GwinnettForum | Number 22, 84| Nov. 21, 2023
ALL STOCKHOLDERS of E.R. Snell Contractor are family members and are employed by the company, in this 2021 photo. Seated from left are Brian Snell, David Snell, Chris Snell, Robin Snell and Jimmy Camp. Standing are Jake Camp, Mike Gray, Freddy Snell, Justin Snell, Wayne Briscoe, Devin Snell, Scott Briscoe, Brent Snell, Eric Snell, Billy Franklin, Jared Snell, Kevin Snell, Brad Snell, Van Snell, Chandler Snell and Jon Thomas Byrd.
- EDITOR’S NOTE: There will be no Nov. 24 GwinnettForum. The next issue will be on Nov. 28.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Learn more about E.R. Snell Contractor’s 100 years in business
EEB PERSPECTIVE: E.R. Snell puts on elegant 100th anniversary celebration
SPOTLIGHT: Law Office of J. Michael Levengood, LLC
ANOTHER VIEW: Dinosaurs are not extinct; they only take new form
FEEDBACK: Most moderate Republicans not upset with court
UPCOMING: Locations added for Comprehensive Plan hearing
NOTABLE: Florida firm makes second Technology Park purchase
RECOMMENDED: H&W Steakhouse, Peachtree Corners
CRITIC’S CORNER: The Wiz at the Fox Theatre
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Canadian firm now owns Georgia Marble Company
MYSTERY PHOTO: How about these shining lights as a Mystery Photo?
LAGNIAPPE: Peachtree Corners has new three-person marshal force
CALENDAR: Gwinnett Homebuilders plan meeting at Jackson EMC today
Learn more about E.R. Snell Contractor’s 100 years in business
SNELLVILLE, Ga. | Here’s something different today. Gwinnett’s oldest company continually operating in the county is E.R. Snell Contractor Inc. of Snellville. The company in 2023 is marking its 100th anniversary of its founding. It now has over 1,000 employees.
To mark the occasion, it held its birthday party for friends at the Gas South Ballroom on Friday night. Here is a nine minute video which gives insights of the way the company operates. To see the video, click below.
The Snell Family Foundation also recently funded and presented to the City of Snellville, as part of its 100th birthday, a statue of the city’s founders, Tom Snell and James Sawyer. It has been placed in front of the new Elizabeth H. Williams Library in The Grove at Towne Center.
Statue of Tom Snell and James Sawyer in Snellville.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
E.R. Snell puts on elegant 100th anniversary celebration
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
NOV. 21, 2023 | Years from now, when a second Gwinnett-based company celebrates 100 years in business in the county, if that firm wants to know how to mark the occasion, they need only look no further than what E.R. Snell was doing for its 100th anniversary.
Friday night at the Gas South Center, the company highlighted the occasion with an elegant celebration, complete with reception, dinner, speakers and commemorative video. It was an elegant occasion, attended by 350 of the company’s employees, friends, customers, public officials and members of the community. A year in planning, it was a major success.
Additionally, as people left the Gas South Ballroom, attendees were presented with a 160 page commemorative book of the company’s history and many photographs, aptly entitled Bridging the Generations, explaining the company’s history and philosophy. The title is perfect, since the company has been in the bridge construction business and since its beginning has emphasized family members being part of the business.
What started out when Gladstone F. Snell began in 1923 as primarily quarrying stone and building culverts, today is a multi-million dollar contracting firm, building highways. Its products include bridges, paving, asphalt plant operations, all primarily with t governments, and contract work with corporations in grading and construction.
Over and over at the Friday fete, and constantly in the printed book, E.R. Snell Contractor Inc. tells how the family runs the company, with individual family members in key slots. Only working family members may be stockholders in the company. At the book’s printing, there were 21 family members as stockholders.
While the book details the company’s overall history, it is also easy to read, and often quite detailed. It emphasizes how the company sought to be an upstanding company from the beginning, paying its bills on time, and always a community booster.
Perhaps the best story from the book gave me a cackle when reading it. In 1982, one of the family members, 23-year old Jimmy Camp, (son of James and Carol Snell Camp) was in the Augusta area on a job when a hydraulic hose blew out on a scraper. Covered with dirt from the job, Jimmy went to a supplier and told the older counterman he was from E.R. Snell and needed the hose. The hose cost $400, and Jimmy didn’t have that much on him, nor a credit card. “How will you pay for it?” he was asked.
Jimmy said: “I figured I would charge it.”
“Who did you say you were with?”
“E.R. Snell.”
“Just a minute.” So the counterman walked up a long flight of stairs and disappeared. Jimmy was getting itchy, wanting to get the grader working with a new hose.
Finally, the older counterman walked back down the stairs and said “Come here, young man.”
“Yes, sir,” said Jimmy, just hoping he’d be able to get his hose. “Do you want the building?” the man asked.
“Do I want the building?” said Jimmy, not understanding. “I don’t want the building. I just need to get this hose.”
Then the man said he had called his boss, who had told him that if E.R. Snell Sr. wanted to buy the building on credit, sell it.
That story Jimmy tells sums up a lot of what E.R. Snell Contractor Inc. has stood for 100 years.
Quoting from the book: “Jimmy still gets emotional when he tells that story four decades later. He had assumed everybody operated with integrity like his grandfather and the rest of his family.”
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Law Office of J. Michael Levengood, LLC
The public spiritedness of our underwriters allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s underwriter is the Law Office of J. Michael Levengood, LLC. Before relocating his general civil practice nine years ago to Lawrenceville, Mike Levengood practiced law as a partner in an Atlanta firm for almost 34 years, handling a wide variety of commercial and litigation matters for business clients. Mike is a community leader in Gwinnett County where he serves on several non-profit boards. In 2023, he received the Justice Robert Benham Lifetime Achievement Award for Community Service from the Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism.
- Visit this supporter’s web site at https://www.levengoodlaw.com
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Dinosaurs are not extinct; they only take new form
By Ashley Herndon
OCEANSIDE, Calif. | Apparently to a majority of the “GoneOldParty,’” it is obviously more important that Justice Clarence Thomas and five others of the Supreme Court majority vote ideologically rather than ethically. A couple of them even lied to the Senate Judiciary Committees about how they would vote. Also, Justices Thomas and Alito refuse to recuse themselves in cases where they should have no input much less vote. Justice? Where? Show me.
Herndon
This being said, hold on, because as long as Justices Thomas and Alito are there, there’s every indication that court outcomes will simply get worse. Example: We are all aware that one spouse worked unconstitutionally and helped plan the January 6 insurrection. This lack of responsibility should lead us to remember and be aware. As Sinclair Lewis made clear in his book It Can’t Happen Here, in reality, it can happen here, right in front of our eyes. Jack Bernard advised us recently, “despite all of his ethical problems, over two thirds of GOP voters still support him” (Justice Thomas). I have a hard time using the word Justice with these people.
In case you were not aware, there is a movement amongst some members of splinter groups inside and outside of Congress and some statehouses to corral “certain immigrants, and some “others” and put them in “Camps,” claiming it is to keep them safe (and segregated) until they are “Processed.” Sound familiar?
Are those yahoos also training a new crop of Dr. Mengele’s? Some colleges and universities are active today in pursuing graduating “Believers” and training them on “religious” governing leaving our factual history and reality. It is getting crazy in the educational world. It in many cases is my or the highway. The Article Fivers want to change the Bill of Rights. Smoke that over for a while.
Remember that the Nazis claimed belief in the Christian faith. It must be a sub-set of that body, because growing up in a Protestant faith, we were taught a very different message.
If there is a subset of faith operatives, and there was and most likely is again, one wonders why they assassinated Bonhoeffer, the respected Christian minister and teacher just before Germany surrendered? He was one of several we cannot forget. There were over five million people of the Jewish faith slaughtered by those warped Nazis. Makes one wonder with trepidation how many of the Neo-Nazi and Neo-Fascists are in the USA currently.
There are no adjectives or adverbs adequate to describe such thinking and practice. The new Speaker claims all U.S. Laws should be Bible-based. If many members of our governing bodies were to be held accountable to the Ten Commandments, there might be vacancies in Congress and on the courts, as some are seeking election in 2024.
Dinosaurs are not extinct. Remember that they only now take new forms.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Most moderate Republicans not upset with court
Editor, the Forum:
The article on the U.S. Supreme Court by Jack Bernard is differently one-sided. The comment that most moderate Republicans are upset with the Conservative Court is wrong. The Supreme Court should have had the same disclosure rules from the start as other Judges.
This lack of strong rules to follow makes them look bad not following other judge disclosures. Roe v Wade should have always stayed with the states. Generations grew up with a ruling that was not correct. The narrative is well written, if you agree with his main point justify the low approval polls of the Supreme Court. The media has a lot to do with the perspective of the court.
– Sammy Baker, Lawrenceville
Remembers comment from Schumer concerning justices
Editor, the Forum:
No doubt Jack Bernard’s comment on the Supreme Court is a leftist view, inviting comments regarding the actions of liberal judges as well. At any rate, I think it is more of a supporting editorial to repeat Chuck Schumer’s infamous “Releasing a Whirlwind.” In his comment, Senator Chuck Schumer, who was the minority leader, speaking at a rally of abortion rights supporters, appeared to threaten Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s two Supreme Court nominees, who were confirmed after bruising nomination fights.
– Ron Baker, Stone Mountain
Once the Farmall tractor was basic for many farms
Editor, the Forum:
I spotted a red Farmall utility tractor and smiled. That brand had been the standard “Motel T” of tractors. I have no idea what that restored tractor might be worth now, but the Farmall was the tractor that ended using teams of horses and large numbers of farm workers to run a farm. They were the affordable, light weight, and dependable tractor with a service network that was popular for decades. They didn’t fade until the movement to the large farm and away from the family farm that led to larger equipment.
They were tricycle tractors with adjustable axles. Cultivating, harrowing, or belt jobs could all be handled by one machine and this led to the mechanization of agriculture. In Delaware, Ohio, the Farmer’s Exchange was the International Harvester dealer and had a large market for most hardware needs for the farm. With the move to local grown foods, the utility tractor may see a resurgence. Cultivation for weed control rather than pesticides may also make them popular again. I know there are more tractor shows on television with old greatly restored tractors.
I remember the advancements in tractors in the 70’s with enclosed cabs with air-conditioning, quadraphonic sound, and Bostrum seats in John Deere. They were the other end of the spectrum for the wealthy large farm and the new generation of college educated farmers who probably used headphones to listen to their favorite music while plowing their fields.
There was a time, though, when tractors were a new idea, often Farmall, and were far more basic and relatively small.
– Bryan 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.
Locations added for comprehensive plan hearing
Gwinnett County has added new dates for the 2045 Unified Plan fall community event series. This comprehensive plan serves as guiding roadmap for the county’s development over the next decades. As part of the County’s public engagement efforts, upcoming events will be held around Gwinnett for residents to analyze specific areas, learn about project recommendations and contribute their own ideas.
The new fall events are scheduled on the following dates:
- Wednesday, November 29 at OneStop Centerville in Snellville;
- Wednesday, December 13 and Thursday, December 14 at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Lecture Hall C in Suwanee.
The 2045 Unified Plan will address community goals, needs and opportunities including housing, transportation, economic development, land use and more. The plan will also work in tandem with the County’s recent Comprehensive Housing Study and the ongoing Comprehensive Transportation Plan. For more details about the upcoming events, please visit GwinnettCounty.com/2045UnifiedPlan.
Libraries seek gingerbread house entries
Gwinnett County Public Library’s Youth Services Department is holding a Literary Gingerbread House Contest.
There are three categories for entries: Family, Teen, and Adult, with awards for winners in each category. Visit any of our 15 library branches to pick up an entry form or visit: http://www.gwinnettpl.org/news/gingerbread-house-contest.
Entries should be dropped off at the Collins Hill branch on Saturday, December 2 between 10 a.m. and noon. The public can vote on their favorite house on the website from December 4 through December 16.
County offering bonuses for 2024 election workers
The Gwinnett Voter Registrations and Elections Division encourages residents to participate in several upcoming poll official hiring events for the 2024 election season, offering an opportunity to actively engage in the electoral process and earn up to a $390 stipend.
The events are open to residents of diverse backgrounds, including those who speak two or more languages. During the event, attendees must complete an I-9 form and provide original identification documents
The December 4 event will be held in the Gwinnett Voter Registrations and Elections Beauty P. Baldwin Building, Multipurpose Room, 455 Grayson Highway, Suite 200, Lawrenceville. The December 18 event will be held at the Dacula Park Activity Building, 2735 Auburn Avenue, Dacula.
Florida firm makes second Technology Park purchase
192 Technology Parkway
A Florida-based investment firm acquired four properties in Technology Park in August, all part of a portfolio selling for roughly $23.8 million. The second-largest sale in Metro Atlanta in Q3, SF Partners purchased 30, 35 Technology Parkway South and 190 and 192 Technology Parkway from Terracap: a total of 247,208 square feet.
The company also owns 157 Technology Parkway and 155 Technology Parkway. SF Partners is a Real Estate investment firm that owns and operates commercial real estate primarily in the southeastern United States. SF Partners focuses on acquiring multi tenanted suburban office and flex products.
SF Partners’ strategy has been to identify commercial buildings that have positive cash flow but where value can still be added through increasing occupancy, rental rates and reducing expenses. SF partners seek to find properties that also provide the ability to obtain leverage and provide for strong cash on cash returns for investors.
H&W Steakhouse, Peachtree Corners
From Mike Petrik, Peachtree Corners: Wifey and I went recently to this new restaurant with great anticipation. We are carnivores for sure, she being the daughter of a butcher and me having dined at Bones well over 100 times. I am delighted to report that we were not disappointed. Our steaks were fabulous and the cocktails well-prepared. The service was excellent. If anything, they seemed to try too hard, but maybe this is part of being new. The atmosphere is definitely top drawer. We expect to be regulars, though that means every other month or so, not weekly. Make no mistake, it is very expensive, with price points similar to Bones, Hals, Chops, and New York Prime. But it is nice to know that those of us in the Peachtree Corners area who enjoy fine dining steakhouses have a first-rate option. There is simply no need to make pilgrimages to Buckhead any more!
- 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
The Wiz at the Fox Theatre
From Jane Wroton, Duluth: After enjoying the 1939 movie classic Wizard of Oz numerous times, we were pleased to ease on down the road to the updated musical at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre, one of 13 cities on The Wiz’s 2023 U.S. tour. Premiering on Broadway in 1975, The Wiz retells L. Frank Baum’s 1900 children’s novel in the context of contemporary African-American culture, putting a unique spin on the classic tale of Dorothy’s fantastical journey to Oz and return home to find her place in the real world. What we loved: color, shading, lighting, and sound to fit scenery and enhance ambience; solid props against computer-projected visuals and backdrops; multi-talented singers and dancers in colorful costumes performing a variety of vocal and choreographic genres: soul, gospel, rock, 70s, ballet, jazz, modern pop. It was all a fantastical journey thoroughly entertaining! (Tickets are all sold out for the final performances.)
Canadian firm now owner of Georgia Marble Company
(Continued from previous edition)
Fortunately for the industry, Samuel Tate, Stephen’s son, was named president and general manager of the Georgia Marble Company in 1905. With the help of family and friends, he acquired 6,791 shares of the stock. He immediately added equipment, changed procedures, cleared quarries, and built additional houses for the workers. By 1906 the company’s profit had risen to more than $120,000.
In 1909 the 25-year lease on the quarries expired and was renegotiated with the Tate family. The resulting transaction made the Georgia Marble Company joint owners of certain marble properties with the Stephen C. Tate Estate, an arrangement that continues to this day. Between 1917 and 1920, Georgia Marble Company president “Colonel Sam” Tate, as Samuel Tate was called, bought out the surrounding finishing plants and hired many more employees to complete “finished” marble products in the mill. By 1924 the state geologist of Georgia reported that $1,867,000 worth of Georgia marble had been quarried in Pickens County.
During the marble boom of the 1930s, Georgia marble was utilized for the Longworth House Office Building in Washington, D.C., the Puerto Rican capitol, the New York Stock Exchange, and the Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank and Public Library in Ohio. The value of the Georgia Marble Company was reported to be more than $3.7 million. The company’s success continued through 1932. In 1933 losses were reported to be $225,000, and an attempt to sell the company for $3 million failed. By the time Colonel Sam Tate died in 1938, the company was struggling for solvency again.
In 1941 the board of directors developed an extensive financial restructuring plan to keep the company solvent, a plan that also improved working conditions and increased employee benefits. The electrical plant was sold to the Rural Electrification Administration, and some holdings were liquidated, but monument sales continued to be strong, due to the expertise of the personnel in the design and finishing plant. By 1942 sales for monuments totaled just less than $1 million, and by 1950 they accounted for 51 percent of gross sales. The Calcium Products Division was created in 1947, developing a market for ground and pulverized marble products. Utilizing “waste” marble in the beginning, this section of the industry became the primary product by the late 1980s.
Between 1940 and 2003, the Georgia Marble Company changed hands several times. The Jim Walter Corporation purchased the company in 1969 for $23 million. Succeeding owners were Kolberg, Kravis, Roberts and Company; Hillsborough Holdings Corporation; First Chicago Corporation; and IMERYS. In 2003 Polycor Inc. of Quebec City, Canada, purchased the company. Polycor sells approximately 75 percent of its Georgia marble to governments all over the world. The company spent $5 million to upgrade the plant and equipment, and in July 2005 it announced that Tate would be Polycor’s U.S. headquarters.
Native Georgia marble has been used within the state on such structures as the state capitol, Lenox Square Mall in Atlanta, and several buildings on the Emory University campus.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
How about these shining lights as a Mystery Photo?
Here’s a bright and interesting photograph we received the other day. It may confuse some of our readers, but it is certainly exceptional. Try your hand at figuring out where this photograph was taken. Send your thoughts to elliott@brack.net and include your hometown.
Jim Bottone of Lawrenceville was quick with the answer to the previous mystery: “I believe it is the Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound on the road to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park in Maine. I have been there several times and the cookers are for boiling lobsters, clams, corn, etc. Best places to get lobster.” He’s right, and the very thought of those lobsters steaming might make you hungry. The photo comes from Frank Studer in Greenville, S.C. Sara Ramzanali of Gainesville recognized it as a lobster cooker, but did not list where.
Also recognizing the picture were Stew Ogilvie, Lawrenceville; Jay Altman, Columbia, S.C.; George Graf, Palmyra, Va.; and Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. He added: “Here are a couple of ‘fun facts’ about lobsters:
- Did you ever wonder why restaurateurs are so skimpy with the amount of meat in their lobster rolls? The average yield for lobster meat is only 21 percent, meaning that a fully-cooked, one-pound lobster will only produce just 3.36 ounces of delectable and sumptuous lobster meat, the average amount on a single roll!
- The minimum size of a lobster that can be legally fished in Maine is one-pound, with an average size ranging between 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 pounds. They can often be found in 3-4 pound sizes as well. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest recorded lobster was caught off the coast of Nova Scotia in 1977. It clocked in at 42-inches long, and weighed 44-pounds. That’s a lot of lobster rolls!”
- 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.
NEW MARSHALS: Peachtree Corners now has three city marshals. Mayor Mike Mason is at the right with the city’s marshals. They are, from left, Chief Marshal Edward Restrepo; Deputy Chief Marshal Johnnie L. Bing, Jr.; and Captain Henry A. Mesa. The city marshal program has been implemented as a non-emergency “force multiplier” for the City and will serve as the liaison with the Gwinnett County Police Department (GCPD). The GCPD will continue to serve as the first-line policing agency for the city and will continue to lead all emergency response, dispatch, and 911 services. The city marshal’s office will concentrate on specific issues, such as code enforcement. The Peachtree Corners City Marshals are POST Certified and are authorized to perform all the duties of any officer in the State of Georgia.
Gwinnett Homebuilders plan meeting at Jackson EMC today
Gwinnett chapter of the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association will meet on Tuesday, November 28, at 11:30 at Jackson EMC in Lawrenceville, at 825 Buford Drive. Speaker will be Emory Morsberger, founder of Gateway85 CID and Tucker Summit CID. To register online, go to www.ATLANTAHOMEBUILDERS.COM.
Build a Successful Business workshop will be on November 28 at 7 p.m. at the Suwanee branch of Gwinnett County Public Library. This session is designed to equip aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners with the essential knowledge and tools to transform their ideas into thriving ventures.
Understanding the rise of Antisemitism: join the community for a conversation about antisemitism on Thursday, November 30, at 5:30 at The 1818 Club, 6500 Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth. Hear Eytan Davidson, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, moderated by Peter Schneider, president of Primerica, and an ADL board member. There is no cost. The gathering is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Gwinnett County. For reservations, visit https://bit.ly/RotaryNPFH.
Parents of Gwinnett students receiving special education are invited to a workshop entitled “Behavior strategies to support your child.” It will be presented by Katherine Eisner and Jessica Phillips, behavior specialists with Gwinnett Public Schools. There will be two sessions, on Tuesday, December 5, at 10 a.m. and by Zoom that same day at 6 p.m. For more details contact Dawn Albanese at 678 301 7212, or by email at dawn.albanese@gcpsk12.org.
Those wanting to attend Braselton’s fourth annual Cravin’ Bacon Walk should order their tickets now. The event will be December 7 from 5 to 9 a.m. in downtown Braselton. There are two levels of tickets: the $35 Squealer ticket, and the $65 VIP ticket, for those over age 21. For tickets, go here.
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