GwinnettForum | Number 21.47 | July 5, 2022
NEW STATUE COMING SOON: An 8-foot bronze statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will be unveiled Jan. 16, 2023, in downtown Atlanta. The concept is from Gwinnett native Kathy Fincher, shown in front of a clay model in an Athens studio. For more details on how others in Gwinnett are involved in this project, see Elliott Brack’s perspective below.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Commissioners adopt same millage, which equals a tax increase
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Gwinnettians work on dedicating 8 foot statue to Dr. M.L. King Jr.
ANOTHER VIEW: The most religious states in USA are also the most violent
SPOTLIGHT: Aurora Theatre
FEEDBACK: Ignorance limits intelligent decision making and becomes stupidity
NOTABLE: High schoolers participate in anatomy lesson at PCOM academy
RECOMMENDED: Practical Fairy Tales for Everyday Living by Martin H. Levinson
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Sea Islands Hurricane of 1893 among deadliest in nation’s history
MYSTERY PHOTO: Did someone leave the doors open, and the leaves blew in?
CALENDAR: Writer’s Workshop coming to Duluth Library on July 16
County adopts same millage, which equals a tax increase
By Deborah Tuff
LAWRENCEVILLE | The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners is considering keeping the general fund millage rate the same as last year, at 6.95 mills, and will hold three public hearings for residents to comment.
The public hearings will be held in the auditorium of the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center located at 75 Langley Drive in Lawrenceville on the following dates:
- Monday, July 11, at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.
- Monday, July 18, at 6:30 p.m.
When the total digest of taxable property is prepared, Georgia law requires a rollback millage rate must be computed that will produce the same total revenue on the current year’s digest that last year’s millage rate would have produced had no reassessments occurred.
For 2022, Gwinnett County’s rollback millage rate is calculated at 6.088 mills. The 2022 millage rate that the Board of Commissioners is considering is 6.950, or 0.862 mills above the rollback millage rate. Therefore, state law requires commissioners to announce a property tax increase. Required notices for the millage rate adoption were published in the Gwinnett Daily Post, the county’s legal organ on July 3.
The Board of Commissioners adopted the 2022 budget assuming the current millage rate, not the calculated rollback rate. The revenue raised from 2022 property taxes will fund County services and needs that are approved by the board.
Chairwoman Nicole Hendrickson says: “We put a lot of thought, time and diligence into this proposal. The tax revenue generated will allow us to deliver the Gwinnett Standard of services while helping us maintain our roads, transit systems, senior services, libraries and other quality of life programs.”
Commissioners will also consider millage rates for the police, fire and emergency services, development and code enforcement, recreation and economic development funds.
In addition to the public hearings, commissioners are accepting online comments about the proposed 2022 millage rates. Residents can visit GwinnettCounty.com to access the form and provide feedback.
- The comment period closes July 18 at 9 p.m. The millage rates will be adopted during the Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, July 19 at 2 p.m.
Gwinnettians work on dedicating 8-foot statue to King
Rodney Cook Jr. and Stan Mullins
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
JULY 5, 2022 | Several Gwinnettians are involved with producing an 8-foot bronze statue to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which will be placed in downtown Atlanta on Jan. 16, 2023.
The near-complete clay statue model was unveiled last Thursday in Athens to a gathering of about 100 people, mostly from Gwinnett.
Selected by the National Monuments Association to design the statue is Gwinnett native Kathy Andrews Fincher, who now lives near Clayton. Sandra and Clyde Strickland of Lawrenceville and Metro Waterproofing, which through the Community Foundation of Northeast Georgia, funded the statue. Kathy researched eight years, designed and sculpted the original maquette for the statue.
What the King statue will look like.
The Monuments Association paired Kathy with Stan Mullins of Athens, an artist known for large-scale projects, to sculpt the Fincher design. The statue will be located in Atlanta for the Andrew Young Peace and Reconciliation walk from Centennial Olympic Park to the Rodney Cook Sr. Peace Park.
Fincher, a classically-trained artist in several medians, focused her design on Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. She found that there are over 80 statues of Dr. King throughout the world, but none depicting him in pastoral robes, nor are any showing him “talking to God, praying or seeking God.” She says: “My design symbolized the Spirit in the wind blowing his robes. I positioned his face to reflect radiate light. One viewer described it as a feeling of ‘Transfiguration.’ The pastor’s hand reaches to the heavens with an open palm to accept and receive guidance.”
Mullins adds “Kathy focused on the meaning of the piece, and I blended technology with 3-D art. We both look upon it as ‘our piece, and it’s really not about us, but about Dr. King.”
Mullins was born in Cherry Point, N.C. in a Marine family. He moved to Marietta, and earned undergraduate and master’s degrees in fine arts from the University of Georgia. For 30 years, Mullins’ studio has been a massive former cotton seed oil factory (and home) over 120 feet long and 50 feet tall. His works include a 16-foot tall statue of Chief Tomachichi, who greeted General Oglethorpe when Georgia was founded in 1733; a 72-ton bronze “Thundering Herd” of three buffalo at Marshall University; and a massive statue of Vince Dooley, located in Athens, among others. He is also currently working on a 15-ton granite Freedom Fighters monument, commissioned by the Hungarian-American Coalition.
Now the two artists are putting final touches on the statue. Next foundry workers will come to the studio to make thick rubber molds from the wax and clay form, then take the molds to the Inferno Foundry of Union City to continue the lost wax process and polish and weld the bronze pieces together. The two artists have been working against the weather, since a wax-clay mix is difficult to work with in hot weather. Work on the statue is done in an air-conditioned area, but temperatures can hit 85 degrees.
The monuments foundation was established in 2008 by Rodney Mims Cook Jr. at Atlantic Station on 17th Street in Atlanta, with its headquarters in the Millennium Gate Georgia History Museum. The Rodney Cook Sr. Park will focus on 300 years of peacemakers in Georgia.
The larger-than-life bronze of Dr. King, will join existing monuments of Ambassador Andrew Young and Congressman John Lewis and will be unveiled on Jan. 16, 2023, to commemorate Dr. King’s birthday in the 55th year of his assassination.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
The most religious states in USA are also the most violent
“We don’t need more gun control. We need to return to God.”— Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene
By Jack Bernard, contributing columnist
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. | Georgia’s U.S Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene stated the above as a reaction to the Uvalde murders by a teenager using military style assault weapon. After every shooting, gun rights advocates like Rep. Greene say something along the lines of “We must pray.” However, it is an unfortunate fact that prayers alone don’t reduce gun violence.
For example, let’s examine the most religious states in the United States. From Pew Research polling, the most religious states are all in the South: Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana. These four are also the states with the highest per capita rates of gun deaths!
For comparison, Massachusetts is the least religious state (only 33 percent of residents are religious versus 73 percent in Tennessee). But a Tennessee resident is five times more likely to die of gunfire versus a Massachusetts resident. The reader can perform the same analysis for every state in the Union. The results are always the same. The states where folks pray more have significantly more gun deaths per capita. So, praying (or vague calls for “family values”) is not the answer.
Other Southern GOP leaders (like Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas) blame shooting deaths on mental health problems, saying “We as a state, we as a society, need to do a better job with mental health.” OK. However, did Abbott think the same thing in 2021 when he reduced the Texas Mental Health and Substance Use Department’s state funding by $211 million?
I once worked closely with Doug Skelton, M.D., the highly respected former head of Substance Abuse and Mental Illness programs for Georgia. He told me, “In my experience the lethality of violence, whether toward oneself or others, is highly dependent on the availability of a lethal weapon. To be effective, any solution aimed at reducing firearm deaths must first reduce the availability of guns, especially the most lethal ones.” And Dr. Skelton, who grew up near Gwinnett County, was and is correct.
Clearly, prayers alone are not working. Neither is vaguely improved mental health services alone without a combination of better funding and appropriate gun control laws. Despite the proven high rates of gun violence in Georgia, not long-ago Governor Brian Kemp led a successful legislative effort to permit adults to openly carry handguns without a license. That was his and our legislature’s strange response to increasing gun deaths: more guns.
Instead of carrying water for the National Rifle Association, and seeking its political backing and contributions, the governor should have been trying to lessen gun deaths in our state.
Here are just a few legislative actions supported by most Americans and which could be immediately passed by Congress and/or state legislatures:
- Expanding background checks;
- Regulating gun show sales;
- Halting person-to-person unregulated sales;
- Limiting sales to adults 21 and over;
- Halting interstate sales;
- Stopping “ghost gun” production;
- Constructing a gun database;
- Passing a national “red flag” law to restrict mentally ill people from having guns; and
- Taxing gun and ammo manufacturers to pay for greater gun control law enforcement and victim compensation.
The solutions are evident. What is lacking is the will to act by Republican elected officials, like Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. Only voters can change that fact.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Aurora Theatre
The public spiritedness of our underwriters allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s sponsor is Aurora Theatre, home to the best live entertainment in northeast Georgia. Aurora Theatre presents Broadway’s best alongside exciting works of contemporary theater. Aurora Theatre manages Lawrenceville Arts Center (LAC) in partnership with the City of Lawrenceville. This $45 million world-class facility with five venues, has the ability to host a wide variety of performances, weddings, celebrations and community events both indoors and outdoors. Nestled on the historic downtown square, Lawrenceville Arts Center has FREE attached covered parking and is surrounded by restaurants and shops. Season 27 opens with Mary Poppins on August 18, Single Tickets will be on sale starting July 6. You can subscribe now or get tickets to the many fun summer events taking place at the LAC, including Christmas Canteen in July!
- For more information or to purchase tickets: http://www.auroratheatre.com or call 678-226-6222
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Ignorance limits intelligent decision-making
Editor, the Forum:
Politicians, national, state, local, and school boards are banning books from public schools, and libraries are spreading ignorance. Ignorance limits intelligent decision making and grows into stupidity. The forbidden entices disobedience, which invites repression.
When people ban certain books by people of color, female, or LGBTQ authors, who discuss important life issues, they deny allowing students to learn decision making from livable experiences. In pursuit of power, these politicos are failing to educate. After all, the goal of education should be to decrease not increase repression and fear.
When repression is magnified, fear grows, as does curiosity. Remember, “curiosity killed the cat.” Better to learn from people who have experience, rather than from learning in the back alleys and street corners, or from overpowering immature people posing as adults.
This wave of censorship is attempting to erase the legacy of discrimination and life experiences of people who are different, people who do not look or dress like most others. By refusing to let students think for themselves, it is a repeat of the dogma the church practiced in the dark days of the Middle Ages. People like Abbott and DeSantis are modern day Thomas of Torquemada, the first Grand Inquisitor in Spain’s movement to homogenize religious practices in the late 15th century, all in the name of power and control. They are full of fear themselves.
With the size of the worldwide population and our technologies, repression will lead us to destroy ourselves…
– Ashley Herndon, Oceanside, Calif.
Dear Ashley: Some pretty heavy thoughts here. Well done. –eeb
Portrayed as a merger, Northside coming was a takeover
Editor, the Forum:
Northside Hospital coming to Gwinnett was always portrayed as a merger in the media, when in fact it was a takeover. The Northside name is all over everything. We have this very nice new large emergency room where you still wait three hours to see a doctor even with only six people in the waiting room.
You have many long time Gwinnett part-time employees that suddenly have their benefits taken away. Many others just quit the week Northside took over.
Have you tried to deal with their billing department? What a joke!
Look at all the new facilities being built under the name. Will be nice if they can actually staff them? The local connection to our communities is gone. We are now at the mercy of a big hospital system that could care less. What are the Gwinnett members on the board doing?
Luckily for those of us that can travel, we still can drive to Emory in Johns Creek or North Georgia Health in Braselton for excellent care.
Kudos to the doctors and medical staff that remain at Gwinnett. Too bad the leadership doesn’t match up to their talents.
– Dan Mackaben, Lawrenceville
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.
High schoolers participate in PCOM anatomy lesson
Michelle Vu, a rising senior at Collins Hill High School; Sylvester Lee, a rising senior at Peachtree Ridge High School: and Inara Tate, a rising sophomore at Lakeside High School; examine their “patient’s” vital signs. Photo provided.
As if in unison, “Ahhh!” could be heard emanating from a worktable in the PCOM Georgia Anatomy Lab as four Gwinnett high school students dissected sheep brains under the guidance of a PCOM Georgia faculty member. They had just learned that the “pons,” shaped like a peanut, is part of the brain stem. Other medical terms were being discussed and identified as Adwoa Aduonum, associate professor of physiology and neuroscience, advised them to act like surgeons and “cut with precision” as they examined the organ.
The Gwinnett students from high schools including Shiloh, North Gwinnett, Collins Hill and Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology were ensconced in an anatomy lesson during the Opportunities Academy, a weeklong experience on the campus of the Suwanee medical school. Eight PCOM Georgia students, in the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine and the Masters of Biomedical Sciences programs, served as mentors, while faculty members and invited guests shared their knowledge and experience.
Valerie E. Cadet, associate professor of microbiology and immunology, is the faculty adviser for the summer camp attended by 30 students. She also enjoyed teaching the students about Microbiology: “What’s Living on my Things?”
Other activities the students participated in included painting the heart, modeling the kidney, checking vital signs, life as a veterinarian, pathology as a career, becoming a pharmacist, an introduction to osteopathic medicine, and medical simulation.
The high schoolers also learned about applying to college, participated in a resume workshop, and heard from a nurse practitioner about the secrets of a fulfilled life.
A health professions student panel featuring professional students in the osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, physical therapy, physician assistant studies and biomedical sciences program rounded out the activities. A graduation, where students received certificates and superlatives, followed the showcase of the week’s activities.
The high school students included a prospective reconstructive plastic surgeon who is part of the HOSA program at McClure Health Sciences High School. HOSA is a student-led organization with chapters across the globe, which promotes careers in the health professions.
A potential biomedical engineer who was one of PCOM Georgia’s first Future Healthcare Scholars attended the academy from Grayson High School, while a future nurse who said her eyes have been opened to a multitude of healthcare careers attended from Peachtree Ridge High School.
The camp is sponsored by Jackson Electric Membership Corporation and Hologic and is hosted by the PCOM Georgia Office of Diversity and Community Partnerships.
Darnae Parks, who directs the campus’ diversity office said, “The program allows high school students from underrepresented communities the opportunity to take a sneak peek at careers in the healthcare field. Some of the workshops allow them to take transferable skills like resume-building with them throughout their life journey.”
EMC Foundation directs $50,960 to Gwinnett charities
The Jackson EMC Foundation board of directors awarded a total of $98,460 in grants for organizations during its June meeting, including $50,960 to organizations serving Gwinnett County.
- $15,000 to Annandale Village, in Suwanee, a nonprofit community serving adults with developmental disabilities or traumatic brain injury, to provide funding for renovation supplies.
- $10,000 to Judy House, in Lawrenceville, for its transitional housing program, which provides resources, counseling and emergency housing for men released from corrective programs.
- $9,600 to Families 4 Families, a nonprofit agency that recruits, trains, and supports foster families serving all Jackson EMC counties, for the home study approval process.
- $9,360 to Joy Community Kitchen, to provide 12 months of meals for vulnerable seniors through the Duluth Cooperative.
- $7,000 to Rachel’s Gift, an organization providing specialized bereavement care for parents who have lost a child to miscarriage, stillbirth or infant death, for its pregnancy and infant loss grief support program in all Jackson EMC counties.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Practical Fairy Tales for Everyday Living,
by Martin H. Levinson
From Karen J. Harris, Stone Mountain: Martin H. Levinson has captured the conundrums we get into when we do not think in logical, practical ways. This book is a compilation of 24 ingenious examples of how the characters create havoc in their lives with imperfect responses to life situations. In ‘Nathan’s Nebulous Questions,’ he learns how to think in concrete ways so that goals can be reached rather waxing in big picture philosophical questions that have no answer; and ‘Betty Blowhard’ learns that the quickest way to alienate friends and colleagues is to set up her opinions as gospel for everyone. She learns that by adding “to me” or “from my point of view” she leaves the door open for connection and sharing with others. These are just a few of the delightful stories that open the way for positive interactions with others and peace and serenity within oneself.
- 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
Sea Islands Hurricane of 1893 among deadliest in nation
One of the deadliest hurricanes in American history made landfall south of Tybee Island near Savannah on August 27, 1893. Now known as the 1893 Sea Island Hurricane, the storm had winds as high as 120 mph and a16-foot storm surge—the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane on the modern-day Saffir-Simpson scale. The storm devastated the barrier islands of Georgia and South Carolina, killing over 2,000 people and leaving more than 30,000 homeless.
Coastal communities were spared serious damage when a hurricane brushed past the Georgia and South Carolina coasts on August 23, 1893. But their relief would be short-lived. Reports on Friday, August 25, indicated that another hurricane had been sighted 500 miles southeast of Florida and by Saturday, the Weather Bureau had reported swelling at Savannah. Word of the approaching storm spread through Savannah, Charleston, and surrounding coastal towns by telegraph, word-of-mouth, and in some instances, by a new technology called the telephone.
Unfortunately, not all communities received the warnings. Home to more than 30,000 African Americans who farmed, worked in rice fields, and plied nearby waters for fish, oysters, shrimp, and crabs, the Sea Islands were accessible only by boat. Their remote location allowed for the preservation of the unique Gullah and Geechee culture, but limited communication with the mainland—a fact that would carry dire consequences for residents unprepared for the coming storm.
Rain began to fall Saturday night, but by Sunday morning there was a lull in the storm. Locals hoped the worst had passed; some even went to church. Rains lashed the coast again that afternoon, however, and by 2:30 p.m., sections of rail from Savannah to Tybee were buried under sand. Further north, Charleston’s streets were under three to five feet of water, with levels reaching up to 10 feet overnight. The city’s electrical infrastructure began to fail and by 3 p.m. the Western Union telegraph office was offline. The last message: “Sullivan’s Island has been swept over by a tidal wave and is completely submerged.”
On Monday morning, the storm began to pass and residents were able to assess the damage. Buildings, bridges, and other infrastructure were demolished up and down the Georgia and South Carolina coasts. The rail lines from Savannah to Tybee were uprooted and mangled. The Savannah Press described structures in a state of utter disrepair, with “roofs of tin peeled off like paper strips.” Ships were wrecked at Savannah, and a schooner washed ashore on Jekyll Island.
It would be another day or two before coastal communities would fully comprehend the devastation as the death toll rose from the single digits to more than 2,000. With telegraph lines still down and most of the bridges and boats demolished, news of the destruction on the low-lying barrier islands began to reach the mainland. Bodies of drowning victims washed up on beaches and were found strewn throughout marshes and in creeks and streams throughout the Georgia and South Carolina Lowcountry. Nearly every building on the Sea Islands was reported to have been destroyed.
In addition to the loss of homes, people who relied on agriculture for income found their livelihoods wiped out. Clara Barton and her fledgling organization, the Red Cross, set up a post on the South Carolina coast two months later and began coordinating relief efforts and soliciting donations for residents who were without potable water and threatened by starvation and disease.
Racial tensions flared as white mainlanders complained that Black residents on the barrier islands, who were the hardest hit, were getting most of the assistance. It would take residents and relief workers nearly 10 months to restore housing and food supplies to the Sea Islands. Economic recovery would take decades longer.
At the time, the Sea Island’s hurricane was the most destructive natural disaster in U.S. history, and it remains the deadliest storm to make landfall in Georgia. The state would not experience another direct hit by a hurricane for five years, when a Category 4 storm struck Brunswick, churning a path of destruction across Sapelo and St. Simons islands and inland communities.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Did someone leave the doors open, and the leaves blew in?
For today’s Mystery, here’s a look at a facility where it appears someone left the doors open, and the leaves blew in. Can you figure this out? If so, send your idea to elliott@brack.net, and be sure to tell us your hometown.
Several people found similar looking Lutherans churches in other cities. It might seem that the frugal Lutherans use one set of architectural plans when building churches around the country!
Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. supplied this information: “Today’s mystery photo is of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, located at 825 Greene Street in Augusta, Ga. The church was built between 1925 and 1926. The history of this congregation goes back to at least 1855 when two different missionaries were sent by the South Carolina Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to establish a church in the growing German community in Augusta. On February 20, 1859, the German speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church Community of Augusta, Georgia was established. The congregation stayed together for more than 20 years during which time services were held exclusively in German.
“However, in 1883, a group of members requested that some of the services be conducted in English, but the church council denied their request. This motivated 20 members to withdraw from the congregation and form a separate congregation in the town … the Holy Trinity English Lutheran Church. In 1885 the German church, which was known as St. Matthew’s German Lutheran Church, had a minister who was fluent in both German and English and began holding some services in English. In 1910, the German Church celebrated its 50th anniversary, and held its final service in German. Holy Trinity English Church took an active part in the celebration, and during the next decade, several attempts to unite the two congregations were made … but each attempt failed.
“World War I changed all that. Following World War I, it became difficult to be ‘German’ in the U. S., and so by June 1921, the congregations had successfully merged again. They took on the name Resurrection, for Christ’s resurrection and also symbolizing the rebirth of the church as a united congregation.”
Also recognizing the photograph were Cassandra Delapp, Colbert; Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill; and George Graf, Palmyra, Va.
Writer’s workshop coming to Duluth Library on July 16
Meet the author, Vanessa Riley, on July 13 at 7 p.m. at the Norcross Public library. She will discuss her new historical fiction novel of the Haitian Revolution, based on the true-life stories of two extraordinary women in her newest book, Sister Mother Warrior. Books available for sale and signing. Complimentary refreshments and silent auction provided by the Friends of the Library.
Writing Workshop with Atlanta Writers Club, will be Saturday, July 16, from 12:45 p.m. until 4 p.m. at the Duluth Public Library. Learn more about the art of writing and network with other writers. Carmen Agra Deedy, award-winning author of 12 children’s books, will discuss the world of picture book writing in an informative, playful, and intensive workshop.
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