GwinnettForum | Number 20.4 | April 14, 2020
NEW BUILDING: The City of Lilburn recently opened its new police headquarters and Municipal Court, at 4600 Lawrenceville Highway (U.S. Highway 29). The building consists of 27,000 square feet. The former police building in Old Town Lilburn is being torn down and will be a 4,000 square foot open-air pavilion and restrooms, plus a Green Room underneath for performers and for storage. Infrastructure is being added for a children’s splash pad. The design was by Precision Planning, with construction by B, M and K of Braselton.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Gwinnett To Submit 95 Transit Projects Readers Learn about Candidates
ANOTHER VIEW: Savor Life Now; This Pandemic Won’t Be Like This Forever
SPOTLIGHT: Law Office of J. Michael Levengood, LLC
FEEDBACK: Seeks Additional Information on Writer’s Conclusions
UPCOMING: Gwinnett’s Public Library Continues To Serve During This Pandemic
NOTABLE: Community Foundation of NE Georgia Seeking $100K in COVID-19 Help
RECOMMENDED: Brothers Forever (Tom Sileo and Col. Tom Manion, USMC
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Malaria Was Threat to Georgia From Earliest Colonial Times
MYSTERY PHOTO: Today’s Mystery Photo Seems Set in a Peaceful, Serene Area
LAGNIAPPE: Creativity Rules on Charleston, S.C. Greenway
Gwinnett to submit 95 projects for possible transit plan
A Bus Rapid Transit program in Colorado, via Wikipedia
By Alan Chapman
Director, Department of Transportation
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. | The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved a menu of approximately 95 transit projects that will be submitted to the Atlanta-Regional Transit Link Authority for consideration as additions to the ATL Regional Transit Plan.
Chapman
If accepted by The ATL Board, these projects would be eligible for inclusion in a potential future transit referendum that could be considered by Gwinnett voters. The Board of Commissioners has not determined whether or when to call a referendum that would identify a plan for financially constrained transit projects and provide a funding source.
Board of Commissioners Chairman Charlotte Nash says: “With the growth and change expected in Gwinnett over the coming decades, it is critical that the County have flexibility to serve the evolving needs of the community. We are grateful to all the people who gave us input and helped us rethink transit’s future in Gwinnett. Kudos to the community members who pushed to find better ways of meeting the community’s mobility needs.”
The list of projects was developed by the Gwinnett County Transit Review Committee, a group of residents representing a variety of interests and perspectives, along with subsequent input from the County commissioners. Gwinnett County Department of Transportation staff and their transit consultant provided technical analysis and data to support the decision-making of both the committee and the Board of Commissioners.
The approved list serves as a menu of possible projects for the Board of Commissioners to choose from since the total cost of the list exceeds the funding that would be expected to be generated from a referendum and associated grant and fare box collections.
The list of projects approved by the Board of Commissioners for consideration by The ATL includes:
- Bus Rapid Transit projects to create a network of frequent, reliable transit service through the construction of dedicated lanes and high-quality stations; projects include connections between Jimmy Carter Boulevard and the Infinite Energy Center, Lawrenceville and Peachtree Corners (including connections to Georgia Gwinnett College and Gwinnett Tech), and Snellville to the Indian Creek MARTA Station in eastern DeKalb; a connection from Doraville to Jimmy Carter Boulevard would be established with either BRT or a heavy rail extension.
- A network of complementary Rapid Bus projects that incorporate some elements of BRT at a lower cost, such as queue-jumper lanes and transit signal priority (TSP) for vehicles to provide enhanced transit service to a greater portion of the County.
- Local bus projects that improve the existing network and create connections to the high capacity transit backbone of the system (Heavy Rail, BRT, and Rapid Bus).
- Regional connectivity projects across all modes to existing/planned transit investments in North Fulton County, eastern and southern DeKalb County, the city of Atlanta, and Hall County.
- Flex zone projects that allow for residents within designated areas of Gwinnett to request an on-demand ride either within this specified zone or to connect to nearby transit stations.
- Additional project funding to support supplementary vanpool and ridesharing, expansion of paratransit services and improvements to bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure to increase transit accessibility.
- For a full list of the transit projects submitted to The ATL, visit GwinnettCounty.com.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
How Forum will help readers learn about candidates
By Elliott Brack
Editor and publisher, GwinnettForum
APRIL 14, 2020 | With the Georgia primary now scheduled to be held on June 9, it gives GwinnettForum a little more time to make contact with candidates who have opposition in the Georgia primary.
Actually, we’ve made pretty good progress this year, having talked to 73 candidates so far, in order to get to know them. It also helps to determine by their responses which candidate GwinnettForum will endorse in each race in the primary and nonpartisan judicial races. As much as we can tell, we still have 31 more to talk with for the June 19 voting. We will then talk to those who did not have opposition in the primary, but have an “other party” opponent for the General Election.
With the corona pandemic in force, we took an alternate route for many of the interviews with candidates this year. We are now inviting candidates to talk with us not in person, as we have done previously, but through the amazing “Zoom” method. We have found this rather simple to use, both for us, and for the candidates. We simply send an email to the candidate who we scheduled for a particular time. The candidate has to click the computer and easily install Zoom, which sends a message to us saying the candidate is ready to talk. Then we click an “Admit” button, and Zoom! There’s the candidate looking at me, and me looking at the candidate, plus hearing one another!
You can see how this benefits the candidate, since they don’t have to come to our Peachtree Corners office. And it makes the process much faster to us, since we can interact more easily with candidates.
After candidates talk with us, that allows us to send the candidates six questions for them to answer, each in no more than 100 words, and return to us. Then we take the answers as they are returned to us, without any editing on our part, and will post them to our GwinnettForum website. Our readers will have three weeks before the election to read what each candidate says about each question, and perhaps even make up their minds on which candidate to support.
If you are early voting, let me suggest that you wait until after May 19 to vote. That’s the date GwinnettForum will endorse candidates and will post the answers of the candidates on our websites.
With so many candidates this election season, that will mean a lot of reading to see the comments of the candidates on the ballot. Be pleased: while Gwinnett has seven state senators, and 17 members of the House of Representatives, you will only have to read the answer from your own district’s senator or representative! That makes it a little easier on each voter.
GwinnettForum has been endorsing candidates since 2008, when we first got mad that the Atlanta newspaper was no longer endorsing. But after a week of stewing, we realized that many people say that GwinnettForum is “something like a newspaper” online. We don’t think of it that way, since we don’t attempt to cover the entire news waterfront. (No basketball game, or weddings, or comics.)
So, we thought, if people think of us this way, maybe we can endorse. The first year we interviewed 69 people in person. The most we have interviewed was 95 in one year. With so many candidates, we may break that record this year.
So that’s why to expect in the coming weeks. GwinnettForum looks upon this venture as a public service to voters in Gwinnett, which they will find at no place else.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Savor life now; This pandemic won’t be like this forever
By Dr. Michelle M. Robbins, associate professor of psychology, and
Dr. Jyotsna “Josi” Kalavar, professor of psychology for human development and aging services,
Georgia Gwinnett College
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. | Georgians are dealing with a new normalcy because of the coronavirus pandemic. Social distancing, teleworking, stay-at-home orders and health concerns leave many people dealing with unfamiliar situations. Likewise, Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) students, employees and their families are adjusting after a recent announcement by the University System of Georgia to move all 26 institutions to online instruction for the remainder of the semester.
Kalavar
Robbins
Here’s some advice for anyone coping with uncertain times.
Each person enters the situation with a different set of experiences and coping mechanisms. Some are anxious about the transition, while some are worried about job losses and how they will pay bills. And others enjoy going to school or work in their pajamas. A person’s mindset can dictate how they cope with a traumatic situation.
It is important to look at what we can control in times like this. We can control how we spend our time, our thoughts and activities.
Specific tips from this pair of professors include the following:
- The idea of uncertainty can produce a lot of anxiety. Instead of focusing on the unknown, concentrate on the here and now.
- Look at what you can accomplish today, such as self-care, a new hobby or a home improvement project.
- Rather than worrying about “what-ifs,” find ways to engage in activities that provide meaning, fulfillment and satisfaction within one’s home.
- Do what you can for others remotely. Phone a neighbor, write a poem, create an online neighborhood watch over elders in the community, sing and dance or thank loved ones.
- Honor your feelings of loss, anxiety, sadness and anger. Acknowledging your emotions gives you control over them and can help you cope better with them.
- Work to shift negative thoughts to a more positive perspective (e.g., rather than feeling “stuck” at home, recognizing that you are “safe” at home). Even in hard times, people can practice having gratitude for something. There is always something or someone to be grateful for in your life.
- Savor life, relationships, communication, hugs and heart-to-heart talks. Connect with family and friends who have become disconnected through the busyness of life. Use the time to unwind at home and be thankful for being alive and healthy.
- It won’t be like this forever. Don’t take for granted the nicer things like spending time with your family and pets. Although you have temporarily lost some privileges, value the blessings that remain.
- Make every day a day to remember, as you will look back on this period for the rest of your life.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Law Office of J. Michael Levengood, LLC
The public spiritedness of our underwriters allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s underwriter is the Law Office of J. Michael Levengood, LLC. Before relocating his general civil practice to Lawrenceville in 2014, Mike Levengood practiced law as a partner in an Atlanta firm for more than 30 years, handling a wide variety of commercial and litigation matters for business clients. Mike is a community leader in Gwinnett County where he serves on several non-profit boards.
- Visit this supporter’s web site at https://www.levengoodlaw.com.
- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, click here.
Seeks additional information on writer’s conclusions
Editor, the Forum:
An Open Letter to Roberta Cromlish:
I read your April 9 letter to the GwinnettForum. I cannot determine why Michael Atkinson, as Inspector General of the Intelligence Community (ICIGO), would have been involved in corrupt actions regarding the FBI’s obtaining FISA warrants. I could not find his name even mentioned in the 42 Department of Justice National Security Division (DOJ-NSD) Accuracy Reviews document you referenced much less find an outline of his gross incompetence.
My news sources include watching CNN and Fox, podcasts, particularly The Bulwark, and news on my phone app. Granted, most of these sources challenge, rather than agree with, President Trump’s actions. From them I make my own judgments.
You seem to have identified sources I cannot find. Would you be willing to undertake a direct dialog with me about this matter? Rest assured I would keep it civil.
–= Michael Wood, Peachtree Corners
Wants to help in medical transportation for patients
Editor, the Forum:
I just read your article about the food deliveries to Northside Gwinnett Hospital. I am the owner of a non-emergency medical transportation company in Gwinnett County, L&G’S Family Transportation. I would love to help make sure everyone receives meals. If there is any way I can help please feel free to contact me. We service Gwinnett County transporting dialysis, adult day care centers, and for doctor’s appointment, etc.
— Lekeya Atkin, Suwanee
Dear Ms. Atkin: You are kind to offer this. I suggest that you be in touch with Christa Campbell directly, as she knows what is needed in her venture. –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
Gwinnett’s public library continues to serve during pandemic
In the midst of the Gwinnett community’s transformation into at-home offices, classrooms and entertainment centers, libraries are needed now more than ever. How else are we to become experts in common core math overnight? The Gwinnett County Public Library (GCPL) has our back.
Pace
In addition to the system’s already varied digital services, new resources and arrangements have been implemented to specifically help the community cope with the trials of quarantine life. These include:
- Tutor.com: GCPL has partnered with the Gwinnett County Public Schools to purchase a subscription to Tutor.com, providing K-12 tutoring to Gwinnett’s 180,000 students while they are in distance learning. Students can access this via the library’s website at gwinnettpl.org.
- Free Temporary, Virtual Library Cards: The ebook vendor, OverDrive, now accepts GCPL’s online registration cards (temp PACREG) for immediate access to their content. Anyone can get a temporary library card online at gwinnettpl.organd gain access to all GCPL digital offerings.
- Chat with a Librarian: GCPL’s Customer Contact Center, while not able to take phone calls, is fielding emails and website chats Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Simply visit gwinnettpl.orgto chat or email with a librarian.
- Ancestry.com: Until recently, individuals had to physically visit a GCPL branch to have free access to Ancestry.com. Now, you can access this powerful genealogical database online via gwinnettpl.org.
Other digital offerings available to GCPL card holders (those without cards, see No. 2 above) include online access to newspapers, magazines, encyclopedias, ebooks, audio books, college and career planning, business resources, scholarly journals, skills courses, language learning and much, much more! Simply visit gwinnettpl.org/digital-resources to unlock a trove of free, quality tools to supply your time at home.
Gwinnett’s library Executive Director, Charles Pace says: “Here at GCPL, it is our mission to support your informational, educational and recreational interests with convenient, creative, customer-friendly access to materials and services. Just because our physical branches are closed doesn’t mean we can’t continue to serve our community. These are just a few of the ways we have already begun adapting to the current climate, and I can promise more is on the way!”
Foundation seeking $100K in COVID-19 help
The Community Foundation of Northeast Georgia has given over $450,000 to 43 grants to local nonprofits in just four weeks since beginning its COVID-19 efforts for the area. When the Community Foundation created the Coronavirus Relief Fund on March 13, 2020, the goal was to be first and fast in responding to the needs of our nonprofits on the frontlines of the pandemic who are providing food, shelter, financial assistance and healthcare. And that’s exactly what happened. As quickly as the money has been raised, it has been granted back out into the community.
Now, as the quarantine has been extended and needs continue to grow, the Community Foundation’s board of directors is asking for the entire community to step up to help ensure our nonprofits have the support they need in the weeks and months to come. How? By challenging the community to match the funds they’ve already donated.
Randy Redner, CEO and president of the Community Foundation, says: “Our board has already personally donated over $100,000 that’s gone directly to our nonprofits.Now they’re challenging the community — you — to help raise another $100k to continue providing our community with food, healthcare, housing and financial assistance.”
“Just ask the nonprofits we’ve helped so far,” said Dick LoPresti, board chair of the Community Foundation. “They are the ones that are on the front lines and they see the faces of our neighbors in need every day – they know how crucial it is to have community support. Our board is personally committed to doing everything we can to help, but we know that with the support from the larger community, we can help so many more people survive this current crisis.”
The Community Foundation is making weekly grants to area nonprofits, which are allowing them to directly impact lives.
The Community Foundation’s challenge to the community to raise $100k in seven days offers a way for people everywhere to help in a tangible way during this time. Every dollar helps and every dollar goes straight back into our community, to our organizations on the front lines of this fight now and in the days to come. To date, people have already given over $700,000 to the fund and this additional $100,000 will help the Community Foundation reach their goal of $1 million by April 30th.
- Anyone can give now at cfneg.org/covid19.
Brothers Forever (Tom Sileo and Col. Tom Manion, USMC)
From John Titus, Peachtree Corners: Travis Manion and Brendan Looney both entered the U.S. Naval Academy’s Class of 2004 and became roommates. This story begins by describing how each matured, interacted with their classmates and challenged each other through those years. By graduation they had become as close as brothers. Travis chose to become a Marine and Brendan a Navy Seal. Their exceptional friendship continued as each began his career. In 2007 Travis Manion was killed in Iraq and about 3 1/2 years later Brendan Looney died in Afghanistan. Ultimately they were buried side by side in Arlington National Cemetery as “brothers forever.” While this book does describe war, it is also a book about friendship, family, military culture and patriotism. As one review noted the book “will instill awe, inspire humility, and introduce tears.” It did for me. The full title is Brothers Forever: The Enduring Bond between a Marine and a Navy SEAL that Transcended Their Ultimate Sacrifice
- An invitation: what books, restaurants, movies or web sites have you enjoyed recently? Send us your recent selection, along with a short paragraph (150 words) as to why you liked this, plus what you plan to visit or read next. Send to: elliott@brack.net
Malaria was threat to Georgia from earliest colonial times
Malaria, which has affected Georgians since colonial times, is a disease caused by one of four protozoan species of the genus Plasmodium. The parasite enters people through the bite of an infected female mosquito and invades the red blood cells.
Sometimes the disease is transmitted through blood transfusion or from mother to fetus. Symptoms of malaria include fever, chills, headaches, muscles aches, and malaise. Prevention methods include use of antimalarial medicines as well as protection from mosquito bites. Malaria can be treated effectively in its early stages, but if left untreated, it can cause anemia and jaundice, and lead to coma, renal failure, acute respiratory distress, and death.
In colonial Georgia, poor sanitary conditions at the Salzburger settlement of Ebenezer led to an environment in which malaria could prosper. Eventually the settlement had to be abandoned because malaria was present in all of the surrounding swamplands. In 1806 the capital of the state moved from Louisville to Milledgeville, in part because of concerns over frequent outbreaks of malaria in the Louisville area.
Malaria made its way to the interior of Georgia in 1807. Settlers who took over the land after the Native Americans were forced out cut down trees and opened up the soil, allowing the disease to spread. Malaria slowed the growth and economic development of part of the state, more so than any other disease at that time.
Quinine was used to treat malaria from the 1800s until World War II(1941-45), when other, more effective medicines were developed. Thousands died from malaria during the Civil War (1861-65), and until the 1930s the disease was endemic in the southern states. To combat this problem, the U.S. Public Health Service assigned a new unit, Malaria Control in War Areas, which would later grow to become the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. Studies of malaria epidemics were also conducted from 1939 to 1958 at the site of the present-day Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center at Ichauway in Baker County.
Malaria was eradicated in the United States in the 1940s as a result of improved housing, drainage of flooded areas, improved access to proper treatment, and the U.S. Public Health Department’s campaign to eliminate the disease using indoor residual spraying of the pesticide DDT to control mosquitoes.
Despite the eradication of malaria in this country, CDC receives reports of about 1,300 cases every year. Most of these are acquired during international travel. About 75 percent of these cases are associated with travelers’ failure to use the recommended preventive medications. In 2006 CDC received reports of more than 1,500 cases in the United States. In 2007, 39 cases of malaria were reported in the state, according to the Georgia Department of Human Resources.
The Atlanta-based humanitarian organization CARE works to eradicate malaria and other diseases in countries around the world.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to http://georgiaencyclopedia.org
Today’s Mystery Photo seems set in a peaceful, serene area
Today’s Mystery Photo seems to be in a peaceful and serene setting, and looks somewhat like a church. Your job is to determine where it is located, and what its significance is. Send your answers to elliott@brack.net, and include your hometown.
Jim Savedelis, Duluth arrived first with the identification of the last Mystery Photo, recognizing Trafalgar Square and its fountains. (Hey, we missed recording who sent it in; Mystery Person: identify yourself.)
Others spotting the photo include Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill and George Graf, Palmyra, Va.: “Mermaid statue by Sir Charles Wheeler in the Trafalgar Square’s Jellycoe fountain, London. The two fountains in Trafalgar Square commemorate Admirals Jellycoe and Beatty, and include elaborate sculptures of mermaids, mermen, tritons and dolphins. The sculptures were created by William McMillan and Sir Charles Wheeler for the fountains designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.”
Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. further added: “Trafalgar Square is a center of national democracy and protest, where rallies and demonstrations are frequently held on different political, religious and general issues. The square is named after the Battle of Trafalgar, the British naval victory in the Napoleonic Wars over France and Spain that took place on October 21, 1805 off the coast of Cape Trafalgar.
“There are two main fountains in Trafalgar Square/The ‘Jellycoe Memorial Fountain’ and the ‘Beatty Memorial Fountain’. Each of these memorials have a vase-shaped central fountain with two additional bronze sculpture groups depicting mermen, mermaids, dolphins and sharks in a quatrefoil-shaped (similar to a four-leave clover shape) fountain basin. These memorial fountains were unveiled on Trafalgar Day, October 21, 1948 by Prince Henry, the Duke of Gloucester.
‘The Beatty Memorial Fountain is on the eastern side of the square, and includes two sculptural groups. The sculptural group shown in the mystery photo consists of a mermaid riding on a dolphin and holding smaller dolphins under her arms, with a shoal of small sharks in the rear; the other sculptural group contains an equivalent grouping with a triton (i.e a Greek god of the sea) in place of the mermaid. Interestingly, each of the mermaid statues in the square do not have the traditional single tail, but instead have long and powerful tails as an extension of each thigh.”
CREATIVITY RULES: Somebody gets a double “thumbs up” for creativity in this chalk messaging along the West Ashley Greenway in Charleston, S.C. If you see something during the coronavirus shut-in period that makes you smile, take a photo and send it to: elliott@brack.net. And make sure to tell us who to credit the photo to, what it is and where it was taken. Charleston Currents photo.
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