GwinnettForum | Number 21.25 | March 30, 2021
GEORGIA GWINNETT COLLEGE (GGC) students Mark Stiller and Valerie Morse are one of three GGC teams that received funding from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) research to support the design, build and test instruments for the Artemis Program. This aims at NASA landing the first woman and next man on the moon in 2024. For more details, see Notable below.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Burgeoning diversity is part of the Gwinnett School Board issue
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Flap develops over cost of collecting Gwinnett city taxes
ANOTHER VIEW: Developments make you wonder if our courts are bought
SPOTLIGHT: Law Office of J. Michael Levengood, LLC
FEEDBACK: Questioning Dr. Fauci was a comment that was highly misplaced
UPCOMING: Gwinnett Stripers will honor frontline workers on May 28
NOTABLE: Gwinnett Library among 30 finalists up for 2021 national honor
RECOMMENDED: In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Emory University Hospital dates back to beginning in 1904
MYSTERY PHOTO: Mystery Photo has blue element as part of bridge
LAGNIAPPE: Norcross Library making progress, to open in fall
Burgeoning diversity is part of Gwinnett School Board issue
By Karen Harris
STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. | I also was saddened to learn about Alvin Wilbanks being fired. It seems unfair and unjustified. I would think that the new team would want to milk his mind for as long as possible. I think his response was very gracious. I think the burgeoning diversity in Gwinnett is part of the issue. It is not understood that families who are either new to the American culture or come from disadvantaged environments may need more socialization skills than students from other environments. That is a fancy way of saying I think the disciplining of “brown students” is perceived as excessive but in truth is not effective due to their home lives.
Harris
One of my assignments was Diversity Coordinator at Gwinnett County Public Library. I served in this role from 2001 until 2014. I worked with these populations within the library and with special programs such as Prime Time Family Reading Time, and People and Stories/Gente y Cuentos. There were other programs for African Americans and other diverse audiences. One of the things I noticed is that many of these people were on lower levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a theory of motivation which states that five categories of human needs dictate an individual’s behavior. Those needs are physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs.
When I came to Gwinnett County in 1996, it was 90 percent white, 6 percent black, 3 percent Hispanic and 1 percent Asian. The predominant population came from solid families with two parents with good salaries, and books in the home. Their physical needs, Level 1; safety needs, Level 2; love and belonging need, Level 3; were met and they were well on the way to esteem, Level 4; and actualization, Level 5. The growing diverse populations were and still are at either 2 or 3 with either language or economics preventing them from moving past survival, safety and belonging levels. Level 3 which is belonging and esteem, Level 4 needs, are within the grasp of some, while actualization Level 5 is a dream that I hope is not too long deferred.
I believe that the new leaders themselves may be somewhere between belonging and esteemed. This is all so very difficult because the under socialization of some in these populations puts the needs of these groups at survival, safety and belonging. The discipline that is supplied for these under-socialized populations is interpreted as racism which…I don’t mind telling you, it breaks my heart. I am not sure what the answers are Mr. Editor, but after reading your piece about the changes I wanted to share my thoughts.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Flap develops over cost of collecting Gwinnett city taxes
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
MARCH 30, 2021 | Out of nowhere, a change in the way the new Gwinnett Tax Commissioner wants to charge eight Gwinnett cities for her work in collecting municipal taxes has developed.
In the past, the Gwinnett Tax Commissioner has handled sending out bills and collecting municipal ad valorem taxes for eight Gwinnett cities: Peachtree Corners, Norcross, Berkeley Lake, Sugar Hill, Lawrenceville, Snellville, Lilburn, and Dacula. The other eight Gwinnett cities administer and collect their own taxes.
Handling the city tax collections was previously done by Tax Commissioner Richard Steele, who lost his office in the 2020 elections. Tiffany Porter won election in 2020 as the new tax commissioner.
A letter to the eight cities sent out by Denise Mitchell, the chief deputy tax commissioner, outlined the changes that Ms. Porter would want to adopt. Among the details of a new four year contract Mrs. Mitchell sent out was the addition of a new fee of $2 per parcel for collecting the taxes. She sent out the letter on March 17, 2021, and put a deadline of April 8 for signing the contract.
Another element of the contract that was proposed was that it would allow Mrs. Porter to be a signatory to the proposal for the new contract. The previous contract that the cities had for municipal tax collection by the tax commissioner was between the cities and the county. The tax commissioner was not a signatory to the contract, as is proposed in the new contract.
The cities erupted over such a change.
Lawrenceville City Manager Chuck Warbington says: “The City of Lawrenceville received a new agreement from the Tax Commissioner that almost tripled the cost to the residents of the City. The requested increase was for a direct supplement to her salary. Since our agreement for services for the Tax Commissioner is with the Board of Commissioners, we are pleased with initial discussions that there appears to be little support for the agreement as presented. The Tax Commissioner’s office has run a surplus over the last five years, therefore we have no understanding as to why there would be a requested increase for providing the same service.”
The fee charged the eight cities in 2020 by Richard Steele for collecting municipal taxes was $86,523. The fee for 2021 for similar services for the eight cities as proposed by Tax Commissioner Tiffany Porter in a letter by Mrs. Mitchell would be $210,412. The new charge would break down to a county fee of $99,908, but an additional $2 per parcel fee to the tax commissioner of $110,734.
An opinion from Lawrenceville city attorney Lee Thompson also brought up another point in the proposed contract. Thompson said it was his opinion “that such a contract does not have to be approved or consented to by the Tax Commissioner.” He also said that the Georgia Code section allowing tax commissioners to collect municipal taxes was “….between the county governing authority and a municipality” and did not mention the tax commissioner.
Porter
Last week GwinnettForum talked with several local city leaders who had previously used the tax commissioner to collect municipal taxes. All were concerned about the higher proposal and were hoping that the incident could be resolved.
GwinnettForum also talked Friday with Tax Commissioner Tiffany Porter, who did not make a statement at that time, but promised one Monday morning. (Since the statement came after our deadline, we ask you to click here to read her statement.)
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Developments make you wonder if our courts are bought
By George Wilson, contributing columnist
STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. | Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has asked the Justice Department, now overseen by Attorney General Merrick Garland, to look into the unusual circumstances through which Brett Kavanaugh’s large debts disappeared before his nomination to the Supreme Court. While this question is important to understanding Kavanaugh’s position on our Supreme Court, it is more than that: it is part of a larger investigation into the role of big money in our justice system.
Last May, Whitehouse, along with Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich) and Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), released a report titled “Captured Courts: The GOP’s Big Money Assault On The Constitution, Our Independent Judiciary, And The Rule of Law.” My conclusion after reading this was that it outlined how the “Conservative Legal Movement has rewritten federal law to favor the rich and powerful,” how the Federalist Society and special-interest money control our courts, and how the system benefits the big-money donors behind the Republicans. Furthermore, when I last commented on this in the GwinnettForum in April of 2014, the win rate of the National Chamber of Commerce cases under a Roberts’s court for business had soared to 70 percent, from 43 percent under the Burger court.
Finally, on March 10, Whitehouse began hearings to investigate the role of big money in Supreme Court nominations and decisions. Aside from Chief Justice John Roberts, every Supreme Court justice named by a Republican president has ties to the Federalist Society, a group that advocates an originalist interpretation of the Constitution, which prohibits the use of the courts to regulate business or to defend civil rights.
So while it is the Kavanaugh story that is getting media attention, the longer story is about whether our courts have been bought.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Law Office of J. Michael Levengood, LLC
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Questioning Dr. Fauci was comment that was highly misplaced
Editor, the Forum:
Instead of pointing a finger at the most logical villain, the former President, whose denials, hypocrisy, absence of strategy and undermining the seriousness of Covid-19, which has now claimed 550,000 American lives, David Simmons reserves his (often-unfounded) barbs at Dr. Anthony Fauci and science in his recent piece.
He makes too many claims to defend. But his effort is dripping with a political bias about red states vs. blue states success and businesses and schools (needlessly) being shuttered. And the gall of attacking a world-celebrated scientist/doctor (Fauci), who has a record of battling diseases over nearly 40 years under seven presidents!
And for all his heroic efforts, Dr. Fauci has had death threats against him and his family. And now Simmons with his paltry claims?
— Howard Hoffman, Berkeley Lake
Binary political choices, simplistic political thinking worry him
Editor, the Forum:
Georgians seem to demonstrate simplistic political thinking without regard for reality. Red vs. blue, white vs. black, Trump vs. Biden, Republicans vs. Democrats, open vs. closed borders, mask vs. liberty, and on and on with binary political choices. Our state requires much more complex thinking that allows for compromise and meaningful solutions. Georgians need to get much more politically smart.
— Alan Schneiberg, Sugar Hill
Dear Alan: We’re laughing in a way. If you think this is bad now, you should have been here 50 years ago. Yes, we are often split, today primarily because of social media, which at least we didn’t have 50 years ago. But we were split in a different more ignorant way then. -eeb
Enjoyed article on his former roommate at the University
Editor, the Forum:
Enjoyed your piece on Johnny and Teresa Day, who are longtime friends. Johnny and I were roommates at the University of Georgia when he met Teresa. Small world ! Know she would be happy with the restoration.
— Charles Summerour, 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, and include your hometown. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Send feedback and letters to: elliott@brack.net
Gwinnett Stripers will honor frontline workers on May 28
The Gwinnett Stripers baseball team, in partnership with Northside Hospital, will be hosting “Salute to Frontline Workers” on Friday, May 28 vs. Memphis. The 7:05 p.m. game will honor the doctors, nurses, healthcare workers, foodservice workers, municipal workers, and other essential employees who have kept us safe, fed, and going during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
On that night, the Stripers will wear specialty jerseys featuring the names of local (Gwinnett and surrounding counties) frontline workers. Now through March 26, the Stripers will accept name submissions for inclusion on the jersey via an online form at GoStripers.com. The final jersey design will be unveiled prior to the game on May 28.
Each game-worn jersey will be made available for purchase in an online auction at GoStripers.com starting May 27. Proceeds will benefit Northside Gwinnett Foundation.
Stripers Vice President and General Manager Adam English says: “It is our privilege to partner with Northside Hospital to recognize our local frontline and essential workers that have guided us through this difficult year. We feel honored to welcome them to Coolray Field for a relaxing night of Stripers baseball and a display of our gratitude and appreciation.”
Salute to Frontline Workers, presented by Northside Hospital, is one of 10 Fireworks Fridays at Coolray Field in 2021. All Friday home games feature a spectacular post-game fireworks display. The Stripers’ full 2021 Promotional Schedule will be released in the coming weeks. To be among the first to see the schedule of giveaways, theme nights, and special events planned for this season, sign up for the Stripers Newsletter at GoStripers.com/newsletter.
Season ticket memberships are available now online at GoStripers.com/memberships and limited individual game tickets will be available to the public closer to Opening Night.
Gwinnett library among 30 finalists up for 2021 national honor
Gwinnett County Public Library (GCPL) is among 30 finalists for the 2021 National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the Institute of Museum and Library Services announces. GCPL is the only institution in Georgia to be selected as a finalist for this award.
The National Medal is the nation’s highest honor given to museums and libraries that demonstrate significant impact in their communities. For more than 25 years, the award has honored institutions that demonstrate excellence in service to their communities.
Charles Pace, GCPL’s executive director, says that the county library has “….been a leader in library services for several decades. Whether it is providing for lifelong learning or meeting basic needs through food distribution the Gwinnett County Public Library has been on the forefront of community outreach. We are honored to have these contributions recognized as a finalist for the IMLS National Service Medal.”
Gwinnett County Public Library’s community members are asked to share stories, memories, pictures, and videos on social media as part of the Share Your Story campaign, using the #IMLSmedals hashtag, and engage with IMLS on Facebook and Twitter. For more information, visit the IMLS website.
National Medal winners will be announced in late spring. Representatives from winning institutions will be honored for their extraordinary contributions during a virtual National Medal Ceremony this summer.
Partnership Gwinnett announces “Movers and Makers”
Partnership Gwinnett, in collaboration with Gwinnett Technical College, has announced the winners of the 10th annual Movers and Makers Awards presented by NAI Brannen Goddard during a ceremony last week at Infinite Energy Forum. The event also featured a keynote address from Waffle House, Inc. President and CEO, Walter G. Ehmer.
The 2021 winners included:
- Manufacturer of the Year: This award recognized top manufacturers based on their size within Gwinnett County.
- Small (1-99 employees): Porter Steel, Inc.;
- Medium (100-199 employees): GF Health Products Inc.; and
- Large (200+ employees): WIKA USA.
- Supply Chain Pioneer of the Year: This award recognized top suppliers based on their size within Gwinnett County.
- Small (1-49 employees): The Cutting Board Company, LLC, and
- Large (50+ employees): Peachtree Packaging and Display.
- Corporate Citizen Award: The award recognized suppliers who go above and beyond to make their company and their community a great place to be.
- Doosan Industrial Vehicle America Corporation
- MVP, Most Valuable Provider: This award recognized providers who are the communities go-to for the manufacturing and supply chain industries.
- Farmers & Fishermen Purveyors
Over 200-community leaders and industry experts attended the 2021 Movers and Makers Awards both in-person and virtually to celebrate excellence within their field. It is the largest event of its kind in Georgia and the County’s annual recognition of Gwinnett-based companies involved in manufacturing, processing, or distribution.
Dr. D. Glen Cannon, president of Gwinnett Technical College, says: “Gwinnett Tech is committed to ensuring our manufacturing and logistics companies have the qualified and sustainable workforce they need to be successful. Our students are the best of the best, and our faculty are job skill focused. We are pleased to be a team member with Partnership Gwinnett in recognizing the great companies that call Gwinnett home, and we will continue to work diligently to ensure they always feel there is no better place for their business to thrive and grow.”
Georgia Gwinnett College project teams get NASA funding
Three teams of Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) students have received funding from NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) Innovative New Designs for Space (MINDS), to design, build and test their innovative project ideas to support the Artemis Program, which aims to land the first woman and next man on the moon by 2024.
Teams selected by NASA receive $1,500 each to be used in the building of their designs. Selected team projects will be reviewed by NASA judges, and can receive recognition awards up to $5,000.
NASA MINDS is not a competition but rather a hands-on, design-and-build learning experience. Teams in NASA MINDS independently select technology that is relevant to NASA’s Artemis Program. This allows students to focus on technologies which interest and inspire them.
Dr. Sairam Tangirala is the mentor of one of the teams, consisting of junior applied mathematics major Marco Montero and sophomore IT major Ahkeelah Lindo. Their project proposes researching 3D printer designs that can be used in space. The project aims to strengthen the resilience of 3D-printed materials by changing the structure and/or the materials used to maximize strength, and increase usage of 3D-printed objects.
The second team, consisting of senior IT major Mark Stiller, junior biology Valerie Morse, and mentored by Dr. Tae Song Lee, assistant professor of physics, came up with a handheld device design that could be used to monitor Artemis vehicles for structural damage.
The third team, mentored by Dr. Joseph Ametepe, professor of physics, and Dr. Neelam Khan, associate professor of physics, with senior chemistry major Aneri Amin, freshman dual-enrollment student Tyler De Austria, sophomore mathematics major Matthew Elenteny and and IT major Ikechukwu Okolocha, is building a device to collect and analyze lunar dust particles called the Lunar GGC. The team will design and build a dust chamber to allow for fabricating dust particles similar in size to those on the moon and Mars, with an electrostatic substrate to collect them.
In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
From Shyla B. Nambiar, Suwanee: In Cold Blood is a brilliantly recounted, brilliantly crafted tragedy set in the wheatfields of Kansas back in the 1960. It is the grandfather of a new genre of true-crime novels. Based on the murders of the Clutter family of Holcomb, Kan., Truman Capote takes liberties with some facts to spin a compelling story, but the book is still powerful. The Clutters, their heartrending demise, and the consequences of it haunt this dark book from the first page to the last. Like a Greek tragedy, it tells of the discovery of their bodies and the aftermath of the murders, up to the arrest, trial, sentencing, and hanging of the two accused drifters. Capote’s detached, tense narration , never intrudes into the story. Capote didn’t believe in the death penalty, and the book also prompts a reconsideration of its effectiveness.
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
Emory University Hospital dates back to beginning in 1904
Emory University Hospital in Atlanta is the core facility of one of the nation’s leading university-based health systems, with nationally and internationally recognized faculty physicians in more than 100 specialty and subspecialty areas. The adult, tertiary care facility is a component of Emory Healthcare, the largest and most comprehensive health system in Georgia. Approximately 24,000 inpatients and more than 200,000 outpatients visit Emory University Hospital each year. The hospital contains 751 beds and is staffed by more than 1,500 practicing physicians, who are also faculty members at the Emory University School of Medicine.
Providing a full range of specialized care, Emory University Hospital is annually included in U.S. News and World Report‘s “America’s Best Hospitals” and is consistently ranked as the top hospital in metro Atlanta and the state. It is known for its excellence in cardiology and cardiac surgery, neurology and neurosurgery, oncology, ophthalmology, organ and tissue transplantation, and orthopedics.
The hospital’s relationship with Emory University’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center has had a significant impact on patients. Through this partnership, advances have been made in medicine that will affect the lives of Georgians for the next several decades.
Emory University Hospital dates back to March 1904, when its predecessor, Wesley Memorial Hospital, was chartered with 50 beds. The hospital was housed in a downtown Atlanta mansion that had been spared from destruction by Union general William T. Sherman’s army during the Atlanta campaign in 1864. By November 1922 the hospital had grown too large for its quarters and was moved to its current DeKalb County site on the Emory University campus. The new 275-bed facility was a gift from Asa Candler, philanthropist and founder of the Coca-Cola Company.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to http://georgiaencyclopedia.org
Mystery Photo has blue element as part of bridge
Today’s Mystery Photo is a workaday bridge, somewhat standard, so tell us where it’s located. The blue part of the bridge must be distinctive, so explain that, too. Send your answers to elliott@brack.net and include your hometown.
Recognizing the most recent mystery photo was Lou Camiero of Lilburn: “Looks like the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Havana, Cuba, not that I have ever been there or plan to go. It is a beautiful building built in 1927 probably with American taxpayer money.”
George Graf of Palmyra, Va. and Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. also recognized it, Peel writing: “….of one of two buildings that houses the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana (National Museum of Fine Arts of Havana) in the historical, Old City part of Havana, Cuba. The one depicted in the mystery photo is the original ‘Palacio de Bellas Artes’ and features original works by Cuban artists, including Victor Manuel Garcia, Amelia Pelaez, Carlos Enriquez as well as Neo-expressionist artists such as Antonia Eiriz and abstract artist Raul Martinez. The newer, more modern building is called Palacio del Centro Asturiano and is located a couple of blocks away from where the mystery photo was taken. This second location is dedicated to more international art, including paintings, sculptures, drawings and ceramics from Greece, Egypt, Europe and Latin America dating back to as early as 500 B.C.”
Graf also added: “The Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) is dedicated exclusively to housing Cuba Art collections. Spanning the 17th and 19th centuries has rooms devoted to landscape, religious subjects and the Costumbrismo narrative scenes of Cuban life. Gallery devoted to the 1970s is marked by a preponderance of Hyperrealism and the latest generation of Cuban artists whose works all reflect the strong symbolic imagery that has been prevalent in recent decades.”
New, 20,000 square foot Norcross Library to open this fall
Here’s a conception for the way the new Norcross library will look. It’s anticipated that the library will open in early fall. Architect for the project is CAS Architecture of Lawrenceville.
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