GwinnettForum | Number 21.53 | July 9, 2021
THE GWINNETT ARENA has a new name, as it has been rebranded as the Gas South Arena. The entire convention, entertainment and meeting area will be known as the Gas South District. The new naming company is the largest retail natural gas provider in the southeast, after its purchase of the Infinite Energy Company in 2020. Convention and Visitors Bureau Chairman Richard Tucker, County Commission Chairwoman Nicole Love Hendrickson and Gas South President and CEO Kevin Greiner celebrate the new name. The sign unveiling was the first large Gwinnett public gathering of people within the last pandemic year. The 13,000-seat Gas South Arena entertainment program is coming back strong, planning to host several large-scale concerts since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with marquee acts like James Taylor, Reba McIntyre and Blake Shelton among those scheduled to perform over the next few months.
TODAY’S FOCUS: When will we learn of Horse and Sparrow Economics?
EEB PERSPECTIVE: It’s that time of the year for local governments to OK budgets
ANOTHER VIEW: Expanding college football season will put students in danger
SPOTLIGHT: Georgia Gwinnett College
FEEDBACK: Others, besides parents, had great impact on his growing up
NOTABLE: City of Berkeley Lake celebrates another Fourth of July
RECOMMENDED: A Promised Land by Barack Obama
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Georgia’s Tom Dorsey gains fame as father of gospel music
MYSTERY PHOTO: Tell us more about this cow, and where it is located
LAGNIAPPE: Suwanee again designated as accredited Main Street Program
CALENDAR: Construction Ready program starts in Gwinnett County August 16
When will we learn of Horse and Sparrow Economics?
By Ashley Herndon
OCEANSIDE, Calif. | Will we, these people of the United States (“We, The People”) ever learn?
Here we are in 2021 doing a review of how we got to this place in our history. Mark Twain called the late 19th century the “Gilded Age.” This referred to the way people ‘gilded’ things with a thin layer of covering. to make them appear golden. His novel of the same name satirizes that era’s Industrial Revolution’s greed and corruption. Horse and Buggy Days was sold as the ‘Horse and Sparrow’ Days.
Herndon
It continued later in another form.
It was 1980 with ”‘Trickle-down Economics,” or as George H.W. Bush described it, “Voodoo Economics,” and this was not even a new con. It in fact was not dreamed up by Ronald “Run Rampant” Reagan. He re-awakened it to raise money by playing to his benefactors and conning the general population. Our most recently deposed and former president (Trump) continued to dance to the same tunes played by those same and even new oligarchs he was and is still trying to emulate, all on the backs of the general population. (“We the people.”)
In the 1890s (First Gilded Age), this economic con was named “Horse and Sparrow Economics.” The sales-pitch was before the eras of automobiles and instant communications. The con espoused: “If you feed horses more oats than they can normally digest, they will drop all of the undigested oats in their manure, for the sparrows to pick at,” meaning that the rich people’s excesses would spill over on the average person. Quite frankly, the general population bought this suggestion that they should dine on road apples (horse leavings)! This theory not only did not work, but it was also blamed, in part, for the Panic of 1896.
Later the corrupt President Warren Harding revived Horse and Sparrow Economics in his 1920 campaign. He championed reducing the 91 percent top tax bracket to 25 percent. The sales pitch worked. He was elected and kept his promise.
The result was the “Roaring 20s.” The rich got fabulously rich(er) while working people saw their wages actually drop, leading to an explosion of unionization efforts by disgruntled workers who were violently suppressed by employers and police. After that, President Herbert Hoover took it in the pipes for continuing the malarkey economic theory a second time, which led to the Great Depression.
“We The People” do not need to review the causes of the 2008 Great Recession. Or do we?
Few in America would complain about highly successful people making big bucks. But consider this: the net worth of 651 current billionaires increased recently by $1 trillion. That’s enough money to give each person in the USA $3,000, and the 651 billionaires would still have the same net worth as when the pandemic began!
This causes one to wonder about Horse and Sparrow/Trickle Down Economics. ‘Nuff said.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Time of the year for local governments to OK budgets
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
JULY 9, 2021 | It is somewhat surprising to find that the City of Lawrenceville is raising taxes. This once-staid conservative government is going to raise ad valorem taxes this year by 0.4 mills. Not only that, the city is also going to start charging its first garbage fee, which will be $10 per month for 2022, and in 2023, will be $20 a month. Previously, there was no fee for garbage service.
Up until this year, Lawrenceville had the lowest millage rate in the county among its bigger cities, a mark of 1.88 mills.
For 2022, Berkeley Lake will have the lowest millage rate of 1.746 mills, while Grayson will be next lowest, at 1.985 mills. (See accompanying table of the city 2022 budgets and millage.)
However, there are three cities in the county that have no tax on real property: Braselton, Buford and Peachtree Corners. Buford, however, operates its own city school system, and for that levies an ad valorem tax of 12.6 mills.
Buford also has the highest anticipated budget of all the cities, $167 million. Included in that figure are funds coming in from its electrical and gas distribution enterprise funds. Lawrenceville has the second largest anticipated budget for 2022, of $147 million, which also includes revenue from its electrical and gas system.
Lawrenceville Mayor David Still, who became the mayor at the start of 2020, and was previously on the City Council. “We have seen several areas of development projects come together recently, some of them dating back to 2003. That would include our new college corridor, the Lawrenceville Lawn, and the Performing Arts Center, which we anticipate will open in October, 2021. Then there’s the School of the Arts on the Central Gwinnett campus, working on the Hooper Renick Library which will have a portion of the building devoted to a museum; and a new stage and an amphitheatre as part of the lawn project. We’ve really had a lot of new activity going on in Lawrenceville.”
While Lawrenceville’s overall 2022 budget is $147 million, the same as in 2021, it does not include water department revenues, since the city sold its water department to the county last year. The 2021 budget also included several capital projects, not in the 2022 budget.
On the county-wide front, the Gwinnett County Commission is anticipating keeping its ad valorem (property) rate at a rollback rate of 6.95, similar to last year. The Commission will hold three public hearings concerning the rate for residents to make comments. The first hearing will be held Monday, July 12 at 9 a.m. while the second and third hearings are scheduled for Monday, July 19 at 9:30 a.m. and at 6:30 p.m. The three hearings will take place in the auditorium of the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center, located at 75 Langley Drive in Lawrenceville. The millage rate adoption is scheduled to take place Tuesday, July 20 at 2 p.m.
Then the Gwinnett School Board is considering adopting a combined millage rate of 21.60, a rate unchanged from Fiscal Year 2021. The maintenance and operation millage is recommended to remain at 19.70 mills and the debt-service rate is recommended to remain unchanged at 1.90. This will result in the total recommended millage rate of 21.60 mills.
The Gwinnett County School Board will hold three public hearings as part of its process for setting the millage rate. The first hearing was held on July 8. The second and third public hearings will take place on July 15 at 11:45 a.m. and 6 p.m. The Board of Education adopted the Fiscal Year2022 budget in the expenditure amount of $2,352,649,340 on April 15, 2021.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Expanding college football season will endanger students
By Alexander Tillman
VALDOSTA, Ga. | My earliest memory of college football was attending the 1970 Georgia-Ole Miss game in Athens. Both of my parents are UGA graduates. Ole Miss featured Archie Manning at quarterback, so you can probably guess the outcome.
Tillman
Regardless of Georgia’s loss, I was in love with college football. I later attended and graduated from UGA. My lifelong love affair with the college gridiron had begun.
The game has changed a lot in 50 years like everything else in society. I believe television has been a blessing as well as a curse for college football. The convenience of watching multiple games each Saturday is a blessing. How television contracts have changed the schedule is the curse.
In 1970 college students played 11 regular season games and if they were lucky one bowl game. Bowl games meant something back then. There were only about 10 bowl games.
In 2006 the regular season was expanded to 12 games for college students. Please remember these are “amateur” athletes.
Add the conference championship games and the over-abundance of bowl games and now colleges will play 14 games. The athletic departments cannot resist the television money generated by college football. Their arguments in defense of their greed are altruistic in nature. Football revenue pays for the minor sports, which includes women’s sports. The outrageous salaries of coaches and administrators are never mentioned.
Now the NCAA is considering a 12 team playoff for the 12 highest ranked teams. The top four ranked teams would receive a bye. Teams ranked No. 5-12 would have to play the first round. So, let’s do some quick math. If you are not one of the top four ranked teams in the national championship, you would play the following schedule:
Twelve regular season games, most likely a conference championship game, then four playoff games for a total of 17 games. That is too much for college players. The question is whether or not they should still be considered “amateur” athletes?
The debate on whether to pay college athletes a salary will only intensify. I personally believe they are already being compensated with a free college education. The advocates for paying college athletes a salary fail to mention that all college athletes will have to be paid equally. This means the women’s golf team gets the same wage as the football players.
Remember, too, that very few college athletic programs turn a profit. That’s right. The profitable programs are mainly the universities in the so-called power five conferences. They have big television contracts. The rest of the NCAA member institutions depend on student activity fees for their athletic budgets.
This is my grim prediction of the future of college sports. The power five conferences will evolve into a premier league of sorts where they pay stipends to the players. They will compete for their own championships. All the other NCAA institutions will carry on as they do today, awarding athletic scholarships to student athletes.
The Mercers, Kennesaws, and Valdosta States of the world will not be able to afford to pay athletes without increasing student activity fees. How will universities handle this issue?”
Money is the root of all evil. It dirties the innocent. I love televised college sports, but there is a cost. It’s time the NCAA lives up to its creed and put students first.
There are too many football games now. Expanding the playoffs will further put students in danger of injury.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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Consider Covey’s Habit 5: “Seek first to understand”
Editor, the Forum:
In reading “Another View” section by Jack Bernard, I was stirred to respond with yet another view. It was not so much the data Mr. Bernard was reporting on, but the obvious tone and the wedge in opinions our political parties have that his opinion further drives. The most honest, unbiased statement he made besides the data was: “Our electorate is composed of groups totally at odds with one another.”
His other comments after reporting data such as, “So, it’s understandable that these groups supported voter suppression disguised as reforms to ensure election security” and “Consistent with their ideology and belief in the dishonesty of the 2020 election, these GOP voters supported ‘changing the state’s election system’” do no one any good.
I don’t speak for either party (I’m a card carrying independent), but I would like to think that both parties (and most reasonable Americans) want every vote that is fairly cast counted and every person who is eligible to vote has the ability to vote to do so.
Let’s stop saying that one party is dishonest and the other is benevolent because neither is either all the time. Let’s follow the Rotary Four Way Test and listen to Stephen R. Covey’s Habit 5: “Seek first to understand, Then to be understood” and to bridge the political divide rather than drive it further apart.
— Terry Swaim, Auburn
Others, besides parents, had great impact on his growing up
Editor, the Forum:
In May we celebrate Mother’s Day and in June Father’s Day. My father died when I was 10 and my mother died when I was 14. For me, those two days do not have as much meaning as they do for most folks. As I look back over my life, I often think of the “others.”
When my mother died my grandmother, 76, came to raise me, a teen-age boy. She told others she hoped to live to see me through high school. She saw me graduate from high school, college and return from a three-year tour in the Marine Corps. An aunt, the wife of my uncle/guardian, helped handle my affairs and became a confidante. A next-door neighbor was there to remind me of her friendship with my parents and always welcomed me into her home. In fact, I was there so often that she jokingly referred to me as “the general,” which was short for “general nuisance.”
After my mother’s death, my Godfather, an uncle and my mother’s brother, became my guardian. He handled my affairs until I came of age and provided valuable advice for many years beyond that. Another uncle, wife of my Godmother and my father’s sister, paid for my college education. One neighbor gave me advice on caring for my home. Another neighbor took an interest in my schoolwork and arranged for me to have two summer jobs while in college – one painting his house and another at the utility for which he worked.
You can see the importance of “others” in my life. If you have such people still in your life – tell them how much they mean to you.
— John Titus, Peachtree Corners
We need to get the Congress interested in student loans
Editor, the Forum:
Just a few thoughts regarding student loans and education, after reading Wayne Johnson’s articles. He does an excellent job summarizing the Student Loan situation.
His articles reinforce our general observation about the complete messiness, inefficiencies, greed, and corruption of government as an entity. As Reagan said, “Government is like a baby – insatiable appetite on one end, nothing but gunk on the other.” That’s my paraphrase.
It is beyond me why anyone would voluntarily choose to outsource the education of their children to most public or private colleges, though I know many see that as their only option. Trade and other technical skills are so valuable, and in such short supply. The borrower has been and remains the slave to the lender.
Agreed that all student loan debt should be canceled.
No opinion on the Opportunity Plus Grant. Employers have always hired, and will continue to hire, those who fit their needs, regardless of where or how they got their education, or how it was paid for. (And never end a sentence with a preposition).
No opinion on the corporate revenue tax to fund this. That cost, like all corporate costs, will eventually find its way to consumers. And it is always those consumers at the low end of the income scale who bear the brunt of these increases, as they are the households who on a percentage basis, spend their available income on basic needs.
Good idea regarding community service in return for grant funds extended.
As we have noted elsewhere, the Internal Revenue Code and federal taxation in this country is one of the chief social engineering projects in history. We wish him well and will support Johnson’s ideas. Now if we can get the Congress interested!
— Randy Brunson, Duluth
Ponders in Paris say it’s a good time for foreign travel
Editor, the Forum:
The family and I just landed in Paris on Tuesday, being some of the first U.S. tourists since France opened up to tourism June 29. We booked these free tickets 11 months ago on the hope that everything would be settled out by now and we got lucky by six days.
We were all double vaccinated and from a “green” country. That meant all we had to do was show our vaccination card at the Delta counter in Atlanta and we were on our way.
When we arrived, there was absolutely no crowd at the airport going through immigration and customs. Quickest arrival in France ever. We did not have to show anything except our passport to get in!
If this trip turns out that a lot of the sites are open, and not as crowded as pre-Covid, your readers may want to plan a quick trip overseas themselves.
— Rob Ponder, 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. 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.
Walton EMC wins awards in CCA national competition
Walton EMC’s Technician Brandon Brooks recently received a first place award in the Cooperative Communicators Association (CCA) contest held in conjunction with the organization’s annual Institute. Brooks shot his winning photo (above) when he was helping restore power after Hurricane Laura at Jeff Davis Electric Cooperative in Jennings, La. Walton Communicator Greg Brooks also won two awards for documentary videos and Savannah Chandler won two awards in website and video services. This is the 22nd year that Walton EMC has placed in the CCA awards.
Berkeley Lake puts on another Fourth of July celebration
Here are scenes from the July 4, 2021 celebration in the City of Berkeley Lake. A parade winds from the Berkeley Lake School to the chapel, where festivities take place. It’s a day of lots of conversations, swimming, boating, watermelons and other refreshments and a whole lot of fun, plus fireworks at dusk.
In the red shirt is Bryan Stuart, former president of the Berkeley Lake Homeowners Association and his dog.
Dignitaries were in attendance, including Matt Yarbrough, Congresswoman Carolyn Bourdeaux’s director of outreach; State Rep. Beth Moore; Mayor Lois Salter; County Commission Chairman Nicole Love Hendrickson; and District Commissioner Ben Ku.
Meanwhile, everyone was in a Fourth of July party mood, with fireworks concluding the day.
A Promised Land by Barack Obama
From Rick Krause, Lilburn: This book is an extremely well-written and thoughtful memoir from the former president of the United States. Reading it was a pleasure, and albeit quite lengthy, one I didn’t want to end. It covers the period of early life and political life through about 2.5 years of his first term as president. It basically culminated in the killing of Osama bin Laden and his meeting with the Navy SEALS who conducted that feat. It was an excellent take on the history of the period. His writing is heartfelt, not ego driven; he heaped praise on his teams throughout his campaigns and terms. Admittedly, much of the material had been in the news, but as we know, the most read and viewed news sources were, and still are, largely biased. Included were a lot of facts and opinions that most likely were not in the media. This book is highly recommended.
- 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
Georgia’s Tom Dorsey gains fame as father of gospel music
“Georgia Tom” Dorsey first gained recognition as a blues pianist in the 1920s and later became known as the father of gospel music for his role in developing, publishing, and promoting the gospel blues. He was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1981.
Dorsey
Thomas Andrew Dorsey was born in Villa Rica on July 1, 1899, to Etta Plant Spencer and Thomas Madison Dorsey, an itinerant preacher and sharecropper. Dorsey was first exposed to music in church, where he heard shape-note singing and emotional, moaning spiritual songs. His mother was a respected organist, and Dorsey began playing the instrument at a young age.
In 1908 the family relocated to Atlanta, where Dorsey was introduced to a broader spectrum of secular music, especially on the Decatur Street scene. He worked at the Eighty-One Theater, where he witnessed performances by Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, met Bessie Smith, and learned from house pianists Ed Butler, James Henningway, and Lark Lee, as well as from Eighty-One Theater house pianist Eddie Heywood. From age twelve to fourteen Dorsey played at house parties and brothels in Atlanta, gaining the nickname “Barrel House Tom.”
In 1916 Dorsey moved to Chicago, Ill., where he continued his musical training at the Chicago School of Composition and Arranging, and in 1920 he published his first composition. Throughout the 1920s Dorsey’s rising fame derived from his blues music, beginning with a job in Will Walker’s Whispering Syncopaters. To earn money Dorsey worked as a composer and arranger for the Chicago Music Publishing Company under J. Mayo Williams and as a music coach for Paramount and Vocalion Records. Meanwhile, his decision to publish his own music paid off when both Monette Moore and King Oliver recorded his pieces.
Religious music reappeared as a musical influence in 1921, when Dorsey heard W. M. Nix sing at the National Baptist Convention; the power of Nix’s performance inspired Dorsey to begin composing sacred music. He registered his first religious piece in 1922 and became director of music at New Hope Baptist Church, where he fused sacred music with his blues technique to become one of the progenitors of gospel blues.
Dorsey continued playing the blues as well, and in 1924 Ma Rainey chose him to organize and lead her Wild Cats Jazz Band. However, Dorsey’s greatest blues success came in 1928 when “Tampa Red” Whittaker brought him the lyrics to a song called “It’s Tight like That,” and the two had an instant, bawdy hit. Under the name “Georgia Tom,” Dorsey recorded more than 60 sides with Tampa Red, in addition to accompanying many famous blues performers, including Scrapper Blackwell, Big Bill Broonzy, Frankie Jaxson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Memphis Minnie, and Victoria Spivey.
(To be continued)
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to http://georgiaencyclopedia.org
Tell us more about this cow, and where it is located
Forum readers all probably recognize today’s Mystery Photo as a standard cow. But what’s unusual about this photo of a cow, and where is it located? Send your answer to elliott@brack.net to include your hometown.
Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill immediately identified the recent Mystery Photo: “This is the Chinese tea house behind Marble House mansion on Bellevue Avenue in Newport, R.I., where the owner, Alva Smith Vanderbilt Belmont used to host women’s right-to-vote rallies in the early 1900s. I’ve been there several times.” Submitting the photo was Ross Lenhart of Stone Mountain.
Also recognizing this photograph were Julie Duke, Norcross; Lou Camerio, Lilburn; George Graf of Palmyra, Va. and Alan Peel of San Antonio, Tex., who gave more details: “ Today’s mystery photo is of the Chinese Tea House, on the seaside cliffs facing Sheep Point Cove of the Atlantic Ocean. The house was built in 1914 by Alva Belmont (1853-1933), the former wife of William Kissam Vanderbilt (1849-1920). After Alva and William divorced, she married Oliver H.P. Belmont (1858-1908), and was known as an ardent crusader for women’s equality and gave thousands of dollars to the National Women’s Party to advance women’s rights. After her second husband’s death , she had the Chinese Tea House built on the seaside cliff. Featuring gracefully curved roofs and delicate carvings, the tea house was built in the style of a 12th century Song Dynasty temple. Alva officially opened her whimsical tea house with a lavish Chinese costume ball at Marble House in July 1914.”
Suwanee again wins Main Street Program accreditation
The City of Suwanee has been designated as a 2021 Accredited Main Street America program, a status which the city has held since 2000. Accredited status is Main Street America’s top tier of recognition and signifies a demonstrated commitment to comprehensive commercial district revitalization, and proven track record of successfully applying the Main Street Approach. Suwanee Assistant City Manager Denise Brinson says: “Our robust events schedule, good mix of residential and commercial development, great marketing, and general activity of our citizens and visitors contribute to this continued accreditation. Town Center and Old Town have their distinct personalities, but together create a downtown environment that is uniquely Suwanee.” Evaluation criteria for accreditation defines the communities that are building comprehensive and sustainable revitalization efforts and include standards such as fostering strong public-private partnerships, documenting programmatic progress, and actively preserving historic buildings.
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The Construction Education Foundation is offering a second session of its “Construction Ready” program in Gwinnett County, beginning August 16, 2021. Construction Ready takes Georgians through a free 20-day construction education program that ends with training, credentialing and job placement. The Gwinnett training facility will be located at the HB Next facility in Lawrenceville (map). For more information and to register, applicants need to visit https://constructionready.org/career-seekers/overview/.
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