GwinnettForum | Number 20.36 May 26, 2020
DISTINCTIVEAWARD: The Sons of the American Revolution Button Gwinnett Chapter has presented an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Award to Sarah Leigh Curlee, a resident of Lilburn and a nurse at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Melvin Buck, president of the local SAR chapter, makes the award. Curlee answered a call on April 11 as a volunteer for a four-week medical tour in New York City. Sarah, a graduate of Shorter University in Georgia with BSN and RN degrees, made the decision without regard for her own safety as she traveled to one of the hardest hit COVID-19 areas in the country where infection rates were high and supplies of personal protection equipment (PPE) were limited.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Immerse Yourself in the Green Spaces Around You…and Be Refreshed!
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Current Pandemic Is Nothing New; They Can Occur Periodically
ANOTHER VIEW: Final World War II Pacific Battle Lasted 82 Days—Taking Okinawa
SPOTLIGHT: Primerica, Inc.
FEEDBACK: Considering Those Bona Fides and the National Democratic Ticket
UPCOMING: Gwinnett Libraries Offer Limited Service Starting May 26
NOTABLE: PCOM 2020 Class Sends 128 Medical Graduates Forward Online
RECOMMENDED: BBC Radio Drama
GEORGIA TIDBIT: “Mother Russell” was Matriarch of Family from Winder
MYSTERY PHOTO: Very Few Clues Present in Today’s Mystery Photo
CALENDAR: Coolray Field Hosting Drive-Through Farmers Market on May 27
Be refreshed in green spaces around you
By Carol Hassell
Executive Director, Georgia Piedmont Land Trust
SUWANEE, Ga. | Every communication channel available is dominated by the coronavirus and COVID-19, every day, all hours. It’s overwhelming.
Hassell
In a time when people are trying to adjust to a new reality, new schedules, new ways of living daily life, one element around us is constant and can provide some solace or refuge. The environment – green spaces, woodlands, creeks meandering along their floodplains, even your garden – all are still there.
These green places can provide respite and a few moments away from the uncertainty of current life. The Georgia Piedmont Land Trust (GPLT), a land conservation organization based in Gwinnett County, for 22 years has focused entirely on permanent protection of green places in ours and other communities in northern Georgia. We believe that a clean, healthy, protected environment is the underpinning of a strong community, a place where people choose to live.
Never has that truth resonated more strongly. Without belaboring the idea with weighty justification, any effort to transition from the most stringent restrictions designed to protect people should recognize that getting outdoors to exercise appropriately and to simply enjoy nature, is desirable. This is no challenge to published protocols. This is a call to recognize the most salutary surroundings and positive activities available to us.
Take a walk on a woodland path or alongside a stream close to home; you can leave behind the anxiety of current events for even a little while. These are places where time slows; that are just now displaying the beauty of a new growing season, where the sounds and sights are grounded in the continuity of season change and new things growing.
Bird watching even outside your own home or in a nearby greenspace provides an alternative focus, as well as an opportunity to learn the calls and habits of the birds in your area. Working in your garden or even just spending some idle time there is unexpectedly welcome and refreshing.
Never before have we needed a call to go “smell the roses” and other happy scents as much as today – or to check out the sights and sounds of a new season of birds and other wildlife making their nests and raising their young. A hike through the forest can certainly be accomplished with appropriate social distancing, while providing the opportunity to immerse yourself in the solitude of the woods.
Take a fresh look around and immerse yourself in the green spaces available to you. It is one of the most positive activities you can safely undertake today.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Current pandemic is nothing new; They occur periodically
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
MAY 26, 2020 | Most of us living in 2020 probably do not realize that this coronavirus pandemic is not unique.
Pandemics have been recorded from ancient times. Just look at the history of malaria, tuberculosis, influenza and smallpox. All claimed millions of lives.
Some of us can remember the 1957-58 flu endemic, which killed two million worldwide, and 70,000 in the USA. In 1968-69, the Hong Kong flu killed from two-to-five million. And the H1N1 sickness in 2009-10 was worldwide, killing 12,000 in our country.
No one has seen such a widespread pandemic as this present virus since 1918-19. That was the when Spanish Flu hit, and boy, was it a whopper worldwide. It’s said that 500 million became infected and 50 million died from it. Deaths in this pandemic in the USA totaled 675,000.
In most cases, when diseases like this hit, public health officials, in the absence of a vaccine, can do little. Today’s reactions are similar to what happened in the past: schools and businesses close, public gatherings are banned, people stay away from one another, and masks become a necessity. Health officials say these safeguards work. But when such measures are not applied evenly, infections rise quickly.
Yet governments, businesses, schools and churches want to open as soon as it is safe. Time and time again, when these places open too soon, the inevitable happens: Infections, sickness and deaths rise.
The 1918-19 pandemic killed more people than died in World War I. It has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in the history of the world. More people died in a single year from the flu than in the four years of the Black Death Bubonic Plague, which was 1347 to 1351.
Medical officials have always been amazed at how quickly a plague can kill someone. Stories abound of people struck sick in the streets, and dying rapid deaths. One particular story has four ladies playing bridge one night, with three of them developing the symptoms and dying that same night.
The 1918-19 pandemic affected the Versailles Peace Conference to end World War I. Our president, Woodrow Wilson, collapsed at that meeting. Historians speculate he was weak from influenza, which was rampant in Paris then. Some have said Germany got better terms from this conference because of Wilson’s illness.
Early on in the 1918-19 onslaught, it was thought that Aspirin could help those downed by the flu. Aspirin had been developed by Bayer in 1899, and its patent ran out in 1917. Many firms started producing it. Physicians at first advised taking up to 30 grams a day, which we now know is toxic. (No more than four grams a day is recommended now.)
In the 1918-19 influenza, sociologists found that people relatively quickly accepted governmental authority, since there were so many people dying around them. This allowed public health authorities to step in with recommendations of what measures should be taken. And this led to what we call today “social distancing,” which has been proven effective.
Onr historian calls the acceptance of restrictions by the people a “relatively calm response by the public.” We certainly see this today, as some restrictions are lifted, but there has been no immediate rush to normal. Many are taking it slow and easy.
Yet we also see a great many of our fellow citizens disregard wearing masks, as if nothing unusual was going on. As the number of virus cases falls a little, it’s disturbing to see some taking a more casual approach.
So far, we haven’t heard the Fat Lady sing. It’s not over yet. Keep safe.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Final World War II Pacific battle, Okinawa, lasted 82 days
The USS Idaho, a New Mexico-class battleship, shells Okinawa on April 1, 1945. U.S. Navy photograph via Wikipedia.
(Editor’s Note: Roving Photographer Frank Sharp has spent some of his recent time researching World War II Pacific Ocean history. Here is the second of a two-part series on World War II in the Pacific Theatre. –eeb)
By Frank Sharp
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. | On Easter Sunday April 1, 1945, the Americans, led by the U.S. Marines, landed on the beaches of Okinawa. This volcanic island was 60 miles long and two to eighteen miles wide. It was covered in jungle growth with a patchwork of small farms separated by low stone walls and heavily terraced rice paddies. In short, it looked like a picture postcard. However, the jungle was filled with poisonous snakes.
Sharp
The U.S. force consisted of 1,500 ships with half a million men. They were hoping to turn Okinawa into something similar to England, that is, a Pacific theater launching site for the invasion of Japan. On Okinawa, the Japanese had 110,000 defenders and 20,000 Okinawa conscripts. However, the island was not protected by their carrier fleet, since most of their carriers were lost in the Battle of Midway.
The Americans controlled the sea so there was no chance for the Japanese to reinforce its troops. However, Japan had 350 kamikaze “Divine Wind” suicide planes. These were dangerous since the U.S. had the proximity fuses which the U.S. Navy had developed for its antiaircraft shells, which zeroed in on the invading air strikes . But, even still, 32 American ships were sunk and 62 others were so badly damaged that they were taken out of service. No single aircraft carrier or battleship was sunk, but the destroyers took a fatal beating. After the war Admiral Chester Nimitz said that he had never anticipated in his wildest dreams that the Japanese would use kamikaze attacks so successfully.
The fighting of the Japanese on Okinawa lasted 82 days. Casualties were immense: 107,600 on the Japanese side, 49,000 for the Americans. Some 8,000 Okinawa natives surrendered.
Because of the Japanese fierce and suicidal resistance on Okinawa, it was seen by President Harry Truman and other leaders that a landing attack on Japan would have had enormous causalities. That’s how the atomic bomb came into play. This bomb was developed in the top secret tarpaper towns of Hanford, Wash. and Oak Ridge, Tenn. Oak Ridge didn’t have any street names intentionally, to make it hard for spies to find anything!
After the war, Japanese General Tojo told General MacArthur that there were three reasons for the United State winning the war : (1) leap-frogging islands; (2) success of U.S. submarines against Japenese merchant ships; and (3) the penetration of U.S. carriers deep into enemy territories. These, Tojo felt, defeated his country.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Primerica, Inc.
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Considering those bona fides and the Democratic ticket
Editor, the Forum:
With respect for Therin Scott and all who questions Michelle Obama’s bona fides, let me say:
What bona fides does President Trump have? The answer to that is none. Even though she has never been in public office, Ms. Obama has the education and the proximity to many major decisions. Besides that, people love her. She radiates, she does not hate.
What bona fides does Vice President Mike Pence have? He was governor who prayed for help with the HIV situation, a congressman of little merit, and the man who is responsible for clearing up the president’s verbal gaffs.
Frankly, I don’t want Joe Biden; he is too old and he is the same age that I am and I am certainly too old. I hope the Democratic convention goes into a smoke-filled room and nominates Governor Andrew Cuomo, a man that can certainly speak to the issues.
— Raleigh Perry, Buford
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 libraries offer limited service starting May 26
The Gwinnett County Public Library, closed during the current pandemic, is offering limited service beginning May 26. Library members placing “holds” on books may pick them at curbside at their library.
At the same time, the library will also be open on that date for dropping off books checked out previously. Late fees have been suspended during the pandemic.
Library branches remain closed to the public at this time. For more information about our phased reopening criteria and plans, please click here. Gwinnett libraries continue to provide digital resources to the community. A date for our reopening has not been set.
Pick-up times will be from 10 a.m. to 5 .m. Monday through Saturday and noon until 5 p.m. on Sundays. To pick up items, park your car in the library lot and walk up to the entrance of the library. A staff member will be stationed at a table in the library’s entrance to check your holds out to you. Have your library card or photo ID available. A library staff member will retrieve your holds and check out the materials to your account, and then they will place them on the table for you.
Gwinnett County and Gwinnett County Public Library are collaborating to provide summer meals at two library branches for youngsters needing food as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Locations selected are the Lawrenceville and Snellville Libraries ,starting Wednesday, May 27. Registration is not required. Meals can be picked up between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m
With the library branches, Gwinnett now has 20 locations countywide where children 18 years old and younger can pick up free grab-and-go breakfasts and lunches. Parents can pick up nutritious meals for their children at the locations to take home or the children can pick up their own meals. The meals, which consist of things like sandwiches and wraps, meet USDA guidelines.
Georgia Gwinnett College plans ceremony online Aug. 8
Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) will celebrate 2020 commencement online at 10 a.m. Saturday, August 8. More than 800 spring and summer 2020 students will be honored during the virtual ceremony.
Dr. Jann L. Joseph, GGC president, says: “The coronavirus has disrupted life for everyone. I’m so proud of you all for not letting it stop you from completing your degrees, and it will not keep us from providing a memorable experience for you and your loved ones, as we celebrate you … the unstoppable class of 2020.”
As a special keepsake, the college will mail each graduate a celebratory commencement box that contains their diplomas, honor cords and other items. The virtual ceremony can be accessed online at ggc.edu/commencement.
PCOM 2020 class sends medical graduates forward online
The age-old tradition of commencement, complete with Sir Edward Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance,” was celebrated May 21 by PCOM Georgia graduates and their loved ones through the present-day convenience of social media. More than 400 screens were tuned in to the ceremony for the 128 graduates in the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine program.
H. William Craver III, DO ‘87, now dean and chief academic officer of PCOM South Georgia and formerly PCOM Georgia’s dean and chief academic officer for close to 10 years, recognized the situation that caused a shift from the traditional ceremony. “Now is a particularly difficult time in health care and in the world,” he said. “It is only appropriate to acknowledge the gravity the COVID-19 pandemic represents and the frontlines you will join.”
Jay S. Feldstein, DO ’81, president and CEO of Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM), addressed the class and fellow celebrants. He said, “In the end, it will be your forward-thinking leadership that will restore our nation to health. Your dedicated labor will carry us through our time of crisis. And your dream to heal will ensure that our healthcare system, post-pandemic, delivers on the unmet health and wellness needs of our society as a whole.”
“I have never been more proud of a class of students,” he said. “There has never been a more important time to be a physician.”
Class of 2020 Chair Ronak Patel, DO ’20, drew his colleagues’ attention to the meaning of the ceremony. “The focus of today is about celebrating what my classmates and I have accomplished over the past four years. It is difficult to put into words what this day means to us.” He noted that his fellow graduates have the opportunity to demonstrate resiliency. “We have remained and continue to remain resilient, steadfast, tenacious and tough through all the challenges we face. This current situation is no different.
“Our class will not be remembered as the class that lost commencement because of COVID-19. Instead we will be remembered as the class that remained laser-focused on meeting the challenges of an uncertain environment and succeeding in spite of the obstacles that lay ahead.”
- The PCOM Class of 2020 commencement ceremony can be viewed on the college’s YouTube channel.
ACCG honors Nash with its highest achievement award
Nash
Association County Commissioners of Georgia, also known as ACCG or Georgia’s county leader’s association, has honored Gwinnett County Chairman Charlotte Nash with the 2020 Emory Greene Leadership Award, the highest level of recognition a government official can receive from ACCG. It is reflective of Mrs. Nash’s achievements and impact during her time as an elected official.
Dave Wills, ACCG’s executive director, says: “The award embodies the true definition of leadership, dedicated and selfless service, as exhibited by Charlotte Nash.”
Since 1977, Chairman Nash has made a lasting impression on her native Gwinnett County. Beginning her career in county government as a grants manager, she held increasing positions of responsibility, culminated in being elected chairman of the commission. The award was created in 1990. It is named in honor of the late Emory Greene of Macon, former chairman of the Bibb County Board of Commissioners and former ACCG president.
Society’s newsletter gains national recognition
The National Genealogical Society (NGS) announces that The Heritage, newsletter of the Gwinnett Historical Society of Lawrenceville. is among winners of its 2020 awards. The publication is edited by Miriam Machida. The award came among the local genealogical and historical societies that were recognized for their excellent service to their communities at the Family History Conference in Falls Church, Va.
Founded in 1903, the National Genealogical Society (NGS) is dedicated to genealogical education, exemplary standards of research, and the preservation of genealogical records. The NGS serves from the beginner to the most advanced family historian, seeking excellence in publications, educational offerings, and guidance in research.
BBC Radio Drama
From Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill: If you don’t want to devote five to 10 hours to listen to an audio book, or if you like a variety of narrators, you might enjoy the BBC Radio Drama audio book productions. These delightful gems are free on YouTube and they last one to three hours. The productions feature play versions of books by such classic authors as Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and George Simenon. I believe there are more than 300 dramas available and they feature many actors. Once you get on this site, you can go to many other free audio sites such as BBC Audio Crime, BBC Detective Radio Plays and BBC Audio Dramas, all along the same lines. Some were recorded in the 1950s but most were recorded more recently. These provide great entertainment for people with short attention spans.
- 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
[butto n size=”small”]GEORGIA TIDBIT [/button]
“Mother Russell” was matriarch of family from Winder
Ina Dillard Russell, once known to Georgians as “Mother Russell,” was the wife of state supreme court justice Richard B. Russell Sr. and mother to U.S. senator Richard B. Russell Jr.
Russell
Blandina Dillard, the 13th and last child of farmers America Frances Chaffin and Fielding Dillard, was born on February 18, 1868, in Oglethorpe County, near Lexington. She attended school locally before enrolling at the Palmer Institute in Oxford and the Lucy Cobb Institute in Athens. In 1889 she began teaching third grade at the Washington Street School in Athens.
In 1891 she married Richard Russell Sr., a young Athens lawyer. In 1906 he became one of the first three judges to serve on the Georgia Court of Appeals, and in 1922 he was elected chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia. He lived primarily in Atlanta and was home only on weekends.
While her husband pursued his political career, Russell raised seven sons and six daughters on the family farm in Winder, where she also managed several tenant farmers. Although her 1912 ledger shows that she sewed more than 200 garments that year, Russell preferred working outside, planting peanuts, cotton, tomatoes, and potatoes and raising hogs and chickens to make money and feed her family.
Although her husband hired teachers to live with the family, Russell and her sister Patience Dillard often taught the Russell children. When the children went away to school, at the age of 13 or 14, Russell would write long letters to them, with instructions on healthy living, the importance of studying while young, and proper behavior in all circumstances.
Russell’s children grew up to become productive citizens, choosing careers in business, education, law, medicine, the military, the ministry, and politics. Russell’s oldest son, Richard Russell Jr., became governor of Georgia in 1931, when he was just 33 years old. Because he was a bachelor, Russell Jr. asked his mother and father to reside at the Governor’s Mansion with him. Thus the heads of the executive and judicial branches of state government were housed under one roof during Russell’s tenure as Georgia’s first lady. Two years later Russell Jr. became the youngest member of the U.S. Senate.
In 1932 the Georgia State College for Women (later Georgia College and State University), the alma mater of five of Russell’s daughters, renamed its library to honor her. Although she never held public office herself, Russell received an unusual salute typically reserved for political leaders and statesmen—Georgia flags were lowered to half-mast in her honor on August 30, 1953, when she died of a cerebral hemorrhage.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to http://georgiaencyclopedia.org
Very few clues present in today’s Mystery Photo
Today’s Mystery Photo offers few clues, and may turn out to be a most difficult mystery, unless the reader is mighty alert.Tell us where it’s located by sending to elliott@brack.net, including your hometown.
It was a small field of replies to the recent Mystery Photo, which was sent in by Dick LoPresi of Berkeley Lake. George Graf of Palmyra, Va. recognized it immediately: “It is the fountain and town hall in Meursault, France. The town is in the Côte de Beaune subregion of the Burgundy wine region. Meursault produces mainly white wines from Chardonnay grapes, primarily in a style with a clear oak influence, which have led to descriptions such as ‘buttery’ to be applied to powerful examples of Meursault wines.
“Meursault is situated on a prehistoric settlement. The name of Meursault derives from muris saltus, the “mouse-leap” stream of the Ruisseau des Cloux, so named by the Roman soldiers. The hôpital de Meursault is an old hospital, dating from the 12th century, that was originally used to treat leprosy.”
Others figuring out this mystery included Kay Everett of Lawrenceville; Lou Camiero of Lilburn “My son and I visited there years ago and it seems it hasn’t changed at all if this is a recent photo;” Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill: “This is the Hotel de Ville in Marie, Meursault, Bourgogne, France. I believe it was a chateau originally built by Charles V. Now known for the fine wines produced from the vineyards;” and Holly Moore of Suwanee: “The site of the hall was originally a feudal castle dating to the early 1300’s. It has been renovated and restored several times through the centuries and continues to be used as the Town Hall.”
Coolray Field hosting drive-through farmers market on May 28
Georgia Grown To Go drive-through farmer’s market will be held May 27 from 3 to 7 p.m. at Coolray Field. The event is rain or shine and while supplies last. Residents will have the chance to support local farmers by purchasing fresh produce. Georgia Grown, an initiative of the Georgia Department of Agriculture, is partnering with Gwinnett entities to host the event. Place pre-order boxes for a reduced rate online until noon Tuesday, May 26. Orders will be available for contactless pickup at the event site, and a limited supply of items will be available for same day purchase on a first-come, first-served basis. Coolray Field is located at 2500 Buford Drive in Lawrenceville. Visit GeorgiaGrownToGo.com to learn more and place an order.
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