GwinnettForum | Number 23.15 | Feb. 23, 2024
NOW UNDER CONSTRUCTION is a new stadium for football at Buford High. It is across Buford Highway from the high school. The new facility will seat 10,000 and is situated on 35 acres, assembled over the years. A feature will be 10 or 12 covered suites for purchase. It will have parking for 1,200 vehicles. Once construction is completed, Buford officials plan to erect two bridges over Buford Highway between the stadium and high school. The stadium might be complete for playoff games in the late fall of 2024. Charles Black Construction of Cleveland manages the project, designed by architects Breaux and Associates of Alpharetta.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Gwinnett microtransit expansion is vital for Gateway85
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Help! We all are overwhelmed with robocalls!
SPOTLIGHT: Aurora Theatre
ANOTHER VIEW: Not likely, but here’s how Haley could beat Trump in S.C.
FEEDBACK: Talking Head propaganda from years ago
UPCOMING: Commissioners approve 2045 Unified Plan
NOTABLE: Foundation awards $60,000 to Gwinnett non-profits
RECOMMENDED: Prequel by Rachel Maddow
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Emory medical professor was also a poet and essayist
MYSTERY PHOTO: Best clue for today’s photo: this area speaks English
LAGNIAPPE: Winn DAR Chapter announces Good Citizens winners
CALENDAR: Preview Days at Georgia Gwinnett College will be Saturday
Gwinnett microtransit expansion is vital for Gateway85
By Jocelyne Soto
NORCROSS, Ga. | One of the hallmarks of independence is the ability to get from one place to another, on your schedule and within your means. For many Latino folks in Gwinnett County, specifically in and around the Gateway85 Community Improvement District, a lack of transit options impede them from getting to the “supermercados,” where they get their groceries, from making important healthcare appointments, and from gaining and maintaining ongoing employment opportunities.
Soto
As someone focused on engagement for a national civic engagement non-profit organization that unites Latino, immigrant, and allied communities to promote social and economic justice, I am in favor of expanding microtransit access through the Gateway85-Norcross Microtransit Demonstration Project. I speak approvingly of this project because it has the potential to address longstanding transit and mobility challenges faced by residents in the Gateway85 area, Norcross and Gwinnett-at large.
The proposed microtransit service area encapsulates neighborhoods with some of the highest transit dependency rates in Gwinnett County. Recently, the Gateway85 CID convened meetings that brought organizations – civic, nonprofit and enterprise – together around the aspiration to bolster support for the Latino community centered in this region. It was at one of these meetings where I realized just how great the need is for the families living here.
The people who would most benefit from expansion of microtransit face obstacles that make them more vulnerable: limited English proficiency, lack of access to healthcare and lower levels of educational attainment. All of these obstacles are compounded by a lack of strong transit infrastructure to get people to the places they want and need to go.
Without robust transit options, mobility equity and community development are hampered. A microtransit conversation is not just about transportation. At the heart of it all is equity and inclusion. This conversation is about fostering economic resilience for all and increasing the vibrancy of this community by giving more people an opportunity to get out in the world to not only see all that Gateway85 has to offer, but to participate as an employee, as a consumer and as an invested community member. I want more people to have the chance to see why this area has become known as the “Hub of World Diversity.”
The affordability of the Gateway85-Norcross Microtransit Demonstration Project – each rider will pay just $3 a ride, including transfers – means employees can get to work in a timely fashion without paying exorbitant transportation costs. It means employers can have an expanded talent pool of workers. This means Gateway85 will see an increase in productivity.
I want our diverse community to thrive, prosper and live a long time. I want to see our futures be intertwined through community and engagement. As a person whose life has been shaped by my experiences as a Latina, I believe many families would benefit from a service like the one being proposed.
Microtransit will help residents access retail shopping centers, grocery stores, restaurants and other commercial establishments. What’s more, this project will assist residents in reaching healthcare facilities, parks and other leisure centers, educational and employment opportunities and a wide variety of essential and basic services that many of us take for granted because we can so easily access them in automobiles. By educating the residents of this area about the microtransit service, we can ensure it fulfills its purpose and bridges the gap between community needs and civic response.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Help! We all are overwhelmed with robocalls!
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
FEB. 23, 2024 | The telephone, once considered a marvel for communications, is becoming more of a nuisance that is bugging many of us.
Over the years, Alexander Graham’s Bell’s invention has been through various stages of development, mostly welcomed. But recently, matters have changed drastically.
No, we aren’t referring to most everyone’s use of cell phones. That was an overnight sensation and welcomed innovation. Granted, it has also become a problem for parents (and some adults) who are addicted to it, but this is not our focus today.
Have you found that many times when the phone rings, and you answer it, there’s no one on the line? It’s happened to us frequently. We’ve tallied it for the last 10 business days. We get an average of 10 such calls a day! Now that’s an intrusion on our daily lives.
We suspect it’s happening to you, too.
Today one was offering me accident coverage; another wanted me to sign up for final burial expense coverage; and another was “in my area” to assess whether I needed a new roof. And that’s not mentioning over-and-over calls about cable, or high speed phone service, or signing up for Medicare coverage. That last alone must have been responsible for 25 percent of the calls this month from different providers.
Another element: for some reason, it seems that many of those people placing calls are not from around here. They definitely have so much of a foreign accent that sometimes we can barely understand them. We presume that’s because robo operators pay low wages, and those who cannot find jobs in other places take these low-wage paying jobs. (Boy, such jobs must be boring as well as most unuseful.) Not being able to fully understand what those callers say makes it even more useless.
Some suggest that we in metropolitan areas get more robo calls than others. In other words, Zip Codes matter. But most of us don’t want to move because of those calls!
What can the average person do?
First, get on the No Call List. Go to Google, and it’s easy. We thought maybe we had fallen off that list. But no, your number doesn’t leave the list. That makes all those robo calls not only bothersome, but also illegal. But punishing the callers is virtually impossible.
We don’t have an answer. We don’t want to un-connect our household from the phone lines. After all, today we all need our phones to keep connected to friends and family. We suspect even the best efforts of the Georgia Legislature can’t find a way to halt or penalize those trying to get us to buy something, or change our lives, via the phone lines.
Can you suggest a solution? If so, we all certainly want to hear it. Robo calls are so insidious that whoever solves this problem might be considered for the Nobel Prize! So far we have not heard viable ideas. If you know a way to halt this telephone pest, pass it along. After all, we all want a solution to the robo call problem.
- 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, providing the best live entertainment in northeast Georgia. Aurora Theatre produces Broadway’s best alongside exciting works of contemporary theatre. 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. Don’t miss any of the concerts, stand-up comedy, children’s programs, award-winning theatre, or Atlanta’s only professional Spanish language theatre, Teatro Aurora. Visit our website to learn more information and secure your seat today!
- For more information or to purchase tickets: http://lvilleartscenter.com/or call 678-226-6222
- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, click here.
Not likely, but here’s how Haley could beat Trump in S.C.
Haley at a recent Kiawah Island rally. | Charleston City Paper.
(Editor’s note: Andy Brack is editor and publisher of the Charleston City Paper, South Carolina’s largest independent weekly newspaper.—eeb)
By Andy Brack
CHARLESTON, S.C. | For former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley to win Saturday’s Republican presidential primary in South Carolina, she’s going to have to count on two groups that never really counted on her — Democrats and independents.
Brack
But with former President Donald Trump constantly yammering about a $355 million fraud judgment, continuing to glorify Russian President Vladimir Putin and hawking $400 gold tennis shoes, maybe the level of frustration has grown so much that Haley will defy the polls.
Thanks to South Carolina’s open primary system, there’s a real path for our former S.C. governor, who served as Trump’s United Nations ambassador, to win.
It’s clear something is going on here that’s a little different than what’s in the horse race of the daily news headlines. People at restaurants, coffee shops and festivals — anywhere that anyone will listen — are urging Democrats and independents to vote in the Republican primary. And more Republicans seem to be jumping on Haley’s bandwagon. One Seabrook Island lawyer, for example, on Saturday related how he voted twice for Trump but no longer can: “He’s lost his mind.”
The formula for Haley to win in her home state starts with separating the pool of 3.2 million registered voters. Of those, only about 130,000 cast ballots in the Feb. 3 Democratic primary, leaving more than 3 million people in South Carolina who haven’t voted yet. But they can, thanks to the state’s open primary law. All of those folks – including Democrats and independents – are eligible to vote Saturday — a quirk in state law that committed Republicans hate with a passion.
Eight years ago when both parties had competitive primaries here, just under 750,000 voters cast ballots in the six-way GOP presidential primary. Consider this number to be the Republican base of likely voters now since there weren’t a lot of crossover votes in 2016 when Democrats had a competitive primary, too.
Polls currently show Trump having support of 65 percent of likely voters (meaning Republican ) voters. That means he can expect to get 500,000 the GOP base vote to Haley’s 250,000.
But remember: There are about 2.3 million other registered voters in the Palmetto State. If just 15 percent of that non-base group of frustrated Democrats, disillusioned independents and weaker Republicans who didn’t bother to vote in 2016 actually cast their lot with Haley, (that’s 345,000 more voters), she could win.
Likely? Probably not. But lots of South Carolinians are praying for Trump to stumble. All the while, they’re muttering the state’s Latin motto, “Dum spiro spero.” Translated, that means, “While I breathe, I hope.”
Talking head propaganda from years ago
Editor, the Forum:
To celebrate the 2024 President’s Day, my comments to the recent article: Plantation Capitalism being pushed on us again.
The attached photo of a quotation on an historical plaque shows an early example of the Republican plan to keep people on the plantation by one its earliest leaders.
It also provides an interesting counterpoint to the Ashley Herndon essay from diverse Oceanside, Calif. Using quotes from Alexander Stephens, the vice president of the Confederacy to espouse 21st century sensibilities, should be at least recognized for what they are: meager attempts at resurrecting a voter base using a dark period of our nation.
Our racial roads from 1857 have been traveled and fought by many working towards a more perfect union in 2024. To compare the “current propaganda by politicos” taking us back to the Confederacy may be talking points to consider. However, the spirit of those points seems very similar to the 1857 presidential candidate vying to win votes.
Geeeeez, luckily, Lincoln won, despite never recognized nor acknowledged the evil myth he was preaching. This might be the ultimate flip-flopping on his campaign rhetoric. In today’s political rhetoric, Lincoln surely would have been labeled woke on the right side of history by many.
The context and timing of dead people’s quotes is often the forgotten victim in elections; or used as a weapon 170 + years later to rally the troops.
By the way, the photo was taken in Charleston, S.C., waiting for the boat to Fort Sumter
– Jonathan Galucki, Norcross
Loved the report on Corners Outreach and immigrants
Editor, the Forum:
Loved the recent article on Corners Outreach and the way they are tackling the immigrants situation. The self-sustaining ministry makes good sense while helping our immigrant population survive the challenges of relocating to an often-hostile land.
– Gary Christensen, Chamblee
Thanks for Rick Krause and his history book review
Editor, the Forum:
Applause for contributor Rick Krause for his review of the book, “Gwinnett, A Little Above Atlanta” by Elliott Brack.
Krause was right on target, saying how much history and detail is in the book. It is filled with stories about the people who helped shape the county.
Mainly, the book gave me a perspective of Gwinnett County I never had before. Prior to reading, Gwinnett was simply Interstate 85, a busy four-lane Interstate highway to drive through on the way south to Atlanta. I was wrong. Gwinnett is filled with wonderful people, communities, schools and businesses – and is thriving with a population now exceeding a million. How it went from cotton fields to what it is today is a fascinating story.
So, thanks, Mr. Krause, for your insightful review of Elliott Brack’s incredible history of Gwinnett.
– Billy Chism, Toccoa
- 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.
Commissioners approve 2045 Unified Plan
The Gwinnett Board of Commissioners have adopted the 2045 Unified Plan, setting a vision for Gwinnett’s future over the next two decades.
Led by Gwinnett Planning and Development, the plan was developed over an 11-month period using stakeholder and community feedback as a catalyst for its recommendations, tackling key issues related to land use, economic development, housing, transportation, sustainable infrastructure and community resources.
Chairwoman Nicole Love Hendrickson says: “As Gwinnett continues to experience significant population growth, the adopted 2045 Unified Plan embraces innovative ways to maximize land use and guide future development. Through thoughtful planning and strategic implementation, this blueprint charts a course for sustainable growth but also lays the groundwork for a vibrant and connected future.”
The 2045 Unified Plan serves as a roadmap for Gwinnett, offering tangible steps to accommodate the county’s projected population growth of more than a half a million residents by 2045. The plan aims to maintain Gwinnett’s high quality of life while fostering intentional and beneficial development.
- To view the full 2045 Unified Plan, visit GwinnettCounty.com/2045UnifiedPlan.
Ballet offers performance at Gas South on March 2
Gwinnett Ballet Theatre presents A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Saturday, March 2 at the Gas South District Theater. There will be two performances, at 2 and 7 p.m. Enjoy the journey into an enchanted forest, where mischievous fairies and lovestruck mortals collide in a delightful web of romance and comedy. Experience the enchanting melodies of Mendelssohn’s music with Gwinnett Ballet Theatre’s live orchestra!
The 2023-2024 Season marks the 17th anniversary of the Gwinnett Ballet Theatre Orchestra. This extraordinary ensemble brings a production to life by playing live at both shows. Support the live orchestra and the growth of Gwinnett County’s professional ballet company with your attendance.
Tickets start at $15. You can unlock 20 percent off the price as a special “thank you” for being a part of the GBT family. Enter the UNLOCK code: GBTPRO before you select your seats. To buy tickets, click here.
Foundation awards $60,000 to Gwinnett nonprofits
A $15,000 Jackson EMC Foundation check to Step by Step Recovery, Inc. will allow the addiction recovery organization to provide rent for short-term and long-term recovery units for men and women in Barrow, Gwinnett and Hall counties. From left are Jennifer Fennell, Jackson EMC Gwinnett district manager; Blair Jones, office administrator at Step by Step Recovery; Dee Anderson, Jackson EMC Foundation board member; Veronica Butler, co-founder/director of Step by Step Recovery; Beauty Baldwin, Jackson EMC Foundation board member; Bridget Hall, founder/executive director of Step by Step Recovery; and Kenny Lumpkin, Jackson EMC Foundation representative.
The Jackson EMC Foundation board of directors awarded a total of $100,000 in grants for organizations during its recent meeting, including $60,000 to organizations serving Gwinnett County.
- $20,000 to Mending the Gap, Inc., for its Save Our Seniors Program, which delivers a monthly care package of nutritious food, personal care items, cleaning supplies and toiletries to low-income seniors in Gwinnett County.
- $15,000 to Step by Step Recovery, Inc., an addiction recovery organization that provides a safe and structured environment for men and women in Barrow, Gwinnett and Hall counties as they complete a 12-step program for drug and alcohol addiction.
- $15,000 to Salvation Army – Gwinnett, for its Financial Emergency Services Program, which provides rent and mortgage assistance to Gwinnett County residents in need to prevent homelessness and stabilize families in crisis.
- $10,000 to Acceptance Recovery Center, a nonprofit long-term recovery residence in Athens that supports individuals recovering from substance use disorders to purchase beds and mattresses for residents from all counties served by Jackson EMC living at its residential living facilities.
Prequel by Rachel Maddow
From Michael Wood, Peachtree Corners: Prequel traces the fight to preserve American democracy in the 1930’s and 1940’s, when a few committed public servants and brave private citizens thwarted plotters trying to keep America from entering World War II. These self-labeled ‘America First’ individuals even tried to steer the nation into an alliance with the Nazis and establish an authoritarian, fascist government here. They ran a sophisticated, well-funded campaign to undermine U.S. democratic institutions, promote antisemitism, and citizens’ confidence in elected leaders. The funding came from the Nazi government, with some even embezzled from the U.S. treasury by influential members of Congress. Readers will find this history engrossing and cheer the efforts of activists, journalists, prosecutors, and regular citizens who exposed the insurrectionists. In this deeply relevant tale, you will hear echoes of our own disquieting times of political efforts to establish an autocratic government led by an authoritarian president.
- 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
Emory medical professor was also a poet and essayist
A poet, essayist, cardiologist, and lecturer, John Stone also served during his varied career as professor of medicine, associate dean, and director of admissions at the Emory University School of Medicine. A frequent contributor to the New York Times Magazine, Journal of the American Medical Association, and Discover, Stone achieved popularity and success as a teacher and writer who explored the link between medicine and literature.
Stone was named Emory’s best clinical professor three times and received awards from the Georgia Writers Association, the Council of Authors and Journalists, and the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1992 he received a Governor’s Award in the Humanities, and in 2007 he was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.
The grandson of a general practitioner, John Henry Stone was born February 7, 1936, in Jackson, Miss. His father, a production supervisor, died of a heart attack at the age of 45, when Stone was a senior in high school. Stone received his B.A. from Millsaps College in Jackson in 1958 and his M.D. from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1962.
He completed his residency in medicine and cardiology at the University of Rochester in New York and a fellowship in cardiology at Emory University, where he took a position with the medical school faculty in 1969. At Emory, Stone created one of the first medical school courses combining literature and medicine. He also taught the course for several years, beginning in 1993, at England’s Oxford University as part of Emory’s Summer Studies Program. From 1974 to 1985 he worked full time at Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital, founding and directing its emergency-medicine residency program.
Stone began his literary career with The Smell of Matches, published by Rutgers University Press in 1972, which won an award from the Georgia Writers Association. In this volume and In All This Rain (1980), Renaming the Streets (1985), which won the Literature Award from the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters, and Where Water Begins: New Poems and Prose (1998), Stone’s witty, insightful, and sensitive poetry examines the common threads between literature and medicine. In the tradition of another physician-poet, William Carlos Williams, Stone believed his duty as a writer was to prepare for “a good death.”
Stone’s unpublished project, A Bridge across the Dark, chronicles his responses to the sudden illness and death in 1991 of his wife of 30 years, Sarah Lucretia Crymes. He read excerpts from the work at Emory University in 1996. His final published work, Music from Apartment 8: New and Selected Poems (2004), includes poems exploring the poet’s relationship with his mother, his travels to the Middle East, and his love of classical music. Stone and coeditor Richard Reynolds observe how often literature and medicine combine to reveal the human dilemma. Their anthology offers numerous examples that “witness and record the isolation and alienation that come eventually to all of us.”
Stone also wrote or coedited several medical texts, including Principles and Practices of Emergency Medicine (1978). Stone died in Atlanta of cancer on November 6, 2008.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Best clue for today’s photo: This area speaks English
Today’s mystery might make you think of a Caribbean island where English is the mother tongue. Or is it somewhere else? Use your noggin to figure this out, and send the answer you come up with to elliott@brack.net. Include your hometown.
We thought the most recent Mystery Photo might have been difficult, and only three people solved it. Many regulars had a tough time with this photograph. Those solving the mystery from Mark Barlow of Peachtree Corners included Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex., George Graf of Palmyra, Va. and Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill.
Peel wrote: “This is of The Black Bridge, a rather rickety 300-foot long wooden bridge that crosses over the Chimehuín River approximately in Junín de los Andes in the Patagonia region of Argentina near Neuquén. The Chimehuín River is fed by snowmelt from the Andes, and is known as one of the best rivers in the world for fly fishing. There are many lodges in the area that offer fly fishing adventures and tours, with the Tipiliuke Lodge, at three miles away from the Black Bridge, being the closest such facility to the bridge. The types of fish that are most frequently caught in the river are two non-native species of Salmonidae…15-to-20 inch sized brown trout and rainbow trout. While this is the ‘typical’ size of fish caught, there are stories from the 1940s about some of the first fly fishermen from the area who reportedly caught 18-to-20 pound brown trouts ‘monsters’ in the river.”
- 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.
Winn DAR Chapter announces Good Citizens winners
The Philadelphia Winn Chapter, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, recently awarded Good Citizen Awards to seven Gwinnett high school seniors. Each student received a DAR Good Citizen pin, a monetary award, a yard sign and an awards certificate.
The DAR Good Citizens program and scholarship program is intended to encourage and reward the qualities of good citizenship in our students. The program is open to all high school seniors enrolled in public or private schools accredited and in good standing with their state board of education. Students are not required to be United States citizens.
From left are Emma Shipp from Providence Christian Academy; Jewels Durden from Killian Hill Christian School; Rachel Wetherington from Brookwood High School; Garrison Andrews from Parkview High School; Darren Coleman from Central Gwinnett High School; Xochitl Gutierrez from Discovery High School; Zahra Farooqi from Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology; and Cheryl Hall, chair of the DAR Good Citizen Committee.
Preview Days at Georgia Gwinnett College will be Saturday
A program on at-risk communities will be Friday, February 23 at 8:30 a.m. at Corners Outreach Auditorium, 1854 Shackleford Court, Norcross. Come to learn about the groundbreaking findings of the Child Well-being Index 2023, and the state of the children in Gwinnett. It is sponsored by United Way of Greater Atlanta.
EXIT, Pursued by a Bear will be presented February 23-25 at the Lawrenceville Arts Center’s Peach State FCU Studio Stage. It is based on Shakespeare’s most famous stage direction, from A Winter’s Tale. Friday and Saturday shows are at p.m. Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door. Run time is just under 90 minutes with no intermission. Seating is limited; advance purchase is highly encouraged.
Preview Days at Georgia Gwinnett College will be Saturday, February 24 and Saturday, March 23. The events will take place from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. on GGC’s campus. Prospective students will hear from members of the Grizzly family about programs of study, admissions, financial aid, student housing and more. Participants will be able to tour GGC’s campus and talk to student ambassadors about their experiences at GGC. The party-like atmosphere will include food, music and fun giveaways. GGC team members will host selected breakout sessions in Spanish. Organizers said GGC application fees will be waived in March. About 82% of GGC students qualify for financial aid.
Republicans are planning a Liberty Dinner on March 9 at 7 p.m. at Lanier Technical College Conference Center in Cumming. Speaker will be Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana. The Center is located at 3410 Ronald Reagan Boulevard.
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