility that not these candidates, but someone else might “catch fire” before the convention, and would be the nominee.
We’re months away from such decisions.
So let me be at the track, and give me even a lousy horse race. I’ll bet on that. But politics? Not one dime!
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Questions abound for Republicans before next national election
By George Wilson, contributing columnist
STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. | Republicans need to answer the following questions and concerns before they deserve re-election at every level.
- How does a party obsessed with the national debt vote for trillion dollar deficits and record spending increases?
- How can the party of compassionate conservatism become the party of Muslim bans and ineffective and expensive walls?
- How did the party of family values elect a twice divorced philanderer?
- How can a party survive that has attempted to withdraw an individual woman’s right to choose?
- How can a party care to profess to care about the unborn until they are born and then only care about them again when they reach military age by denying funds for adequate education and health care?
Also, let’s not forget the high infant mortality rate in Georgia and the failure to expand Medicaid. This failure has also contributed to hundreds of deaths in Georgia and the closing of many rural hospitals.
Other questions remain.
Why would any woman vote for an organization that is toadying to the National Rifle Association (NRA) and makes your children in school insecure? Moreover, should you question a party that continues to fight against equal pay, and jeopardizes your children’s and grandchildren’s future by denying climate change, and uses deregulations for businesses and products that pollute the environment?
In summary, how can a party that has failed to address the cultural, socio-economic and technological changes even deserve your vote?
Finally, how can a party with no vision, no generation of new leaders, and no energy in the party’s base even survive? My guess is they will use voter suppression techniques, use “dark money” and gerrymandering of voting districts to stay in power at the state level.
Meanwhile the swamp drains but the cesspool grows larger.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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Chilling response concerning where our lives are going
Editor, the Forum:
Tuesday’s Forum has so much good information and thought-provoking material.
- Brack – Freedom from Fear: Most Americans have not experienced daily fear from their government. I have been in a country where the citizens lived in constant fear of their government misinterpreting something they might have said or done and them being hauled away. Strangers were looked on with suspicion and even good deeds were questioned. I soon learned how much stress this was causing and how it impacted their pursuit of happiness. I certainly don’t want that to happen here.
- Perry – Harassing and stalking: Allowing for the occasional, and extremely unfortunate, cases where people claim this when in fact it didn’t occur , instances of harassing and stalking are on the increase here. The feelings are not new. People, for some unknown reason, seem to feel free to express them now. I wonder why?
- Gilbert – Imponderables: Ponder this. (And I feel uncomfortable posting this as I am, or thought I was, usually optimistic.) In the not too distant future artificial intelligence and robots will not only replace skilled workers from waitresses to caregivers but professionals from financial advisers to doctors. and from writers to broadcasters.
Where and how can jobs be created on such a scale? How will human beings be respected then? We already see the results of disrespect, however unintentional, towards and felt by those in our society who have lost the ability to succeed in today’s economy. What will happen when their number goes up by a factor of a thousand?
— Hoyt Tuggle, Buford
Dear Hoyt: Your last thought is really scary. Think of all the mischief that will be created when machines do all the work, and we people don’t have to work, merely sit around, get bored, and cause problems. Sends a chill up my back, but you raised something that could develop—all over the world. –eeb
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
Register online for 200 tickets to session on 287(g) program July 31
Gwinnett County District 4 Commissioner Marlene Fosque is hosting a community engagement discussion that will offer local perspectives on 287(g), a federal law that authorizes the Department of Homeland Security to deputize selected state and local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law.
The purpose of the community engagement discussion, set for 7 p.m. July 31 at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center auditorium, is to educate and provide information to the Gwinnett public about the benefits and impacts of the program.
In the discussion, three panelists will discuss the benefits of 287(g) and three will discuss the impact of the program. An outside, nonpartisan moderator will oversee the panel discussion. The audience will consist of the first 200 Gwinnett residents who register on the Eventbrite page located at https://287gdiscussion.eventbrite.com. Each attendee must register and present their printed ticket to be admitted.
Gwinnett Corrections department seeks applicants at job fair July 27
The Gwinnett County Department of Corrections will hold its 2019 job fair Saturday, July 27, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 750 Hi Hope Road in Lawrenceville. Gwinnett County Corrections is currently hiring for Correctional Officer and Correctional Officer Senior positions.
There are multiple phases in the hiring process, and this event will expedite the process by giving candidates the opportunity to complete phase one. The job fair will include a facility tour, background processing, a behavior personal assessment device and interview boards.
Attendees are encouraged to apply online for the Correctional Officer position listed on www.GwinnettCountyJobs.com to fully participate. Additional instructions will be emailed to candidates following completion of the application.
Gwinnett offers benefits, paid training, educational incentives, tuition reimbursement and career advancement. For specific questions, you can contact Lt. Audrey Henderson at Audrey.Henderson@gwinnettcounty.com or 678-407-6010 with specific questions about the positions, qualifications or the hiring process.
Peachtree Corners mayor cites success of new Town Center project
Peachtree Corners Mayor Mike Mason spoke of the success of the new Town Center during his annual State of the City Address to a full house on Monday night. Over 180 Peachtree Corners people were on hand to hear his sixth annual address.
In his presentation, Mayor Mason talked of the city’s vision and pointed to the successful completion of the 21-acre Town Center which has brought people from near and far to shop, dine in one of the 15 new restaurants and take in the sights and sounds of the two-acre Town Green where family activities and outdoor concerts are held.
He said the new Town Center created 28 new businesses and 528 new jobs. The Town Center is expected to bring in $1.3 million in annual sales tax revenue and $15.4 million in annual sales.
He pointed to the rise of home values in the city which are up 10.6 percent, and the downward trend of office vacancies which has dropped from 25.1 to 19.4 percent.
At his annual address, he noted that the city’s efforts to create a master plan to transform Technology Park has paid off. First imagined in the 1970s by the city’s founder, Paul Duke, the park, is being re-imagined into an innovation hub. The plan incorporates the addition of research institutions, entrepreneurial training and mentors, professional networks, enhanced walkability, public space and mixed land use.
The city’s plans to add over 11 miles of multi-use trails throughout the city continues. The mayor announced a new section, the Crooked Creek Trail, which is currently in the planning stages. The 2.4-mile section is designed to help spur redevelopment along the Holcomb Bridge Road corridor. The new amenity will connect to nearby Crooked Creek Park in Sandy Springs. A majority of funding for the $2.4 million project will come from federal and state sources along with a $300,000 grant from the ARC.
Medical Center wins Heart Association awards for world-class care
Gwinnett Medical Center (GMC) has been recognized by The American Heart Association for its world-class care for heart attack and stroke patients.
Two Mission Lifeline Awards recognize GMC for implementing effective treatment methods to reduce mortality rates from non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) and ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), the deadliest form of heart attack.
The Get With The Guidelines award acknowledges hospitals that treat stroke patients with a distinct criteria of care from initial visit to patient discharge.
The Gold Achievement Award and the Gold Plus Receiving Quality Achievement Award, which was awarded for GMC’s STEMI care, are part of the American Heart Association’s initiative to promote more effective treatment of NSTEMI and STEMI with prompt and efficient care. The awards honor health systems that implement specific criteria and use advanced medical technologies in treating NSTEMI and STEMI patients to quickly re-establish blood flow to blocked arteries.
Additionally, Gwinnett Medical Center received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite-Plus Gold-Plus Quality Achievement Award. This approach to stroke treatment places speedy patient recovery as well as reducing disability and death at the forefront of patient care. GMC was recognized for its adherence to strict program guidelines and achieving the American Heart Association’s highest standards in patient care.
Gwinnett Medical Center’s Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President Pam Garland says: “The resources provided through this initiative have helped us track and improve upon our patient outcomes and we are sincerely grateful to the association for their continued support of our life-saving work.”
Meadowcreek High culinary arts students receive Dale Carnegie awards
The Meadowcreek High School culinary arts program recently held a graduation in which 12 seniors were awarded diplomas and three students received $1,000 Dale Carnegie scholarships to further their education. From left are Meadowcreek Senior Evelin Castro-Lozano, Elizabeth Marchant of Dale Carnegie of Georgia, Dale Carnegie Trainer April Farlow, and Meadowcreek Juniors Ashley Casasola and Ramses-Amon Osbey.The Meadowcreek culinary program is led by Executive Chef Simone Byron. Byron received the ProStart Georgia Educator of the Year award and the James H. Maynard National Educator of Excellence Award in 2018.
Front Page News, a play in Dayton, Tenn.
From Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill: “In 1925, the county courthouse of the small town of Dayton, Tenn., hosted the entire country for the first American trial broadcast live over a national network. Sometimes called “the trial of the century,” the Scopes Trial pitted evolution against religious fundamentalism and was covered by more than 100 reporters. It later became a movie called Inherit the Wind. For the past few years, Dayton residents have reenacted their own version of this trial and simply call it Front Page News. Less dramatic than the movie, the play contains more of the local attorneys’ involvement but it also highlights the personalities of Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryant. It even has music (not sure if that adds anything). I saw it Saturday and just being in the actual courtroom where the trial was held was worth the trip for me. The play concludes July 26-27.”
- For ticket information go to: http://www.scopesfestival.com/front-page-news-6450
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
Callaway family has changed the face of Georgia in many ways
The Callaway family has changed the face of Georgia by building and operating textile mills, developing and maintaining gardens, and supporting cultural, humanitarian, and religious projects. Callaway family members founded what became Callaway Mills in 1900 and operated them until 1968.
They established Callaway Gardens in 1952 and remain active in its management. The family has also given millions of dollars to a wide variety of projects through the Callaway Foundation and the Fuller E. Callaway Foundation.
Members of the Callaway family have lived in west Georgia since the mid-19th century. Fuller Earle Callaway (1870-1928) was born in Troup County to the Reverend Abner Reeves Callaway and his first wife, Sarah Jane Howard. His mother died when he was eight years old. At age ten, Fuller received a nickel for bringing water to men at a barn raising. The next day, he walked eight miles into LaGrange.
After realizing that the nickel would not buy the boots he wanted, he chose three spools of thread and went back to the country. He soon found three housewives who paid five cents a spool, and he thereby made a dime on his first commercial transaction. Young Fuller continued to peddle and to farm his own tract of land. His formal education was limited to about a year in public schools in Troup County.
At age 18, he opened a five-and-ten-cent store with $500 he had saved. He later opened four other stores and entered the wholesale business. In 1895 Callaway invested in LaGrange’s first modern textile mill. Dixie Mills opened with local fanfare and New England management; nonetheless, the mill began to struggle financially within a couple of years.
Other investors convinced Fuller to take over management. They threw out the secondhand equipment and brought the mill onto solid economic footing. After Fuller got his money back, he decided to leave the textile industry.
Soon, however, the lure of the industry called again, and townspeople, including Fuller, invested in a new project. Unity Mills (later Kex Plant) shipped its first cotton in 1901. Fuller served as secretary-treasurer of the company, a position he would hold in other mill projects as well. Between 1900 and 1920, Fuller and others opened several mills located within 100 miles of LaGrange projects as well.
Fuller stressed the importance of the social and educational development of employees as well as their economic well-being. Mill houses, churches, schools, parks, greenhouses, and other amenities were built along with the mills, but Fuller did not open company stores that would have competed with existing businesses. He was widely quoted as saying, “I make American citizens and run cotton mills to pay the expenses.”
Such paternalistic interest in his workers also served to keep their morale up and thus to keep unionizing efforts from either within or outside the mill community at bay.
Fuller also established a variety of businesses, including banks, warehouses, and an insurance company. He held positions in national textile associations, and he was president of the American Cotton Manufacturers Association. He also served as a railroad commissioner of Georgia from 1907 to 1909 and was appointed by U.S. president Woodrow Wilson to the Conference on Industrial Relations in 1919.
(To be continued)
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia online, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Colorful mural scene may be telegraphing a false clue
This colorful mural may have you believe there’s an obvious clue, but perhaps you had better think again. Figure out where this photograph was taken and send your guess to elliott@brack.net and include your hometown.
The Mystery Photo in the last edition came from one of our regular photo spotters, Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. It was the “inside of the President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s library at the University of Texas in Austin,” which Lou Camerio of Lilburn told us first.
Others recognizing it included Meghan Di Roto of Duluth, Mitzi Hull of Cumming; Emmett Clower, Snellville; and Jim Savadelis, Duluth.
George Graf of Palmyra, Va. contributes: “The Great Hall at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum (aka LBJ Presidential Library), Austin Texas. Long before Nixon and the Watergate tapes, LBJ recorded phone calls. You can listen to these phone calls through a receiver of the phone of the time. The recordings are remarkably good, and intimate. Perhaps the conversations from the days after JFK’s assassination on November 22, 1963 are the ‘must-hear’ section. There’s a conversation between LBJ and Martin Luther King on November 25, 1963 and a conversation between LBJ and Gerald Ford on November 29, 1963.”
Health Fair and Back To School Event will be Saturday, July 27, at Bogan Road Park, 2723 North Bogan Road, in Buford from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. The event will prepare attendees for the school year with free health screening, plus activities for the kids. There will be free school supplies for students. The health screenings will be for all ages.
Writer’s Workshop: When it comes to writing, every writer is unique. But mistakes made by first-time authors are not unique. Author and publisher, Nury Crawford, will discuss the most common mistakes new writers make, how to find a competent and affordable editor, the three ways to get your work published, and your writer’s “rights.” Presented by Gwinnett County Public Library, this workshop will take place on Saturday, July 27 at 1 p.m. at the Suwanee Branch, 361 Main Street, Suwanee. It is free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.gwinnettpl.org or call 770-978-5154.
U.S attorney to speak: The U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, B.J. Pak of Lilburn, will speak at a Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce meeting on August 14 at 11:30 a.m. at the 1818 Club in Duluth. Pak, the 25h presidentially-appointed U.S. Attorney for North Georgia, is a former member of the Georgia House of Representatives. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law. He is also a graduate of Stetson University, where he was a Florida Academic Scholar. He is also a registered Certified Public Accountant in Illinois.
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