GwinnettForum | Number 21.37 | May 18, 2021
COLORFUL PLANTING: Roving Photographer Frank Sharp captured this colorful bed of several types of blooms at the Historic Gwinnett Courthouse recently. The bed showed deep purple, yellow, blue, orange pink and red colors, against a green background. Enjoy this image, since this bed was fading and its flowers removed last week.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Stricklands fund annual scholarships for local students at PCOM
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Giant sewer project in eastern Gwinnett to be complete in 2023
ANOTHER VIEW: Using Guatemala as example, more immigrants coming to USA
SPOTLIGHT: Centurion Advisory Group
FEEDBACK: Not believing in reality might show need for mental counseling
UPCOMING: Hudgens Center now presenting works of Ed Gilliam
NOTABLE: Bourdeaux plan would expand greenways in suburbia
RECOMMENDED: The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hašek
GEORGIA TIDBIT: The “Lost Camellia” flowered along the Altamaha near Darien
MYSTERY PHOTO: Perpendiculars are elements in this edition’s Mystery Photo
LAGNIAPPE: Neighbor refurbishes Little Free Library No. 16808 on Dogwood Circle in Norcross
CALENDAR: North Gwinnett Kiwanis Club has Vidalia onions for sale
Stricklands fund annual scholarships for local PCOM students
Sandra and Clyde Strickland
By Barbara Myers
SUWANEE, Ga. | Merging their faith with their passion for medicine and education, Gwinnett County philanthropists, entrepreneurs and business owners Sandra and Clyde Strickland recently established an endowed doctoral scholarship fund at PCOM Georgia. Through the fund, $5,000 scholarships will be awarded annually to three students, one from each doctoral program on the Suwanee campus, to include those earning degrees in osteopathic medicine, pharmacy and physical therapy.
North Carolina natives, the Stricklands have been residents of Gwinnett since 1969. With a belief in caring for their community, the couple will provide the yearly scholarships to PCOM Georgia students who are graduates of Gwinnett County Public Schools. “We want to help our neighbors here,” Sandra said. “We can’t help everybody around the world and in other states, but we can surely do something right here in our own community.”
PCOM Georgia joins a group of Gwinnett County organizations that the couple supports including Annandale Village, Central Gwinnett High School, Georgia Gwinnett College, Gwinnett Technical College, Home of Hope, the Hope Clinic, Junior Achievement, Northside Hospital Gwinnett, the Partnership Against Domestic Violence and Rainbow Village.
Clyde Strickland’s interest in medicine began when he served in the US Army’s 24th medical battalion stationed in Germany. “I’ve always been fascinated with medicine and how it works,” he said, although he admits to not seeing a doctor until an emergency room visit at age 18. Clyde was raised in Selma, N.C., the son of a sharecropper. His family refrained from formal medical treatment and cared for ailments at home.
The Stricklands have been long-time supporters of Northside Hospital Gwinnett (formerly Gwinnett Medical Center) where Sandra is a member of the Women’s Advisory Council. Clyde serves on the Board of Directors for the Gwinnett Medical Center Foundation. They provided funding to build the hospital’s chapel, spearheaded a capital campaign for the Strickland Heart Center, funded the Sandra J. Strickland Diagnostic Center, and helped build the Strickland Family Medicine Center, a teaching facility for Northside Gwinnett’s family medicine residency program.
Calling himself a “research guy,” Clyde noted that as he’s formed relationships with physicians, he’s realized how much debt medical students undertake in order to earn a healthcare degree. “We want to help them reduce the debt so that they can spend more time not only being a doctor, but being with their families,” he said.
He explained that medicine has been important to their family. “Medicine has been a big part of Sandra’s and my life. At 28, we should have been gone.” He believes, “If you try hard and put God first and medicine second, He’ll keep you here a long time.”
Sandra has battled cancer since 1973 and Clyde has endured 20 operations and been declared disabled twice, once falling off a building, and several years later was injured in an automobile accident. “Every time adversity comes, I always work through it,” he said. With five knee operations, three knee replacements, gum implants, intraocular lens for visual correction, and a rotator cuff replacement, he said, “I’m a bionic man,” and noted proudly that on most days he can still shoot his age (81) at golf!
In a fitting turn of events, Clyde credits land on Old Peachtree Road, the corridor where PCOM Georgia is located, with helping the couple start the business, Metro Waterproofing, Inc., which has provided the funding for the Strickland’s philanthropic efforts. “We were able to get a second mortgage on our house to start the business with equity that God gave us through the land,” he shared.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Giant sewer project in eastern Gwinnett to be done in 2023
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
MAY 18, 2021 | The giant $125 million sewer expansion that Gwinnett County is planning on the eastern side of the county is expected to see dirt being moved by late summer. Anticipation is that the project will be completed by the first quarter of 2023.
The work is to be done by John D. Stephens Co. of Lawrenceville, which was the low bidder on the job. Over the years since its beginning, the company has done extensive work for the county.
Essentially, the job will bring sewer to underserved areas east of Dacula, the majority south of the Winder highway and a smaller part north of Highway 316 to the county line. Altogether, the “Eastern Regional Infrastructure project” will be built to serve 7,920 acres.
Steven Archer, president of John D. Stephens Co., said the work is now in the design phase. “The county did about 30 percent of the design work, so the bidders could price it. Now our company is continuing the design stage, so that we can move the plans for the project to the 90 percent level, and can then apply for permits.”
The work includes laying some 124,000 feet of pipe. It consists of:
- Five miles of water lines totaling 21,500 feet of pipe.
- Six miles of gravity sewer totaling 32,500 feet of 24, 30 and 26 inch pipe along the Apalachee River.
- Seven miles of parallel wastewater force mains along Harbins Road and Brooks Road, consisting of 70,000 linear feet of pipe;
- A new 14 million gallon per day regional sewer pump station on Harbins Road. This station will direct sewage to the F. Wayne Hill Water Treatment plant.
In addition, there will be five miles of new trail completed on top of the sewer mains. This trail will be paved for sustainability and include two trailheads.
The new sewer area includes the 2,000 acre Rowen knowledge community now in the purchase of property stage along Georgia Highway 316. Of the 7,920 acres of the project, only 844 acres currently has sewer. (See area in yellow on the east side of the county on the accompanying map.)
Not included in this phase of work will be a later project to extend the sewer infrastructure to the north to serve another 5,000 acres. (See area in pink along the Barrow County line on the map.)
When the Eastern sewer project is completed, that will leave approximately 17 percent of Gwinnett not served by sewer, but instead by septic tanks. (These areas are shown in white on the map.) While scattered in several areas of the county, most of the unsewered area is in the south and eastern parts of the county, much of the area in sparsely settled portions, though some significant built-up areas are on septic tanks.
Tyler Richards, director of the Department of Water Resources, says that the new infrastructure sewer will provide the major trunk lines to allow future sewer service in this and other projects will cover 13,000 acres. It also allows the decommissioning of four costly pump stations.
The anticipated project embraces an innovative construction approach for environmental stewardship. Richards says: “This sustainable approach to design and construction is important for the county to expand its infrastructure to support growth in a smart and balanced manner.”
Funding for the water and sewer portion of $104.5 million is to be paid by Water and Sewer Authority bonds. The trail portion ($19.5 million) will be paid by 2017 SPLOST dollars, while the $1 million Harbins/Brooks Road water mains will come out of stormwater funds.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
With Guatemala as example, more immigrants coming to USA
By Debra Houston, contributing columnist
LILBURN, GA. | On June 2019, President Trump struck an accord with Mexico to curb the tide of Central American migrants crossing illegally into our country. Those from the “Northern Triangle” — Venezuela, Guatemala, and Honduras — were stopped and processed at Mexico’s southern border. Those seeking asylum entered U.S. detention camps to wait for sponsors. The accord also ended “Catch and Release.” Mexico agreed to accept the deportation of those with criminal records.
Hardly a friend of Trump’s, Politico reported an immediate drop in the number of border crossers. In a follow-up story dated September 18, 2019, it wrote, “Border arrests fell to 95,000 in June and 72,000 in July. The June and July drops fit a seasonal pattern … but the August decline did not. Border arrests have typically increased in August during the past decade.”
The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol at cbp.gov, contains charts on border “encounters” by year. Let’s look at the decrease in border crossings from one country, Guatemala. In 2019, 48,606 single adult Guatemalans crossed our border. In 2020, border crossers dropped because of the coronavirus. Through March 2021, however, 60,589 have already crossed. At this rate, the total number for 2021 could reach 242,000. And that’s only one segment; It doesn’t include families seeking asylum.
So, it’s unlikely President Biden “inherited” the border crisis. Republicans attribute the current surge to Democrats promising amnesty for all. A humanitarian disaster is the outcome. Coyotes drop children over the wall to fend for themselves in the desert and throw babies into the Rio Grande to distract Border Patrol. Coyotes also cram refugees in hot unsanitary vans, causing many to die.
Refugees seeking asylum have faced hunger, poverty, and violence at home, and we should grant them a new life here if feasible. But along with the dispossessed come predators who deserve no mercy: meth smugglers bringing addiction to our neighborhoods, sex traffickers delivering children to pedophiles, and criminals hiding in sanctuary cities.
On May 4, 2021, Vice President Kamala Harris described hurricanes, droughts, hunger, violence, and corruption as driving forces behind the mass exodus from the Triangle. However, corruption is the true root of the region’s misery. Certainly, no amount of “climate adaptation and climate resilience” will bring down tyrants.
So, what is the administration’s solution? $310 million. We know from experience financial aid goes directly into the hands of dictators and their minions. Sending taxpayer money to authoritarian countries strengthens and rewards their abuse.
Americans see a humanitarian crisis at the border; Democrats see future Democratic voters. Vice President Harris, who will likely run for president in 2024, must remind her leftist friends why Trump won the 2016 election: We wanted a president willing to build a wall and to stop Mexico from forwarding its border problem on to us.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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Not believing in reality might show need for counseling
Editor, the Forum:
As a former psychologist and educator, I worry about the mental health of the significant number of Republicans who are not rooted in reality.
If you believe the election was stolen….
If you believe Democrats are sexual perverts….
If you believe that January 6th was just a well behaved group of tourists….
If you believe the 30,000 lies and untruths spouted by Trump and his supporters….
….Then you are in need of mental health counseling. Our country needs a reality based Republican Party. What the Republicans are doing now is destroying our democracy.
— Alan Schneiberg, Sugar Hill
Two readers take difference with columnist Jack Bernard
Editor, the Forum:
Once again columnist Jack Bernard exacerbates our country’s race trauma by hypocritically focusing on the partisans instead of the problems. If he wants to excoriate evangelicals, then do so by engaging their belief that Christ won’t return to an integrated Palestine.
How can we seek the justice of Isaiah or the color-blindness of Martin Luther King while turning a blind eye to those gentiles who can’t vote or are kicked out of their homes to make way for Jews? We as a world need to get beyond looking at people as black or white; Jew or gentile. It’s hard for me to believe that Jesus would bother returning until we’ve figured that out. Until then Jack might want to make sure that the moral line in the sand doesn’t go between his own two feet.
— Joe Briggs, Suwanee
Editor, the Forum:
“Jack Bernard, you may or may not like President Biden’s policies, but it is hard to say that you disapprove of him as a person or the way he is handling his job at this early stage of his term.”
We have almost 30 years of Joe Biden to look at and see what he has done and is doing. The list is long but just to take one example is the way he is covering and lying about his son Hunter.
“Trump,… is immoral and frequently lies” All the Trump haters say this and more with no proof.
I think evangelicals and others support Trump because they look at his heart and know that whatever he does is in the best interest of America (America First).
— Ron Buice, Buford
Send us your thoughts: We encourage you to send us your letters and thoughts on issues raised in GwinnettForum. Please limit comments to 300 words, and include your hometown. The views of letters are the opinion of the contributor. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Send feedback and letters to: elliott@brack.net.
Hudgens Center now presenting works of Ed Gilliam
The Hudgens Center for Art & Learning in Duluth will present Drawn to Clay: Works of Ed Gilliam from the Private Collection of Thomas E. Scanlin, May 15 through July 31.
The exhibition includes selected work from Atlanta-based folk artist, Ed Gilliam, who is most well known for his whimsical paintings on ceramic chargers. Using the scraffito technique (Italian for “scratch”), Gilliam creates works that often combine human and animal imagery with snippets of poetry and prose.
Always an artist at heart, Gilliam began making art full-time at 60 years old, drawing inspiration from his time living in New York City from the 1950s, Thomas Scanlin, “Gilliam does not consider himself a potter but he uses the clay plate form simply as his ‘canvas’- a friendly surface on which to draw. The fired clay is something more sturdy and tactile than paper but not as formal as canvas. With a deft hand, Gilliam paints surreal snapshots of homegrown wisdom that are simultaneously mischievous and reassuring.
Gilliam’s work is reminiscent of fairy tales and fables, inviting the viewer to finish each story.
Thomas Scanlin is a retired jewelry designer and owner of Studio Jewelers in Dahlonega. He is an avid collector of Georgia folk art, including the work of Ed Gilliam.
- For other exhibits at the Hudgens, go to https://thehudgens.org/exhibitions/.
Duluth judges to host program on how courts work
Judge Charles L. Barrett and Judge Chung H. Lee of the City of Duluth Municipal Court will be hosting a Korean American Outreach Program on May 19 from 6-8:30 p.m. at the Korean American Association of Greater Atlanta, 5300 Brookhollow Parkway, Norcross. This event is presented to enable Korean neighbors to gain a better understanding of the various courts in Gwinnett County with which they may interact.
Guests can expect short presentations from judges representing all courts. This will include what types of cases the court hears, overview of special programs offered to the community and general court information. Following the presentation, the judges will take questions from the community.
There will be a Korean-language interpreter present and the event will be televised by Korean-language television. For questions regarding this event, please email pio@duluthga.net.
Bourdeaux plan would expand greenways in suburbia
Speaking recently at Jones Bridge Park, U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Bourdeaux, who represents the 7th District, announced a plan to provide funding to expand suburban greenways and other environmentally friendly transportation projects. The project would benefit many growing suburban communities in the Atlanta metro area.
Bourdeaux
To be funded by Congress, the project called FutureFit the Suburbs, is a vision to address the transportation needs of the metro area’s expanding inner and outer suburbs. Funds would focus on building and expanding greenways in Gwinnett and surrounding suburbs.
The plan includes four initiatives:
- The National and Regional Greenways Act would create a grant program to fund active transportation projects, including the construction and connection of national and regional greenways.
- Building Up the Suburbs (BUS) Act would provide more flexible funding for transportation projects specifically serving suburbs, while lowering emissions and congestion. Those would include Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Express Lane Transit (ELT).
- Mall Upcycling: Use incentives through low interest and guaranteed loan programs for private investment and redevelopment of large, blighted areas where malls are abandoned.
- Infrastructure Bank: Create a national infrastructure bank to leverage the power of public-private partnerships to fund and support environmentally sound infrastructure projects which in turn are good for the environment and the economy.
Foundation awards $42,500 to local charities
The Jackson EMC Foundation board of directors awarded a total $112,000 in grants during its April meeting, including $42,500 to organizations serving Gwinnett County.
$15,000 to Camp Twin Lakes, a not-for-profit organization that offers year-round recreational, therapeutic and educational programming for children facing serious illness and other challenges.
- $15,000 to Extra Special People, in Watkinsville, to provide an opportunity for special needs or seriously ill children from low income or financially distressed families in Banks, Barrow, Clarke, Franklin, Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson, Madison and Oglethorpe counties to attend an eight-week camp experience.
- $10,000 to Butterfly Dreams Farm Therapeutic Riding Program, Inc., in Watkinsville, to provide hippotherapy treatment for special needs and at-risk children, youth and their families, to help families from Banks, Barrow, Clarke, Gwinnett, Jackson, Madison and Oglethorpe counties attend therapy sessions that use a horse’s movement to improve neuromuscular function.
- $2,500 to Foster Siblings Reunited (d/b/a Camp to Belong), to enable children in the 10 counties Jackson EMC serves to attend summer camp and Virtual Sibling Connection events, which reunites siblings living separately in foster care or other out-of-home care to strengthen relationships, increase self-esteem, create healthier attitudes and childhood memories.
Ji among most influential Asian-Americans
Ji
Jassy Ji, project manager at Partnership Gwinnett has been recognized as a 2021 recipient of the 25 Most Influential Asian Americans in Georgia by the Georgia Asian Times. She is responsible for bringing new jobs and capital investment to Gwinnett County. She has been instrumental in recruiting international companies and assisting them with their business expansion into the US.
The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hašek
From Raleigh Perry, Buford: For those who have been in the military, they will find this one of the funniest books ever. The book opens with the killing of Archduke Ferdinand, the event that started World War I. Svejk is in a bar talking about the murder, is overheard by the State Police, and is arrested. He is taken to court and tries to explain that he has been assessed as an idiot by a military judge, but the current judge insists he go into the Austro-Hungarian military. He is dumb as a box of rocks and in the entire book he screws up but comes out smelling like a rose. Joseph Heller of Catch 22 used this book as a reference. Every military unit has a soldier such as Svejk. You have to figure out how wars are won with people like that. The book was originally published in serial form.”
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
The “Lost Camellia” flowered along Altamaha near Darien
The Franklin tree or lost camellia (Franklinia alatamaha) is an unusually beautiful tree, once native only to Georgia, that is also one of the rarest trees in the world. Discovered in the mid-18th century, the Franklin tree was last recorded in the wild by a nurseryman and plant collector in 1803. All known specimens today are in cultivation.
John Bartram and his son, William, discovered the Franklin tree growing along the banks of Georgia’s Altamaha River near Darien, in McIntosh County, in 1765. In his book Travels, William Bartram describes it as a beautiful shrub that appeared to be related to Gordonia lasianthus (loblolly bay), but with larger and more fragrant flowers. They named the tree in honor of their friend Benjamin Franklin and the river beside which they had found it (the species name, alatamaha, reflects the Bartrams’ variant spelling of Altamaha).
William Bartram again saw the tree in the 1770s and noted that the only spot where he had seen it in all of his explorations was on the two- to three-acre site along the Altamaha River, where it grew in abundance. Since the last definitive sighting of the tree in nature in 1803, many have continued to search for the tree, and some accounts describe spotting it along the Altamaha River as late as the 1840s. Fortunately, the Bartrams had taken plants and seeds home to Philadelphia, where they propagated the plant. All Franklin trees today are descendants of the Bartrams’ specimens.
The Franklinia is a deciduous small tree or large shrub growing 15 to 20 feet high and 10 to 15 feet wide, with elongated, dark green leaves that turn red, orange, or pink in the fall. Its most striking feature is its showy two- to three-inch snow-white flowers, with clusters of golden yellow stamens in the centers. The tree flowers from late summer until frost.
Franklinia can be propagated by seeds or by rooted cuttings and is grown by gardeners and horticulturalists in various locations in the eastern United States. In 2008 the Georgia Forestry Commission named a specimen in the Quarry Garden at the Atlanta History Center in Atlanta as the state champion, for being the largest of its species in Georgia.
Today efforts are being made to restore the tree to the wild by planting specimens near the site where they were originally discovered.
In 1969 a set of four U.S. postal stamps was issued, each bearing a plant associated with one of the four regions of the country. Franklinia was chosen to represent the South.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to http://georgiaencyclopedia.org
Perpendiculars are elements in this edition’s Mystery Photo
You might call this Mystery Photo “3 perpendiculars,” or even 12 or 14. Obviously, it’s an old building and may be difficult for most readers to locate. Do your best and send your answer to elliott@brack.net to include your hometown.
It was a fairly difficult Mystery Photo in the last edition, and only three readers solved the cryptic photo. They included George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Lou Camerio of Lilburn; and Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. The photo came from Brian Brown of Fitzgerald as part of his Vanishing South Georgia project.
Peel wrote: “This is the main building at the Smith Brothers Stockyard (also known as called Smith Brothers Livestock), which is located on U.S. Highway 319, east of the small town of Bartow in Jefferson County, Ga. Smith Brothers is a relatively small, private business entity, starting on May 27, 1997, and is listed with the Corporations Division of the Georgia Secretary of State as a Wholesale Livestock Dealer. The company is owned and operated by Ernest Clinton Smith, III, and has four employees.”
Now re-erected is this Little Free Library No. 16808 on Dogwood Circle in Norcross. Untreated wood on its base, coupled with strong winds this springtime, toppled this library. It was re-engineered, refurbished and set in place by a good neighbor, Frank Emde, for all to enjoy last Saturday. You can get all sorts of interesting books at Little Free Libraries around Gwinnett. Check out your Little Free Library in your neighborhood, and support it by refreshing it with book contributions of your own for others to enjoy.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
The consul of Canada in Atlanta, Ambassador Louise Blais, will speak at the PDC Club in Norcross on Wednesday, May 19 at 8:16 a.m. at the 45 South Café in Norcross.
Vidalia Onion Sale: Members of the North Gwinnett Kiwanis Club are again selling onions to fund their scholarship fundraising. The club awarded 15 $1,000 scholarships in 2021. Scholarships in the coming year will go to students at five area high schools: North Gwinnett, Buford, Lanier, Mill Creek and Mountain View High Schools. If you are interested, go to https://www.northgwinnettkiwanis.com/shop.
Ribbon-Cutting in Duluth of the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel will be at 4 p.m. on June 3. Mayor Nancy Harris will perform the scissoring, with visitors getting to tour the new hotel and its bistro afterward. The hotel is located at 3141 Hill Street, across from the City Hall.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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