STILL WATER is the title of this painting, done by Karen Burnette Garner, now of Robesonia, Penn., and a former resident of Gwinnett. She has prints for sale. Karen enjoys particularly painting sea coast scenes, such as this one.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Gwinnett County Budget for 2020 Follows Six Strategic Priorities
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Some Thinkers Are Getting Concerned about a Right To Privacy
ANOTHER VIEW: Jackson EMC Employee Gets Life Saving Award from Georgia EMC
SPOTLIGHT: E.R. Snell Contractor, Inc.
FEEDBACK: Even Really Old Chuck Taylor Shoes Go for Amazing Prices
UPCOMING: With Drought Still Here, Watering Restrictions Are Still in Effect
NOTABLE: Two from Gwinnett Among Tin Drum Asian Kitchen Executives
RECOMMENDED: Foxtrot in Kandahar by Duane Evans
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Willie Lee Perryman One of the Earlier Rock and Rollers
MYSTERY PHOTO: Here’s the Mystery Photo for today: What City Is Depicted Here?
LAGNIAPPE: Here’s the Background on George Graf, Another Good Sleuth
CALENDAR: The Norcross Cooperative Minister Is Moving; Closed from November 23-30
Gwinnett County budget for 2020 follows 6 strategic priorities
By Shaunieka Taylor
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. \ Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners Chairman Charlotte Nash presented a proposed $1.83 billion budget for fiscal year 2020 during a briefing Tuesday.
The proposed budget for 2020 is less than a one percent increase compared to the 2019 adopted budget. It consists of a $1.43 billion operating budget and $401 million capital improvement budget, which includes funds from the County’s SPLOST program.
She reports: “In putting together this budget, we tried to think not only about current challenges but anticipate issues we will face in the future. We have continued Gwinnett’s tradition of conservative budgeting based on strategic planning. The result is a budget that will enable us to deliver the superior services that our community has come to expect from Gwinnett County.”
The budget was developed based on six strategic priorities set by the Board of Commissioners in March 2019 during its annual planning session.
A Safe and Healthy Community remains a top priority with funding for a Situational Awareness and Crime Response Center that will allow the Gwinnett Police Department to use technology to integrate and analyze data from various sources to investigate and prevent crimes, supplement manpower and resources where possible and act as a real time crime center. The budget also calls for equipping an alternate E-911 center to provide an extra layer of security and support to the main E-911 center. The budget would also create 30 more master police officer positions to help the department meet service demands.
The proposed budget would add two medic units and three alternate response vehicles equipped with advanced life support capabilities to the Department of Fire and Emergency Services to free up fire engines and ambulances for other emergency calls.
The budget includes funding for an 11th Superior Court judge approved during the state’s 2019 legislative session. The budget would fund the judge position in addition to support positions in the areas of the Clerk of Court, District Attorney and Administrative Office of the Courts as well as additional Sheriff’s deputies for courtroom security.
The budget addresses the Mobility and Access priority with a five-lane bridge on Harbins Road over State Route 316 and a park-and-ride lot at that intersection. It also would explore the development of a Bus Rapid Transit Corridor along I-85 and expand and improve the Gwinnett Place Transit Center to enhance customer experience. The budget would also extend the Ivy Creek Greenway to connect the Suwanee Creek Trail to the Mall of Georgia.
As part of the Livability and Comfort priority, the budget would fund the development of Beaver Ruin Park off Satellite Road with wetland trails and boardwalks as well as fund the relocation of the Duluth, Norcross and Snellville libraries. The budget also provides funds to help address homelessness.
Funding is also proposed to enhance the County’s cybersecurity efforts for the Smart and Sustainable Government priority. The proposed budget also includes a 4 percent pay-for-performance increase to maintain a quality workforce.
Residents will have a chance to provide input through oral and written comments at a public hearing on December 12 and on the County’s website through December 31. The budget is scheduled for adoption at the Board of Commissioners’ January 7 meeting.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Some thinkers are getting concerned about a right to privacy
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
NOV. 22, 2019 | Times were far different in the age of the Founding Fathers. They thought long and hard, and recognized that mankind wanted certain guarantees from government. What they came up with was to recognize “certain unalienable rights, such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
They should have been pleased with that statement. It was an original idea. It appealed to people in the New World who were unhappy with their rights being trampled by what amounted to a foreign government, one at least an ocean away, which did not understand the new frontier called America.
Yet our young country-to-be was developing in what we look upon today as a relatively quiet and non-invasive time, when there was not the hubbub of constant activity we have today. The new atmosphere offered by our new government was exciting to these citizens of the new United States of America. They were joyfully independent now as a nation, and we suspect, almost giddy about being a new country with its own brand of government.
And what the forefathers eventually produced as our “Bill of Rights” contains certain liberties that we all cherish. However, life in today’s world might need a little closer examination about what we may not realize we need.
Have you ever considered your “right to privacy?” It’s no longer what it used to be since the arrival of a new form of communication. Now we are forever being invaded via the telephone and the Internet and all sorts of media with comments and advertising messages, and with unsolicited offers popping up for products we don’t want. Most troublesome, we have learned, much of our most private information is collected by private companies and our government. It is readily available for the world to see on the Internet, mostly put there without our individual permission.
Europe is well ahead of our country in this area. The European Union countries have General Data Protection regulations, setting rules and standards of what companies can do with data. These countries generally give individuals more rights to privacy than the United States does.
Another element Europe thought of is the “Right to be forgotten,” that is, having public information about an individual expressed online and stay there forever.
The right of privacy is an element of various legal traditions to restrain governmental and private actions that threaten the privacy of individuals. Over 150 national Constitutions mention the right to privacy.
With Europe tightening what Internet storage companies can do with information, it is beginning to create some momentum about these issues in the United States.
The concept of privacy uses a “theory of natural rights.” Even as far back as when Louis Brandeis was on the Supreme Court, (1916-1939), his work is often cited as the first explicit declaration of a right to privacy in the USA. Both Brandeis and Earl Warren wrote of the “right to be let alone,’ focusing on protecting individuals. Brandeis had earlier even written that “…the government (was) identified ….as a potential privacy invader.”
That sounds like Brandeis could foresee the future!
Perhaps, someday in our country, when the United States returns to a more normal news cycle, without constant Twitter manipulations by a president, the issue of a right to privacy may become more significant to modern everyday life. The forefathers would probably approve of some restrictions on the technologies we have developed.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Jackson EMC employee gets life saving award
By April Sorrow
JEFFERSON, Ga. | Jackson Electric Membership Corporation (EMC) system control coordinator Greg Mathis received a Life Saving Award from Georgia EMC during the state association’s annual meeting in Savannah this month. Mathis was honored for saving the life of a fellow Jackson EMC employee.
Mathis
Greg lives in Jackson County. He is a system control coordinator for Jackson EMC.
Mathis, a 30-year Jackson EMC veteran, and his wife Traci were having dinner at the home of co-worker Tonya Sosebee, district communications coordinator, and her fiancé, Ray Klima. Suddenly Sosebee became quiet, stood up and slammed her palms on the table.
Klima recognized she was choking and started performing the Heimlich maneuver. Mathis noticed he might have been squeezing too high, possibly restricting Sosebee’s airflow rather than expelling the obstruction.
“Ray’s arms were mid rib cage,” recalls Sosebee. After two attempts, Ray screamed for help. Mathis jumped up, and his training from Jackson EMC’s CPR, AED, and First Aid safety class took over. He placed his right arm under her rib cage and with one thrust, the chicken piece dislodged from her throat.
Sosebee says: “I couldn’t believe I was choking on a chicken piece the size of a pencil eraser.”
Mathis’ wife, Traci, said the total amount of time that passed was about 12 seconds.
“Tonya said that was the second biggest breath she ever took,” Mathis said. “The first one was the day she was born.”
Sosebee credits Jackson EMC’s mandatory safety training with saving her life. “Training in CPR and life-saving measures, like the Heimlich maneuver, are just as important as training in line work,” said Steve Chambers, senior director of safety and job training at Jackson EMC.
Greg and Traci stayed for another hour after the incident, then started the 30-minute drive home. Nearing home, Mathis had to stop the car on the side of the road. “The adrenaline had worn off, and the realization of what happened finally hit me like a ton of bricks,” Mathis says. “I wondered what might have happened if we hadn’t gone over that night.”
Mathis has become adept at performing the Heimlich. Saving his co-worker marked the fourth time Mathis has performed the Heimlich: Once when his wife was choking on a tortilla chip and twice within a two-week span when his two-year-old niece was choking on mashed potatoes. In each instance, Mathis was able to react calmly and instinctually thanks to the CPR and lifesaving training each Jackson EMC employee receives.
“We are well-trained to the point where it becomes second nature,” Mathis says. “I just reacted, which is exactly what you’re supposed to do.”
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
E.R. Snell Contractor, Inc.
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s sponsor is E.R. Snell Contractor, Inc. of Snellville. Founded in the 1920s, ERS was built on Christian beliefs with honesty and integrity leading the way. Specializing in roads, bridges and culverts, its goal is to build a safe and modern highway system while preserving our natural environment. Through quality production and high safety standards, it strives to be the best contractor possible, while continuing to be a positive influence on its employees and the community.
- Visit online at www.ersnell.com.
- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, click here.
Even really old Chuck Taylor shoes go for amazing prices
Editor, the Forum:
My Chuck Taylor’s (above) —From Washington State to New Jersey.
My mom bought Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star High Tops from Montgomery Ward in Chehalis, Wash., maybe for $8 or $10, as I was entering my senior year at nearby Tenino High School, back in September 1961.
I loved them; they, and I, made it to the State High School Basketball Tournament, then played in Spokane, where we took third place. I (and my shoes) even made the All-State second team. I played in them in college and city league basketball several more years, until the shoes were pretty worn.
They went with me in moves to Tucson, Ariz.; Albany, N.Y.; Brunswick, Ga.; and to my home near Lilburn. I wore them at various times for a variety of purposes, including city-league basketball.
My wife and I began downsizing in earnest over a decade ago. I listed the worn, but not worn out Chuck Taylor’s on eBay in July 2008. (See photo.) Bidding in that seven-day auction period was pretty active. They sold at the end of the auction for $125! Sure didn’t expect that! They went to a young man who lived near Trenton, N.J. He loved them, and gave me positive feedback with a note: “Great pair of Chucks!!”
— Rick Krause, Lilburn
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
With drought still here, watering restrictions are still in effect
The Level 1 drought response is still in effect for 103 Georgia counties, including Gwinnett. The state’s climatologist said that the current drought is primarily agricultural, but can also affect water supply. The drought declaration serves as a reminder for residents to practice water conservation in order to preserve our natural resources.
Gwinnett County follows the state’s current outdoor watering restrictions:
- Landscape and lawn irrigation is allowed before 10 A.M. and after 4 p.m.;
- Personal food gardens may be watered at any time of day.
- New seed or sod may be watered at any time of day during the first 30 days after installation;
- There are no restrictions on the use of soaker hoses or watering with a handheld container.
Water Resources encourages water conservation year round. Visit the water conservation webpage for tips on how you can conserve water inside and outside your home.
Two from Gwinnett among Tin Drum Asian Kitchen executives
Atlanta-based Tin Drum Asian Kitchen has hired a team of operation and business development experts to bolster the growing fast casual concept as it prepares for expansion. Two of the new team members are from Gwinnett County.
Tipton
The new hires include James Tipton of Braselton as senior operations manager and John Vey of Suwanee as operations support specialist.
Tipton has 15 years of experience in both the restaurant operations and financial markets. Prior to joining Tin Drum, Tipton was an operating partner with P.F. Chang’s Bistro. In his new role with Tin Drum, Tipton will be responsible for building operational systems as well as franchise support.
Vey
John Vey is a former multi-unit general manager for Tin Drum and has returned to the company to focus on enhancing and enforcing culinary operational excellence. He joins Tin Drum from P.F. Chang’s, where his work was recognized for driving, leading, and executing excellence within the operations team.
Other key executives joining the team are Tony Flannigan as operations manager; and Erika Lewis as development associate. Combined, the new team members have more than 35 years of restaurant experience.
The team will create processes to streamline its operations for high volume sales and provide business support to potential and current franchisees. Tin Drum Asian Kitchen recently announced a five-unit deal for Houston and will be opening its first restaurant in the Savannah area this fall.
Foxtrot in Kandahar by Duane Evans
From Hoyt Tuggle, Buford: In his first book, Evans recounts his involvement in the immediate response to the attacks of 9/11. The speed in which the CIA, Special Operations and others were on the ground in Afghanistan was unbelievable. His team, Foxtrot, was one of only two teams in South Afghanistan and the first to Kandahar, the headquarters of the Taliban. Evans does an excellent job of describing how the teams were assembled, prepared and inserted into Afghanistan. His recounting of the accomplishments in the three-four months following the attacks are amazing. His epilogue and postscript 2017 concisely recap our successes and failures since those early months and bring our Afghanistan “Experience” into very sharp focus.
- 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
Perryman was one of the earlier Rock and Rollers
(Continued from previous edition)
In 1950 Willie Lee Perryman recorded “Rockin’ with Red” and “Red’s Boogie” at the WGST radio studios in Atlanta for RCA Victor. Both songs became national hits, reaching number five and number four respectively on Billboard’s R&B chart. These initial hits, and a third single, “The Wrong YoYo,” enabled Perryman to resume a more active performing schedule. He entertained in white and black clubs in Atlanta and was hired to perform at college parties around the Southeast. He also recorded sessions in New York City and Nashville, Tenn., during the early 1950s.
By 1955 Perryman was also working as a disc jockey on WGST, where he was hired by Zenas Sears, who actively encouraged the marketing of African American music to white radio audiences in Georgia. Sears later bought another radio station, which he named WAOK, and he hired Perryman to be a disc jockey there as well. This association continued for 13 years, during which time Perryman would broadcast from a small recording studio set up by the two men in the backyard of Perryman’s home. Perryman could not drive because of his poor eyesight, and working from home saved him taxi and bus fare.
By the early 1960s Perryman began to appear and promote himself as “Dr. Feelgood.” This persona initially began when his band performed dressed as doctors and nurses. It also tied into the persona he adopted on his WAOK radio shows, during which he would pretend to guzzle beer between selections, promising that the drink would produce music that would make the audience feel good. Ironically, Perryman never drank alcohol or smoked cigarettes throughout his life but claimed that he drew his spirits from the universe.
As musical styles changed during the 1960s, Perryman’s repertoire did not adapt. From the mid-1950s until the late 1960s, he recorded for several companies, including Columbia, for which he made several records. However, Perryman did not make the money from this arrangement that he had been promised. He continued touring and performing at colleges in addition to doing upholstery jobs. In 1969 he began a ten-year stint as the house musician for Muhlenbrink’s saloon, an establishment at Underground Atlanta.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Perryman’s work was again highlighted, as followers of roots music began to call attention to performers of barrelhouse blues. European music business personnel sponsored a European tour, during which he played at an inauguration party for German chancellor Helmut Schmidt. Bill Lowery‘s Southern Tracks studio released an album, The First Piece of the Rock, to honor Perryman’s contributions. In 1983 he was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and was the recipient of the Mary Tallent pioneer award.
Perryman died in 1985 after an extended struggle with cancer. He is buried in Dawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Atlanta.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia online, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Mystery Photo for today: What city is depicted here?
Here’s a pastoral view of some city or town. Can you identify it? And if so, tell us from what point this Mystery Photograph was taken. Send your ideas to elliott@brack.net, and include your hometown.
The last mystery photo was relatively easy, with lots of people recognizing it, many with personal stories about it. First in was Ross Lenhart, Pawleys Island, S.C.: “Ah, just up the road. The home of the Congressional Medal of Honor Museum. The USS Yorktown on the Cooper River at Patriots Point across from Charleston. Found a picture of my Great Grandfather there who won the medal fighting to make men free.”
Jim Savedelis, Duluth wrote: “This is the USS Yorktown, permanently docked in Charleston, S.C., at the Patriots Point Naval Museum. The ship is actually the fourth ship to be named Yorktown. Originally, it was to be named the Bonhomme Richard, but was renamed while still under construction to commemorate the loss of The CV-5 USS Yorktown at the Battle of Midway in June of 1942.”
John Titus, Peachtree Corners: “As a former resident of Mt. Pleasant, S.C., this is the USS Yorktown at Patriots Point, across from Charleston.”
Bo O’Kelley, Peachtree Corners: “That is the USS Yorktown. I spent the night on board with a bunch of Cub Scouts years ago when my boys were Scouts. It is a wonderful floating museum providing a glimpse of what it might have been like for the sailors who served our nation during WWII and later.”
Bob Foreman of Grayson: “The mystery photo is the USS Yorktown Aircraft carrier at Patriots Point, S.C. There are some great seafood restaurants nearby at Shem Creek.”
Gene Ussery, also of Grayson: “The USS Yorktown at Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum at the mouth of the Cooper River, across from Charleston.”
Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill: “The USS Yorktown was built for the US Navy during WWII and is the fourth U.S. Navy ship to be called Yorktown. This ship has a long history having served in the Korean and Vietnam wars and later served as a recovery ship for the Apollo 8 space mission. It was featured in two films before being decommissioned in 1970. Five years later, the ship was name a National Historic Landmark.”
Micki Dillon, Lilburn: “This photo was taken at Patriot’s Point, across from Charleston. My husband and I were standing by as the Ohio State University basketball team walked across the gangplank when in the area to take part of a tournament a couple of years ago. Being a former student at OSU, I yelled ‘Go Bucks!’ and received a cheer from the players!”
David Earl Tyre, Jesup: “That has to be the USS Yorktown, anchored at Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. The Yorktown was an Essex class aircraft carrier, circa World War Two. It is now a museum. Notice the sub, starboard aft. We visited the site some years ago. I was stationed on the USS Intrepid, CVA 11, way back in 1955 with the Marine Detachment. Made two ‘Med’ cruises while aboard. The Intrepid is also a museum, anchored at east 56th street in New York City.”
George Graf, Palmyra Va.: “Looks like USS Yorktown and USS Laffey at Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.”
Allan Peel, San Antonio, Tex. “Today’s mystery photo is of the Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum on the Cooper River in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. Visible in the photo is the USS Yorktown, and docked with it are the destroyer USS Laffey and the submarine, USS Clamagore. The Yorktown was the tenth aircraft carrier to serve in the United States Navy.
Who are these good guessers who get the Mystery Photos?
Over the last few years, several individuals around the country stand out as experts in answering the mystery photo in each issue of GwinnettForum. “Just who are these people?” several readers have asked us.
To shed a little light on that question, we asked consistent spotters who recognize the mysteries to tell us something about themselves, in about 150 words. We’ll run one in each upcoming issue.
Graf, also at far left above
Today’s Mystery Spotter is George Graf of Palmyra, Va. He writes:
“George Graf of Palmyra, Va. was born in the city of Pittsburgh, Penn. in 1949 and grew up in a small Pennsylvania coal mining town. I attended Edinboro State College in Pennsylvania and graduated in 1971 with a Mathematics degree. Diane and I got married during my sophomore year and we had our first child during my junior year.
“I taught high school for a short time before being drafted by the US Army. Discharged from the U.S. Army in 1975 as a sergeant, I was rehired as a civilian Army employee. In 2006 I retired as IT/Communications Director for U.S. Army Europe intelligence operations. Diane and I have three kids and four grandkids.
“I enjoy solving-authoring travel stories, playing golf, and cooking (Once I was on the Cooking Channel). Public reverse imaging tools and having lived overseas helps spot the potential locations. I also use a large screen monitor to see the details in the photo since my eyesight is getting worse, but my patience is getting better. I try to read Elliott’s mind for the answer, but he’s always thinking of grits and Dahlonega.”
Temporarily Closed: The Norcross Cooperative Ministry will be closed from Saturday, November 23, through Sunday, November 30, as it moves to its new location at 500 Pinnacle Court, Norcross. Please hold all donations until Monday, December 2.
Pop-Up Lilburn Farmers Market will be Saturday, November 23 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 1400 Killian Hill Road. This market will be filled with locally grown and produced foods and gift items. Come and reconnect with your favorite vendors from the summer market. Expect smoked salmon/trout, jams/jellies, pickles, spice blends, cakes, cookies, pies, breads, bath and body, prepared foods, fresh eggs, wool balls, nuts, popcorn – just to tempt your taste buds. Stock up with special treats that will impress your holiday guests! For more information, go to lilburnfarmersmarket.org.
The Messiah Sing Along by the Gwinnett Symphony Musical Arts Consortium will be Sunday, November 24, at 3 p.m. at the Lawrenceville Presbyterian Church, 800 Lawrenceville Highway in Lawrenceville. Start the Christmas season with this fulfilling holiday experience. Audience members are invited to sing or simply sit back and enjoy the performance.
32nd Annual Gwinnett Christmas Tree Lighting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 28 at the Gwinnett Historic Courthouse in downtown Lawrenceville. The 28 foot Norway Spruce comes from the North Carolina mountains and is erected on the courthouse grounds for the holiday season.
The Nutcracker by Gwinnett Ballet Theatre returns for its 39th annual production, to run December 6-22. Buy tickets by going to gwinnettballet.org/tickets or by calling 770 626 2464.
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