GwinnettForum | Number 20.04 | April 10, 2020
CLASSIC SCENE: The distinctive angle of this picture by Roving Photographer Frank Sharp is a classic in its simplicity and layout. It also says something for these days, as both walkers have on face masks. This photograph was taken at Rhodes Jordan Park in Lawrenceville. The umbrellas, the people, the dog, the grass and sky combine in a beautiful scene.
TODAY’S FOCUS: State’s Broadband Initiative Suggests Sites for Public Wi-Fi Networks
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Collins Hill High Student Finds a Way To Help Gwinnett Medical Staff
SPOTLIGHT: MTI Baths Inc.
FEEDBACK: Will Pandemic Do Damage to World’s Relationship with China?
UPCOMING: Aurora Theatre Offering Digital Series of Programming in April
NOTABLE: Saturday Marks 40th Anniversary of Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful
RECOMMENDED: Netflix Series: Borgen created by Adam Price
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Emory University Hospital Provides Full Range of Patient Services
MYSTERY PHOTO: This Site May Be Familiar To You, But Hard To Place
LAGNIAPPE: Lilburn Mayor Tim Dunn Takes Office
State’s broadband initiative suggests sites for public Wi-Fi
By Deana Perry
Executive Director, Broadband, Georgia Dept. of Community Affairs
ATLANTA, Ga. | With schools closed across the state, more than ever, students need to connect to the internet for continuity of learning. Many students have been able to continue their lessons on-line. However, many families do not have internet at home.
Perry
The Department of Community Affairs (DCA) and Governor Brian Kemp are keenly aware that students need to continue learning – the April 3 Executive Order included “children obtaining public internet access to fulfill educational obligations” as Essential Services.
When students return to school, Governor Kemp and State Superintendent Richard Woods want students to be able to avoid a longer than usual “summer slide” by doing as much as they can to inform families about connectivity resources.
The DCA Georgia Broadband Deployment Initiative is providing information about public WiFi locations around the state where students can access the internet for free. The locations are now viewable in an easy-to-use map on DCA’s website: https://broadband.georgia.gov/georgia-internet-access-covid-19-update.
It’s easy to find where there are WiFi locations around the state. Go to the above site and click on the area closest to your home. You may find several links near you.
We ask you to use this map to share the list of free public WiFi locations with people you know.
However, when using these sites, continue to follow the statewide social distancing guidelines that are critical to flattening the curve of COVID-19’s progression.
Public WiFi locations, such as libraries, are closed now, but their connection to the internet is available from points around the outside of buildings including their parking lots. Internet users must bring their own devices such as laptops, tablets and mobile phones. And again, follow the social distancing guidelines and remain six feet apart from fellow Georgians who are not members of their household.
This list of places offering WiFi services does not include the Kindergarten through 12th-grade schools or Georgia colleges and universities providing WiFi access for students. To find those locations, students and/or parents are instructed to contact their local school.
The Georgia Broadband Deployment Initiative is led by the Department of Community Affairs and partners include the Georgia Department of Education, the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, and the Georgia Public Library System. Should you need more information, contact me at (404) 679-1587 or via email at Deana.Perry@dca.ga.gov.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Collins Hill High student helps Gwinnett Medical staff
Campbell with supplies. Photo via GoFundMe.
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
APRIL 10, 2020 | A Collins Hill student has stepped forward during the global pandemic to provide meals for Northside Gwinnett Medical Center. She is Christa Campbell, who didn’t want to sit at home and not help people during her enforced break from school.
Brack, dressed for Covid-19
She has partnered with The Meal Bridge to provide the meals, working through local restaurants. After three days, about 100 meals a day are being sent to the hospital by local restaurants through this program. In addition, Christa provide at least 35 meals a day if not enough people fund the meals through local restaurants. On one day, the restaurant Universal Joint sent 200 meals to the hospital funded by Christa’s site.
There are several ways to participate in The Meal Bridge program.
People can go to this GoFundMe site to donate to help purchase snacks, drinks and meals for doctors and nurses at Northside Gwinnett Medical Center. They may donate any amount. By Thursday, 25 people had helped fund the GoFundMe site.
Or donors may purchase meals through participating local restaurants and directly order meals for the hospital, at best a day or two before delivery. Local restaurants currently participating include:
- Universal Joint–770-299-1898;
- Blue Rooster–770-995-0065;
- Cosmo’s–770-338-9274;
- Feast 26– 770-675-3572;
- Smokin Gold BBQ– 770-466-3227;
- Jason’s Deli–770-962-9090; and
- Chili’s–770-513-0970.
Campbell
Many of the meals are bag lunches of a sandwich, cookie, fruit cups and chips, while often the donors pick meals from the restaurant menus to fund.
What got Christa’s attention was finding out about a site developed by Druid Hills High’s Grey Cohben, who started The Meal Bridge. Christa says: “I reached out to her, and she helped us get our Gwinnett site going.” Helping her are her fellow students of the Gwinnett Student Leadership Team. They are two other Collins Hill students, Izzie Lee and Naathan Eyasu, plus Shivani Desai of Peachtree Ridge High.
“Gray has inspired me, and helps keep me and our team going,” Christa says. “We also have had a lot of support from our Collins Hill Principal Kerensa Wing, who is the national principal of the year, and from Ms. Nancy Ward, director of the Gwinnett Student Leadership Team. These people have worked really hard to help us.”
Christa, who is a junior and 16 years old, was born at Gwinnett Medical Center. Her parents are Hope and Tyler Campbell, both teachers, Hope at the online school, and her father teaches math at Brookwood High.
By the fourth day, Christa had decided to add another site to send the meals, as medical personnel at the Good Samaritan Medical Clinic are to start getting the meals.
Originally Christa wanted to set an achievable goal with the GoFundMe site, and in three days she had achieved the goal of $1,000. “But the need continues, and we hope to get even more in donations to make sure we can continue this until our area returns to normal.”
On another note: Opening a mailed-in envelope, we were surprised to find two medical masks earlier this week, as you see here. Special thanks to Lynn Jacques of the Philadelphia Winn chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, for making and sending the masks.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
MTI Baths Inc.
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s featured sponsor is MTI Baths Inc. of Sugar Hill. MTI Baths is a manufacturer of high-quality acrylic and engineered solid surface bath products, including whirlpools, air and soaking baths; lavatories; shower bases; and kitchen sinks. MTI’s patented Fill-Flush® and Simple Touch® whirlpool cleaning systems are the best on the market. MTI now offers engineered solid surface–counter tops and sinks. Every product is custom-made to order and shipped within seven business days. We are now operating in an additional manufacturing plant of 38,000 square foot. CEO of the firm is Kathy Adams, while Russell Adams is president.
- Visit their web site at http://www.mtibaths.com/.
- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, click here.
Will pandemic do damage to world’s relationship with China
Editor, the Forum:
In the 50’s as a little boy, I listened to the fathers who had fought in the second world war about not trusting Germans, but more the hatred of the Japanese. My town was very German. Historically Germans had always been held in high esteem. But inexpensive tin toys of low quality were coming from Japan that only supported the harsh scorn from the veterans. Obviously, the years have changed the attitudes toward these countries, who are now our close allies and friends in commerce.
The attack on 9-11 caused tremendous damage to the attitudes of American people toward the Islamic world. We have not evolved beyond it yet.
I can’t help but wonder what this virus experience will do to damage the relationship China has with the world. Supply chains are exposed. Disclosing important information was withheld to save face that led to out of control spreading of the virus. This may change many relationships. Globalism itself may be challenged. Things may become more regional.
Of course, if a vaccine is effective and the threat is abated, pressure will be to return to previous business. But vulnerability is there now.We all need to be prepared for the next pandemic from the mega population areas. We got caught with our guard down. Government failed to plan.
— Byron Gilbert, Duluth
President was correct to fire staff member for incompetence
Editor, the Forum:
A recent letter from Michael Wood seems to think that President Trump should not be able to fire anyone for incompetence. Perhaps, he watches too much of the Trump hating media. In fact, Atkinson was identified in the FISA abuse report recently by DOJ IG as one of many individuals who was involved in FISA abuse.
The latest IG report that outlines Atkinson’s gross incompetence in the FISA scandal through the 42 DOJ-NSD Accuracy Reviews. Even his wife was connected to Fusion GPS.
It seems to me that Atkinson was involved in some of the most corrupt actions in United States history. He not only should have been fired, but prosecuted for his actions to remove the president of the United States for bogus crimes.
— Roberta Cromlish, Stone Mountain
Says California has many more “problemas” than Georgia
Editor, the Forum:
Regarding a recent letter from Audrey Herndon. In the April 7 edition. Yeah, California is doing great, with all of those homeless people and illegals.
Why do we have someone from California weighing in on our issues in Georgia? They have way more “problemas” than we do. Maybe he could set his sights in that direction (and perhaps even learn how to spell the governor’s name while he’s at it).
Geez Lou-eez…
— Gregg Stopher, Peachtree Corners
Dear Gregg: Mr. Herndon is a native of Gwinnett County and wrote of a distinct period of earlier-day Georgia, in comparing then to now. He gives some views from the West Coast from time to time. He’s related to a large family in Gwinnett. –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
Aurora Theatre offering digital programs in April
As Georgia transitions from gatherings to the practice of social distancing, Aurora Theatre has launched an interactive, digital series to provide access to art and showcase its talented artists. The activities are free and scheduled on various dates throughout April.
Art will continue to serve a purpose under these unique circumstances, as Aurora Theatre continues to play a role in providing entertainment – from storytelling to games – in hopes that virtual audience members will find comfort and connect with “in the moment,” personal experiences. Each event will be posted on its website, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram at designated times.
Cody’s Crafting Corner: April 14 and 21 at 7 p.m. Calling all aspiring artists! Cody Russell – an alumnus of the Aurora Theatre Apprentice program, as well as a props designer, set dresser, scenic designer and scenic artist – will lead an art project with materials and objects found around the home. This session is an opportunity to self-express through art, plus add new décor to an at-home work or living space!
Aurora Storytime: April 16 and 23 at 11 a.m. Aurora Theatre staff members will read a childhood tale for all to enjoy. Parents can gather their children for recounts of favorite books and share fond memories at home.
Friday Funday: April 10, 17 and 24 at 2 p.m.Teaching artists share some of their favorite theatre games! Unlike the traditional card or board game, theatre games get folks on their feet, keeping the mind and body active while also boosting joy and creativity.
- While the performances and activities are free, voluntary contributions help keep Aurora strong during these uncertain times. Donations will be accepted here.
LETTUM EAT! Program seeks to feed 2,500 dinners weekly
A new program to help feed families during the current pandemic is gearing up.
In a collaborative effort to provide meals for families, LETTUM EAT! Inc. has partnered with the Gwinnett County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the First Baptist Church Snellville, Guardian Financial Services, and Solicitor Brian Whiteside to stand in the gap for those needy families.
LETTUM EAT! Inc. is a mobile food service providing free meals to food insecure individuals and families in local Communities. The mission is mobile food provisions prepared for those in need. The group is engaging a large network of resources involving experienced chefs and restaurant professionals and partnering with local agencies.
The goal is to provide at least 2,500 meals each week. Since Gwinnett County Public Schools is providing breakfast and lunches for families, LETTUM EAT! Gwinnett is focusing on dinners.
This drive through service is scheduled Monday through Fridays from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., to start April 13. The locations which rotate by day are:
- Mondays – First Baptist Church, Snellville, 2400 Main Street;
- Tuesdays – Mt. Carmel Missionary Baptist Church, 3458 Church St, Duluth;
- Wednesdays – Christ the King Dacula, 258 Rabbit Hill Road, Dacula;
- Thursdays – Lawrenceville Cooperative Ministries, Inc., 52 Gwinnett Drive,
- Fridays – Norcross at a site to be determined; see website for update.
Anyone who would like more information about LETTUM EAT! Gwinnett should contact Chef Hank at: Instagram @lettumeat, or the website at https://lettumeat.com/lettum-eat-gwinnett. Another contact is Simeon Harris, at 678-400-2929.
Saturday is Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful’s 40th anniversary
Saturday, April 11 marks the 40th birthday for Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful!
Here are seven ways to help GC&B to mark its 40th anniversary. Share these on GC&B’s social media pages. Do this while practicing social distancing – not only for the birthday, but also Keep America Beautiful Month and Earth Day:
- Create a Work of Sidewalk Chalk Art in Your Driveway.
- Design a Sculpture Out of Repurposed or Reclaimed Items from Around the House.
- Get Outside with Your Loved Ones and Share a Group Selfie. Remember, the trails at Gwinnett County Parks remain open, so go exploring.
- Start a Compost Pile. With so many enjoying meals at home right now, it’s a great time to start that compost pile – which should be ready to help fertilize your flower beds and garden in time for late Spring/early Summer. Visit the Composting page on our website for tips on how to get started!
- Beautify Your Corner of the World. Hardware stores allow you to place your order online and pick up curbside or in-store – saving you from having to spend time shopping in the store.
- Make a Food or Monetary Donation to the Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia: This community-focused foundation is working to support Gwinnett County and families in need. You can help them through the donation of food, supplies or a financial contribution. Neighbors helping neighbors is one of the most beautiful ways you can celebrate GC&B!!
- Take the Earth Day Daily Challenge: For the first time in its 50 year history, Earth Day is going 100 percent digital. To that end, they have developed a 22-day challenge that includes measuring your carbon footprint, go plant-based for one meal/day, go zero-waste for one day, make a window for the world and more. Check out the entire list on its web site.
Alliance grant goes to Snellville community garden
Community Garden at Snellville gardeners are, from left, Martha Whitman, Susan Langley and her son South, Wes Nettleton, Lucy Nettleton and Sharon Noy.
The Community Garden at Snellville has been awarded a 2020 Food Well Alliance Community Garden Improvement Grant of $1,500.
The garden, sandwiched between T.W. Briscoe Park and the city’s Recycling Center on Marigold Road, will use the funds for equipment, such as hoses, hose nozzles, shovels and another wheelbarrow. It will also be used to add other improvements including a gutter to a downspout and rain barrel to pavilion for water conservation. It also plans to build another demonstration bed in the garden to be used for teaching purposes.
While the garden is on city land, it is fully self-supporting through garden rental fees from users and twice annual plant sales. The $1,500 will go a long way to help promote urban gardening and a strong Snellville community, according to garden organizer and Councilwoman Gretchen Schulz.
The Community Garden @Snellville was created in 2012 when the City Council took a former all-purpose field and installed 10 garden beds. Today the Community Garden has expanded to 48 raised beds rented on an annual basis and manages a 40-by-20-foot greenhouse.
The garden grows vegetables, flowers and herbs in their greenhouse and offers them for sale at nominal rates at both spring and fall plant sales in conjunction with the Snellville Farmers’ Market. The garden grows and donates vegetables on a weekly basis to the Southeast Gwinnett Co-op. The garden also provides educational seminars and events for young people, including classes from South Gwinnett High School.
Master Gardener Wes Nettleton says: “We are extremely appreciative to the Food Well Alliance for their financial backing to community gardens throughout the Atlanta metro area. Through this effort we can support the local area and expand our opportunities to educate both young and old about the environment.”
Netflix series: Borgen, created by Adam Price
From Karen Harris, Stone Mountain: The complexities of Danish politics are presented with aplomb in this engaging and moderately paced series. The main character Birgitte Nyborg is believed to be based on Denmark‘s first female prime minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt. There are three series with 10 episodes each. Politician Birgette Nyborg survives many skirmishes with adversaries and duplicitous hanger-ons along with media attacks on her family. What makes this series so binge-worthy is the epitaphs that begin each episode of the series and are related to the theme of the episode, such as ‘Much that passes as Idealism is Disguised Love of Power’—Bertrand Russell. Information and character dense, Borgen is gripping, and leaves the viewer on tenterhooks waiting for the next episode. Highly recommended for lovers of foreign intrigue.
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
Emory University Hospital provides range of patient services
Emory University Hospital in Atlanta is the core facility of one of the nation’s leading university-based health systems, with nationally and internationally recognized faculty physicians in more than 100 specialty and subspecialty areas.
The adult, tertiary care facility is a component of Emory Healthcare, the largest and most comprehensive health system in Georgia as of 2006. About 24,000 inpatients and more than 81,000 outpatients visit Emory University Hospital each year, according to 2006 records. As of that same year the hospital contains 587 beds and is staffed by 2,800 practicing physicians, who are also faculty members at the Emory University School of Medicine.
Providing a full range of specialized care, the hospital is annually included in U.S. News and World Report‘s “America’s Best Hospitals” and is recognized for its excellence in cardiology and cardiac surgery, neurology and neurosurgery, oncology, ophthalmology, organ and tissue transplantation, and orthopedics. For eight consecutive years (1998-2006), members of the Atlanta community named Emory University Hospital the Consumer’s Choice Award winner.
The hospital’s relationship with Emory University’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center has had a significant impact on patients. Through this partnership, advances have been made in medicine that will affect the lives of Georgians for the next several decades.
Emory University Hospital dates back to March 1904, when its predecessor, Wesley Memorial Hospital, was chartered with 50 beds. The hospital was housed in a downtown Atlanta mansion that had been spared from destruction by Union general William T. Sherman’s army during the Atlanta campaign in 1864. By November 1922 the hospital had grown too large for its quarters and was moved to its current DeKalb County site on the Emory University campus. The new 275-bed facility was a gift from Asa Candler, philanthropist and founder of the Coca-Cola Company.
In the mid-1930s, the name was changed to Emory University Hospital. The university and the hospital bear the name of Bishop John Emory, who presided over a meeting of the Georgia Methodist Conference in 1834 at which delegates decided to establish a Methodist college, which later became Emory University.
A number of revolutionary medical procedures have been performed in the state for the first time at Emory University Hospital:
—1947: Georgia’s first cornea transplant;
—1963: Georgia’s first aortic valve replacement;
—1966: Georgia’s first kidney transplant;
—1970: Georgia’s first coronary bypass;
—1979: Georgia’s first bone marrow transplant;
—1982: Georgia’s first injection of a clot buster to treat heart attack;
—1985: Atlanta’s first heart transplant;
—1987: Georgia’s first liver transplant;
—1987: Georgia’s first insertion of an implantable defibrillator;
—1989: Georgia’s first pancreas transplant;
—1996: Georgia’s first coronary artery bypass graft “keyhole” surgery;
—1997: Georgia’s first implantation of a dual-pump ventricular-assist device;
—1999: Georgia’s first implantation of a biventricular pacemaker; and
—2003: Georgia’s first islet cell transplant to cure diabetes.
The hospital’s other notable accomplishments include recruiting Andreas Gruentzig, inventor of the balloon angioplasty, from the Medical Policlinic in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1980, and the nation’s first coronary stent implantation in 1987. In 1992 a team of Emory neurologists and surgeons performed a pallidotomy, using brain mapping to guide the placement of lesions and electrodes, on a Parkinson’s patient. In 2002 the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of a protein that stimulates bone growth and provides an alternative to painful bone grafts, an outgrowth of work by Emory orthopedic surgeon Scott Boden.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to http://georgiaencyclopedia.org
This site may be familiar to you, but hard to place
Some of you have walked by this place several times, though it may be difficult to recognize the photo. Figure it out and send what and where you think this is to elliott@brack.net, and include your hometown.
Chuck Paul of Norcross sent in the recent Mystery Photo, a view in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Only three readers recognized it.
First in was Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas, who gave a thorough answer: “Today’s mystery photo is of the One Wall Centre complex (aka the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre Hotel), located on Burrard Street in downtown Vancouver.Construction on One Wall Centre was started in 1998 and completed in 2001, at which time it was the tallest building in Vancouver (clocking in at 48-stories and 518-foot tall). It held that title until 2008, being surpassed by the 62-story, 659-foot, mixed use ‘Living Shangri-la’ skyscraper. Currently One Wall Centre is the fourth tallest building in the city of Vancouver.
“This unique structure has the distinction of being the first building in the world to use a ‘tuned liquid column damper’ to control wind vibrations. Typically, skyscraper dampers are huge concrete blocks or steel bodies mounted in tall buildings, and designed to move in opposition to the resonance frequency oscillations of the structure by means of springs or pendulums. However, the dampers used at One Wall Centre use a water damping system at the top level of the building. This system consists of two 50,000-imperial-gallon water tanks that are designed so that the harmonic frequency of the sloshing of the water in the tanks counteracts the harmonic frequency of the swaying of the building.”
Also spotting the building were George Graf of Palmyra, Va. and Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill.
Lilburn gets new mayor as Dunn sworn into office
Lilburn has a new mayor, as Tim Dunn (left) assumes the office after the resignation of Johnny Crist to run for the state legislature. Administering the oath of office in what appears to be an empty chamber is City Attorney Richard Carothers, note wearing gloves, as Tim is accompanied by his wife, Sheila. He had been a member of the council for 13 years before taking office.
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