GwinnettForum | Number 20.74 | Oct. 13, 2020
YES, IT’S THAT TIME of year when the weather is about to turn cooler, the leaves are falling, and pumpkins miraculously appear anywhere you turn. The glorious season of Halloween brings all sorts of thoughts to mind, from goblins to Trick or Treating, though mostly it’s treating these days. Enjoy the delicious fall weather as the days are about to get shorter, and soon even time returns to normal.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Some political views about medical conditions that need repeating
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Vote “No!” on one of three Amendments on this year’s ballot
ANOTHER VIEW: Looking at various groups and their support of the Trump presidency
SPOTLIGHT: PCOM Georgia
FEEDBACK: Worries about the $23 trillion debt that our country now owes
UPCOMING: Episcopal Church calls for joining Season of Prayer for the election
NOTABLE: Gwinnett Emergency Services offers free home safety inspections
RECOMMENDED: Squeeze Me by Carl Hiaasen
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Quick Start program helping Georgia businesses since the 1970s
MYSTERY PHOTO: Mystery figure wants you to make an identification of this photo
LAGNIAPPE: Important date: 528 years ago, Columbus arrived in the new world
CALENDAR: Political debate series begins tonight on Public Broadcasting System
11 views about medical conditions that need repeating
By George Wilson, contributing columnist
STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. | The people of Georgia have the unique opportunity to end the radical Republican rule at the state and national level.
Today I want to discuss just one of many issues, health care. This is a right that all industrial countries have; even if they are governed by both conservative and progressive governments. Our neighbor Canada is a good example to follow.
Here are 11 views that deserve repeating:
- About 60,000 Americans die annually (pre- COVID) because they can’t see a doctor or get to a hospital promptly.
- Our health care costs are about one-half again more than other industrialized countries.
- We have a large number of bankruptcies because of the lack of ability of Americans to pay high medical bills.
- We have employer-based health care that many have lost because of COVID-19, when they were laid off from their jobs.
- Lots of people are stuck in jobs that discourage an employee from leaving because they need the health care provided by their employer. Maybe they would rather be doing something else, like starting their own business.
- Radical Republicans refused to expand Medicaid in Georgia, losing billions in the process, and causing rural hospitals to close. This deprives Georgians of timely health care even if they have insurance.
- Thousands of man-hours are lost by the medical professionals and patients filling out forms and negotiating with insurance companies.
- Americans pay more for drugs than other advanced industrialized countries, since the government will not negotiate drug costs.
- A business that has export costs is higher because other nations pay for health care. Conversely, Americans are at a cost disadvantage when fighting imports.
- Look at the time and money that could be better spent by making the health caresystem more effective and efficient.
- The Republicans’ only solution is to allow the “free market” to sell watered down policies that provide inadequate health insurance.
In conclusion, if a Republican doesn’t have a solution to this issue, vote them out. That’s something they certainly deserve, especially in our two plutocratic and out-of-touch U.S. senators.
In summary, let’s face it: the Republican Party in the South has been an outlier on climate change, race relations, health care, education, gun safety, and good government. They need to hear the true voice of real southerners.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Vote “No!” on one of three amendments on this year’s ballot
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
OCT. 13, 2020 | Man alive! Do the people of Georgia face a lulu of a constitutional amendment this year? The amendment should embarrass the Georgia Legislature. It asks Georgia voters to compel the Legislature to do what it ought to be doing in the first place. Ha!
For 28 years, since the 1992 General Assembly, Georgians have been charged $1 for every new vehicle tire sold in Georgia. That “tire management fee” was supposed to be used only for the recycling of the tire taken off your vehicle!.
Instead, the Legislature has unlawfully re-appropriated these dedicated dollars and placed this money in the General Fund, unlawfully using it for their own purposes. And in the meantime, hills of old tires pile up all around the state, bereft of any funding program to recycle them.
It’s a travesty the Legislature has brought on itself, and does not help to reduce the mounds of tires that are sold each year.
The people of Georgia should not have to vote on such a useless amendment. Not only that, the Legislature, always money hungry, should not have illegally put aside these dollars for their own pet projects.
In effect, instead of funding the recycling of tires, the Legislature has used this as a hidden tax increase foisted on Georgians every year since 1992. And those legislators say they don’t impose new taxes on us!
Don’t let our Legislature act in bad faith any more! Why should we have to amend the Georgia Constitution to get them to do what they said they would do in 1992?
This is no party proposition and failure. Both Republicans and Democrats have conspired to funnel aside the tire fee so they could shuffle these dollars to projects. By the way, the tires that are included are not only automobile tires, but tires used on, trucks, heavy equipment, motorbikes, boats and other trailers, aircraft and recreational vehicles. The fee was not imposed on used tires or tires with a rim size of less than 12 inches.
What to do? Vote against Amendment 1, and send it back to the Legislature to fix without a Constitutional Amendment. Essentially, all needed is for the Legislature to keep its hands off the Tire Fund, and dedicate those money to recycling of tires.
TWO OTHER amendments face voters this year.
Amendment 2 should get a “Yes” from voters. Up until now if a person has been harmed by any state, city or county government, that person could not seek remedy in a lawsuit against any of those governments. And sometimes, indeed, it is a government that harms individuals. Should that government not be fair in settling an argument with an individual, the individual is up the creek without a paddle. Right now, they cannot bring a suit against the government.
This amendment, House Resolution 1023, would allow governments “…to waive sovereign immunity and allow the people of Georgia to petition the superior court for relief from governmental acts done outside the scope of lawful authority or which violate the laws of this state, the Constitution of Georgia, or the Constitution of the United States.”
In other words, this allows citizens to have a right to sue the government when it wrongs them.
Let this item pass.
The third amendment would allow non-profit charities relief from paying property taxes if “…such real property is held exclusively for the purpose of building or repairing single-family homes to be financed by such charity to individuals using loans that shall not bear interest.”
That sounds reasonable. Vote for its passage.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
On various groups and their support of Trump presidency
By Jack Bernard, contributing columnist
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. | Partially due to President Trump, our country is becoming groups of competing tribes. A recent PBS-Marist poll shows just how divided we are. While 85 percent of GOP respondents approve of Trump, only three percent of Democrats do. More telling, only 32 percent of independents do. Trump’s greatest groups of supporters are the white evangelicals (73 percent) and non-college graduates (53 percent), plus rural voters (53 percent).
The racial divide is highly significant, with support for Trump at 45 percent with whites, but 14 percent with blacks and 30 percent among Latinx respondents. The age gap is nearly as wide, with those 18-29 years at 27 percent support for Trump versus over age 60 at 44 percent and over age 74 at 49 percent.
Support also varies by region and gender, although it’s not as pronounced. Although 42 percent of Southerners support the President, only 35 percent of Westerners do. Men support the President (44 percent) much more than women (33 percent).
With President Trump behind in every poll, we can expect the President to continue to do everything in his power to suppress the vote, discouraging minorities. He will also play to his base of white men, the elderly and evangelicals. Along these lines, it was no accident that the historic UAE- Israel agreement was rolled out just before the election.
However, Trump faces some dilemmas. If he continues to use the U.S. Postal Service to suppress mail-in ballots, will he hurt the turn-out for those over 74 and rural voters? If he makes a strong bombastic pitch to men threatened by the changing world, will he continue to run suburban women into the Biden camp? If he attacks minorities via his bombastic law and order language and anti-immigration policies, will he cause a larger black and Hispanic turnout?
Many voter suppression tactics that Trump supporters use are targeted towards minority voters. Once upon a time, it was poll taxes and literacy tests. Now, it’s limiting mail-in and absentee voting, targeting certain demographics and supplying them with false information about how and where to vote, having discriminatory identification requirements, restricting the number and location of polling places and purging voter rolls. It is widely believed that Governor Brian Kemp’s purged minority voters while Secretary of State Brad Raffersperger efforts may have given Kemp the gubernatorial race.
What can honest voters of either party do about the abominable voter suppression situation is another matter. We must let our elected officials know right now that these un-American practices are totally unacceptable to us, regardless of our policy views. We must also vote against any elected official unwilling to openly and clearly condemn them. Only then will we see real change.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
PCOM Georgia
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Established in 2005, PCOM Georgia is a private, not-for-profit, accredited institute of higher education dedicated to the healthcare professions. The Suwanee, Ga., campus is affiliated with Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine which has a storied history as a premier osteopathic medical school. Doctoral degrees in Pharmacy (PharmD), Physical Therapy (PT) and Osteopathic Medicine (DO) are offered at PCOM Georgia. Graduate degrees at the master’s level can be earned in Biomedical Sciences and Physician Assistant (PA) Studies. Emphasizing “a whole person approach to care,” PCOM Georgia focuses on educational excellence, interprofessional education and service to the wider community. To learn more about how PCOM Georgia is shaping the future of health, visit www.pcom.edu or call 678-225-7500.
- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, click here.
Worries about the $23 trillion debt our country now owes
Editor, the Forum:
I have just finished reading and taking a free online course from Hillsdale College entitled “Land of Hope, An Invitation to the Great American Story.” It is a somewhat different approach to history. Having just graduated from Georgia Gwinnett College, I continue to exercise my mind in hopes that I do not become a vegetable (although some say I already am). The book brought to light some aspects of history that were overlooked in my early education in Virginia.
Politics has changed and in my opinion for the worse. I don’t care to know what my candidate’s view of his/her opponent is, I want to know what they have to offer for the job they are seeking. I tune out the mudslinging, lies and innuendo that pervade political ads. I investigate what they know, what they plan to do and how they will do it.
I have one question that is all important and yet is not being asked, “What do you intend to do about $23 trillion of debt so that we do not mortgage the lives of our progeny?”
— Prescott P. Lawrence Sr., Grayson
Remembers when both parties in Congress worked together
Editor, the Forum:
There was a time in my lifetime that members of Congress of either party would work together for what seemed to be best or needed for the country. Not today. Now we live in tribal America where score is kept and goals are fiercely defended. Stagnation has crippled the People’s House for more than a decade.
The presidency has become more and more powerful, because it is the only way anything seems to be accomplished. The Supreme Court has been viewed as a possible source of change, not interpretation. The nomination process has therefore become dramatically more important than in the past. There is no doubt in my mind that either party that holds the Presidency and the majority of the Senate would go forward with the process. They will because they can.
That’s the ethic of the era. So, no one should be surprised that if the Democrats sweep this election, they too will do whatever they can.
— Byron Gilbert, Duluth
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
Episcopal Church calls for Season of Prayer for election
Forward Movement and The Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations are calling Episcopalians and all others to join in A Season of Prayer: For an Election. This prayer novena—nine days of devotional prayers—calls upon God for discernment in voting and for the well-being of our nation.
The season of prayer begins Tuesday, October 27, and continues through November 4, the day after the elections in the United States.
In a short video message to encourage participation, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry called on Episcopalians to join the initiative to pray for our nation, its people and leaders, and all the nations and people of the earth.
The Rev. Jay Sidebotham, director of RenewalWorks, a ministry of Forward Movement “Through this ministry, we’ve found that one of the marks of vital congregations is that they pastor the community. By that we mean they are engaged with the world beyond the walls of the church, present to the neighborhood, primed to serve. In this election season, we carry out that important ministry with our prayers, making the commitment through personal spiritual practice to be present to our nation in this critical time, asking for God’s grace for decisions made, thanking God for the grace that we can participate in this way in our common life, and trusting that grace will help us through. First, we pray. Then we vote.”
All prayers come from The Book of Common Prayer, and materials include a brief litany to use each day.
Printable materials for individuals, churches, and families are available for download in English at www.forwardmovement.org/election and in Spanish at www.venadelante.org/eleccion.
Downloadable social media images will be made available for later in October for use by individuals and churches. These images will also be shared on Forward Day by Day social media channels each day of the novena.
Gwinnett Emergency Services offers free safety inspections
Gwinnett Fire and Emergency Services offers free Home Safety Surveys to raise awareness of hazards inside and outside the home. The programs assist residents with identifying and correcting potential home hazards related to fires and slips, trips, and falls. All surveys are conducted by fire service professionals and are kept confidential.
Programs Include:
- Smoke alarm check/install;
- Community fire safety talks;
- Slip, trips, and fall prevention; and
- General well-being.
To learn more about this program, email FirePrograms@GwinnettCounty.com or call 678-518-4845 to schedule a home safety survey or educational program.
Asef to chair Southwest Chamber Board for 2021
Asef
The Southwest Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce has named Margie Asef as the chairman for 2021, according to current Chairman Weare Gratwick. She currently serves as the Community Relations Director for Greater Atlanta Christian School, managing public relations, facility rentals, sponsorships, internships, and large-scale events. Asef has enjoyed a variety of life experiences living in Ohio, Kentucky, California, and Georgia. She was selected to participate in Leadership Gwinnett in June and will be a member of the Class of 2022.The Southwest Gwinnett Chamber was formed in 2012 and serves the Norcross, Peachtree Corners and Berkeley Lake communities. It will have its monthly First Friday breakfast on November 6 at 107 Technology Parkway in Peachtree Corners.
Local DAR chapter seeking items for Marine Corps unit
The Philadelphia Winn Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) will be an exhibitor at the annual Fort Daniel Frontier Faire on Saturday, October 17th from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. This historic site is located at 2505 Braselton Highway in Hog Mountain. CDC guidelines for COVID-19 will be observed during this in-person event.
As a mission of the Chapter’s “DAR Project Patriot” Committee to support America’s active-duty military personnel and their families, they will offer a drop off booth at the Frontier Faire for much appreciated donations. A partial list of items includes: Children’s coloring books, activity sets, board games, puzzles, playing cards, craft supplies, baby wipes, and face masks. Adult items include manicure items, travel toiletries, lotions, soaps, face cleansers, hand sanitizers, and Lysol wipes. Items will be mailed abroad prior to the upcoming holidays.
Beneficiary of the donations will be the Okinawa location of Marine Corps Community Services (MCCS), which services all U.S. Military Bases on the island and all Marine Bases in the region, including those in Japan and Korea. MCCS delivers quality of life programs, products, and services to Marines and their families worldwide.
Sugarloaf Rotarians raise $25,000 in the 2021 Duck Derby
The Rotary Club of Sugarloaf, made up of close to 50 members, raised nearly $25,000 through its sixth annual signature fundraising event known as the Gwinnett Duck Derby held recently.Close to 6,000 ducks were sold. A computer-generated random drawing was held for 12 prizewinners, including RE/MAX Center which won the grand prize of $2,500. A socially distanced celebration to announce the winners was featured on Facebook Live. To date, the Rotary Club of Sugarloaf’s Gwinnett Duck Derby has raised $85,000 for such organizations as the Lawrenceville Boys and Girls Club, Annandale Village, the Gwinnett Medical Center Foundation, Rainbow Village, the Gwinnett County Library Foundation, Gwinnett Tech, Because One Matters, Nothing But the Truth Food Ministry, and its partner in education, Corley Elementary, a title I school in Gwinnett County. The club has also funded district and international projects including Alliance for Smiles and Rotary Has Heart.
Squeeze Me by Carl Hiaasen
The Miami Herald environmental columnist and humorist has produced another set of his wild characters, this time introducing us to the growing problem of python snakes in South Florida. He also gives us a glimpse of the rich and powerful in Palm Beach life, including a Mastodon who owns a golf course and is president of the United States, along with his Secret Service crew. It’s obvious that Hiaasen enjoys skewering people, and this book is full of nothing less than people on a stick. The heroine is a hard-luck young woman whose speciality is humanely removing wild animals from homes and businesses, along with her own problems. Layer this with the illegal immigrant situation, and you have enough glimpses into modern Florida life that it might scare you to move to Fernandina just to save taxes. Other Hiaasen books you might enjoy are Skinny Dip and Razor Girl.—eeb
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
Quick Start program helping Georgia businesses since 1970s
Quick Start is a workforce training program designed to support new and existing businesses in Georgia. Ranked the top program of its kind in the nation by Expansion Management magazine in 2005, Quick Start is part of the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG).
The program, which began in the late 1960s, completed nearly 5,200 training projects in the state by 2007. More than half a million residents have benefited from the program, which is credited with the successful creation and retention of jobs in Georgia. Quick Start’s headquarters are in Atlanta, and the program has regional offices in Augusta, Columbus, Savannah, and Vidalia. Jackie Rohosky is deputy commissioner and heads the Quick Start program.
Lisa Winton of Suwanee of a member of the board representing the 7th Congressional District.
Originally part of the Department of Education, Quick Start began as a modest training program in 1967 and has since become one of the state’s primary economic incentives for attracting companies interested in expanding or relocating to Georgia. In 1988 Quick Start became part of the newly formed Department of Technical and Adult Education (later TCSG), which today supervises the state’s technical colleges, its economic and workforce development programs, and its adult literacy programs.
The technical colleges and their satellite campuses partner with Quick Start to deliver training to a variety of businesses, including call centers, manufacturers, and warehouse distribution centers. The state agrees to provide skilled workers for the company beyond the initial training period, and companies using Quick Start agree to stay in Georgia for a specified time period.
The Quick Start process often begins with a company’s interest in relocating to Georgia. Project leaders at Quick Start then conduct a project study to determine the specific needs of the business, and the program’s creative services department and media technology group produce all the necessary training materials. Once the lesson plans, job aids, and training materials are complete, training is delivered on-site or in the classroom. Quick Start offers training in the areas of automotive, advanced manufacturing, biotech/health care, food/agribusiness, and warehousing/distribution.
Quick Start and the state’s technical colleges form partnerships with large international companies as well as with smaller “homegrown” businesses. Heart of Georgia Technical College (later Oconee Fall Line Technical College) developed programs and trained employees for Eastman-based Aircraft Manufacturing and Development Company in 2000. In 2002 North Metro Technical College (later Chattahoochee Technical College) partnered with Quick Start to provide training for an existing business, Applied Thermoplastic Resources, a thermoplastic recycling company in Cartersville. In October 2006 Kia Motors Corporation, a Korean automobile manufacturer, broke ground in West Point for its first factory in the United States. West Georgia Technical College in LaGrange was selected to deliver the training for the Kia plant.
In 2005 Quick Start’s offices moved to Midtown Atlanta‘s new Busbee Center for Global Economic Development and Innovation, named for former Georgia Governor George Busbee, an early supporter of the Quick Start program. As of 2007, Quick Start operated with a budget of $11 to $12 million, with more than 70 percent of its projects happening outside the metropolitan Atlanta area, and during fiscal year 2008 more than 46,000 trainees participated in 260 Quick Start programs.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to http://georgiaencyclopedia.org
Mystery figure wants you to identify this photo
Perhaps a few more readers can come up with the identification of this figure as this week’s Mystery Photo. It may not be where you think it is. Send your identification to elliott@brack.net and include your hometown.
What’s this? It took two people living in other states to figure out the recent mystery of a Georgia courthouse? Shame on you Georgia readers! That’s right. Only Geoge Graf of Palmyra, Va. and Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. identified the Wayne County courthouse, a photo submitted by David E. Tyre of Jesup.
Graf wrote: “It is the Wayne County courthouse in Jesup. The first recorded courthouse was built in the woods northwest of Waynesville in 1860. The current courthouse, built in Jesup between 1902 and 1903, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Jesup sprang up around a station serving the Macon and Brunswick Railroad (later Norfolk Southern) and the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad (later CSX). Its name came from Thomas Jesup, a U.S. Army general famous for his exploits during the Creek Indian War of 1836. Jesup has often been referred to as “the town that trains built” because of the prominence of railroads in its history.”
Peel added: “Today’s mystery photo is of the Wayne County Courthouse, located at Courthouse Square on Brunswick Street in Jesup, Ga.. This brick and stone, two-story Romanesque Revival building was designed by S.A. Baker and built by T.J. Darling between 1902-1903. The interior of the building follows a cross plan, and the four-story clock tower marks each hour from the four hooded, wooden clocks, facing all four directions. The courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 18, 1980.
“Wayne County was founded on May 11, 1803 and was named after Major General “Mad Anthony” Wayne (1745-1796), so called for his daring exploits in the American Revolutionary War. Tuckersville was designated as the first county seat (1803-1843), followed by Waynesville (1843-1873). The county did not have a permanent courthouse until the first courthouse, a wooden structure built in 1860 nine miles northwest of Waynesville. In 1873, the county seat was moved once again, this time to Jesup where the second county courthouse was built, across the street from the third and current courthouse that is the subject of today’s mystery photo.”
Important date:
528 years ago, Columbus arrived in the new world
With his fingers pointed westward, this 197-foot tall statue of Christopher Columbus was built in 1888 for the Barcelona International Exposition, and is situated on the city harbor. Roving Photographer Frank Sharp of Lawrenceville took this photo while visiting Spain. Monday marked the anniversary of Columbus Day, 528 years ago that Columbus set foot on soil in the western hemisphere. In addition to a state level, in many cities, the day is now celebrated as Native Americans’ Day or Indigenous People’s Day. Columbus Day was first officially proclaimed by President Benjamin Harrison in 1892, to mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ landing in the Bahamas.
Political debate series begins tonight on PBS
Political Debates: The Atlanta Press Club Loudermilk-Young Debate Series will host general election debates for the Georgia U.S. Senate, U.S. Senate special election, Congressional Districts 5, 6, 7 and 9; Public Service Commission Districts 1 and 4; and Commission Chair for Cobb and Gwinnett Counties. The debate series will take place on October 12, 13, 14 and 19, 2020. Candidates who qualify with the Secretary of State’s office to have their names on the ballot are invited to participate in our debates.
Peachtree Corners Summer Concert Series will continue on October 17 at the Town Green. Admission is free with reservations to hear the live music. Face masks and social distancing will be required. Music will be by the Black Jack Symphony. Reserve tickets at Eventeny.com.
Virtual Book Club: Join Gwinnett County Public Library for a virtual book club for adults. The next event will be October 20 at 7 p.m. for the book Disoriental by Négar Djavadi. Email events@gwinnettpl.org if you want to join in. Download a free copy of the book by visiting gwinnett.bibliocommons.com, or purchase a copy from your favorite bookstore. Read the book, and join the online meeting on the planned date/time by using your laptop, phone, iPad, etc. You can join the discussion or you can type comments in the chat box.
GwinnettForum is provided to you at no charge every Tuesday and Friday.
Meet our team
- Editor and publisher: Elliott Brack, 770-840-1003
- Managing editor: Betsy Brack
- Roving photographer: Frank Sharp
- Contributing columnist: Jack Bernard
- Contributing columnist: Debra Houston
- Contributing columnist: George Wilson
More
- Location: We are located in Suite 225, 40 Technology Park, Peachtree Corners, Ga. 30092.
- Work with us: If you would like to serve as an underwriter, click here to learn more.
Subscriptions to GwinnettForum are free.
- Click to subscribe.
- Unsubscribe. We hope you’ll keep receiving the great news and information from GwinnettForum, but if you need to unsubscribe, go to this page and unsubscribe in the appropriate box.
© 2020, Gwinnett Forum.com. Gwinnett Forum is an online community commentary for exploring pragmatic and sensible social, political and economic approaches to improve life in Gwinnett County, Ga. USA.
Follow Us