GwinnettForum | Number 20.69 | Sept. 25, 2020
TURKEY TROT 5K: The 11th annual Sugarloaf Country Club charity event will be held November 21-26, some of it virtually. Those wishing to participate in the Turkey Trot can register at runsignup.com. To encourage social distancing, the live race will start when contestants arrive anytime between 8 and 9 a.m. Race results will be available online. The in-person event will be limited to 500 runners. Virtual runners are welcomed and will be mailed a T-shirt. The 2020 event will benefit four local charities: Annandale Village, Duluth Food Co-op; Mosaic; and The Next Step.
TODAY’S FOCUS: After 51 years at B&W Automobile, Wayne Epps is moving on
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Original sketch of JFK came to me through governmental bureaucrats
ANOTHER VIEW: Next Congress might consider enlarging the Supreme Court
SPOTLIGHT: Aurora Theatre
FEEDBACK: Hong Kong Flu of the late 60s hit us hard, but in different times
UPCOMING: Political accusations in sheriff’s race from both candidates
NOTABLE: Eclipse Gaming expanding corporate headquarters and plant in Duluth
RECOMMENDED: I’ll Take You There by Wally Lamb
GEORGIA TIDBIT: “Atlanta Compromise” speech of 1895 was of significant importance
MYSTERY PHOTO: Unusual structure of the ages becomes today’s Mystery Photo
LAGNIAPPE: Ah, the beauty of nature as seen in this Southern tree
After 51 years at B&W Automobile, Epps is moving on
By Gene Ramsay
NORCROSS, Ga. | Wayne Epps grew up in the Doraville/Chamblee area, and after his Navy service as a young man, he and business partner Bob Baker opened an auto parts store in downtown Norcross. That was 1969, and the store, known as B&W Automotive Sales, has been in business ever since.
Ramsay
Wayne continued the business after Bob passed away some years ago. Now, after 51 years of providing both parts and customer service to a myriad of customers, he has decided he wants to spend more time at his lake house in North Georgia, and so is moving on.
The business started small – the partners took over and renamed an existing auto parts shop on South Peachtree (it occupied part of the current B&W floor space). As Wayne puts it: “We were in the right place at the right time.” B&W was able to grow with Gwinnett, eventually expanding to three times the original space, with seven or eight employees, plus delivery drivers who carried parts to customer locations as needed.
Epps
In the early days, there were times when Wayne would stand by the door for extended periods of time, waiting for the next customer to appear. But they persevered and became a success, developing accounts such as Vulcan Materials, which would buy hundreds of gallons of Sherwin Williams auto paint to use maintaining their equipment, and Western Electric/Lucent, to whom B&W supplied not only auto parts, but also, on occasion, needs such as golf carts, computer software and foul-weather gear.
Yet B&W always had time to help the smaller customer as well. Craig Newton, currently serving as Mayor of Norcross, grew up in the community, and remembers going to the shop as a teenager for guidance on purchasing engine oil and maintaining his first car.
Epps remembers with a smile the many people he has known in Norcross over the years, including:
- Gaines and Louise Ivy, who had a retail shop next to his in the early days. Gaines was also the local Justice of the Peace, and performed weddings in his office regularly. On occasion, he would call upon Wayne to act as a witness of the marriage. (B&W bought the store property from the Ivys when they retired, and then bought the property next door, previously a laundromat, as their business grew further.)
- J. P. Harrington, who established an insurance agency in Norcross a short time after B&W arrived, and now takes over the title of local businessman of longest duration
- Herman Orr, who ran an engine repair business near B&W. Wayne recalls that Herman was fastidious, never letting the white coat he wore daily get stained as he worked on engines!
- Golden Garner, who ran a nearby car repair shop and was a valued B&W customer. Golden was in the shop to make purchases one day when Wayne’s wife, who was expecting, called her husband to tell him it was time for him to take her to the hospital for the delivery. At that point the shop was still a small operation, and Golden stepped in to run it for the rest of the day while Wayne was away.
Wayne Epps has been a long-time Chevrolet enthusiast, but B&W helped all types of customers over the years, even those with Fords!
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Original JFK sketch came to me through bureaucrats
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
SEPT. 25, 2020 | An original pencil drawing of former President John Kennedy is on the back wall of my office. It’s 60 years old, and has been on every office wall I have had all these journalistic years. There’s a story that goes with it about the way governmental bureaucrats anywhere get around regulations.
When in the Army for 3.5 years, I served in Germany as a commissary, Class I and Class VI officer. My first commissary was small, with two cash registers in Bad Nauheim, Germany, a delightful “kur” town. Later I was transferred to the larger post commissary 20 miles north in Giessen, an industrial town. A sergeant and PFC worked with me, and we employed about 50 German civilians at the commissary and Class I (bulk food for the troops) operation. (Class VI is liquor, and two German civilians ran that operation.)
The Giessen commissary was a former horse barn, finished with easy-to-clean terrazzo floors. Ten feet off the ground were tall windows all around the space. It was not an inviting facility. The German employees convinced me they could make it more hospitable…..by hiring an artist.
There was a problem: we were not authorized for an artist. The German employees had among them some long-time bureaucrats, just as in any government. And they knew their way around problems.
Soon we put out an invitation for a warehouseman’s job, where we had one vacancy out of about four staff people. Eventually, the employees found a young applicant for the job. After I interviewed him, he was pleased to sign for the warehouse position.
This new warehouseman had one unique qualification: he was basically an artist, pleased to get any job. When heavy shipments arrived, he pitched in and helped unload trucks, as his job description required.
However, most of the time, our warehouseman charged directly ahead in artistic endeavors, making this grocery store much more attractive. His first finished works were two 6×24 foot oil paintings, one over the vegetable counter, high on the wall, of a scene from the German Alps. Over the meat market, across the aisle from the vegetables, was another 6×24 foot painting, this time an enticing Rhine River scene. These and other projects made the store area more pleasing. Our customers recognized the improvements with compliments.
By the way, his “studio” was hidden to snooping dignitaries. At the far end of the warehouse, maybe 100 feet from the unloading dock, were more stacks of canned goods. But on the back row, behind the cases, was his space where he did his art, away from prying eyes.
Prior to the 1960 election, I showed him a photo of Jack Kennedy in The New Yorker magazine, by Yosuf Karsh of Ottawa, the famous portrait photographer. Richard Nixon’s photo had appeared in the magazine the week before. These full page photos were advertisements for the photographer.
When we were talking I told our artist how I admired Kennedy. “Let me make you a drawing from that photo,” he volunteered. A few days later, he was back with an original drawing, in pencil, an amazing likeness of the photo. It showed even the highlights in Kennedy’s hair. It was superbly done, and I immediately framed it.
The artist (warehouseman’s) name was Ulial Wuidlaud, then perhaps 22-24 years old. He was still making the commissary more appealing when I completed my Army tour. I have since lost all contact with those loyal German employees.
Those German bureaucrats getting around those staffing regulations gave me an original keepsake which I cherish to this day.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Next Congress might consider enlarging the Supreme Court
By George Wilson, contributing columnist
“The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”– Mitch McConnell, Republican majority leader, back in February, 2016.
STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. | That was the statement that the Republican majority leader made as a justification for denying President Obama’s nomination, Merrick Garland, to the Supreme Court. Well now, we see what a hypocrite he is, as he proceeds to put Trump’s nomination up for a vote with less than 45 days until the national election.
If the Republicans go ahead with a nomination, we can say with certainty that the process has been politicized .Therefore, when the Democrats gain control of the Senate and the presidency, they should increase the size of the court by adding at least two justices.
The Supreme Court is composed of nine people, all educated at Ivy League schools. At least one has served as a political lobbyist. Most of them have worked in partisan politics, and many take paid speaking engagements from ideological groups like the Heritage Foundation and Planned Parenthood.
It is time to examine past the Supreme Court as an institution and look at it as a group of nine people with political biases. Expanding the Court will ensure that the people on that Court conform to the political standards of our time.
There’s nothing sacred about the size of the Supreme Court. The number isn’t found in the Constitution. Instead the size of the court comes from an 1869 act of Congress. Therefore, the Congress can pass a law changing the court’s size at any time.
That contrasts the court with other potentially meritorious reform ideas, like term limits, which would require amending the Constitution and thus are unlikely to succeed.
Finally, in 1869, when the number nine was chosen, the U.S. was roughly a tenth of its current size. Laws and government institutions were far smaller and less complex, and the volume of cases was vastly lower.
Enlarging the Supreme Court only seems radical because we have lost touch with the fundamentals of our living, breathing Constitution. The flawed debate over court-packing is an opportunity to re-examine our idea of what a Supreme Court is, and re-consider foundational principles, and sometimes wrong, assumptions.
- 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 live entertainment in northeast Georgia. 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 performances venues.
Aurora has had to make adjustments due to COVID-19 to follow state mandates for performing arts theatres and for the safety of artists, patrons and staff. Today you can enjoy Aurora’s first-ever streaming show Barbara’s Blue Kitchen, a “county-fried” musical. You can also experience an in-person Ghost Tour with adjustments that include smaller groups, social distancing and face coverings. You can support Gwinnett’s non-profit arts gem by making a tax-deductible donation and learn more about programs that are happening here: http://www.auroratheatre.comor call 678-226-6222.
- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, click here.
Hong Kong Flu of late ‘60s hit us hard, but in different times
Editor, the Forum:
The gift from China vintage 1968-69 was nicknamed the Hong Kong Flu. This pandemic killed 100,000 in our country when the population was about 180 million. Then our nation wasn’t anywhere near as crowded. I was a freshman in college and our country was far more interested in assassination, nuclear war, Vietnam, rock and roll, race riots, and marijuana….than a flu.
No schools were closed. My roommate told me I needed to go to the clinic where there was an assembly line of three treatments. Professors were aware and lenient with assignments. Grades suffered. But generally, the population was amazingly healthy to start. This made recovery a shorter period among the young.
As today, the older and those with other health challenges were hit hard by this Asian invasion. This gift is still a mystery because China has not come clean about its origin. The residuals are the unknown that the college boy in the late 60s didn’t have to ponder. We don’t know if this is a lab generated virus and China won’t spill.
— Byron Gilbert, Duluth
Send us your thoughts: We encourage you to send us your letters and thoughts on issues 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
Political accusations in sheriff’s race from both candidates
The race to elect a Gwinnett County sheriff took a new turn this week, as Republican Louis Solis put out a story maintaining that his opponent, Democrat Keybo Taylor, “has a history of not paying legitimate bills, taxes, and frivolous lawsuits.”
In response, Keybo Taylor told GwinnettForum: “This is no more than a distraction to take away from the true meaning of what we are doing here. Solis caused over $3 million in cost to the county, with more lawsuits pending, through his reckless hiring and retention, and refusal to change policies and procedures and personnel. I anticipate more such suits to be filed, from a failure to make changes in the current sheriff’s office.”
Solis said, quoting a story in what he called the “Gwinnett News Daily,” that Taylor has three Georgia State tax liens for unpaid individual income taxes of 2010, 2011 and 2012.
He also charged that Taylor had 16 Gwinnett tax liens, including a current tax lien that remains unsatisfied. Solis did not say whether previous tax liens had been paid.
Furthermore, Solis brought up cases where Taylor filed a federal racial discriminations suit and brought a Fair Labor Standards Act suit. In one case, a jury ruled against Taylor, and in the other a judge ruled against Taylor’s accusation, Solis maintained. There were other accusations against Mr. Taylor that Solis brought up.
Taylor, also in a press release, retorted: “Like many of you, I felt the pinch of the 2007-2009 Great Recession. I incurred a large tax bill in 2011. Like many Americans on a fixed income, I opted for payment arrangements. Although bankruptcy was an option, I personally understand the true important uses of our collective tax dollars; I never wavered on my commitment. I do not currently owe monies to the I.R.S., Georgia Department of Revenue, or Gwinnett County.”
Lionheart Theatre plans 3 plays during October
Lionheart Theatre of Norcross is gearing up for a spectacular October with three events that you will not want to miss. They are:
- Playing in the Dark – October 8-11;
- No Laughing Matter – October 23-25; and
- Halloween Maskerade Ball – October 30-31.
Because of the need for continued social distancing and safety precautions, note that each event will have a limited number of tickets available, so go ahead and make those reservations ASAP.
Playing in the Dark is a Halloween tour perfect for the whole family to enjoy.Join us for a fun-filled evening of magic, storytelling by the fire, pumpkin painting, a Halloween horrors make-up workshop and a live 10-minute show from local actors. There will also be a wine tasting for adults! Each show date contains two performances, one at 6 p.m. and one at 8 p.m. This gives you eight chances to have some fun. All tickets are $12. To protect our audience, performers, and volunteers we are limiting each audience to 25 guests.
No Laughing Matter is an on-stage radio comedy detailing the adventures of H.R. Maddox from the Annals of Human Resources Management.
For this production, we have two options for how you can enjoy this radio comedy.
- Live Performances are Tickets $12.
Pay-Per-View Recording: $20 fee. This option where you can purchase access to a recorded performance to watch at your leisure. This is the perfect option if you’re not quite ready to come out to the theatre or if you’re not local to Atlanta.
Halloween Maskerade Ball is a spooky Halloween party featuring five short plays, live music, treats and contests for best decorated COVID-19 mask and best Halloween costume. This event is age appropriate for ages 16+. Join us on October 30-31 at 7:30 p.m. All tickets are $20
Eclipse Gaming expanding headquarters, plant in Duluth
Gaming machines made by Eclipse
Eclipse Gaming Systems, LLC of Duluth is expanding its global corporate headquarters in Gwinnett County. With a core focus on the Native American gaming market, Eclipse Gaming designs top performing games and innovative solutions. The company currently employs 46 people and plans to increase their headcount by 30 people within the next 14 months.
Eclipse Gaming has relocated to 2236 Northmont Parkway, increasing their square-footage by seven-fold, to 40,000 square feet, allowing for the consolidation of warehouse facilities and company operations.
CEO Tim Minard says: ““We are thrilled to be expanding our footprint in Gwinnett County. Eclipse Gaming is a rapidly evolving company, and our success is due to our most important asset – our people. I believe Georgia combines exceptional logistical efficiencies with remarkable talent and educational institutions that provide rich STEAM programs. This allows us to continue creating a robust network of talented visionaries.” He adds: “We have built from the ground up into a world-class production facility, leading software platforms and a space that captures our culture.”
- To learn more about Eclipse Gaming, visit www.eclipsegamingsystems.com.
Peach State FCU donates to Family Promise of Gwinnett
Peach State Federal Credit Union has donated $3,000 to Family Promise of Gwinnett County to support their mission to end homelessness in Gwinnett. The organization connects local resources to help homeless children and their families regain their housing as well as their independence. From left are Ryan Hawk, executive director for business development and community outreach for Peach State FCU, and Carol Love, executive director of Family Promise, an organization which has helped stabilize more than 3,000 guests since 2003.
Love says: “Gwinnett County has the third highest total homeless population in the state of Georgia and more of our neighbors are experiencing homelessness than ever before in light of the pandemic. This donation will help provide resources for our administrative headquarters so that the families and volunteers that we work with have a stable home base.” To learn more about how Family Promise of Gwinnett County is working to end homelessness one family at a time, visit https://familypromisegwinnett.org/.
I’ll Take You There by Wally Lamb
From Karen J. Harris, Stone Mountain: Felix Funicello is a film scholar. He’s immensely proud of his cousin, actress and Three Musketeers member Annette Funicello. One evening, he is visited by the ghost of Lois Weber, an important motion picture director from the silent film era. Felix is encouraged to look back on his life through motion pictures that will present scenes in his life, many of which shed light on relationships. Despite his initial reluctance to review his past, he grows in understanding feminist issues in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Long buried and painful family secrets connect him at deeper levels with his sisters Frances, Simone, and his brother Ignazio or Iggy. Felix is also able to connect at a deeper level with his daughter, Aliza. This is a lighter read than many of Wally Lamb’s more issue-dense titles, but is just as satisfying as the characters grow in realistic ways.
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
“Atlanta Compromise” speech of 1895 was significant
(From previous edition)
The “Atlanta Compromise” speech in 1895 also cemented Booker T. Washington’s status as the most influential Black leader and educator in the United States between 1895 and 1915. Due partially to his conditional acceptance of racial subordination, Washington served as an adviser to U.S. presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, both men with deep racial biases. Washington was able to help Roosevelt and Taft select Black candidates for nominal, traditionally Black political positions. Washington also advised rich industrialists on how best to direct their money to support Black education in the South and, in so doing, largely controlled the funding of most Black southern schools.
But Washington had his critics, none more aggressive than another leading Black educator and scholar of his day—W. E. B. Du Bois. Du Bois, a native of Great Barrington, Mass., was educated at Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn.; Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.; and the University of Berlin in Germany. In 1897 he accepted an appointment to the faculty of Atlanta University (later Clark Atlanta University) and moved to Atlanta. Although Du Bois recognized Washington’s speech as important, he soon came to see Washington’s ideas of gradualism for civil rights as acquiescence to many southerners who wanted to maintain the inferior status of Blacks. In Du Bois’s view, “Mr. Washington represents in Negro thought the old attitude of adjustment and submission. . . . [His] programme practically accepts The recent Myst he alleged inferiority of the Negro races.”
Du Bois’s upbringing in New England and his exposure to liberal democratic views elicited a very different response to the Negro problem. That different response crystallized with the publication of Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk in 1903. Du Bois believed that Blacks should launch legal and scholarly attacks on racism and discrimination without hesitation, and he called for education of the most talented Blacks to lead this struggle. The “talented tenth,” he believed, should represent the antithesis of gradualism and should seek to free Blacks in the present. The Souls of Black Folk rallied opposition to Washington in Black intellectual circles.
Leaders of the Black community were polarized into two camps: the “conservative” supporters of Washington’s accommodationism, and the “radical” critics of Washington. Du Bois, harnessing radicals’ unhappiness with Washington, founded the Niagara Movement in 1905, which advocated for civil rights for Black people and led to the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
The Atlanta Compromise represented Booker T. Washington’s strategy for addressing the Negro problem and has long served as the basis for contrasting Washington’s views with those of Du Bois. Even today, scholars and educators debate the utility of Washington’s educational ideas. Most agree that to understand Washington’s speech, it is necessary to place his thinking within its historical context, at a time when African Americans were struggling to transition economically from the legacy of slavery. Despite the continued debates over the speech and the criticisms of Washington by many Black progressive thinkers, his address continues to be one of the most important speeches in American letters.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to http://georgiaencyclopedia.org
Unusual structure becomes today’s Mystery Photo
Today’s Mystery Photo is of a structure that is artistic, complicated, regal and no doubt old. It may challenge those seeking to identify it. Tell us where and what you think it is by sending your idea to elliott@brack.net, and include your hometown.
Perhaps because it was a West Coast Mystery Photo, the most recent mystery photo proved difficult, as only three regulars were able to identify it. The photo was sent in by b of Lawrenceville.
George Graf of Palmyra, Va. recognized the “Astoria Column, in Astoria, Oregon. On the 600-foot high Coxcomb Hill in Astoria, the Astoria Column stands, overlooking the mouth of the Columbia River. The column was built by the Great Northern Railway and Vincent Astor—the great-grandson of John Jacob Astor—in commemoration of the city and the Astor family’s business history. The column was officially dedicated on July 22, 1926. The Astoria Column is patterned after Trajan’s Column. a triumphal monument commemorating Rome’s victory in the Dacian Wars.”
Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. tells us that “….the Astoria Column, a historical 125-foot tower with a continuous, spiral wound painted mural on the outside depicting the area history and an internal cast-iron spiral staircase, consisting of 164-steps leading to an observation deck at the top offering panoramic views of the surrounding area. It is located on Coxcomb Hill in Astoria, Oregon, a small peninsula at the confluence of the Columbia and Youngs River near the Pacific Ocean, about 70-miles northwest of Portland. Astoria Column was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 2, 1974.
“The original idea for the project was born in 1898 and envisioned as an ‘electrified tower’ to rival the Eiffel Tower in Paris. By 1911, 100 years after Astoria’s founding, public interest in the project was solidified, and the funds needed to purchase the 30-acres of land for a park on Coxcomb Hill were allocated. The outside of the column is decorated with a 525-foot long mural that spirals continuously around the column. It was created by Attilio Pusterla (1862-1941), an Italian immigrant from Milan known for his expertise in ‘sgraffito‘, an engraving technique used by potters for centuries. The mural depicts thirty-two significant events in Oregon’s history dating as far back as “before the white man came” and concluding with the arrival of the first railway in Astoria in 1893.’
Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill also recognized the photo.
MAJOR CONTRAST: Magnolia blooms stand up for the contrast between the white of the flower seen against the lush green of the tree. Roving Photographer Frank Sharpe captured this splendid blossom recently. The coming cooler weather will soon delay any more blooms until 2021.
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