GwinnettForum | Number 21.10 | Feb. 5, 2021
THE 10th ANNUAL SUWANEE SWEETHEART SPRING has been scheduled for Saturday, February 13. This 5k sprint is a Peachtree Road Race qualifier and is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Buford/North Gwinnett. It begins and ends at Suwanee’s Town Center Park, going along the Suwanee Creek Greenway. The race start will be staggered to allow for social distancing. Runners will begin at 9:30 a.m. and be released a few at a time to avoid crowding. Advance registration is $30 per individual or $50 per couple/pair. On-site race day registration is $40 per individual or $60 per couple/pair. All runners will receive a long-sleeve, Dri-fit style official race shirt and goodie bag. Andrew Doherty and his mother, Amy plan to be participants again. This year a 1k fun run is also on tap for kids 10 and under. The cost for the fun run is $20 and all participants will get a T-shirt and ribbon. For those who don’t enjoy the crowds, you may register as a pajama runner – staying home but still get a shirt and goodie bag! For more information or to register, visit http://www.suwaneesweetheartsprint.com/home.html
TODAY’S FOCUS: Veteran teacher reflects on problems in public education
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Never thought that we would become shih tzu owners of Winston
ANOTHER VIEW: Will old-time Republican Party repudiate recent radical ideologies?
SPOTLIGHT: Gwinnett County Public Library
FEEDBACK: Two new school board members are doing what constituents want
UPCOMING: Water Tower releases five year Lake Lanier research plan
NOTABLE: Governor appoints Randy Dellinger to Natural Resources Board
RECOMMENDED: The Metropolitan Opera’s “Nightly Opera Stream”
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Pioneering female architect from Macon practiced 51 years
MYSTERY PHOTO: Music can be anywhere, so where is this Mystery Opera House
Veteran teacher reflects on problems in public education
By Alexander Tillman
VALDOSTA, Ga. | As a public school educator in the twilight of his career, I must admit I am looking forward to retirement. I plan to continue to work, but in some other field. It’s time for a change.
Tillman
In casual conversation, I have told close friends that I will be retiring in 2022. My friends are mostly businessmen and professionals. I can sense a bit of envy in their voices. After years of earning less money than my private sector friends, I must confess that I enjoy them coveting my situation.
The question always arises. Why do teachers retire so early? We generally retire in our 50s. In most states we work 30 years to earn full retirement. It’s a good question. We are physically still able to do our jobs. I have read that 60 is the new 40. So why do teachers retire so young?
Let me preface the answer with a blanket statement. Our jobs are no more challenging than anyone else’s job. I would not change jobs with any of my friends. I have loved the classroom. I feel that my career was a calling from God. So why the need for a change?
There is one huge difference between being a public school teacher and being in the private sector. In public schools we cannot fire our clients. I like to explain this concept to my friends in this way. Think about the most aggravating clients you ever had. Of course, you got rid of them. In the free enterprise system that is what you do.
Now imagine if you could not have gotten rid of them. What if they had Constitutional rights guaranteeing them your services? Furthermore, what if you had to make special accommodations for them if your basic services were not enough. Are you ready to scream now?
The courts have found that every American has the right to a free and appropriate public education. No matter how crazy the parents are. No matter how dysfunctional the family is. No matter how apathetic the student and/or parents are. I cannot tell my client they need to go to school elsewhere.
Veteran teachers have heard it all before. I still care about my students and their parents, but there is no story, no excuse, or no situation that I have not heard before.
Sometimes I want to tell a student or parent that we have met one thousand times before, but you had a different name and face each time. The answers to their problems are usually simple, but never easy. They almost always center around broken families with strained relationships. Schools control curriculum and instruction. Neither one repairs the spirit.
I sometimes reflect on the veteran teachers I served with in the early 1990s. They were excellent educators who taught me well. I attended their retirement parties and wondered why they were leaving.
I see myself in them now. I am satisfied in finishing an honorable career, but ready for something else. I can’t fire my clients and I have heard it all before.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Never thought we would become a shih tzu family of Winston
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
FEB. 5, 2021 | Dogs have always been part of our family life. Now after six months of not having a dog in the house, we have recently adopted one.
We have written before about Hercules, who was with us for 16 years. What a great dog! We miss him still.
Our new dog comes with the assistance of the Gwinnett Humane Society. They had us check out two previous dogs, but somehow, we didn’t click.
Not with the new dog. Time we saw him wagging his friendly tail and easily approaching us, we were hooked.
While Hercules was wirey, slender and tall for a terrier, this one is short, squat, fat and our minister said looks like Winston Churchill…..so we re-named him Winston. The vet says he weighs 18.6 pounds, and picking him up, he’s heavy.
Winston
He’s a shih tzu-mix, a breed we had to look up to spell. It’s a relatively new breed in the United States, which came originally from Tibet. Winston is seven years old, comes trained beautifully, and is easy on the leash. He even lets us know regularly when he wants to go out. Once outside, he seems to give his quiet bark just for the joy of living.
We’ve always had dogs, and it was lonely in our house without one. Our first efforts in finding a dog was looking for a younger one. But at seven years old, we find Winston is a delight. After all, seven is middle age for a dog, who likes to rest a lot, like we do now.
While he likes to play, he’s not one to chew on a chair leg or shoe. Actually, he’s more content to laze around. However, once he returns from the back yard, he’s ready for playful activities, full of pep. He’s adopted all of Hercules’ soft toys, merely playing with them, not ripping them up.
We knew little about the breed shih tzu. We immediately learned one small characteristic that is great: this breed doesn’t shed his coat. His fur is soft and curly. Now that we have had him about a month, it’s obvious time to consider a trip to the doggy parlor for a clipping. We don’t anticipate to allow him to have the long, long hair of show shih tzus.
His breed means “Little lion.” But as one website pointed out, this pooch is a lover, not a hunter. Show dogs of this breed are groomed with long body hair reaching the floor and the dog can barely see out of the hair around the eyes.
Winston is certainly an affectionate, happy and outgoing dog. The breed is well known as a comfortable lap dog. While out walking, his short legs walk amazingly fast without getting into a run. Should Winston meet other dogs, he’s stable, wagging his tail, and wanting to interact with them. He loves to be friendly, as well, with people.
He’s rather quickly settled into our family routine, and happily, sleeps easily long hours throughout the night.
Yes, it’s a delight to have Winston as part of our family.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Will old-time GOP repudiate recent radical ideologies?
By George Wilson, contributing columnist
STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. | Authoritarianism has found a comfortable home in a large portion of the Republican Party.
So have racism, religious zealotry, misogyny, extreme nationalism, and homophobia. And the Trumpet’s version of these is only slightly more virulent than the pre-Trump versions.
But, now they are the Republican Party’s policies. If one cannot accept those as the party gospel going forward, you are not now and perhaps never again be a Republican.
While I would like a Republican Party not just to be obstructionist or push through radical fringe policies, they should address what brings extremists candidates like Marjorie Greene, conspiracy theorist, to Congress in the 14th district. This is an example of our extraordinarily depressing primary process in gerrymandered districts that rewards the craziest of crazies.
Start there and you’ll restore sanity. Let’s see if the Georgia legislature, dominated by Republicans, rises to this responsible challenge as it reapportions the state. I doubt they will. So far they have busied themselves with voter suppression laws this session.
If the coalition that defeated Trump and elected President Joe Biden, of which some Republicans were apart, fails now to lead the nation past the Covid-19 pandemic, there will be widespread job losses and economic instability, social division and injustice, inaccessible health care, fiscal shortfalls, and disinformation. We will invite a resurgence of Trumpism and even more formidable forms of disjointed government.
Moreover, the further decline of American institutions will continue.
However, Georgia has started with the election of Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock to the United States Senate to help solve our nation’s problems. Even more importantly, perhaps Georgia will continue this progressive march to the Georgia statehouse in the 2022 election, and temper, if not turn around, the power structure.
Finally, as for the Republicans, they will have to decide about returning the Republican Party to one that is liberated from fear, corruption, and authoritarianism. It must also get loose from the Trump cult. Can Republicans replace it with a new conservative alternative?
From what 126 Republican congressmen did in supporting Texas’ seditious challenge to Trump’s defeat, I am not optimistic. Finally, the anarchist’s attack on the capitol by mostly Trump voters was something that the Republican leadership contributed to and enabled and should be held accountable.
In effect, will the old-time standard wing of conservative Republicans gain the edge, or will the party continue to wallow in ideas promulgated by radical ideologies?
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Gwinnett County Public Library
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Two new school board members doing what constituents want
Editor, the Forum:
Gwinnett County Public Schools and its leadership is solely responsible for the accreditation issues it could face. The constituents that purposely voted those “two board members” in did so because we wanted them to do exactly what they are doing! We asked them to fight for equal education and discipline of all children, a ridiculous injustice that shouldn’t be fought in this century.
Most white people call advocates “trouble-makers” and accuse them of divisiveness when they bring to light the suppression this school district has had on black and brown children’s lives’ for years. Our kids are valuable when they make your schools look good in championships or if they get drafted to a professional league. But how soon do you forget what they endured as a student in one of these schools?
Most black kids choose to attend colleges out of state on scholarships and often never to return to Gwinnett. Those who did were treated well because they brought something, usually earning potential or recognition, to the table.
Stop blaming these two board members. The questions they ask, the policies they want changed, are all at the request of the people of their districts. We are glad to have someone bold enough to do their job intentionally. I doubt they can ever be bought like another certain brown Democrat. They won’t forget the promises they made to their constituents even with the evil and malicious propaganda being printed about them.
Black people no longer care what people like you are saying. It no longer affects our decisions to move forward with what we want. Just remember the very laws and words you use against us are the same things used against people like you that lost them the entire government. We (black and brown people) are fortunate that there’s whites and other races of people that see through this and stand firm with these two board members. Get it together and stop publishing opinionated garbage!
— Amitra Stone Bradford, Norcross
Dear Miss Amitra: We seem to differ on approaches and style. It’s apparent that you have not been a long reader of the Forum, for our readers know us for being at least moderate, if not liberal. Our position is to offer space for many opinions, such as yours and others, to move the conversation. Stand by your thoughts and work to get them into action, as we will. –eeb
Another educator from Gwinnett, now a superintendent
Editor, the Forum:
I just read your article on Gwinnett Forum, re: the fraction on the school board. I just wanted to add to your list of former GCPS employees who went on to be superintendents. The current superintendent of Walton County schools, Nathan Franklin, is the former associate principal of Norcross High School.
— Alex Ward, Bethlehem
Thanks Alex. There may be others trained in Gwinnett who we missed. –eeb
So many good Gwinnett educators went to higher callings
Editor, the Forum:
Thanks for the great article by Pat Mitchell. I was able to reconnect with her after I had lost contact with her. She is still teaching which I think has always been her love. Yes, there have been many great people connected with Gwinnett schools.
— Annette McIntosh, Duluth
Aaron was amazing, but just wanted to play the game
Editor, the Forum:
Hank Aaron was a true American hero. He bore the weight of his circumstances with grace and humility. He amazed us with his talent. Yet, I suspect if you asked him about the responsibility he carried on his shoulders, forging the way for other Black players, he would say, I just wanted to play baseball.
— Jim Savadelis, 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
Water Tower releases 5-year Lake Lanier research plan
The Water Tower, the new water innovation hub in Buford, has released its Lake Lanier Watershed Five-Year Research Plan. The plan provides a multi-year roadmap of project concepts aimed to improve and protect the watershed.
Development of the research plan, an effort funded by Gwinnett County’s Department of Water Resources, involved meeting with water utilities, government agencies, municipalities, and environmental groups to determine priority research needs facing the watershed.
The group of technical and scientific experts developed 32 applied research project concepts to address non-point sources of pollution. These included nutrient management, lake water quality, monitoring programs, and stormwater management, among other challenges. The projects will be collaboratively funded, competitively bid, overseen by a third-party advisory committee, and managed by The Water Tower.
Melissa L. Meeker, CEO of The Water Tower, says: “A healthy Lake Lanier is critical to our regional economy and quality of life. It is imperative that we engage a broad cross section of stakeholders to safely and effectively manage this precious regional resource. We have shared responsibility and together we can innovate, engage, and pioneer to create a better water future for the Lake Lanier Watershed and beyond.”
Lake Lanier faces supply and water quality challenges from increasing urbanization, urban and agricultural runoff, and drought. While there have been several research and planning efforts surrounding the lake in the past, there is a need for a coordinated plan that facilitates management, resourcing, and funding of applied research projects that work together to protect this critical water resource.
Foundation plans virtual leadership event on Feb. 18
The Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia will host a virtual leadership event on February 18 from 8 a.m. until noon featuring the Disney Institute, Chick-fil-A Foundation and John Maxwell Leadership Enterprises.
Randy Redner, CEO and president of the Community Foundation, says: “We are certainly not living in ordinary times. It will take extraordinary leadership for the road ahead so it just might be time for us all to ‘reimagine leadership.’”
Attendees can expect engaging, timely training on leadership, including learning from Disney’s proven business insights and illustrations. Tickets for this event are $75 and can be purchased at cfneg.org.
Suwanee updating study on pedestrian-bicycle plan
In an effort to create a more walkable and bikeable community, the City of Suwanee has embarked on a feasibility study for potential projects to be included and prioritized in the Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan update.
Originally developed in 2006, the Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan analyzes existing pedestrian and bicycle facilities and identifies potential improvements. The purpose of the plan is to provide a guide for prioritization and implementation of projects to make Suwanee more walkable and bikeable.
The plan was updated in 2011, and the city is currently in the process of updating it again. In August 2019, the city held an open house to provide an opportunity for public input; it was then determined that a feasibility study was needed before finalizing the list of projects to include in the plan update. The city received a $160,000 Livable Centers Initiative grant from the Atlanta Regional Commission to fund the study, and selected Toole Design Group, a firm that specializes in the design of pedestrian and bicycle facilities, to perform the study.
Governor appoints Dellinger to Natural Resources Board
Dellinger
Randy Dellinger, Gwinnett District Manager of Jackson Electric Membership Corporation, has been appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp to the State of Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources Board of Directors. The appointment is a seven-year term representing Georgia’s Seventh Congressional District, which covers most of Gwinnett County and a portion of Forsyth County.
Dellinger has been with Jackson EMC, an electric power utility cooperative, since 1988. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture mechanization technology from the University of Georgia and completed his MBA at Brenau University. Dellinger is a graduate of Leadership Georgia, the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Regional Leadership Institute, and Leadership Gwinnett.
He serves on many community and professional organization boards. Dellinger is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce having previously served as its chairman, Council for Quality Growth, Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful, Gwinnett County Public Schools Foundation, and is the chairman of the Board of the Gwinnett Student Leadership Team. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Gwinnett County and has been a Rotarian for the past 25 years having previously served as club president. He and his wife, Carol, live in the Snellville area of Gwinnett County, have two children and two grandchildren.
As a member of the Board of Natural Resources, Dellinger is one of 19 citizens appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Georgia Senate. The board is responsible for setting rules and regulations ranging from air and water quality to hunting seasons and provides input into issues such as the agency’s budget recommendations and legislative initiatives.
EMC Foundation awards $25,000 to three local charities
The Jackson EMC Foundation board of directors awarded a total $92,808 in grants during its December meeting, including $25,000 to organizations serving Gwinnett County.
- $10,000 to Angel House of Georgia, Inc., a Gainesville recovery residence for women with alcohol and/or drug addiction, to enable indigent women with no financial resources or support in the counties served by Jackson EMC to participate in the program by covering entrance fees and one month of living expense, offering these women a second chance at life so they can become productive members of society.
- $10,000 to Eyes of Love Lighthouse Mission, Inc., in Buford, a grassroots ministry that collects and distributes clothes, food and furniture to needy families in Barrow, Gwinnett and Hall counties, to help with rent on the building housing the mission’s inventory.
- $5,000 to Adults Protecting Children, Inc., to provide workbooks and resource materials for the Stewards of Children program, which offers child sexual abuse prevention training in Banks, Franklin, Gwinnett, Hall and Lumpkin counties
The Metropolitan Opera’s “Nightly Opera Stream”
From Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill: I am no opera buff, but I admit I’m enjoying some of the big budget productions of New York’s Metropolitan Opera being offered for free online right now. Because the Met had to cancel its entire 2020-2021 season due to the pandemic, it has been publishing recordings of its shows on its website. You can pay for an on-demand package but I prefer the free opera they offer every day. Sunday, I watched ‘Rigoletto’ and Monday I watched ‘Macbeth.’ I actually prefer watching opera online because I get a much closer view of the performers and I can leave the room when I can’t tolerate a long soprano aria. As a bonus, the website includes backstage interviews and summaries of the stories. Best of all, I can turn on closed captions that translate it all into English. To view an opera, go to: https://www.metopera.org and scroll down to ‘Watch Now.’
- 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
Pioneering female architect from Macon practiced 51 years
Ellamae Ellis League practiced as an architect in Macon for more than 50 years, from 1922 until she retired in 1975. She was a pioneering woman in the architectural profession in the South. League ran her own successful practice for 41 years (1934-75).
Her work spanned the whole range of architectural design—new homes, residential remodeling, churches, schools, public housing, office buildings, parking garages, hospitals, and even a residential bomb shelter. League was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA) in 1968. At the time of her death on March 4, 1991, League was still the only female member of the FAIA in Georgia, and one of only eight nationwide.
The fourth child of Susan Dilworth Choate and Joseph Oliver Ellis, Ellamae Ellis was born in Macon on July 9, 1899. She and her three brothers attended public schools in Macon. After graduating from Lanier High School in 1916, she briefly attended Wesleyan College. On June 27, 1917, she married George Forrest League.
She became an architect by necessity. In 1922, divorced at age 23 with two small children, she entered a profession for which she had no training. Her husband of five years had left her with no financial resources, and she needed to find employment. Six generations of her family, including an uncle in Atlanta, had been architects.
She joined a Macon firm as an apprentice and remained there for the next six years, as she managed both office and child-rearing duties. During that time League also took correspondence courses from the Beaux Arts Institute of Design in New York City.
Inspired by her experience with the Beaux-Arts method of architectural training, League left her children with their grandparents and quit her job, a decision she later called “very difficult.” She studied for a year (1927-28) at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Fontainebleau, France. After her return, League worked for other Macon architects until 1933. Once she earned her professional registration as an architect in 1934, she opened a practice under her own name. Commissions during her first year as a registered architect included a service station, six residences (including a log house), a reservoir, two church buildings, and a residential restoration. Refusing to seek special consideration as a woman, she stated, “If you are an architect, you are an architect.”
A major project that she undertook toward the end of her career, in 1968-70, was the restoration of the Grand Opera House in Macon. League closed her practice in 1975 at the age of 76.
In 1934 only two percent of American architects were women, and women who were principals in their own firms were practically nonexistent. Most women architects specialized almost exclusively in domestic architecture—they were considered to have a better “feel” for house design. League, in contrast, took on a variety of jobs, including Public Works Administration commissions. She designed many churches, schools, and hospitals, which were her favorite projects because they were so complex, and because they were buildings in which people were helped. Her firm did not attempt to establish its own distinctive design style but followed the Ecole des Beaux-Arts philosophy that buildings should fulfill the functional requirements of the owner and be aesthetically pleasing both to the owner and to the public.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to http://georgiaencyclopedia.org
Music can be anywhere, so where is this Mystery Opera House?
So today’s Mystery Photo tells you up front that it is an opera house. The key, however, is to figure out where this musical palace is located. Send your answer to elliott@brack.net, and include your hometown.
The last Mystery Photo made a connection between the Savannah River Plant near Augusta, Oak Ridge, Tenn., the de-commissioned city of Hanford, Wash., and a community in Idaho.
Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. explains: “Today’s mystery photo is of Numbers Hill in Arco, Idaho, about 130-miles southwest of Yellowstone National Park. With a population of fewer than 1,000 residents, Arco is the county seat and largest city in Butte County, Idaho. What makes this small town particularly unique is that it is the home of the first functioning commercial nuclear reactor in the world as well as the first community in the world ever to be lit by electricity generated solely by nuclear power. This occurred for about an hour on July 17, 1955, powered by Argonne National Laboratory’s BORAX-III reactor at the nearby National Reactor Testing Station (NRTS), now the Idaho National Laboratory. NRTS made further history on January 3, 1961, when the reactor was destroyed through an operator maintenance error, with the ensuing steam explosion causing the deaths of all three personnel present. It was the world’s first, and the United States’ only, fatal reactor accident.
“So what’s up with all of the numbers on Numbers Hill? The hill is also known as Graduation Mountain, since the numbers are painted on the mountain by Arco high school students to mark their graduation year. It’s a tradition that goes back to 1929 where every year, members of the graduating class climb this mountain to paint gigantic numbers of their graduation year on the side of the mountain. The numbers wrap around the corner of the mountain range and are HUGE so that they can be seen from the Main Street in town.”
Others recognizing Numbers Hill include Bernard Ethridge, Lilburn; Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; and Mickey Merkel, Berkeley Lake.
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