By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
JAN. 10, 2020 | The wider Gwinnett County is shocked and mourns the tragic death of Emily Powell, a senior magistrate judge. A freak auto accident caused her eventual death.
Emily was such an open and happy person, with a personality that attracted people. I first remember her from her being in the first class of Leadership Gwinnett. She was so outgoing, never flinching at tackling obstacles, and always smiling. She was an obvious leader from the very start, and showed this in her being among the first of the magistrate judges. She never lost her love for the court, continuing to serve after being with her children in their formative years.
We talked to people, like Emily, who were in the first class of Leadership Gwinnett.
Peter Boyce of Dacula remembers her as “someone who was easy to talk to, someone with a sense of humor, someone who cared for others. Emily had a quick wit and very bright and cared very much for the Gwinnett community.”
Powell
Attorney Lee Thompson went back a long way with Emily. “I attended her wedding in Montreat N.C. She was marrying my friend and former roommate, Tony Powell. I remember Emily as an intelligent and bold attorney. She started practicing in Gwinnett in the early 1980s when there were only a few women with their law practice based in Gwinnett. As a young attorney, she became a Magistrate Judge and helped transition Gwinnett County from the Justice of the Peace system that existed in most of rural Georgia to a modern, efficient Magistrate Court. The City of Lawrenceville and Gwinnett County are better places because Emily passed through and shared her time and talents with us.”
Gwinnett County Schools Superintendent added: ““Emily always had a big, welcoming smile that defined her positive attitude and good will to all she met.”
Her memorial service will be held on January 18 at 4 p.m. at the Buford Church of God.
Emily Powell: 1955-2019: may you rest in peace.
SOME PEOPLE WERE UPSET that Atlanta did not have its Peach Drop to mark the arrival of the New Year. It is interesting to see that many other cities have their unique way to celebrate New Year’s with their own item being dropped.
Eastport, Maine, drops a sardine. Ocean City, Maryland, drops a beach ball, and Mobile, Ala., drops a 600-pound electric Moon Pie. In Tempe, Arizona, a giant tortilla chip descends into a massive bowl of salsa. Brasstown, North Carolina, drops a Plexiglas pyramid containing a live possum; and Key West, Florida, drops an enormous ruby slipper with a drag queen inside it.
Since the Atlanta Peach Drop went bust, perhaps we should enlist the corporate world. It would be a not-unexpected event if the Coca-Cola Company and the Varsity got together and dropped a Varsity chili dog, Coke and fries! Bet someone at the bottom would try to catch ‘em and eat ‘em! What more for Atlanta?
AUTHORS FEEL they have arrived when they can say: “My book is on Amazon!” That’s what we hear from former Lilburn resident Susan Larson. Entitled, “A Word’s Worth,” was previously mentioned here, and is a compilation of many of her columns, which often featured Gwinnett residents.
POPULATION GROWTH: Gwinnett is hard on the heels of Fulton County when it comes to net growth in population in the nine year period from 2010 to 2019. Fulton has gained 113,087 residents, while Gwinnett saw 109,899 new arrivals. These details are from the 2010 Census and the 2019 Census Estimates. Gwinnett has gained 13.6 percent since 2010, while Fulton, with a larger population, saw 12.26 percent growth.
Cobb County was third in Metro Atlanta in new residents, with 63,188, or 9.16 percent.
The county with the largest percent growth was Forsyth, at 29.3 percent, or 51,821 new residents. Forsyth was recently named the county which is now the richest in Georgia, with a median household income of $85,569. Telfair County in Southeast Georgia is the poorest county, with a median household income of $26,634.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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