GwinnettForum | Number 19.100 | March 31, 2020
HERE’S A MEAL: Gwinnett Schools bus drivers were delivering meals to students for the past two weeks, and will continue after the Spring Break. Here Janet Heffner of Lawrenceville hands a bag meal to waiting students. For more details on this innovative program, see Elliott Brack’s perspective below.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Gwinnett Stay at Home Order to Remain At Least Until April 13
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Gwinnett School Bus Drivers Deliver Meals to Gwinnett Students
SPOTLIGHT: Aurora Theatre
UPCOMING: GwinnettCares Providing Food During School’s Spring Break
NOTABLE: Deadline Is Wednesday for Application for Homestead Exemption
RECOMMENDED: Child’s Play by Danielle Steel
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Peachtree City, a Planned Community, Was First Chartered in 1959
MYSTERY PHOTO: Not So Beautiful a Mystery, But May Be Difficult to Pinpoint
LAGNIAPPE: A Beautiful Dogwood Gives Inspiration at Vines Garden Park
Gwinnett stay-at-home order to remain at least until April 13
By Heather Sawyer
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. | Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners Chairman Charlotte Nash and the mayors of the cities in Gwinnett have issued stay at home orders for their respective jurisdictions as a means to protect the health, safety and welfare of Gwinnett County residents. This move is being made in a coordinated fashion in order to slow the spread of COVID-19 and to preserve the community’s capacity to provide essential governmental and healthcare services.
Nash
Nash said emergency circumstances that exist as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic require extraordinary and immediate corrective actions to protect the health, safety and welfare of the residents of Gwinnett County.
She commented: “We are all navigating uncharted waters as we respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency, and I am grateful to each of the cities for their decisive actions. The district commissioners and I would like to express our deep appreciation to all of our residents and businesses for making temporary sacrifices for the good of our communities as our hospitals, healthcare workers, and first responders prepare for a rapidly growing caseload.”
Gwinnett Municipal Association President Kelly Kelkenberg said Gwinnett’s 16 cities recognize the value of consistent directives for all residents in Gwinnett County during this critical time.
Kelkenberg, who is mayor pro-tem for Duluth, added: “The cities have worked to align their emergency decisions with the directives of Gov. Kemp, guidance from the public health department, and Gwinnett County’s local emergency orders. Our residents need to understand the extreme danger and seriousness of the coronavirus, to which no one has immunity. We are acting in unison to stem its spread, to keep from overwhelming our medical facilities, and to save lives.”
Residents may leave their homes to conduct activities that are essential to their own health and safety and that of family/household members, partners, significant others, and pets. Essential activities include, but are not limited to, obtaining food, medication and medical supplies, household consumer supplies and healthcare services or caring for a family member or pet in another household. It is also permissible to engage in outdoor activity, like walking, hiking, running or bicycling, as long as individuals comply with social distancing requirements.
The local emergency order also mandates all businesses that operate in Gwinnett County to cease all activity except for the minimum necessary activities to maintain the value of the business’ inventory, ensure security, process payroll and employee benefits, and related functions. This directive applies to for-profit, nonprofit or private educational entities; it excludes essential businesses. Businesses consisting exclusively of employees or contractors who work from home may continue to operate.
All essential businesses are strongly encouraged to remain open while adhering to social distancing requirements. Such businesses include healthcare, grocery stores; certified farmer’s markets; organizations that provide food, shelter and social services to those in need; news agencies; gas stations, auto supply and auto repair shops; banks; and restaurants that offer delivery, takeout or drive-thru service. For a complete list, please refer to the order.
Individuals who work to provide essential services or essential products may leave their places of residence to carry out these activities.
The order also makes exceptions for essential governmental functions and essential infrastructure, meaning public works construction, private construction and related activities, utilities, telecommunications and solid waste services. First responders, emergency management personnel, 911 dispatchers, court personnel, law enforcement personnel and others who perform essential services, such as healthcare workers, are exempt from the order.
This local emergency order will be in effect, through 11:59 p.m. on April 13, 2020, or until it is extended, rescinded, superseded or amended in writing by the chairman.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Gwinnett school bus drivers delivering meals to students
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
MARCH 31, 2020 | School may have been out in Gwinnett County for the last two weeks, but school buses were still running….this time on 498 routes delivering meals to students, not delivering students to school. While there will be no meals delivered this week during the system’s Spring Break, meal delivery will start again on Monday, April 6.
Through Friday some 1,600 school bus drivers and helpers and lunchroom workers had delivered 293,950 meals, an average of 29,000 meals a day to students in the 68 Title One schools in Gwinnett, basically from the Duluth-Dacula area south to the county line. The first day, only 14,446 meals were delivered, but by the end of the second week the total had been doubled to 29,583 meal deliveries. In addition, meals being picked up by parents at schools doubled from 3,776 to 6,216.
Don Moore, executive director of transportation for the Gwinnett Public Schools, reports a relatively smooth two weeks of bringing the food directly to the students.
“We brought our staff in on Monday for training before we started delivering the meals. It was all new to us, and we wanted to make sure everything went off safely. We had the drivers running their regular middle school routes. That way all stops are known by the driver, and the kids. On each bus the team consisted of two other people to help hand out the meals. We had to shuttle drivers and supervisors from other areas to pair up with the drivers of the middle school routes.”
He adds: “The most dangerous time is when the stopped bus starts to pull away. Children have come out running to the bus, and do not always follow the rules, so it’s important for the driver to focus on the kids outside of the bus, and the other two of the team on the bus to hand out the meals. The last thing we want is to have someone hurt.”
Through the School Board’s website, social media and word-of-mouth, the students were told to meet the buses at their regular locations. “Then the neighbors started talking and the word got out.
The school transportation leadership team consists of Roger Clark, Don Moore, Samantha Thorpe and Ken Volkmer.
“We typically start about 9:45 a.m., then load the lunches and leave the schools about 10:30 for the first stop about 11 a.m. We typically finish in about an hour.” Then the buses return to the lunchrooms, and unload any left-over meals.
Lunchroom personnel are working in two shifts, one shift preparing the meals, while the second shift helps load the buses and work handing out meals to parents, who can drive to the schools between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to pick up meals.
Moore says that the workers on the buses have been “overwhelmed at what a great service this is being for the kids. They and their parents really appreciate the mission. At the same time, those delivering meals are on the job, getting paid, and helping the kids that they see all the time. We’re getting recognition from the parents, with the adults applauding the buses as they drive through an area. We’re also getting letters and cards. It has been a gratifying experience.”
Meanwhile, dispatchers are on the radios to bus drivers, reminding them to be careful, and to remember that they are not following normal procedures. They remind the drivers that they must look out for the children at the stops, who are not in ordinary situations.
Virus Victim: The Coronavirus claimed another victim — we hope a temporary toll — as the Gwinnett Daily Post announced it was suspending its Friday edition. The newspaper will now distribute on Sunday and Wednesday, while maintaining its online edition daily.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Aurora Theatre
The public spiritedness of our underwriters allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s sponsor is Aurora Theatre, home of the best entertainment in northeast Georgia. With over 850 events annually, Aurora Theatre, now in their 24th season, has live entertainment to suit everyone’s taste. Aurora Theatre presents Broadway’s best alongside exciting works of contemporary theatre. Additionally, Aurora produces concerts, comedy club events, children’s programs, and metro Atlanta’s top haunted attraction, Lawrenceville Ghost Tours. Aurora Theatre is a world-class theatrical facility with two performance venues. Aurora’s Season 24 is on hold due to COVID-19 but when they are cleared to resume it will continue with the critically acclaimed ON YOUR FEET! The story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan. You can support Gwinnett’s non-profit arts gem by making a donation or purchasing a Season ticket to Aurora’s 25th Anniversary Season. To make a tax-deductible donation or to purchase season tickets: http://www.auroratheatre.com or call 678-226-6222.
- For more information or to purchase tickets: http://www.auroratheatre.com or call 678-226-6222.
- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, click here.
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
GwinnettCares providing food during school’s spring break
Knowing that Gwinnett County Public Schools is pausing their food delivery program to students during Spring Break the week of March 30, Gwinnett’s Cooperative Food Ministries (Co-Ops), in collaboration with GwinnettCares.org partners, are preparing to provide extra support to families with children this week.
Families in need are encouraged to find their zip code below and go to their assigned Co-Op anytime during their operating hours. To receive this assistance families will need to present identification and a piece of current mail with their address and zip code. Families may visit their Co-Op one time during the week and will be given a week’s worth of food. There is no need to call ahead, just show up. Food will be distributed in drive-through fashion to comply with social distancing guidelines.
Serving zip codes: 30019, 30042, 30043, 30044, 30045, 30046, 30049
Lawrenceville Cooperative Ministry
52 Gwinnett Drive, Suite C, Lawrenceville 30046
Days/Hours of Service: Monday 6-7:30 p.m. / Wednesday 10 a.m.- 1:30 p.m. / Friday10 a.m.-1:30 pm / Saturday 10-11:30 a.m.
Serving zip codes: 30096, 30097
Duluth Cooperative Ministry
3395 Fox Street NW, Suite 101, Duluth 30096
Days/Hours of Service: Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
Serving zip codes: 30017, 30052, 30039, 30078
Southeast Gwinnett Cooperative Ministry
55 Grayson Industrial Pkwy, Grayson 30017
Days/Hours of Service: Monday 3 to 7 p.m. / Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Serving zip codes: 30340, 30360, 30071, 30091, 30093, 30092, 30084
Norcross Cooperative Ministry
500 Pinnacle Court, Suite 510, Norcross, 30071
Days/Hours of Service: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10 a.m.-2 p.m./ Tuesday 6 p.m.-8 p.m. / Saturday 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
Serving zip codes: 30011, 30517, 30515, 30519, 30548, 30518, 30024
North Gwinnett Cooperative Ministry
4395 Commerce Drive, Buford 30518
Days/Hours of Service: Monday 4 p.m.-8 p.m. / Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 10 a.m.-2 p.m. / Saturday Noon-2 p.m.
Serving zip codes: 30047, 30084, 30087
Lilburn Cooperative Ministry
5329 Five Forks Trickum Road SW, Lilburn 30047
Days/Hours of Service: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
While some of the zip codes span multiple county lines, this program is only available to residents of Gwinnett County.
Scott Mawdesley, Community Outreach Director for 12Stone Church and Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services Board chairman, has been leading the charge on this effort. Mawdesley says, “This is an especially difficult time for many families in our community. We are doing everything we can to ensure they have access to basic needs. The effects of COVID-19 have hit hard and fast. We have an amazing group of community leaders and non-profit agencies that have formed a response team to help address critical needs as they unfold.”
The gap in food access during spring break is the first this group has locked arm-in-arm to tackle. Mawdesley explains, “We are relying heavily on our comprehensive cooperative ministry network across Gwinnett to make this happen. Other non-profit partners will be providing supplemental food programs targeting certain geographic areas, families with transportation challenges, and others with special needs.” Some of the partnering non-profits include Salvation Army, Nothing But The Truth, JM Tull Gwinnett Family YMCA, Village of Hope, Street Wise, the Atlanta Community Food Bank, and a multitude of churches.
Residents who are able and willing to give money or food or money to support this effort should visit GwinnettCares.org to donate to relief funds or find a convenient drop-off location. 12Stone Church, Gwinnett Church, Perimeter Church, and Victory Church are hosting eight key collection sites around the county. The Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia’s COVID-19 Relief Fund has received $350,000 to-date and is actively issuing grants to nonprofits in real-time to address big surges of need around our community.
This effort is made possible thanks to the generosity of many Gwinnett citizens, businesses, and local churches pulling together to help take care of each other through COVID-19. To learn about other resources available or ways you can help support those in need in our community, visit GwinnettCares.org.
Here’s what one city is doing for its citizens during virus
With the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19), Gwinnettians have been challenged as never before to demonstrate what it means to be a community. From households to businesses, many in the county are struggling and will soon be facing hardship.
Although some will be impacted more than others, the county will all be hurt if there are vacant storefronts and empty office buildings. To assist the business community, in one city, Peachtree Corners, the Mayor and Council have approved several measures to help businesses by:
- Implementing a 60-day deferral period on all business license fees. The annual fees, normally due by March 31, are now due May 31. There will be no penalty fees assessed during this period.
- Temporarily waiving the convenience fees charged for online and/or internet payments of business license fees.
- Deferring payment of alcohol excise tax for 60 days. No penalty fees will be assessed during this period.
Additionally, the city is asking landlords to offer tenants a 60-day deferral on rent payment. It’s asking banks to work with their customers by offering a 60-day penalty-free deferral on loan payments.
To identify and showcase the city’s Community Partners, Peachtree Corners is creating a page on its website to identify and showcase its Partners and will promote those who help the community during these difficult times. Those that can help in any way, will be included as a Peachtree Corners Community Partner.
Deadline is Wednesday to apply for homestead exemption
Tax Commissioner Richard Steele reminds Gwinnett County homeowners that the deadline to apply for a homestead exemption is April 1, a legislative deadline that has not been extended.
He says: “We have not been given an extension for the legislative deadline of April 1 for homestead exemption applications. My office is still processing both tax and tag work online and via drop box service so I encourage homeowners without an exemption to apply for one as soon as possible.”
Applications can be completed online at www.GwinnettTaxCommissioner.com/apply, the preferred method. Then print, sign and deposit the completed application in drop boxes at any Gwinnett Tag Office.
Everyone who owns and occupies a home in Gwinnett County is very likely eligible for some type of homestead exemption to reduce property taxes. Applications are accepted year around, but must be received by April 1 to take effect this year.
Documentation and other eligibility requirements must be met, including owning and occupying the home as a primary residence as of Jan. 1 of the application year and applying by legislative-mandated date of April 1. Once an exemption is granted, there is no need to reapply each year.
Regarding extensions, the Georgia Department of Revenue announced that it has extended to May 15 all registrations, temporary operating permits, and private party vehicle purchases that took place or would have expired between March 16 and May 14.
Primerica Foundation gives $175,000 for COVOD-19 relief
Primerica, Inc. of Duluth has announced that The Primerica Foundation has donated $175,000 to the COVID-19 relief efforts through grants to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Foundation, American Red Cross, Community Foundation of Northeast Georgia and United Way of Greater Atlanta. The primary focus of this funding will go to relief efforts in Gwinnett County, and the greater Atlanta area, while the CDC donation will help it continue to lead the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kathryn Kieser, chairman and president of The Primerica Foundation, says: “Primerica’s top priority is to protect the health and well-being of our clients, representatives, employees, and the communities where we live and work. Primerica is headquartered in Gwinnett County, and we are providing immediate support to non-profit organizations to address frontline needs throughout the County, especially the needs of the most vulnerable among us.”
Northside Gwinnett Hospital council seeks mask makers
Northside Gwinnett’s Women’s Advisory Council is asking volunteers that sew to help make more medical masks for health care professionals. The hospital is supplying the fabric! Get the pattern and drop-off specifics at www.GwinnettCares.org. Special thanks to all that can help with this valiant effort!
- To volunteer, call Katrina Stone at Northside Gwinnett Hospital, 770 722 2629.
Child’s Play by Danielle Steel
rom Karen Harris, Stone Mountain: Kate Morgan is a successful lawyer with three, who she feels, are exceptional grown children. Widowed after 14 years of marriage, she raised Tamara, Anthony and Claire on her own. Kate has a great relationship with her mother who is also a wise adviser and friend. Her high expectations for her children while providing a solid background of goal completion and ethical behavior have distanced them from her as they forge their way as adults. All have secrets that are at great variance from Kate’s values and make her question herself as a mother and doubt she has any understanding of her children. Her own secrets have also served to create a distance from them and have walled off her heart from loving again. This novel explores the importance of true revelation as a building of relationships and a means of fostering courage to love without fear.”
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
Peachtree City, a planned community, was chartered in 1959
Peachtree City, called “the most successful planned community in the nation,” encompasses 24 square miles in Fayette County. The city is situated about 22 miles south of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and is accessible by Interstate 85 as well as Georgia Highways 54 and 74. The CSX Railroad offers direct freight rail service, and its Falcon Field is an airport popular with private pilots. According to the U.S. Census Bureau the population of Peachtree City in 2010 was 34,364, an increase from the 2000 population of 31,580.
Peachtree City sits on land that was first settled by Native Americans about 2,000 years ago. In 1821 Fayette County was formed from land bought from the Creeks. Settlers who had fought with the Marquis de Lafayette in the American Revolution (1775-83) named the county after him. One of the last skirmishes of the Civil War (1861-65) was fought near present-day Peachtree City. The area remained mostly rural until the mid-20th century.
In the 1950s a group of real estate developers, Bessemer Securities, amassed land in Fayette County to build a planned community. It was decided that the town would be divided into smaller hamlets, each with its own stores, schools, and recreational areas. Named Peachtree City, it was chartered on March 9, 1959.
The city is home to both domestic and international companies, many situated in the 2,600-acre industrial park. Some of the major businesses in Peachtree City are Cooper Lighting, Fitel Interconnectivity, Hoshizaki-America, Panasonic, and TDK.
The city offers many attractions that are rare in a suburban community. The decorative fountain in front of the City Plaza complex was a gift from Japanese businesses located in Peachtree City. The city also has two lakes of approximately 250 acres each, three golf courses, five public pools, four parks, numerous outdoor sports and recreation areas, a large tennis complex, a BMX bicycle track, and a 2,200-seat outdoor amphitheater. One of the most appealing aspects of life in Peachtree City is the 70 miles of paved trails that surround the town. Residents use the paths for walking, bicycling, or riding their golf carts, a popular alternate mode of transportation. The trails connect to churches, schools, and neighborhoods.
The town was carefully designed with residential areas well removed from industrial areas. City regulations include restrictions on tree cutting, limitations on the height of fences and business signs, and regulated buffer zones around all of the town’s lakes, streams, and wetlands.
Today, Peachtree City has five “villages” within the city limits: Aberdeen, Braelinn, Glenloch, Kedron, and West Side. Future plans may include a new village that will add about 4,000 new residents to the city. In the original design Peachtree City was to have as many as 80,000 inhabitants. The current land plan allows between 40,000 to 50,000 residents to call Peachtree City home.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to http://georgiaencyclopedia.org
Not so beautiful a mystery, but may be difficult to pinpoint
Today’s Mystery Photo isn’t distinctively beautiful as some mystery photos are, but it is interesting. And it has all kinds of clues, what looks like water, an interstate highway, mountains and even a town. Can you figure this one out? You’ll be great if you do. Send your ideas to elliott@brack.net, and include your hometown.
The candy aisle at a Mast General Store, this one in Columbia, S.C. was last edition’s Mystery Photo. Jim Savadelis of Duluth first detected the photo, though he thought it was in Greenville, S.C. Others solving the mystery went into great details involving the direction of the floor planks to pinpoint which store this particular photo depicted. The photo came from Jerry Colley of Alpharetta.
Sara Rawlins of Lawrenceville wrote: “My kind of store, a General Store that sells all kinds of goods besides candy in barrels by the weight. I love buying candy by the weight! Sometimes it’s hard to just stop at one pound unless it’s several types of candy that comes in at one pound. Plus they sell hard to find candies too.”
Others recognizing the photo included Raleigh Perry, Buford; Sandra Moore ,Loganville; and Bob Foreman, Grayson.
George Graf of Palmyra, Va. Noted: “This rural emporium that once carried ‘everything from cradles to caskets’ is a trove of Americana and unusual merchandise. In the 19th and 20th centuries general stores, such as Mast Store provided a vital link between farmers and crafters and those companies needing their eggs, chickens, potatoes, roots, herbs, and berries.”
Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. wrote: “This store is actually one of a family of nine, old-fashioned general stores located in the Southeastern states of North Carolina (in the towns of Valle Crucis, Asheville, Boone, Hendersonville, Waynesville, and Winston-Salem), South Carolina (Columbia and Greenville), and Tennessee (Knoxville). If you look at the images on the Greenville Mast Store Facebook page and other images, the floor boards run horizontally under the candy barrels. The floorboards in your mystery photo run vertically like the Columbia store and one floor board is darker and matches the same place in the Columbia Mast photos. Also, the Greenville store has only one round white column amongst all the candy barrels in the image on their web page, whereas the Columbia store has the series of square white columns that match your mystery image.”
The original store
Susan McBrayer: Sugar Hill: “We used to drive up to the Mast General Store in Valle Crucis when I was a kid in North Carolina and it was a real treat to see all those barrels of candy! Back then, it was more like a real ol’ timey general store. It carried practical items and lacked the trendy clothes brands they now carry. Eventually, they created a catalogue with drawings representing their stock and now, of course, they are online. The original store in the tiny Valle Crucis in the North Carolina mountains is still my favorite, even though the store has now expanded to eight other locations. This enclosed photo is what it looks like now. It’s expanded into annexes.”
Photo Contributors: Our stockpile of good photos is getting low. Send in some new ones!
Gorgeous scene
The beautiful weather of recent days gave Roving Photographer Frank Sharp great vistas to capture. Look at the dogwood blooms in this scene from Vines Garden Park near Loganville. Who needs to go to Piedmont Park or Gibbs Garden when we have these great parks right here in Gwinnett County. Get out in this beautiful time of year and explore, and if you meet people to talk to, remember to keep your social distances at least six feet apart.
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