GwinnettForum | Number 21.77 | Oct. 14, 2022
FOUNDED IN 1871, the Yellow River Baptist Church will celebrate its 151st year on October 16. The church is on Five Forks Trickum Road. Kevin Creasman is the church pastor. He has held this post for 13 years. Dr. Mark Davis is associate pastor. The present sanctuary was built in 1971 on 15 acres and seats 400. Church membership is over 500. The church is debt-free and uses a portion of its annual budget to support missionaries, both locally and internationally. Sunday’s service begins at 10:30 a.m. When it began in 1871, the founding members were Mary Garner, Sarah Ragan, Sarah Nash, Margaret Nash, Termelia Ford, Mary Brown, Thurston Cain, Martha Cochran, Jessie Ragan, Mary Lee, John Nash, Lucinda Nash, Lewis Nash and John Cain. The first pastor was T.E. Kennedy.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Ordner Construction’s 11th annual 5K will benefit several charities
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Here’re some delightful old photographs that came our way
SPOTLIGHT: Law Office of J. Michael Levengood, LLC
FEEDBACK: Now expect political promises, fantasy images and scare tactics
UPCOMING: One stop veterans center opens in Lawrenceville
NOTABLE: Suwanee gets a new 25 acre park, anchored by its library
OBITUARIES: Pearl Chao Sharp
RECOMMENDED: 50th Annual Stone Mountain Highland Games
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Maine native in Atlanta donates land for Grant Park
MYSTERY PHOTO: Watch it; things are not always what they seem
LAGNIAPPE: DAR chapter distributed free books at Elisha Winn Fair
CALENDAR: Fort Daniel Frontier Faire will be October 15 at Hog Mountain
Ordner Construction’s 11th annual 5K to benefit charities
From left are Peter Otim (former Rainbow Village employee); Michelle Alcorn (RV Community Engagement Director; Justice French (former RV employee); Dave Ordner (chairman/CEO of Ordner Construction); Melanie Conner (RV CEO); Lanie George (RV Executive Assistant); and Rachel Berhannan (RV CFO).
By Michelle Alcorn
DULUTH, Ga. | Rainbow Village of Duluth will benefit from Ordner Construction Company’s 11th annual Run 4A Reason 5K. Deemed an official AJC Peachtree Road Race qualifying event, the run/walk fundraiser will be organized into eight different age groups.
Race time begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022 at Ordner Construction’s headquarters, located at 1600 Executive Drive South in Duluth. In addition to Rainbow Village, funds and awareness will also be raised to support Family Promise of Gwinnett, Gwinnett County Police Department and Gwinnett County Fire and Emergency Services. Over the years, Ordner Construction’s Run 4A Reason 5K has raised an astounding $266,200 – including $56,200 in 2021 alone.
Melanie Conner, CEO for Rainbow Village, says: “Transformations happen daily at Rainbow Village as we strive to move the needle towards ending homelessness – one family at a time. Of course, nothing we do would be possible without the ‘village’ that surrounds our village. We are extraordinarily blessed with caring and compassionate community partners, like Ordner Construction, who walk alongside us in sharing the story of our organization and the families we serve.
“Events like Run 4A Reason not only raise money, but they also help raise awareness of the plight of homelessness. We are honored to be included alongside our friends at Family Promise of Gwinnett and Gwinnett County’s brave first responders. We look forward to lacing up our own sneakers and hitting the course with those Atlantans and Gwinnettians who wouldn’t hesitate to donate an hour or two on their Saturday to do some good for their community.”
This year’s goal is for 300 runners to cross the starting and finish lines. For a $35/entry fee, participants will receive a race swag bag, premium 5K t-shirt, water and snacks. In addition to the run, participants will be treated to live music, food vendors, and family-friendly activities that include giant yard games, cornhole, bounce house, and Gwinnett County Police and Fire demonstrations.
Race Day registration and packet pickup begins at 8 a.m. and the 5K starts at 9 a.m, The USATF certified (GA21003DJ) is five full loops around Executive Drive South with the finish line crossing into Ordner Construction’s parking lot. Awards for Overall Male and Female, Masters Male and Female, and Age Groups, first, second and third place, will be handed out after the race.
Jeff Ordner, president of Ordner Construction, a respected commercial general contractor since 1987, says: “We are grateful for the opportunity to host this race for the 11th year. Our goal each year is to have a greater impact on the community that we did in the previous year. Come run with us!”
Sponsorships of the 11th Annual Run 4A Reason 5K are available to local businesses and organizations. Interested parties are encouraged to reach out to Adriane Seymour at aseymour@ordner.com. To register for the race, runners of all age groups are invited to visit https://runsignup.com/Race/GA/Duluth/OrdnerRun4AReason5K.
About Rainbow Village: Established in 1991, Rainbow Village is a transformative 501(c)3 nonprofit program located in Duluth that serves families that are currently experiencing homelessness. Its model provides safe housing, education, and community support systems that allow families to confidently embark on the journey to self-sufficiency and thrive beyond our village. To learn more about the mission at the heart of Rainbow Village, visit www.RainbowVillage.org.
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Some delightful old photographs that came our way
The “Castle,” a former Norcross High School.
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
OCT. 14, 2022 | It doesn’t happen often, but every now and then you find something good unexpected happens to you. Suddenly it’s there, and you were not even thinking about it. You are just lucky.
This windfall came to me recently from Norman Baggs, my former colleague at the Gwinnett Daily News. For years, he has been the general manager of The Times in Gainesville. He ran across a box of old Gwinnett photographs, saw what they were, and mailed them to me.
In turn, I’ve taken them to the Gwinnett Historical Society, a depository of all things Gwinnett, so that they can be made available to others, particularly family members, and those doing research on Gwinnett.
So today, let me celebrate some of these photos with our readers.
Baggs
One was a photo of what was once Norcross High School. Because of its solid brick construction, and the way it looked, it was called “The Castle.” But, unfortunately, this solid building was torn down when the former Norcross High on Beaver Ruin Road was built.
There’s more to this story. In the 1950’s, the Gwinnett School Board, faced with a growing population, decided to resolve the high school question “forever” by creating four schools, North, South, Central and West Gwinnett high schools. Norcross and Duluth students formed West Gwinnett High School for one year – 1956-57.
But Dacula said their students would not attend Lawrenceville (Central Gwinnett), sued the school board and won. Then Duluth said it wanted its high school back, and got a new school built. West Gwinnett graduated only one class.
Meanwhile, the School Board found tearing down “the Castle” was much more difficult than they estimated, since the school was built so solidly. And it cost more to tear down than they thought. But tear it down they did, and today we rue the day, for it was a handsome (and sturdy) building.
This 1902 photo from Lawrenceville shows dignitaries making a phone call, from a phone installed outside a building. The interesting part of this photo for me is the man on the left is J.C. Flanigan, editor of the Gwinnett Journal, who wrote two histories of the county. It’s the first photo I can remember seeing of him. The only other person identified is Albert Smith, third from right. Can anyone identify others?
Then there’s this photo of six people reviewing a document. The back of the picture identified the ladies seated as Mrs. Ray Ramser and Mrs. A.G. Lisles. Standing are a Mr. ___ Bolton, J.J. Baggett, Joe Cheeley and Jones Webb. Three of these guys look mighty young compared to the way we knew them.
And finally, here’re two photos of the people who were around at the time Gwinnett was founded, back in 1818. It’s no other than William Maltbie and the photo says on the right, his wife, Philadelphia Winn Maltbie, daughter of Elisha and Judith Winn. Maltbie was the first postmaster in Lawrenceville, the second clerk of the interior court, and suggested the name of Lawrenceville for the county seat.
So there’s some history today with these old photographs. We’ll share more with you at another time. Thanks, Norman Baggs of Sugar Hill, for brightening our week with these old photos.
Neighboring Hall County’s administrator, Jock Connell, will retire at the end of March, 2023, we’ve learned. For 23 years, he worked in Gwinnett, retiring as the county administrator in 2009, and was special projects manager in Hall for the years in between. We bet he’ll stay active in his second retirement!
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Expect political promises, fantasy images, scare tactics
Editor, the Forum:
It’s always hard to imagine that anyone is undecided at this point of the 2022 election season, but we’re told there are people like that. So now we get the big budgets held back for the last lap of the race and the media get rich. The post office moans with the load. Social media is challenged for blocking accounts.
Pie-in-the-sky promises are made with sprinkles in fantasy images of a future fair world of fulfillment. To the contrary, we will also hear things to scare us and encourage anger to get us to vote. I refer to that as the flamethrower to get the wet macaroni to fall off the plate. Normally, it just sticks there no matter what you do to it.
No, it’s report card time. Voting record and the state of the affairs are the measure of support or change in the voting booth. If you like how things are locally, support the incumbent and that party. If you like how the nation is handling things, vote for that party and its candidate. Elected officials toe the line of their party once they get among their caucus. If they rebel, they lose support and are primaried. Rhetoric in ads is just that. We live in a time of team A versus team B. Makes voting simple. Undecided, go figure!
– Byron Gilbert, Duluth
There are only three venomous spiders in the USA
Editor, the Forum:
There are only three really venomous spiders in the United States. Those are the Black Widow, the Brown Recluse and one that does not live in this area, the Hobo, which lives in the northwest states.
Other spiders in this area can bite and cause a little rash. One website mentions that you should go to the emergency room if one bites you, but I think that is ridiculous. Their bites are not fatal.
Killing spiders is difficult. The things you spray about your house to stop insects will not work. Spiders are not insects, they are arachnids. Insects lick the feet occasionally, so if you spray, you will kill insects sooner or later.
Arachnids do not like their feet. They must be hit with the spray. This applies to all spiders, ticks and scorpions. If you see them, spray them directly. Joro spiders are orb weavers. Joros need to take lessons from our local spiders, because their webs are not as nice.
– Raleigh Perry, Buford
On blood-and-guts journalism and those assault weapons
Editor, the Forum:
Loved what GwinnettForum said about blood-and-guts journalism. We don’t need that. As for guns, my husband, Harvey, is a big deer hunter but he would agree that we don’t need the people-killing guns we have today. He also said we once had a law that said we could only have three shotgun shells in our guns…to protect the ducks.
– Lili Ouzts, Athens
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.
One stop veterans center opens in Lawrenceville
A place where veterans and their families can find local, state and federal services in one place is now open in Gwinnett County. Commissioners, veterans and community leaders cut the ribbon to the Veteran and Family Services office in Lawrenceville on Monday. The project streamlines access to resources like food, transportation, workforce development, housing and childcare.The renovation of the office was funded by the American Rescue Plan Act.
Retired Lt. Col. and District 3 Commissioner Jasper Watkins spearheaded the project alongside County staff and partner organizations from around the community, including Disabled American Veterans, Chapter 90.
The Veteran and Family Services office is located inside the Gwinnett Senior Services Center on Swanson Drive. A OneStop 4 Help community navigator will be onsite to assist veterans and their families Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.
Christ Episcopal Church in Norcross gets interim rector
Hendrick
The Rev. Canon Elizabeth H. Hendrick has been appointed the interim rector at Christ Church Episcopal in Norcross, according to Geoffrey Wilson, the church’s senior warden. Her first service at the church will be on October 23. The church’s longtime rector, the Rev. Ceci Duke, retired recently after 13 years at the church.
A search committee is presently working on a new full-time rector for the congregation, which meets at 400 Holcomb Bridge Road in Norcross.
The Rev. Hendrick recently completed seven years as rector of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Snellville. She is a native of Apopka, Fla, and a graduate of the University of Florida, with a MBA from Rollins College. She is also a graduate of the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Tex. with a master’s degree in divinity.
Her previous assignments have been at All Saints-by-the-Sea in Santa Barbara, Calif. for three years and another three years as canon pastor of the American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Paris, France.
New Peachtree Corners program helps find parking spaces
The solution allows Peachtree Corners residents to see real-time parking space and EV charging availability in the Town Center. This is accessible via the city app, Corners Connect. In addition, this also helps city managers to make real-time informed decisions on parking capacity, infrastructure planning, traffic management and security safeguards based on data around events happening throughout the city.
A new collaboration between high-tech firms and the Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners will allow residents to see in real time available parking spaces and EV charging availability.
The city is working with Cradlepoint, a wireless network, and with T-Mobile to make the program available.
In addition to improving the Peachtree Corners visitor experience, the technology also enables city planners to make real-time informed decisions on parking capacity, infrastructure planning, traffic management and security safeguards based on data around events happening throughout the city.
Suwanee gets a new 25-acre park, anchored by its library
The City of Suwanee has broken ground on a long-awaited expansion of Town Center Park on Main and the DeLay Nature Park. The 25-acre site was purchased in 2002 as an early acquisition of the community-driven comprehensive park and open space initiative. The Suwanee City Council approved a master plan for a future city park in 2019.
The dual parks will transform the area, creating a cohesive “neighborhood” to encompass the Suwanee library, PlayTown Suwanee, Fire Station 13, and result in the rerouting of Main Street and median closure on Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road.
Town Center on Main will be an urban-style greenspace with a unique character, personality, and purpose, similar to but separate from the existing Town Center Park. The Suwanee library will serve as the anchor for this new space much like the way City Hall relates to the existing park. The majority of the site – roughly 15 of the wooded 25 acres along the existing Brushy Creek Greenway – will remain largely undisturbed as the DeLay Nature Park.
The park plan features a mixture of urban and rural environments, including:
- A roughly 900-foot, elevated signature bridge for pedestrian and bicycle use, spanning the entire park and crossing a one-acre water feature,
- An open terrace plaza at the peak of the park’s elevation with large-scale pavilions,
- Sandpit volleyball courts, and
- An iconic public art piece.
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Pearl Chao Sharp
Pearl Chao Sharp, 72, of Lawrenceville, wife of Roving Photographer Frank Sharp, passed away October 1 at Northside Hospital in Lawrenceville from pancreatic cancer. She was born on February 7, 1949, in China, but escaped to Taiwan during the war with China.
Sharp
She taught mathematics 1971-1973 at the National Ching-Hsing Senior High School in Taiwan and came to the United States in 1973. She was a 1975 graduate of Western Kentucky State University in 1975 and started working at Tennessee Valley Administration in 1983, as a database analyst in Knoxville, Tenn.
She moved to Atlanta and worked for the Veteran’s Administration in DeKalb County. Later she was a computer specialist at the Center for Disease Control, where she retired.
She particularly loved to travel, and with her husband of 30 years traveled to the six continents, including many countries and cities throughout the world. Each year they sought to travel to a different place. She could speak fluent Mandarin and was an excellent travel guide.
Pearl and her husband were active for years in the Lawrenceville Senior Center in Lawrenceville. She was a member of the Chinese Christian Church in Tucker.
Besides her husband, she is survived by sons, Terry Sharp of Macon and Henry Sharp of Chicago Ill., brother, Joshua Chao of Hong Kong, and sisters, Cindy Chao and Chia-Chen Chao, both of Taiwan, Helen Chao of California, and Chia-Chu Chao of China.
The funeral will be conducted on October 18 at 10 a.m. at Lee Funeral Home, 4067 Industrial Park Drive, Norcross.
50th annual Stone Mountain Highland Games
From Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill: The sound of the bagpipes! The swirl of colorful tartans! The aroma of shortbread and fish and chips. I’m talking about the Stone Mountain Highland Games and THIS WEEKEND (Oct. 14-15) is its 50th anniversary celebration. It’s a weekend of all things Scottish and, even if you can’t pinpoint your Scottish lineage, you can still enjoy this festival. You don’t like bagpipes? No problem. There are a number of “normal” types of musical entertainment. Can’t dance? Then sit back and watch the Scottish country dancers or the young people doing the Highland Fling. Don’t know your clan? There are folks available to help you find it. The woods will be filled with nearly 100 clan tents and shops brimming with Scottish merchandise. You can wander ‘til your heart’s content. Oh, and don’t forget the traditional Scottish games that will be held on the main field. (Just a suggestion – arrive before noon.)
- 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
Maine native in Atlanta donates land for Grant Park
Lemuel Grant was a railroad engineer who designed the fortifications for Atlanta during the Civil War (1861-65). After the war he became a successful businessman and donated much of the land for the city’s first park, which is named in his honor.
Grant was born in 1817 in Frankfort, Maine. He first came to the Atlanta area to survey for railroad lines in 1849 with a line known as the Atlanta and LaGrange. He incorporated several railroads, including the Georgia Western Rail Road Company in 1854 and the Georgia Air Line Railroad in 1856. He became president of the Georgia Railway in 1848 and president of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1858; he served as superintendent of the Montgomery and West Point Railway and of the Atlanta and West Point.
In 1850 Grant donated 10 acres to be used by the Southern Central Agricultural Society for a fair, and the city council appropriated $1,000 for a building to house the fair’s exhibits. The city council appropriated $3,000 to buy another 15 acres of land for the society, which was guaranteed the use of the property as long as its fairs took place in the city. The society accepted this offer in 1857 and made Atlanta its headquarters until the beginning of the Civil War. In 1882, at the urging of Atlanta businessman Sidney Root, Grant donated another 100 acres for the purpose of creating Atlanta’s first park, today known as Grant Park.
Grant served the city of Atlanta in many official roles in the years following the Civil War. He helped name the city’s streets in 1867, and he was one of the 49 citizens selected to review a new city charter in 1873. In 1872 he served on the city council for the third ward, and he served as a Fulton County commissioner in 1886. He was elected water commissioner in 1879 and was a member of the city board of education. Grant was also one of the citizens who petitioned for a charter in 1884 for West View Cemetery, where he was buried in 1893.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Watch it; things are not always what they seem
We’ve enjoyed the saying: “Things are not always what they seem; but then, they never were.”
This could apply to this edition’s Mystery Photo. Figure out where this photograph was made, and send your answer to elliott@brack.net, and tell us where you live.
The last mystery photo, said Billy Chism of Toccoa, “Is an easy one… Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Definitely worth a visit. The giant Origami sculptures add to the magic.” The photo came from Sara Rawlins of Lawrenceville.
Several others chimed in with answers, including Margot Ashley of Lilburn; Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill; John Titus, Peachtree Corners; Lou Camerio of Lilburn and Geoge Graf of Palmyra, Va., who told us that “Hero’s Horse weighs 7,500 pounds.”
Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. gave a full answer: “Today’s mystery photo is one of many metal sculptures that are part of the temporary “Origami in the Garden” exhibit at the Atlanta Botanical Garden in Atlanta. The exhibit is advertised as the largest-ever exhibition of massive origami-inspired sculptures by Jennifer and Kevin Box. It features 18 installations of nearly 70 metal sculptures inspired by the Japanese art of folding paper.
“All of the sculptures are larger than life, with some more than 20 feet tall, with ‘Hero’s Horse,’ the heaviest. The exhibit is scheduled to close after October 16.”
DAR chapter distributed free books at Elisha Winn Fair
During the 43rd annual Elisha Winn Fair on October 8-9, attendees got to choose from over 1,000 used free books, donated as part of the Philadelphia Winn Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution’s Literacy Promotion Committee. Working jointly, members of the DAR and the Gwinnett Historical Society explained the history of the 1812 house which belonged to Elisha Winn, where Gwinnett County was formed in 1818. The county officials met first and held court in the home’s parlor. DAR members helping with the books are from left Valerie Craft, Maryland McCarty, and Carol Pangle.
Fort Daniel Frontier Faire will be Oct. 15 at Hog Mountain
The Fort Daniel Frontier Faire will be held Saturday, October 15, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The Faire will be in Hog Mountain, just south of the intersection of Gravel Springs Road and Georgia Highway 124. There will be blacksmith demos, ongoing public excavations, museum/lab education, genealogy, living history encampment, frontier life education and lots of fun for all ages. Here a family views a model of what the fort looked like when built around 1812.
The next Snellville Farmers’ Market will be Saturday, October 15, from 9 a.m. until noon in the parking lot behind City Hall.
Fourth annual Rewriting Your Story gala in support of the Gwinnett County Public Library foundation will be Saturday, October 15 at 6 p.m. at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Duluth. Three people will be honored: Beauty Baldwin, David McCleskey and Clyde Strickland. Keynote speaker will be Army Master Sergeant Cedric King. For details including ticket information, contact jdifranco@gwinnettpl.org.
The Braselton Zombie 5K Run/Walk will be Saturday, October 15, starting at 8:30 a.m. Zombies will take over Braselton as top male and female runners will compete in age groups. There will be prizes for the best-dressed zombies. This is a qualifying event for the AJC Peachtree Road Race.
Third annual Bilingual Housing Expo will be October 15 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at Central Gwinnett High School in Lawrenceville. It is sponsored by the Gwinnett Housing Corporation, Lawrenceville Housing Authority and LiveNorcross. Attendees will be able to speak to representatives from organizations and companies offering services across the entire housing spectrum. Families facing eviction, wishing to learn about the home ownership opportunities and down payment assistance programs, or needing financial help with home repairs will all be able to learn about available programs and apply on site.
Supervisors of the Gwinnett County Soil and Water Conservation District will hold their regularly scheduled public meeting on Wednesday, October 19, beginning at 9:30am. This meeting will be held at Gwinnett Senior Services Center, 567 Swanson Drive, Lawrenceville. There is also a Zoom option for those who can’t attend in person – the link is here: Join Zoom Meeting. Meeting ID: 884 2322 5909, passcode: 771750.
Enjoy dessert when Author Marisela Martinez-Cola discusses her book on October 20 at 7:30 p.m. at the Duluth Public Library. The book, The Chinese American, Native American and Mexican Americans’ Struggle for Educational Equality, takes a look at the diverse history of litigation that preceded Brown v. Board of Education.
Career Fair at Annandale Village in Suwanee to be on October 26from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m, and from 3-6 p.m. Annandale CNAs, CMAs, LPNs, RNs, nurse managers, a Director of Open positions include nursing position, direct support professionals, including roles in food services, housekeeping and transportation. Annandale offers generous benefits including signing bonuses, flexible scheduling, on-site training and extensive training. For more information, visit annandale.org.
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