GwinnettForum | Number 22.59 | Aug. 15, 2023
LOOK WHAT HAVING Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) within Gwinnett does to the economy. GGC contributed more than $521 million to the economy of Gwinnett County and the Atlanta metropolitan area during fiscal year 2022, according to an economic impact study (PDF) released by the University System of Georgia. That’s up more than $8.8 million dollars over last year. Including its capital outlay for construction projects, GGC has generated more than $5.8 billion in cumulative economic impact since the college began. GGC is responsible for the creation of 3,798 jobs, of which 808 are on campus and 2,990 in the community. In addition, the college now has nearly 12,000 alumni who are living, working and serving in Gwinnett County, Georgia and beyond.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Snellville to mark 100th birthday Saturday, Aug. 18
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Returning to church where we worshiped years ago
SPOTLIGHT: The Gwinnett Stripers
ANOTHER VIEW: PCOM in Moultrie graduates its first class of doctors.
FEEDBACK: We must keep the faith in our system
UPCOMING: Siemens eMobility joins Curiosity Lab in Peachtree Corners
NOTABLE: Fowler wins “Super Professional” for state
RECOMMENDED: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Internet service provider, Earthlink, based in Atlanta
MYSTERY PHOTO: Configuration is clue to this Mystery Photo
CALENDAR: Gwinnett supplier networking event at Gas South Arena Aug. 16
Snellville to mark 100th birthday Saturday, Aug. 18
Drawing of original Sawyer-Snell store. Provided.
By Kelly McAloon
SNELLVILLE, Ga. | It’s been 100 years since Snellville became a city, and in that century, it has come a long way from when it was just a supply stop for travelers between Athens and Atlanta.
Located approximately 25 miles northeast of Atlanta and 45 miles west of Athens at the intersection of U.S. Highway 78 and Georgia Highway 124, the city now boasts a population of approximately 20,000—which is quite a population jump from when the Creek Indians (actually Muscogee, but termed Creeks by settlers since they lived along waterways) were the first settlers in the southern part of Gwinnett County. One of the Indian burial sites was Lanier Mountain, just west of downtown. For two centuries, residents of Snellville have found arrowheads, broken pottery, tomahawks, pipes and other evidence of the Native Americans’ presence.
An unveiling of the town founders’ statue, that of Thomas Snell and James Sawyer, will kick off the Centennial Celebration on 11 a.m. on August 18 at the Promenade at the Grove next to the now-under-construction new library.
Snellville City Hall
The Centennial activities continue on Friday evening on the Snellville Towne Green at 2342 Oak Road. It will be from 4 p.m. – 8 p.m. with food trucks, fun and games, an antique and classic car display, free kids zone with inflatables and gaming bus, plus 100 Eskimo Pie type ice cream bars will be given out. Stop by for a Decade Button fun by the volunteer tent to represent the decade when you were born for a chance to win door prizes. A Centennial Booth will be set up, where centennial merchandise can be found from t-shirts, caps to keepsake coins. Be sure to put your name in the box for a chance to win Chick-fil-A for a year, too!
A Ghost Tour on August 18, sponsored by Snellville Performing Arts, will begin at 8:30 p.m. near the entrance to the cemetery by the Adult-Senior Center.
Saturday morning, stop by the Snellville Farmers’ Market from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in clothing representing a former decade for a chance to win more door prizes. Be sure to show off which decade attire you will be styling and enter your name for door prizes.
Saturday evening, August 19, a free concert, featuring Atlanta Seventeen will play music from across the decades from 6 – 9 p.m. Bring your dancing shoes as this band will keep you on your feet.
At 8 p.m. a giant Centennial cake, modeled after Snellville City Hall will be cut at the Towne Green by members of the Snellville Masonic Lodge 99. There will be a community Happy Birthday sing-a-long. Cake will be served to attendees. At 9:15 p.m. on Saturday, another Ghost Tour will begin, following the concert.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Returning to church where we worshiped years ago
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
AUG. 15, 2023 | A former church where we were members in South Georgia was having the 100th anniversary of its founding. They were using the second Sunday of each month to invite back former members to remember how it was when they were there. And afterward there would be a meal with members.
It’s pleasant to get such an invitation. Soon my wife and I started remembering names of people who were members. When mentioning one guy, my wife chimed in: “His wife’s name was Tootsie.” Soon we had thought of several others with whom we worshiped. One particular guy had the first real name of “Governor.” What salt of the earth people were in that church!
Putting out a weekly newspaper in that town taught me a lot. And one of the stalwart members of that church had a big hand in setting me straight right off the bat. About 9:30 a.m. the day my first edition in that town came out, I was walking on the main street. This petite gray-haired lady approached, apparently having read the paper already, and asked: “Are you the new editor?”
I said I was, and she immediately pointed out: “You didn’t say which church you attend!” Oooops! She had a hand in making me aware of what was important in small towns, and I have never forgotten that. I even today ask political candidates where they go to church. Unfortunately, in the modern times, many do not. Luckily, we would attend her church.
That first incident with the former member goes further. She and her husband were small business and landowners in that town, and never had any children. And upon their death, their estate funded this church’s new sanctuary. It’s a handsome modern brick structure and a testament to that couple’s faith.
While in that church, I taught a Sunday School class to teens. The church provided good material for each class, but then and probably today, it’s difficult sometimes to reach teenagers. One of the former classmates remembered that we would discuss a passage, and to keep the students awake and to think, I would ask a lot of questions.
Then she said: “I remember to this day something you taught me. You were maybe calling the roll, or anyway we were telling you our names, and when it came my time, I looked down and mumbled my name.
“You said something like, ‘Look at me in the eye and say your name distinctly. Your name is something you ought to be proud of, for you are who you are. You must be proud of it.’ I have never forgotten that.”
What’s interesting to me is that you never know what such teens will remember. The Bible verse may not have been as important as was that teens’ view of herself.
Once I was a member of the church for a short while, three of us new members were elected to its board. We were introduced to the internal operations of the church, particularly the financial side. One of my fellow members may have spoken of what we others found. “Before I learned and understood about the church budget,” he said, “It made me feel good that I was contributing when I dropped maybe $3 or $5 into the collection plate on Sunday. I never realized that it takes far more than that from the members to keep the church going.” Lesson learned for all of us.
This church’s observance of their 100th anniversary gave us a chance to visit where we first worshiped in that town, and to bring back good memories.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
The Gwinnett Stripers
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PCOM in Moultrie graduates its first class of doctors.
MOULTRIE, Ga. | Facing a chronic shortage of physicians in mostly rural South Georgia, the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM), which already had a branch campus in Gwinnett County, launched Georgia’s first medical school south of Macon in 2019.
This May, PCOM South Georgia graduated its first class of 51 doctoral students. A new class of 59 first-year students will arrive at the Moultrie campus this month.
“The experiment is working,” Bryan Ginn Jr., chief campus officer at PCOM’s branch in Suwanee, told an audience of South Georgia political and business leaders. “We’re delighted by that.”
Moultrie was a natural fit for PCOM South Georgia to set up shop. Its central location in the region provides easy access to population centers in Albany, Tifton, Thomasville, and Valdosta.
Also, PCOM already had established a hospital residency program for graduates at Colquitt Regional Medical Center in Moultrie.
A major barrier to workforce development in rural areas across the country has been convincing young people who grew up in rural settings to go back after they graduate from college or other post-secondary training to start their professional careers.
Joanne Jones, chief of campus operations at PCOM South Georgia, says: “The [South Georgia] students we were bringing into Suwanee for training from rural communities were not going back where they were raised. We’re sending our students down to South Georgia to try to get them to come back home.”
The strategy is paying off. Of the 51 graduates in PCOM South Georgia’s first class, 15 are participating in residency programs inside the state, including four at Colquitt Regional and two at Archbold Memorial Hospital in Thomasville. They chose to work locally because they’re interested in rural medicine.
Allison Tresner, one of the PCOM South Georgia graduates doing her residency in family medicine and psychiatry at Colquitt Regional, isn’t from Georgia. But the Michigan native said she was drawn to stay in South Georgia after graduation because she likes the region’s Midwestern vibe.“South Georgia has been very welcoming,” she says. “The people are nice and genuine and make you feel like family.”
Tresner says she gravitated toward health care as a career early in life after losing her father to complications from diabetes. She chose family medicine during clinical rotations at PCOM South Georgia, the time when medical students learn various specialties first hand. “They say if you like everything in health care, family medicine is for you. … I really like the continuity of care. I can be with patients all of their lives.”
Meanwhile, PCOM South Georgia soon will get some company educating and training physicians in the region. Augusta University’s Medical College of Georgia (MCG), the state’s only public medical school, plans to open a branch at Georgia Southern University’s Armstrong campus in Savannah in the fall of next year. The new campus will allow MCG to accept 40 more students per year.
Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, whose South Georgia district includes portions of the Savannah area, points out: “Georgia ranks 40th in the nation for both the number of active physicians and the number of primary care doctors. Georgia needs more doctors, and I’m proud we are making this investment in our future.”
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
We must keep the faith in our system
Editor, the Forum:
Yes, everyone knows the problems facing our country, but what are the solutions?
First I believe in this country’s ability to recover from crises. Our history is replete with examples of Americans coming together after difficult times. Wars and depressions have only slowed us down. But we keep getting up.
Secondly our democratic institutions can withstand the political and cultural divide that is our current problem. Elections and courts have a way to eventually correct the system.
Thirdly I have faith in the hearts of men and women that in the end will do the right thing. We must all have faith.
– Alan Schneiberg, Sugar Hill
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.
Siemens eMobility joins Curiosity Lab in Peachtree Corners
Siemens has joined the Curiosity Lab smart city ecosystem to support bringing 5G electrification to America. Siemens eMobility North America-built charging stations and infrastructure will be installed at Curiosity Lab leveraging T-Mobile’s 5G network as the company continues to evolve its EV charging infrastructure solutions. Siemens is a global leader in EV charging solutions.
With both Siemens eMobility R&D hub and the North American Headquarters for Siemens Electrical Products located in Peachtree Corners, Siemens is the city’s largest employer with 534 workers. It supports the community with six EV chargers already deployed. These chargers contribute to Peachtree Corners having the largest EV charging hub outside of Metro Atlanta.
John DeBoer, head of Siemens eMobility North America, says: “With our community charging their vehicles each day right where we live and work, this will be a great way to continuously evaluate our charging infrastructure as we collectively seek an electrified future. With our eMobility R&D headquarters just across the street, we’re pleased to be supporting Peachtree Corners and joining the Curiosity Lab ecosystem.”
Fowler wins “Super Professional” award at state meeting
Shown with Tixie Fowler, right, are members of the board of the Gwinnett board of the Association of Conservation Districts: Louis Young, David Van Landingham, and Ellis Lamme. Photo provided.
Tixie Fowler of Norcross has been named as the 2023 “Superior Professional” of the Georgia Association of Conservation Districts. The award was presented recently at the annual meeting of the association in Savannah, for Fowler going “above and beyond to further conservation efforts for Georgia.”
Fowler has written and received funding for two large grants for the District. One, the “Urban Conservation Toolbox Grant,” was for $166,000. The other, the “Bridge Grant” for $195,500.
She involved the district with a partnership with Mercer University that led to the creation of an AgSTEM project. One of Tixie’s most successful accomplishments has been the leadership she has shown with developing district sponsorship and involvement in the successful Crayfish Creek Restoration Project. She also has created educational videos for students and has hosted numerous educational workshops for youth, adults, and educators.
Reading volunteers needed at Stripling Elementary School
Everybody Wins! Atlanta (EW!A) has a great opportunity for Gwinnett volunteers. Experience the joy of reading with local elementary school students at Stripling Elementary. Power Lunch – EW!A’s lunchtime reading program – matches community volunteers with students that are below reading level for weekly 30-minute sessions. Power Lunch students also receive books for home library building along with powerful mentor relationships.
EW!A’s idea is that reading aloud with children improves reading skills and encourages a love of reading.Volunteers interested in reading with students at Stripling Elementary or any of the Power Lunch locations should visit the EW!A web site at: www.everybodywinsatlanta.org.
Grants go to three nonprofits serving Gwinnett
A $10,000 Jackson EMC Foundation check to NSPIRE Outreach Ministries Foundation will help its Housing Program assist with housing costs for homeless men and women of Gwinnett and Hall counties. At the check presentation were, from left, Beauty Baldwin, JEMC Foundation board member; Gregg Kennard, NSPIRE executive director; Rosa Crescenti, JEMC Foundation board member; Jennifer Fennell, Jackson EMC Gwinnett district manager; and Kenny Lumpkin, JEMC Foundation representative. Photo provided.
The Jackson EMC Foundation board of directors awarded a total of $196,771 in grants for organizations during its recent meeting, including $41,000 to organizations serving Gwinnett County.
- $13,500 to LoveCraft Athens, for its Crew Sponsorship Program that sponsors adults with developmental disabilities in Clarke, Gwinnett, Jackson, Madison and Oglethorpe counties.
- $10,000 to The ALS Association of Georgia, for its ALS Care Grant Program which assists people in all counties served by Jackson EMC who are affected by ALS, (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), a degenerative neurological disease, with expenses not covered by insurance.
- $10,000 to NSPIRE Outreach Ministries Foundation, in Lawrenceville, for its Housing Program to assist with housing.
- $7,500 to Lekotek of Georgia, Inc., to assist with the expansion of its services at its Gwinnett and Gainesville locations that support children with special needs and their families to facilitate inclusion in community life.
Free pet adoptions at Gwinnett Animal Shelter in August
Gwinnett Animal Welfare is offering free pet adoptions throughout the rest of August on Saturday, August 19 from noon until 4 p.m. Guests will enjoy hands-on activities, crafts, music, local vendors, face painting and more. Adoptable animals are spayed/neutered, vaccinated and microchipped, with most pets available for same-day adoption.
- For more information about Gwinnett Animal Welfare and Enforcement, including adoption fees and hours, visitGwinnettAnimalWelfare.com. The Bill Atkinson Animal Welfare Center is located at 884 Winder Highway in Lawrenceville.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
From Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill: When a young bond salesman named Nick rents a modest bungalow next to a magnificently large waterfront mansion on the coast of Long Island, he discovers that his mysterious neighbor throws spectacularly ostentatious parties every weekend. Well, why not? It’s 1922. It’s the Jazz Age. It’s the Roaring Twenties. Young adults who survived the war are going wild. But the gap between those with inherited ‘old money’ and those with ‘new money’ earned during the Industrial Age is still vast. Jay Gatsby, Nick’s wealthy, social-climbing neighbor is so obsessed with the old money style of life that he fakes his name and his background. Does it work? This tragic story has infidelity, love, lust, an accidental death, a murder and a suicide. Often called the ‘great American novel,’ this book is absolutely packed with symbolism related to American culture in the 1920s and could only be an American story.
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
Internet service provider, Earthlink, based in Atlanta
Atlanta-based EarthLink, an independent Internet service provider (ISP), traces its history to the early 1990s, when Charles Brewer founded MindSpring and Sky Dayton founded EarthLink Network. Each company provided broad consumer access to the Internet. The two organizations merged in 2000 to form one of the nation’s largest ISPs, and five years later EarthLink had 5 million subscribers and 2,000 employees. In 2005 1,100 employees worked in EarthLink’s corporate headquarters on the corner of Peachtree and Seventeenth streets.
In February 1994 Brewer, a Kentucky native with an M.B.A. degree from Stanford University, founded MindSpring in Atlanta with 32 nonpaying customers. Four months later the company celebrated its first paying customers and by November had joined other Atlanta start-up companies refining their businesses at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Advanced Technology Development Center. Within two years the company reported 12,400 subscribers and eight employees. MindSpring completed its first profitable quarter in December 1997 with 278,000 subscribers and 502 employees. Five profitable quarters followed, and by February 1999 the company had more than a million subscribers.
In addition to acquiring several regional ISPs, MindSpring grew by providing its subscribers with technologies and services as they were being developed. In 1999 the firm introduced high-speed cable modem access to customers in Alabama and Georgia, launched MindSpring Biz to focus on the needs of small business, and developed Internet software packages that emphasized ease of use. In late 1999 MindSpring introduced digital subscriber line (DSL) services in Atlanta and several other cities outside Georgia.
Dayton, a California native, founded EarthLink Network in 1994 in Los Angeles and moved the company to Pasadena, Calif., in 1996. EarthLink Network initiated a series of partnerships with such companies as Microsoft to forge broader connections in the ISP market. The company became publicly traded in January 1997 and by April 1997 had grown to nearly 300,000 subscribers. Later that year EarthLink Network partnered with Charter Communications to provide high-speed Internet access.
EarthLink Network’s most effective alliance was finalized in early 1998, when Sprint Corporation agreed to help create a single, unified Internet service, eventually investing a reported $1 billion. EarthLink Network also continued to increase subscriber numbers by becoming the default Internet software for iMac, Packard Bell, and NEC Ready computers. By December 1998 EarthLink Network had signed its one millionth subscriber.
MindSpring and EarthLink Network each developed a deeply loyal customer base, and in 2000 the two companies merged, taking the name EarthLink and creating the second largest ISP at the time, with more than three million subscribers nationwide. Based in Atlanta and traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange, the new company offered an array of software upgrades, including improved parental controls, child-friendly Web browsers, updated security tools, and faster connectivity. EarthLink also began introducing such premium services as music subscription and voicemail.
Since its founding EarthLink has often been recognized for quality of service. In 2004 the company earned highest honors for both high-speed and dial-up Internet services in J. D. Power and Associates’ ISP Residential Customer Satisfaction Study. EarthLink has also been committed to reducing operating costs, and as of June 2005 the company was debt free.
In March 2017, EarthLink was acquired by Windstream Holdings, Inc., in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $1.1 billion, including debt. In early January 2019, Trive Capital acquired EarthLink for $330 million in cash from Windstream Holdings Inc., according to Wikipedia.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Configuration is clue to this Mystery Photo
The configuration of this Mystery Photo may give you a clue where it’s located. It’s somewhat famous. Try to determine where this photograph was made, and send your answers to elliott@brack.net, to include your hometown.
Ruthy Lachman Paul, Norcross, was dead-on in spotting the last mystery photo. She says: “Today’s mystery photo is a ‘photo of a photo’ and was shot at the Atlanta History Center in Atlanta. The subject of the mystery photo is a dramatic, wall-sized, multi-pane version of an original photo taken c.1969 by 1st Lt. James H. Holcombe Jr (1947 – present), a Tucker resident and photographer who was based at the Bien Hoa Air Base in South Vietnam, approximately 16-miles northeast of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon). The enlarged photo depicts a swarm of Huey helicopters as they approach a grassy field landing zone in South Vietnam. The photo is one of 43 historic photos (17 of which were created by James H. Holcombe Jr) that are part of the History Center’s exhibit “More Than Self: Living the Vietnam War.” The exhibit first opened to the public in November 2017, and is a detailed, historical look of the Vietnam War through the eyes of Atlantans who lived through it.” The photo was made by Ricky Krause of Lilburn.
Others recognizing the photo included Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; and Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill.
SHARE A MYSTERY PHOTO: If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send to: elliott@brack.net and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
Gwinnett supplier networking event at Gas South Arena Aug. 16
Author Talk: Come hear Terah Shelton Harris speak about her debut novel on Tuesday, August 15, at 7 p.m. a the Lawrenceville Branch of Gwinnett Public Library. She will talk of her book, One Summer in Savannah, a story about motherhood, unconditional love, and forgiveness. Books will be available for sale and signing.
Supplier Networking: Gwinnett County’s 15th annual Supplier Network Event will be Wednesday, August 16, from 8:30 to 11 a.m. at Gas South Convention Center, 6500 Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth. Prospective business vendors are invited to drop in and meet with buyers and contracting officers from 14 county departments, Gwinnett County Public Schools, the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia and other metro counties and cities. For more information, contact Gwinnett Purchasing at 770-822-8723.
The Gwinnett Soil and Water Conservation District will hold their regular monthly meeting on Wednesday August 16, at the Gwinnett Senior Service Center, 567 Swanson Dr., Lawrenceville.There is also a Zoom option for this meeting. The link to join the Zoom meeting is here. (Meeting ID: 867 9970 8588; Passcode: 066713).
Engage in Aging is the subject of the fourth annual workshop about people 50 years old and older set for Friday, August 18, at George Pierce Park Community Recreation Center in Suwanee. With the theme Living Vibrantly, this free event offers participants an opportunity to connect with local agencies, experience interactive demonstrations and enjoy lunch. Registration is required. To learn more about the Gwinnett County’s Human and Health Services, visit GwinnettHumanServices.com.
Author Talk on Thursday, August 24, at 7 p.m. at the Suwanee Branch of Gwinnett County Public Library. Speaking will be Deepa Varadarajan, in conversation with Falguni A. Sheth. They will discuss Late Bloomers, a debut book about an Indian American family that is turned upside down when the parents split up 36 years into their arranged marriage. Books will be available for sale and signing.
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