NEW MEDICAL SCHOOL: Here’s an outside photograph of the new medical school which the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine opened Tuesday in Moultrie. The South Georgia college has 59 students in its first class. For more detail, read Elliott Brack’s perspective below.
TODAY’S FOCUS: God Has Given Us Brains To Solve the Gun Problem in America
EEB PERSPECTIVE: City of Moultrie Dedicates New Medical Campus for South Georgia
SPOTLIGHT: Heaven and Alvarez, LLC
FEEDBACK: Legislature Needs Common-sense Bill To Reduce Prescription Drugs
UPCOMING: Suwanee Offers Ride Along with Police Program Starting in September
NOTABLE: Revelation of Hudgens $50,000 Art Prize Winner Will be on October 5
RECOMMENDED: Inheritance by Dani Shapiro
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Very Few Colonial Era Paintings of Early Georgia Now Exist
MYSTERY PHOTO: Check Out This Mystery Photo and Its Reflection
LAGNIAPPE: Construction Work Begins on New Aurora Theatre
CALENDAR: Scamper with Squirrels on August 13 at McDaniel Farm Park
God has given us brains to solve the gun problem in America
By Jack Bernard, contributing columnist
“McConnell has earned an “A+” ratings from the NRA-PVF” –nrapvf.org
AUG. 9, 2019 | There’s only one reason that we have such high per capita gun deaths in the USA versus any other nation: the GOP leadership. President Donald Trump, Sen. Mitch McConnell and the others simply don’t care. If they did, they would have passed voter supported legislation in 2016 and 2017 when they controlled all of Congress and the White House.
There are numerous right-wing gun groups out there, but the most powerful is the infamous National Rifle Association (NRA), which went from a reasonable organization at its creation long ago to a mere shill for ammo and gun manufacturers over recent decades. The NRA controls the GOP through both contributions (legalized bribery) and fear.
Virtually every GOP Congressman/Senator gets an NRA “A” grade when they are up for election (see everytown.org database). The NRA realized that these ratings were a negative with all but their members. So, they took them off their site in 2018, only using them at election time.
The NRA and other anti-gun control radical groups spent over $12 million last year on lobbying, almost entirely to help GOP candidates. The NRA gave the 2016 Trump election campaign an astounding $30 million (opensecrets.org) and they certainly will again in 2020.
The NRA goes all out to guarantee election of other loyalists like McConnell, with the Chair of NRA/PVF saying: “I encourage all NRA members, gun owners and sportsmen in Kentucky to vote Mitch McConnell for U.S. Senate.” They have given him $1.3 million in campaign contributions over the course of his career.
But, it’s not just in Kentucky where they spread their legalized bribes. In the 2018 election cycle, they gave $564,400 to GOP House candidates, but only a measly $19,350 to Democrats. In Senate races, they gave Democratic candidates nothing at all.
In Georgia, our own Senator David Perdue has collected around $2 million in his short time in Congress (see Center for Responsive Politics). He’s a shameful number 10 on the list of US Senators now getting NRA money, although many of them have been in office much longer (for example, Sen. Johnny Isaksson has only gotten $130,000).
The NRA also spreads its largesse around by endorsing state candidates and throwing money into their races, as they did with he-man, shotgun toting candidate Gov. Brian Kemp. The NRA is making sure that there will be no gun regulation in GOP controlled states and ensuring they have a pipeline of anti-regulation radicals who will someday run for national office. In 2016, the NRA spent $400 million total in its efforts to control gun legislation.
Democrat and Republican voters agree on many gun control measures (Pew, 4-4-17). But President Trump and Senator McConnell don’t support legislation that they know will drastically reduce violence by firearms. It’s much easier to just say we should “pray.”
Given that President Trump repeats the thoughts about prayer after every mass murder, either God isn’t listening… or more likely God expects us to use the brains He has given us to try to solve the problem ourselves.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
City of Moultrie dedicates new medical campus for south Georgia
Gov. Brian Kemp, President Jay Feldstein cut ribbon on Moultrie campus
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
MOULTRIE, Ga. | This South Georgia community got something no other city in Southwest Georgia has on Tuesday — a medical school. The Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM), which has had a campus in Suwanee since 2005, opened a South Georgia campus on Tuesday. Classes will begin for 59 freshmen students on Monday.
The new school is a branch of PCOM, located in Philadelphia, Pa., which first awarded a degree in medicine in 1900.
The beautiful prime setting for the new 31 acre campus, located on land donated by two local philanthropists, consists of 75,000 square feet of newly-constructed space. Natural light streams into the building from all sides. It has been termed a “game changer” for the 17,000 population City of Moultrie. The City and Colquitt County together contributed $2.3 million toward the $30 million campus construction cost.
Getting into any medical school is difficult. Yet the Moultrie campus attracted 3,138 students for the 59 spaces in the class of 2023. One third of the new class comes from Georgia. The Suwanee campus opened in 2005 with 85 students, after 1,682 people applied.
Gov. Brian Kemp was the keynote speaker for Tuesday’s afternoon ceremony. The governor congratulated the city and county for landing the medical school.
Ginn
Brian Ginn, the campus officer for the PCOM in Suwanee, told us that the new campus was five years in the making. “We contracted with a firm to help us decide where a South Georgia campus should be located. I personally thought it would be in Tifton, what with all the academic aspect that community has. But then we realized that Moultrie is a short distance from Albany on the north, Thomasville on the south, and Tifton and Valdosta, both on the east, and would be central to a working relationship with local hospitals, which is important to us. And the local governments were easy to work with, and contributed to what we needed to make the school a reality.”
The South Georgia PCOM Campus is starting much as the Suwanee campus—relatively small, though there are plans to offer a master’s of Biomedical Science in Moultrie next year. The Suwanee campus on Old Peachtree Road now has 1,156 students in five degree programs. That includes a professional doctoral degree program in osteopathic medicine, Masters of Biomedical Sciences, Masters of Physician Assistant Studies, Doctor of Pharmacy and Doctor of Physical Therapy. The Suwanee campus consists of 193,000 square feet.
The Moultrie PCOM campus will have 20 full time faculty, plus 10 part time clinical faculty. In Suwanee, it has 85 full time faculty, and seven part time clinical faculty.
The whole idea behind the PCOM expansion into Georgia is because of the need of qualified physicians in Georgia and throughout the South. Fully 576 graduates of the Suwanee program list their address in Georgia, many in rural areas. Yet PCOM recognizes the need, especially in rural communities, for even more doctors. It is the anticipation that by establishing a program in South Georgia that many of the students will eventually establish their private practices in the rural area.
A new PCOM campus was destined for somewhere in South Georgia. The City of Moultrie turned out to be the winner!
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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Legislature needs common-sense bill to reduce prescription drug costs
Editor, the Forum:
Americans pay the highest brand-name drug prices in the world. Congress, the Administration, and importantly, our own Georgia legislators, must take action now to lower prescription drug prices, the root cause of this problem.
That’s why AARP is launching a national campaign urging federal and state policymakers to Stop Rx Greed by cracking down on price-gouging drug companies. AARP’s goal is to help lower drug prices for all Americans through decisive actions and solutions aimed not only at the federal level but also at the state level.
In 2017, the average annual cost for one brand-name medication used on a chronic basis was almost $6,800. For the average older American taking 4.5 prescription drugs per month, the average annual cost of therapy would have been more than $30,000.
No American should be forced to choose between paying for the medicines they need and paying for food, rent, or other necessities. We urge Georgia lawmakers to work together with all members of Congress now to protect older Americans and pass bipartisan, common sense legislation to lower prescription drug prices.
— David Kim, Duluth
It was jazz, swing, jazz and more jazz after World War II in Europe
Editor, the Forum:
Appreciated your take on how many of us are always in contact with music. It was jazz, swing, jazz and more jazz all over western Europe after World War II. I lived in Germany from 1949 to 1953 and traveled around Europe a bit. When we got to Munich, they had bulldozed one lane of Main Street The rest was rubble maybe two stories high. Every time we passed construction, my little sister would say “Look. Bombed out buildings.”
After the repression of the Nazi regime and the fascist bans up to and through the war, Europe’s younger generation couldn’t get enough of that swingin’ sound.
— Keni Woodruff, Lithonia
Wants to see more people interested in the natural health care sector
Editor, the Forum:
For over 20 years, I have been a natural health care physician in Sugar Hill, taking care of tens of thousands of patients in the natural health care arena.
It’s great to see the idea of high schools dipping in the health sciences into their curriculum. What I have noticed there is nothing in the natural healthcare sector. The natural healthcare sector is exploding; people are seeking out more and more information and technologies to help understand their bodies. Both my wife and I are graduates of Life University in Marietta in 1998.
I would love to be in a conversation on how we can introduce some the natural health care concepts to young adults. If this is something that either you or the powers that be would be interested in, feel free to contact me.
— Dr Joseph Clarino, Flowery Branch | cell 678-467-8251 | office 678-482-4400 | jclarino@alignlife.com
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
Suwanee offers Ride Along with Police program starting in September
Suwanee’s Citizens Police Academy allows residents a better understanding of the day-to-day functions of police officers as well as an opportunity to patrol Suwanee’s streets alongside an officer. The next academy will be offered Monday evenings, September 9 through October 28, with a graduation on Wednesday, October 30. Classes will be from 6:30-9:00 p.m. at the Suwanee Police Training Center, 2966 Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road.
The academy offers classroom training and hands-on experience in crime scene processing, traffic stops, building searches, crime prevention, and narcotics identification and provides an understanding of the risks and responsibilities of officers. The program is designed to open and maintain communication between citizens and the police department.
Classes are free and open to the public, but space is limited and preference is given to Suwanee residents or those who work in the City of Suwanee. A criminal and driver history background is required for all applicants. For additional information and an application, visit Suwanee.com or contact Officer Richard Pope (atrpope@suwanee.com) or 770-904-7641. Notarized applications are due September 5, 2019 by 5 p.m.
Snellville Citizens’ Police Academy accepting applications for 28th session
The Snellville Citizens’ Police Academy is accepting applicants for its 28th session. The class is offered “in order to strengthen the bond of friendship and cooperation between our citizens and our police department,” according to Lt. Rob Pendleton. ”This will also help our citizens gain a better understanding of the risks and responsibilities of our officers.”
The class takes place over 12 weeks beginning on August 29 and ends November 14. The first class will be at 6 p.m. at the Snellville Police Department, 2315 Wisteria Drive. Some of the classes included in this training will be Domestic Violence, Traffic Stops, Building Searches, a Tour of the Gwinnett County Jail and Narcotics Identification. The program also includes a ride along with a Snellville police officer.
This program is open to all Snellville area residents, 18 years and older. It is free. Attendees do not have to live in the city limits. A background investigation will be conducted on all applicants prior to acceptance. Applications should be returned by 5 p.m. August 23 and must be notarized. For more information call 770-985-3573 or rpendleton@snellville.org. For the applications, go to https://www.snellville.org/Data/Sites/1/media/police/scpa-application—revised.pdf
Revelation of Hudgens $50,000 Art Prize winner will be Oct. 5
It will be an evening pulled straight from a 1940s-era Cuban nightclub. This year’s Hudgens pARTy: Club Tropicana (an annual fundraiser), scheduled on October 5 from 7-11:30 p.m. will evoke the glamour of days gone coupled with the excitement of the 2019 Hudgens Prize winner reveal.
Partygoers will be treated to a Cuban Night Club experience throughout the Hudgens with live music by Orquesta MaCuba, Cuban cuisine, signature cocktails, casino games and salsa dancing. Attendees will also be able to celebrate and support The Hudgen’s various programs through live and silent auctions. Original artwork and signature experiences will be available for purchase, as well.
The highlight of the night will be the revealing of the 2019 Hudgens Prize winner. Throughout the night, pARTy guests will have the opportunity to view The Hudgens Prize Exhibition, featuring works from the four finalists: Darien Arikoski-Johnson, Benae Beamon, Paul S. Benjamin and Michi Meko.
With a coveted cash award of $50,000 as well as a solo exhibition for one talented Georgia artist, the Hudgens Prize is one of the largest awards given to an individual artist in the entire nation. The 2019 Hudgens Prize Recipient will also have a solo exhibition in The Hudgens galleries from August-October 2020. To learn more or purchase tickets, visit thehudgens.org.
Inheritance by Dani Shapiro
From Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill: If the various outcomes of sending your saliva to a DNA testing lab haven’t already occurred to you, reading this book may give you pause. Inheritance is the true story of a middle-aged Jewish woman who, at the suggestion of her husband, took a DNA test and discovered she wasn’t who she thought she was. This cautionary tale is about family secrets and diligent detective work and it asks questions about what it is to be related. Is it important that we are genetically connected? What makes a family a family? Does anyone have any privacy anymore? In exploring medical ethics and identity, Shapiro movingly relates the very personal journey of her family history. We feel her emotions as we watch her carefully crafted background unravel and we champion her through all her confusion, turmoil and anxiety as she tries to make peace with not having all the answers.”
- 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
Very few colonial-era paintings of early Georgia now exist
One of the most noticeable facts about early American painting, especially of the colonial era in Georgia, is that very little exists.
Philip Georg Friedrich von Reck’s watercolors and pencil sketches from the 1730s, now in the Royal Library in Copenhagen, Denmark, are among the earliest works of art about Georgia. His work records the buildings at the New Ebenezer settlement in colonial Georgia, as well as the nearby flora and fauna, and the Creek and Yuchi Indians.
Because of its plantation economy, fewer artists migrated to the colonies of the American South than to those of the Northeast; there were simply fewer towns in the South, and they were more distant from one other. During the 18th century, however, some artists found patrons in communities along the southern seacoast, especially in Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah.
Habersham
A few settled in one town for their careers, while others became itinerant artists, traveling to find new patrons. Born in Switzerland, Jeremiah Theüs painted in Charleston and for several decades was an important artist in the South. His portrait of James Habersham Sr. (ca. 1772), who was a president of the Georgia General Assembly and an acting governor during the colonial era, may have been painted in Savannah. Today the portrait is housed at Telfair Museums in Savannah. In Georgia, the English-born John Abbot became prominent, through publications, for his watercolors of local birds and insects.
As individual Georgians became involved in national and international politics, they also became patrons for artists or sat for portraits. William Harris Crawford was serving as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury when he agreed to sit for his own portrait, executed by renowned American entrepreneur and painter Charles Willson Peale, who was working in Washington, D.C. Peale’s portrait of Crawford (1818), housed at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, was intended for Peale’s museum in Philadelphia, Penn. During his career, Peale created numerous portrait miniatures of other Georgians, including George Walton, a Georgia signer of the Declaration of Independence. Peale’s son Raphaelle spent time in Savannah, also executing portraits, often in miniature.
The turn to the American landscape in the 19th century, and its popularity at midcentury, signified a major step toward the development of an essentially American art. English-born landscape painter Joshua Shaw, who immigrated to Philadelphia in 1817, traveled in Georgia during a sketching tour around 1820.
Thomas Addison Richards, a British-born painter, illustrator, teacher, and writer, was one of the leading artists of the South during the mid-19th century. In 1842 Richards and his brother, William Cary Richards, published Georgia Illustrated, a series of eleven steel engravings and text, and collaborated on the Orion, a monthly literary publication. During the early 1840s, Richards traveled around the South, filling his sketchbooks with picturesque and sublime images of the landscape; his illustrations and travel articles, often about the American South, appeared in national publications. Richards also created paintings based upon his travels in the southern landscape, including such images of Georgia as River Plantation(1855-60), which is housed at the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta.
(To be continued)
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia online, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Check out this Mystery Photo and its reflection
A reflection only adds to the beauty of this building. Try your luck in determining where this Mystery Photo building is located. Then send your answer to elliott@brack.net, and be sure to include your hometown.
It was a classic photo, possibly a governmental building. And several people recognized the last Mystery Photo as the Murray County courthouse in Chatsworth, Ga., sent to us by Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill.
Lou Camerio, Lilburn recognized it first, saying it had: “….excellent example of Greek Revival architecture. Looks good from all sides.” Then came others with the right answer: Vicki W, Minor Hill Tenn.; David Will of Lilburn and Lynn Naylor, both right for the second issue in a row;.
George Graf of Palmyra, Va. provided more detail: “After the official creation of Murray County in 1832, the area was infamous for its rampant disorder; political infighting, disputed elections, street brawls, and murders were common events. The lawlessness of Murray was compounded by Georgia’s determination to have all land in the hands of white residents. This resulted in an 1834 law stating that any land held by people of Cherokee heritage would be forfeited if they broke any state law. The law spurred the creation of legislation designed to limit the rights of the Cherokee people. The disenfranchisement of the Cherokee culminated in the forcible removal of the people from Georgia in 1838-39, an act remembered as the Trail of Tears.”
Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. also educated us on this: “This iconic symbol of Murray County was specifically situated on a raised square in the center of Chatsworth so that it could peer over the city and be seen from afar. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, it is one of only three domed courthouses in the State of Georgia and is purportedly the most photographed courthouse in the state of Georgia. The courthouse held its first court case in February 1917.
“The building was built upon two controversies from the very beginning. First in 1912 it was tied up in a battle to determine where the Murray County Seat would be situated, either in the city of Chatsworth, or in Spring Place, three miles to the east of Chatsworth. Then in 1915 a separate battle between the Circuit Court Judge and the Murray County Commissioners over its design took place, with the Commissioners going to jail for contempt rather than seeing any interruptions of their plans.”
To view a larger version of the image, click on it.
CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW facility for the Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville is now underway. Roving Photographer Frank Sharp used his wide angle lens to show a 90 degree view of the work. The present Aurora Theatre is seen in the left distance, while the First Baptist Church is center right, and the fence on the right is on North Clayton Street.
Dog Days of Summer will be on August 9 at the Lilburn Farmers Market, as we will be partnering with Funny Bones for Dogs. Bring your dog to the market. This fun evening features a dog parade, specialty dog vendors and doggie photos. The LifeSouth Blood Mobile will be on site giving you the opportunity to be a hero by giving the gift of life. The market operates every Friday through Aug. 30 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and is located at 1400 Killian Hill Road.
Button Down Dash: The Gwinnett Chamber will host the eighth annual Button Down Dash 5K/10K, presented by Gwinnett Medical Center, on Saturday, August 10. Registration begins at 6:30 a.m. This Peachtree Road Race qualifier was created to help drive Gwinnett County toward becoming the healthiest community in Georgia. The Button Down Dash, designed to encourage friendly competition among businesses, co-workers, family and friends, will benefit the Hudgens Center for Art and Learning. The run will begin and end in the Gwinnett Chamber parking lot with the route also including parts of Sugarloaf Parkway and Satellite Blvd. The 10K race will kick off at 7:30 a.m. and the 5K will begin at 7:45 a.m.
Muralist and artist Yehimi Cambron will appear at the Norcross Community Market on Saturday, August 10 from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. She uses her murals to tell the stories of immigrants in a positive way. Ms. Cambron will be doing “demonstration art” for both children and adults at the Market. Recently, the High Museum of Art selected her as one of six artists to be featured in an exhibition of Atlanta artists that will examine the complexities of mixed-status families.
Open House at Gwinnett Ballet Theatre on Sunday, August 11 from 2 to 4 p.m.This is for new and returning students. The Theatre is located at 1800 Macleod Drive, Lawrenceville. Classes begin August 12. For more information, call 77-0 237 0046 or go to admin@gwinnettballet.org.
The Miracle of Bird Migration will be the topic at the August 12 meeting of the Southern Wings Bird Club. The meeting will be at 7 p.m. in the Conference Room C of the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center, 75 Langley Drive in Lawrenceville. Speaker will be Chuck Hunter, Chief, Division of Strategic Resource Management, Regional Refuge Biologist, National Wildlife Refuge System, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He plans to focus on both advances in science and advances in conservation. For more information, call Rebecca Deitsch (678-334-1173) or Hank Ohme (770-845-3631).
Scampering with Squirrels will be August 13 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m at McDaniel Farm Park, 3251 McDaniel Road in Duluth. These furry friends are most busy at McDaniel Farm this time of the year. Explore their habitat, home, and favorite foods through stories, songs, and interactive nature based play. Cost: $5 per person; one adult free with each paid child. For ages 18 months to three years. Preregister with code MFP34503. Call 770-814-4920 for more information..
AARP Defensive Smart Driver Course will be August 13 from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Suwanee Branch of the Gwinnett County Public Library, 361 Main Street, Suwanee. Learn defensive driving techniques and how to compensate for age-related changes in vision, hearing, and reaction time. Cost: $15 per AARP member (don’t forget to bring your card). $20 for non-members. Cash or check only. Please bring a drink and a lunch. Call 770-978-5154 for more information or email events@gwinnettpl.org. Suwanee Branch of the Gwinnett County Public Library, 361 Main Street, Suwanee.
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.
Gardening Workshop: cold weather will be here soon and now is the perfect time to plant for fall and winter. Many vegetables, such as cabbage, kale, and carrots, thrive in cold weather. Join Tim Daly, from UGA Extension – Gwinnett, to learn more types of vegetables that prefer cooler weather and the minimal maintenance needed for a successful harvest. This gardening class will take place on Thursday, August 15 at 6:30 p.m. at the Suwanee Branch, 361 Main Street. It is free and open to the public. Registration is requested. Please register at https://www.gwinnettpl.org/calendar/. Info: call 770-978-5154.
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