GwinnettForum | Number 21.6| Jan. 21, 2022
SATIATE YOUR HUNGER for great storytelling at the Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville when Feeding Beatrice moves into the epic 500-seat Clyde and Sandra Strickland Grand Theatre of the new Lawrenceville Arts Center, January 20 through February 6. Optimistic couple June and Lurie Walker are the proud new owners of a creaky old house in the Boston suburbs. Their new home comes complete with a haunting houseguest – and she’s ravenous. This modern horror story reveals the dark side of America’s past and its lingering effects in the present. The play comes from the talented Kirsten Greenidge, an Obie Award-winning playwright, whose plays place hyperrealism on stage as they examine the nexus of race, class, gender, and the black experience. Neal Ghant, Jeanette Illidge and Meg Johns star in this play. (Photo from Casey Gardner Ford.)
TODAY’S FOCUS: Generational reasons on why there are so many police shootings
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Election fraud? That’s mighty different from voter fraud
ANOTHER VIEW: Now even ex-President Trump is saying, “Get your shots!”
SPOTLIGHT: Peach State Federal Credit Union
FEEDBACK: It will be the truth which sets us all free
UPCOMING: Town of Braselton seeks residents for its new Arts Council
NOTABLE: Walton EMC wins best in Georgia in customer satisfaction
NOT RECOMMENDED: The Chief’s Chief by Mark Meadows
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Georgia in 1907 first state in the south to ban alcohol
MYSTERY PHOTO: Ancient house is most different from modern housing
LAGNIAPPE: SATISFEED seeking warehouse for food distribution
CALENDAR: Learn about nearby day trips in Georgia for your enjoyment
Generational reasons on why so many police shootings
(Editor’s Note: The author is the founder and president of Care for Cops, a charity which helps families of law enforcement officers that were killed in the line of duty. Since inception in 2000, Care for Cops has assisted over 1,000 people of law enforcement families.—eeb)
By David Post
President, Future Security, Inc.
SUWANEE, Ga. | Why are there so many police shootings! The first thing that I would ask, is why are there so many situations that the police need to defend themselves? And why are officers being ambushed?
Post
If I knew all the answers to those questions, I might be in the White House.
Even though I have a bachelor’s in psychology, an MBA in Security and Risk Management, 50 years as a security and business consultant, and a sworn reserve deputy most of my 47 years in law enforcement career, I can only surmise at why we are where we are now!
Let’s start back in the 1940s when most families had both parents, were hard workers and just wanted the best for their children. To do better than they did! Instead of teaching them about hard work, mostly it was about getting education!
The next generation, although more educated, didn’t seem to appreciate the hard work it took to get ahead, even though with a booming economy more jobs and opportunities were available. Many still worked hard and took advantage of building careers, businesses and families, but many just made do or barely got by.
The next generation thought they should have more and became rebellious about just about everything that they didn’t like. Oh, and then there was Dr. Benjamin Spock who wrote books and gave lectures about not spanking your kids, and just letting them act out. After a whole generation of parents believing and finding a reason not to spank, a generation of new teenagers and grownups lack self-discipline and self-control.
I can’t even count the times after a crime was committed or someone was hurt, a question was asked: “Why did they commit the crime?” Their answer was either I don’t know, or “I was angry!”
Some 25 years later Dr. Spock apologized, but it was too late!
Now we have joblessness, more drugs and more criminals than any time before. Authority, in any form is denounced by many, and there is now a perceived justification to rob, kill, and steal…to survive! When our leaders become too liberal, letting criminals out of prison way before they should be out, or get off with crimes because of a liberal justice system, it is hard on the public and law enforcement. Add to this the negative morale related effects on the public and those who risk their lives to get the perpetrators off the street in order to benefit the public!
Law enforcement agencies across the country are short-handed because experienced officers are taking early retirement, or officers are moving into other areas of work. The attitudes that have developed because of the media and politicians focusing on negative events instead of the positive things law enforcement has done means that many who would have gone into law, simply will not!
With law enforcement line of duty deaths up over 70 percent from last year, it should be evident, especially when officers are being ambushed, that criminals are becoming more brazen, as liberal judges and politicians pull their support for the law enforcement community!
We can only change things by dealing firmly with the criminal element, supporting law enforcement, and focusing on the good being done by law enforcement.
Just as abject poverty rewires your brain, so does loss of hope! We need to be more positive and give our citizens, including those on the wrong side of the law, hope!
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Election fraud? That’s mighty different from voter fraud
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
JAN. 21, 2022 | The Washington columnist Helen Cox Richardson wrote on January 18: “Voter fraud is about an individual breaking the law and is almost always caught. It is not a threat to democracy. Election fraud means that people in power have rigged the system so that the will of the voters is overturned. When it happens, it threatens to destroy our nation.”
We seldom see voter fraud, where some individual is caught trying to vote twice, or vote by another name. There’s a lot of talk about it, but few convictions.
Now election fraud: That’s another matter altogether, and much more commonplace.
By what other name can we call election fraud? One word is “gerrymandering,” where a state controlled by a single party, and no matter what the party, passes rules so that their buddies in office can stay in office. They redraw election districts making it near impossible for the party out of power to win. And instead of getting reasonable and compact districts, the format of the district looks something like a Rorschach test than a simple homogeneous district.
Congressional redistricting methods by state after the 2020 census. Map and information via Wikipedia.org
While gerrymandering may last forever in some places, we now find that there is an intelligent way to solve this problem, but one that does not get used often. That’s because the politicians controlling the various states are greedy, and try to ensure that they stay in power by manipulating the district lines so strongly.
The alternative is what some states now call an “Independent Redistricting Commission.”
At present, 21 U.S. states have some form of non-partisan or bipartisan redistricting commission. Of these 21 states, 13 use redistricting commissions to exclusively draw electoral district boundaries.
A redistricting commission is a body, other than the usual state legislatures, established to draw electoral district boundaries. Generally the intent is to avoid gerrymandering, or at least the appearance of gerrymandering, by specifying a nonpartisan or bipartisan body to comprise the commission drawing district boundaries.
Only eight states have what might be called a “pure” independent commission: Washington, California, Montana, Idaho, Colorado, Arizona, Michigan and Virginia. (See the basically blue-green map.) Note that four states, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota and Vermont) have only one representative in the U.S. House of Representatives. They don’t have to worry about redistricting.)
Congressional redistricting methods by state after 2010 census. Map and information via Wikipedia.org.
In the majority of the states (as seen in the map adjacent which is predominately yellow), redistricting is controlled by the state legislature. Generally that means that whoever is in control after the 2020 election, will work prodigiously to ensure that there is no loss to their party in representatives to the Congress and in state legislatures.
There was a major change recently in Michigan. This came about through a citizen ballot initiative that allowed for the creation of an independent commission to draw the boundaries of the Congressional districts. The commission was composed of Democrats, Republicans and independents.
How they finally agreed on what most think is a redistricting that is fair is the big question. We doubt that will happen in Georgia, since whichever party is in control, will not want to give up this control and allow any other group to draw those powerful lines.
By the way, all this started in Michigan with a Facebook post from a woman with no political experience. Happen in Georgia? We doubt it. But who’s to say?
We repeat from above: “Election fraud means that people in power have rigged the system so that the will of the voters is overturned. When it happens, it threatens to destroy our nation.”
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Now even ex-President Trump is saying, “Get your shots!”
“I believe totally in your freedoms…But I recommend ― take the vaccines. I did it.”- Trump, August, 2021.
By Jack Bernard, contributing columnist
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. | Trump says get your shots!
While in office, Donald Trump came up with all sorts of strange theories about Covid-19. He pushed weird remedies. But he has slowly been changing his tune.
Although he hasn’t endorsed government mandates, he has passively supported voluntary vaccinations for quite a while. With some surprising reactions from right wingers.
For example, on the Dec. 19, 2021 on No Spin News show, former Fox star Bill O’Reilly asked Trump if he had the booster. He said “Yes” and was booed by his own supporters! (Can you believe that?)
The respected Kaiser Family Foundation has been keeping up with vaccination rates by political party. It found that Republicans (especially conservatives) are just not getting the shots. As of October, 27 percent of Democrats were unvaccinated, as opposed to 60 percent of GOP voters. Further, 88 percent of Republicans believe the “seriousness of Coronavirus” to be “exaggerated.”
Demographically, unvaccinated Republicans tend to be younger and less educated than vaccinated GOP voters. Of these unvaccinated Republicans, 68 percent consider themselves to be conservative.
The real question is who can change their minds? Certainly, not President Joe Biden. Pre-omicron, a survey showed only 11 percent of GOP voters trusted him a “great deal “ or a “fair amount”, as opposed to 81 percent of Democrats. That means to me that apparently Biden is also ineffective as a messenger.
So, here is my take on the situation. There must be a multi-pronged attack to get Americans vaccinated ASAP. The message must be crystal clear and blunt. They must be told that there are only two options: get the three shots or get sick (maybe very sick) with Covid.
As shown above, politicians are not the best messengers. They are simply not trusted. Then, who is? The answer is medical personnel, especially local primary care folks like nurses and family practitioners. Surveys have shown these people are looked upon with respect by Americans.
The federal government must provide guidance and direction to get these people on the air. If there was a standard format, these public service announcements could be placed on every regional TV channel and radio station, tailored using local medical professionals.
Because the Omicron variant is much more contagious, this effort must start immediately. Why it hasn’t already begun is a mystery to me. Both parties need to stop their in-fighting and make this public education effort a priority.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Peach State Federal Credit Union
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It will be the truth which sets us all free
Editor, the Forum:
There are many reasons we need to teach critical thinking, especially about race.
Experience proves that impatient reformers are sometimes as surprised or incredulous as foot-dragging conservatives and racial radicals, when confronted by some of the little-known history of Jim Crow One…now that Jim Crow Two is being pushed in many states and the neo-fascists in Congress.
The fact seems to be that people of all levels of opinion, radical, liberal, conservative, and reactionary Trumpists, as well as people of multiple races, often base their opinions on shaky historical foundations or downright misinformation.
With decades of not even approaching the truth, it should be in the forefront and celebrated. Remember, it will be the truth that sets us all free.
– Ashley Herndon, Oceanside, Calif.
Ukraine should just let Russia have the Chernobyl site
Editor, the Forum:
Do you remember Strontium 90? It’s just upriver from Kiev, Ukraine at Chernobyl. Belarus is right there on the Dnieper River. The water/land in the Chernobyl area still registers many times above acceptable levels for radiation.
Grain foods and vegetables are grown in some of the blackest soil on Earth. Yet, the food is poison. In 1986, the Ukraine cut down all of the forests and used bulldozers on the fields. . Germany had tons of powdered milk from this area in warehouses and nowhere to send it with no way to use it or dispose of it.
Now Russian and Ukrainian soldiers are going to fight and die for this soil that glows. Maybe the Ukrainian president should just cede this area to Russian rule. Have tons of the media there to switch flags and welcome Russian occupation of this tribute to their disaster in engineering and management.
– Byron Gilbert, Duluth
- Send us your thoughts: We encourage you to send us your letters and thoughts on issues raised in GwinnettForum. Please limit comments to 300 words, 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.
Town of Braselton seeks members for its new Arts Council
The town of Braselton has adopted its very first Public Art Master Plan. Now it’s seeking people to form the Braselton Arts Council.
Braselton has determined that its future will be one with public art at the center of its identity. The Braselton Public Art Master Plan lays out a vision for public art in the community that will be strategically executed throughout the entire Town. The framework in this plan is a strategy for the establishment and operationalization of the Public Art Program. The strategies contained in this plan propose ways to ensure public art in Braselton is transformational, unifying, and is representative of the spirit of the Town.
Residents who love art and want to get involved should read about the plan and the responsibilities of the Council and get a copy of the application on the website. To do so, visit: https://braselton.net/news_detail_T6_R117.php.
Stripers seek performers to sing the National Anthem
The Gwinnett Stripers are once again launching a virtual search for National Anthem performers.
All interested singers, vocal groups (five singers or less), and musicians can send a digital submission (video or audio) of their acapella or unaccompanied performance of the National Anthem to stripersinfo@braves.com by January 31.
Candidates will be judged on tone, pace (90 seconds or less), and clarity. Beginning in February, top candidates will be invited to participate in virtual auditions. No in-person auditions will be held. Those who have been chosen from the virtual auditions will be contacted to schedule a date to sing the National Anthem during the 2022 season.
The Gwinnett Stripers’ 2022 Home Opener at Coolray Field is set for Tuesday, April 12 vs. Nashville.
Walton EMC wins best in Georgia in customer satisfaction
Walton Electric Membership Corporation’s (EMC) customer-owners have grown accustomed to seeing their cooperative utility rank near the top of J.D. Power’s annual satisfaction surveys.
The recently released 2021 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study is no exception. Walton EMC ranked second among cooperative electric utilities nationwide and first in Georgia with a score of 816 (on a 1,000-point scale). It ranked fourth nationally among all types of utilities (cooperatives, government-owned and investor-owned).
The top scoring cooperative posted a mark of 822. The average score for cooperative utilities is 787. For investor-owned utilities, that average drops 41 points to 746. The lowest ranking utility came in at 647.
The 2021 study is based on responses from 100,999 interviews conducted throughout the year among residential customers of the 145 largest electric utilities across the United States, says J.D. Power. The utilities surveyed represent more than 101 million households.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
The Chief’s Chief by Mark Meadows
From Raleigh Perry, Buford: It took me a while to even write a review of this book. It did nothing to enrapture me. It started out as poppycock and ended with it. It is written by the guy who served as the chief of staff for President Trump for several months. It has problems. It is full of untruths. It leaves out major elements. It twists other material around to make them fit his circumstances. One of the basic misgivings is that it has not one mention of Trump’s call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, even when Meadows was a listener on the call. It also makes no mention of all of the court cases that took place trying to change the outcome, all of which were lost. Even Trump’s appointed judges did not back him up. To sum it up, the book is a pathetic report of recent activities.
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 in 1907 first state in the South to ban alcohol
In 1907 Georgia became the first state in the South to pass a statewide ban on the production, transportation, and sale of alcohol. Prohibition in Georgia lasted until 1935, two years after the repeal of the 18th Amendment and the end of national prohibition (1920-33).
Though prohibition would not be achieved until the early 20th century, efforts to restrict drinking were undertaken soon after alcohol first appeared in the colony. To curb public drunkenness among both colonists and Native Americans, the Trustees issued a decree forbidding the sale of strong liquor in 1735. However, that initial act was overturned just seven years later amid mounting protest from merchants who claimed that it was harmful to the colony’s trade.
Temperance advocates continued their efforts with limited success in the early 19th century. Evangelical Protestants established the Georgia State Temperance Society in 1828, but the organization dissolved after adopting a teetotal pledge in 1836, and successor organizations struggled to gain momentum for their cause. Reformers enjoyed modest success in the 1870s with a series of legislative victories that included the elimination of alcohol sales on election days, the imposition of a $25 annual state tax on all liquor dealers, and the prohibition of liquor consumption in gambling establishments. Still, it was not until the 1880s, when the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) came to Georgia, that reformers enjoyed the support of a formidable statewide organization.
At the behest of the WCTU’s Georgia chapter, William J. Northen of Hancock County presented a local option law to the Georgia legislature in 1881. The proposed bill granted localities the right to vote for or against the sale of liquor after one-tenth of registered voters in a county signed a petition requesting a special election. Proponents claimed that prohibition would reduce crime and immoral behavior in urban areas while easing the financial burden on the families of those who overindulged. Support was hardly universal, however. Commercial shipping centers like Savannah, Augusta, and Brunswick were too financially invested in the liquor trade to support prohibition, and critics elsewhere maintained that existing licensing fees provided sufficient deterrence.
Nevertheless, after four years of false starts, the Georgia legislature passed the General Local Option Liquor Law in 1885. Though it did not prohibit the manufacture or sale of local wines and ciders or of medicinal or sacramental alcohol, the law did allow voters to prohibit the sale of liquor at the local level. While many counties immediately voted to go “dry,” success was short-lived in urban counties, which quickly reversed course after seeing no significant reduction in crime as advocates had promised. This setback only motivated Prohibitionists to refocus their energies on passing a statewide alcohol ban.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Here’s a different style of home for your consideration
You don’t see homes built in this style any more, though some higher-priced modern homes have many fancy doo-dads. Figure out where this home is, and tell us about it. Send your answers to elliott@brack.net, and include your hometown.
Man alive! The response to the most recent Mystery Photo was heavy, as 19 readers, some newcomers, recognized the photo at Buford Dam. The photo was from the top of the dam, looking south to the foot of the dam. It was from Larry Zani of Kaiserslautern, Germany, and was made in the summer of 1987.
Among those spotting the photograph were Raleigh Perry, Buford; Bill Baughman, Snellville; Jessica Lynn, Buford: “This picture was taken at the Buford Dam. I used to go see the goats and walk the trails all the time with my grandparents;” Donna Philips, Lilburn; Scott Westbrook, Buford; Greg Singleton, Suwanee; Sharon Blackwood, Duluth; Darren Wyrie, Gainesville; Sara Rawlins, Lawrenceville; Pam Shriver, Oakwood; Karen Herrington, Buford; Ben Cowart, Johns Creek: Jeff Perry, Buford; Israel Severtson, Athens; Nancy Yow, Buford; Kat Stanzak, Auburn, Ga.; and Renee Peterson, Flowery Branch.
George Graf of Palmyra, Va. was the only one who identified it as “Bowmans Island Trail along the Chattahoochee River below the Buford Dam.”
Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. gave an interesting account of the detail that a search like this can be:
“Today’s mystery photo was taken facing south-southwest from just off Buford Dam Road near the lower pool east of Buford Dam powerhouse. The view includes the original pedestrian bridge that crossed the Chattahoochee River between the lower pool east and lower pool west parks. It is at this point that the Chattahoochee becomes a river once again after flowing out of Buford Dam. Timeframe: most likely 1980s.
“Back in the mid-1970s (some say it was in 1976), a former power plant manager of the Army Corp of Engineers came up with the idea to introduce a group of goats to let them eat the grasses that were growing along the banks and cliffs near the dam that was too risky for people to try to cut and maintain. “It all started with a male goat named “Caesar” and his harem of female goats, affectionately known in the area as the ‘Chew Crew.’ Since that time, goats have been used to maintain some of the grass around the cliffs near the Buford Dam. So, the photo was likely shot sometime after the mid-1970s. Look carefully and zoom into the pedestrian bridge and you can tell that the deck of the bridge is not concrete, but rather wood. This indicates that it is the original bridge at this location, and not the replacement bridge (with the concrete decking) that was installed in May 2010.
“To pinpoint the photo timeline even further? That a Ford Pinto in the parking lot…third car from the right, seems to have the classic three-door hatchback of the 1971 to 1980 model years. So, I am going to tag this photo as sometime after 1976, before 2009, and most likely in the 1980s”
You nailed it, Allan!
Food pantry SATISFEED needing to find a new warehouse
A local food pantry is looking for a new home, says Tim Turner, founder and CEO. SATISFEED’s current home, 4830 River Green Parkway in Duluth, has been sold. Therefore, the Food Pantry needs a new home. Prior to Covid, SATISFEED was serving 44 families with 3,481 pounds of food per month. During Covid (since March 2020), SATISFEED has been serving 306 families 13,621 pounds of food per week! Residents are asked to help SATISFEED find a new home and continue to “satisfy the needs of the hungry in and around Gwinnett County.” Note the two photos. Without a new home, Saturday mornings at SATISFEED will move from this (see left photo) to this (see right photo.).
Project RESET 2.0 Emergency Rental Assistance Program will be held on Wednesday, January 26 at the Centerville Branch Library. Both programs will start at 10 a.m. and finish at 3 p.m. Bring a sandwich and learn. Project RESET 2.0 will provide rental, utility, and internet services relief for eligible renter households who have become housing insecure as a direct result of the impacts of COVID-19.
Day trips in Georgia: Learn more about exciting and educational Georgia day trips for you and your family on Sunday, January 30 at 3 p.m. at the Suwanee Branch Library, 361 Main Street, Suwanee. Author Tom Poland will revisit disappearing traditions in his book, The Last Sunday Drive: Vanishing Traditions in Georgia and the Carolinas. Books will be available for sale and signing at the event.
Father-daughter dances, sponsored by North Gwinnett Kiwanis will be February 4 and 5 at the Lanier Islands Resort. Cost is $60 per couple, with $10 for each additional daughter. For more information, contact David Williams 404-386-4782 or Chris Witmer 770-337-5313, or email kiwanis.of.north.gwinnett@gmail.com.
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