CONDUCTING RESEARCH AT GGC: The American Chemical Society’s Project SEED summer program brings students to college campuses for eight to 10 weeks at places like Georgia Gwinnett College, where they work alongside faculty to conduct scientific research. Local students on the front row are Galilee Degracia and Joyce Lee. The back row consists of Malachi McClain and Michelle Die, Dr. Ajay Mallia and McNelly Tamfor.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Atlanta native is new GGC women’s basketball coach
EEB PERSPECTIVE: 2024 election is now only 112 days away
SPOTLIGHT: Mingledorff’s
ANOTHER VIEW: Here’s a review of the stock market for first half of 2024
FEEDBACK: Public housing, a real solution and Stewart Cink
UPCOMING: Japanese coating machine maker to locate in Norcross
NOTABLE: Students participate in Project SEED at GGC
RECOMMENDED: This Fierce People by Alan Pell Crawford
GEORGIA TIDBIT: William McIntosh was controversial Lower Creek chief
MYSTERY PHOTO: Can you identify this well-known lighthouse?
CALENDAR: Posten speaks July 18 at Dacula Library
Atlanta native is new GGC women’s basketball coach
By Dale Long
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. | The inaugural head coach of the Georgia Gwinnett College women’s basketball program will be Tory Wooley, head coach at Point University in West Point, Ga., his alma mater. The women’s program is set to tipoff during the 2025-26 athletic season.
Wooley
The team will play its home games in GGC’s new Convocation Center, opening later this fall. The coach of the men’s team was announced last week. The two announcements add to programs that have won national and conference championships and perennially are ranked nationally within their sports.
Wooley won more than 200 games in 11 seasons as coach at Point University. He was the winningest coach in program history, and his teams had 10 consecutive winning seasons and posted 20 or more wins in five seasons.
GGC Executive Athletic Director Dr. Ian Potter says: “Tory’s experience in building a program into a proven conference winner and national tournament participant was a strong quality that we sought to establish our women’s basketball program. Another key asset was his strong ties in recruiting high character student-athletes within our region.”
Georgia Gwinnett College President Dr. Jann L. Joseph adds: “We are delighted to welcome Tory as the head coach of our new women’s basketball program. His dedication to recruiting and developing well-rounded student-athletes aligns perfectly with our college’s mission. I eagerly anticipate watching him build our team into a formidable force, both regionally and nationally.”
Wooley’s 2023-24 Point team had a 14-13 record as the program transitioned to compete in NAIA’s Southern States Athletic Conference. The previous winter, he earned Appalachian Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors after the Skyhawks had a 23-9 record, including an 18-6 mark in conference games, and captured the league championship to play in the NAIA national tournament.
Wooley says: “I’m beyond excited to be part of this institution, with wonderful people across campus, that’s within a thriving area. My family and I are thankful for the opportunity to come home and I’m eager to meet and connect with everyone,” says Wooley, a native of Atlanta. “We will build a program that will bring excitement to GGC and fans throughout the region. This will accentuate the college’s tradition of developing lifelong leaders of character through academic and athletic excellence.”
Wooley’s teams also were successful in academics, with 35 players earning NAIA Daktronics Scholar Athlete honors and posting the highest grade point average twice among Point’s 19 intercollegiate teams. The 2022 team had a 3.60 accumulated GPA (out of 4.0).
Wooley was a four-year varsity letterman and three-year captain of the Skyhawks’ men’s basketball program. He earned National Christian College Athletic Association All-America honors and remains as one of men’s basketball program’s all-time leading scorers. Wooley was recently inducted into Point’s inaugural Athletic Hall of Fame. He is a graduate of Southwest Atlanta Christian School.
Georgia Gwinnett College currently provides opportunities for student-athletes to participate in six sports: baseball, men’s and women’s soccer, softball, and men’s and women’s tennis. These teams have won 20 national championships and 29 conference titles.
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2024 election is now only 112 days away
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
JULY 16, 2024 | In 112 days from today, our country will host another election. While the presidential race is the key element this year, there are plenty of other offices to be filled locally in 2024.
On the Gwinnett ballot, there are 71 offices that local citizens are vying for. Only 13 of these offices have only one nominee for the seat, ensuring those candidates of election.
Worry not: You don’t have to be politically astute about all 71 offices. After all, you only vote for one (not four) of the Gwinnett Congressional delegates; and one each senator and state house representatives (there are 31 altogether).
That still leaves you seven county offices to choose between, for sheriff, tax commissioner and three commissioners. The district attorney and clerk of Superior Court have no opponents.
So there remain 58 offices to be decided locally in November. Who are these candidates? Kelly Lindsay of the Gwinnett County Elections office sent us a list of those remaining after the primary who are seeking election.
- To review this entire list of local candidates, click here.
Former presidents and their families automatically get Secret Service protection. But how about former governors, at least in Georgia? While serving as governor, the elected officials are driven around by Georgia State troopers. Even when retired, they remain celebrities, such as Roy Barnes and Nathan Deal.
Should we consider giving all former governors State Trooper protection in their lifetime? It would reward them for giving years of their time in service to our state, and be a relatively small impact on the Georgia budget. Don’t they deserve it? Surely, we can afford it!
July 1 was the birthday of William Strunk Jr., a name familiar to many who have tried the writing business. Here’s why. Strunk was born in Cincinnati, Ohio (1869). He taught English at Cornell for 46 years, but before that, he taught math at the Rose Polytechnic Institute in Terre Haute, Indiana.
One of his students at Cornell was a young man named Elwyn Brooks White, more familiar to readers as E.B. White, the essayist and author of beloved children’s books like Charlotte’s Web (1952). While working as an editor at The New Yorker in 1957, White dusted off Strunk’s little book — which he described as a “forty-three-page summation of the case for cleanliness, accuracy, and brevity in the use of English” — and wrote a feature story about it. He revised the style guide, expanded it, and updated it.
MacMillan and Company published the book to wider audiences in 1959; White’s contribution to The Elements of Style was so extensive that he is considered a co-author, and the book is commonly known simply as “Strunk and White.” In 2011, Time named it one of the best and most influential books written in English since 1923.
The Elements of Style is a vital book if you want to improve your writing.
Have you heard these colorful terms? That of people “getting sideways with one another?”
Contrast that with another: “standing up vertical for me !”
Those two are quite visual directional comparisons.
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Mingledorff’s
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s featured sponsor is Mingledorff’s, an air conditioning distributor of the Carrier Air Conditioning Company. Mingledorff’s corporate office is located at 6675 Jones Mill Court in Norcross Ga. and is proud to be a sponsor of the Gwinnett Forum. With 40 locations in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and South Carolina, Mingledorff’s is the convenient local source with a complete line for the quality heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and refrigeration parts and supplies you need to service and install HVAC/R equipment. Product lines include Carrier, Bryant, Payne, Totaline and Bard.
- For all of your HVAC needs, and information on the products Mingledorff’s sells, visit www.mingledorffs.com and www.carrier.com.
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Here’s a review of the stock market for first half of 2024
By Randy Brunson,
Centurion Advisory Group
SUWANEE, Ga. | Today let’s take a review of the first half results of the stock market for 2024.
Brunson
For the first half of 2024, the S&P 500 was up 14.5 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 3.8 percent, and the NASDAQ Composite was up 18.1 percent. And this after a very solid 2023.
What do the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ Composite have in common, which is missing from the Dow Jones industrial average? The Magnificent Seven. And the primary driver of the Magnificent Seven? Nvidia, up more than 150 percent this year with a market cap slightly above $3 trillion.
By comparison, an equal-weighted S&P 500 is up 5 percent for the first half of 2024.
Magnificent 7? In the late 60’s it was the Nifty Fifty. And the run by these companies reminds me of nothing if not the dotcom boom/bust of the late 90s and early 00s. Spinning Wheel by Blood Sweat and Tears comes to mind as I think of this. It’s worth a listen if it’s been a while since you heard it.
The number of stocks advancing, compared to the number of stocks declining, a measure known as market breadth, peaked in mid-May. Since that time, there have been more stocks declining in price than advancing in price. And any valuation of the stock market leads to the conclusion that the market as a whole is overvalued.
On the bond market front? Bonds were flat to down during the first half. The shorter the length to maturity the better, for bonds. TIPS and High-Yield (Junk) bonds outperformed during H1, with TIPS up ~1 percent and Junk Bonds up ~2.5 percent. Remaining bond sectors were down in the low single digits.
Over the last ten years, 10-Year Treasurys have averaged 1.5 percent annually against inflation of 2.8 percent annually over the same time frame. Given the very difficult 2008 and 2022 for the bond markets, bonds have offered little in the way of return over the last 10 to 20 years and have often been as volatile as stocks. Not a winning solution.
At the start of the year, most prognosticators were expecting six to seven interest rate cuts this year, as inflation was supposed to have been under control. What wouldn’t surprise us? One rate cut, offered at the FOMC meeting in September.
Speaking of inflation and interest rates, what also wouldn’t surprise us is interest rates in the 6-7 percent range over the next 20 to 30 years. Inflating away a $35 trillion federal debt is the only politically palatable solution to Congress’ inability to control itself. Either Congress masters the federal debt or investors around the world will lose the “full faith and credit” currently placed in the U.S. government. If/when this were to happen, the dollar’s reign as the world’s reserve currency, and other quite untoward outcomes, would occur.
What else in the “wouldn’t surprise us” category? A shift in the returns on capital and labor. Peter Turchin in his book End Times does a good job evaluating returns to capital and labor over the last 200+ years. He makes a very good case for employees experiencing real inflation-adjusted wage growth over the next several decades. And concurrent with that, argues for a lower return on capital than has been experienced over the last 40+ years.
What should you do about your holdings? Stay the course, maintain your excellent habits.
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Public housing, a real solution and Stewart Cink
Editor, the Forum:
Public housing is often referred to as “the projects.” A plan similar to Singapore’s would be admirable; however, will be difficult to enact, but it could be done. Small neighborhoods would be preferred over the “Project “ system we have now (out of sight, out of mind). The situation will be difficult to implement; but why not begin now ?
In my mind “one nation under God” is the only real solution to effect lasting change and to address the many issues facing us: “wannabe king, retribution, and political polarization,” all of which exist under both parties current and future .
And finally kudos to the Mitsubishi Classic as a perfect example of what can be accomplished with sporting events. Incidentally, Stewart Cink is a real asset to the tournament and well-respected in golfing circles, as a player and as an individual, along with his wife Lisa . They sponsored a “Prayer Breakfast” at TPC Duluth for several years.
– John Moore, 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 by to: ebrack2@gmail.com.
Japanese coating machine maker to locate in Norcross
Hirano Tecseed Co., Ltd., a Japanese manufacturer of coating machines, will open its first U.S. office in Norcross. The company chose Gwinnett and the metro Atlanta region for its global access, diverse workforce, and strong economic climate to support growth.
Hirano Tecseed Co., Ltd. manufactures advanced coating machines used in a variety of industries including electronics, medical, and aerospace. Their innovative technology is critical for producing products such as adhesive tape, liquid crystal displays, electronic components, wallpaper, and aircraft parts. The company is also known for its environmentally conscientious operations.
Kaoru Okada, president of Hirano Tecseed, says: “Our first U.S. office in Norcross will allow us to better serve our American clients and expand our footprint in the U.S. market. We appreciate the warm welcome and support from Gwinnett County and the State of Georgia.”
This announcement was made during a global business mission to Japan, where a delegation led by Partnership Gwinnett, including Gwinnett County government, business and community leaders, and representatives from the Georgia Department of Economic Development, visited Hirano Tecseed’s headquarters in Nara, Japan.
Deven Cason, Vice President of Economic Development, says: “Hirano Tecseed’s decision to establish its first U.S. office in Norcross is a testament to Gwinnett County’s attractiveness as a business destination. We look forward to supporting their expansion and success in our community.”
Georgia Power, the Metro Atlanta Chamber, and the City of Norcross were also instrumental in the project, helping create the opportunity for Hirano to join the local business community. Norcross Mayor Craig Newton says: “Our City is well known for its global business footprint. We are pleased to have Hirano joining our community and taking advantage of the strength in location that we offer for growth in the U.S. market.”
Students participate in Project SEED at GGC
“All right, time to get to work!” Those were the words of Malachi McClain, 15, of Dacula, who skipped the beach this summer in favor of conducting research in a college chemistry lab. A rising junior at the Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology, McClain is part of a student cohort from four Gwinnett County high schools who are participating in the Project SEED program at Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC).
The American Chemical Society’s Project SEED summer program brings students to college and university campuses for eight to 10 weeks at host institutions like GGC, where they work alongside faculty to conduct scientific research. In its more than 50-year history, Project SEED has hosted more than 11,000 students in 40 countries. GGC has been hosting this initiative since 2017.
Dr. Ajay Mallia, associate professor of chemistry at GGC, who organizes the Project SEED summer program at GGC, along with his colleagues, Drs. Neville Forlemu and Simon Mwongela, says the students gain invaluable skills that are important in a lab setting – and in life.
Mallia says: “By conducting research, students learn technical skills as they operate lab instruments, analyze samples and practice lab safety procedures. They also gain professional skills such as problem solving, time management, organization and teamwork. The combination of professional skills and technical skills will help them. He adds that it is a large time commitment for these students, who work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday during the summer.
That time commitment didn’t faze McClain, who loves what he’s doing.
“I really enjoy doing just chemistry in a college lab,” he says. “Sure I did it in ninth grade, but it was more of an introduction. This is straight up organic chemistry – I love it!”
Across the lab, Galilee Degracia, 16, was mixing substances to create a new surfactant compound. Common household surfactants include soap, shower gel, shampoo and all-purpose cleaners. They stir up activity on surfaces to help trap and remove dirt on the surface of objects.
Degracia, who is a rising junior at Grayson High School, says she knows she wants to pursue a career in STEM. She said her participation in the Project SEED program at GGC is giving her hands-on experience. “For the past few weeks, we’ve done research, and now we’re performing in the lab,” she says. “I feel like it’s coming full circle when I get to use the research and equipment that I learned about in the past few weeks.”
Joyce Lee, 15, of Duluth has always been interested in science. The rising sophomore at Peachtree Ridge High School says her participation in local science fairs has piqued her interest in a career in chemistry. “Chemistry is basically the maker of everything,” she explained. “It’s definitely challenging, but I just ask questions through it. The program has helped me to learn, grow, persevere and not give up. I love being in a lab. It’s my happy place.”
The Project SEED summer program at GGC will continue through July 31.
This Fierce People by Alan Pell Crawford
The American Revolutionary War was a long one, from 1775 to 1783. With much of the war histories written by northeastern authors, many don’t realize that George Washington’s last major victory before Yorktown in 1782 was in Saratoga, N.Y., in 1777. But since that time, most of the battles against the British and the American seeking freedom from England were in the Carolinas, from Charleston, S.C. to Guilford Courthouse in North Carolina. And the victorious Americans were a ragtag bunch, poorly-clothed and supplied, using virtual guerilla tactics, and often fighting in the swamps that crossed the Carolinas. The British were used to more conventional open-field battles, and this cost them dearly. This is a superb book showing the details of the infighting by the unconventional tactics of Americans led by Nathanial Green, Frances Marion, Henry Lee, Daniel Morgan, Thomas Sumter, often frontiersmen who knew how to fight in the South.—eeb
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McIntosh was controversial Lower Creek chief
William McIntosh was a controversial chief of the Lower Creeks in early-19th-century Georgia. His general support of the United States and its efforts to obtain cessions of Creek territory alienated him from many Creeks who opposed white encroachment on Indian land. He supported General Andrew Jackson in the Creek War of 1813-14, also known as the Red Stick War, which was part of the larger War of 1812 (1812-15), and in the First Seminole War (1817-18). His participation in the drafting and signing of the Treaty of Indian Springs of 1825 led to his execution by a contingent of Upper Creeks led by Chief Menawa.
William McIntosh Jr., also known as Tustunnuggee Hutkee (“White Warrior”), was born around 1778 in the Lower Creek town of Coweta to Captain William McIntosh, a Scotsman of Savannah, and Senoya, a Creek woman of the Wind Clan. He was raised among the Creeks, but he spent enough time in Savannah to become fluent in English and to move comfortably within both Indian and white societies.
McIntosh was related by blood or marriage to several prominent Georgians. Governor George Troup was a first cousin, and Governor David B. Mitchell was the father-in-law of one of McIntosh’s daughters. McIntosh married three women: Susannah Coe, a Creek; Peggy, a Cherokee; and Eliza Grierson, of mixed Creek and American heritage. Several of his children married into prominent Georgia families. These marriages helped to solidify McIntosh’s political alliances and his loyalty to the United States.
McIntosh was among those who supported the plans of U.S. Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins to “civilize” the Creeks. Slave-owning, livestock herding, cotton cultivation, and personal ownership of property were examples of changes to traditional Creek ways of life that McIntosh promoted. He himself owned two plantations with enslaved laborers, Lockchau Talofau (“Acorn Bluff”) in present-day Carroll County, and Indian Springs, in present-day Butts County. Both are maintained today as historic sites. While McIntosh’s support of white civilization efforts earned him the respect of U.S. officials, more traditional Creeks regarded him with distrust.
McIntosh’s support of the United States in the Creek War of 1813-14 earned him the contempt of many Creeks. He was instrumental in the United States’ victory at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, where he led a contingent of Lower Creeks against the Red Sticks, who were primarily Upper Creeks opposed to white expansion into Creek territory. As a result of the U.S. victory at Horseshoe Bend, both Upper and Lower Creeks were forced to sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson, in which the Creeks ceded 22 million acres of land in Alabama and south Georgia to the United States. In the wake of that war, the Creeks suffered famine and deprivation for several years. During that time McIntosh allied himself with Indian agent David B. Mitchell, Hawkins’s successor, to coordinate the distribution of food and supplies from the U.S. government to the Creeks. This alliance assured McIntosh’s control over resources and his continued influence among the Creeks.
(To be continued)
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Can you identify this well-known lighthouse?
Regular readers know GwinnettForum is a sucker for lighthouses, usually elegant structures known for their distinctive design and colors. Many readers may have seen this lighthouse. But can you remember where it is? Send your idea to ebrack2@gmail.com and include your hometown.
For the last mystery, the always-prepared sleuths were dead onto this mystery. Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. explained it best: “Today’s mystery photo is of a museum, a bridge, an inhabitable sculpture and an optical illusion … all in one! Known as The Twist, the structure is located in the Kistefos Sculpture Park, about 25-miles northwest of Oslo in Jevnaker, Norway.
“The Kistefos Sculpture Park was built on the grounds of an old, 1890 wood pulp mill and contains all sorts of unique works of art. The park was first opened in 1996 next to the Randselva River and had 25 unique and somewhat bizarre sculptures. Since then, the number of sculptures have nearly doubled, and with the addition of the Twist in 2019, a visitor must now enter the museum and use it as a bridge to cross from one side of the river to the other.
“The Twist was designed by architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and first opened to the public on September 18, 2019. At over 150,000 square-feet in size, the Twist is designed to account for the difference in elevation of the riverbanks on either side, with a 90-degree twist in the middle allowing for the width of building to be placed on the lower riverbank while the length is placed on the higher bank, and thereby adapting artistically to the Kistefos’ natural landscape. Despite its twisting and spiraling appearance, the floors inside the building are predominantly flat. It is the facade of the building that appears to be twisting, not the entire building itself.”
The photograph came from Michael Clark of Atlanta, via Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill. Others recognizing this unique building were Stew Ogilvie of Lawrenceville; George Graf, Palmyra Va.; and Jay Altman, Columbia, S.C.
- 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: ebrack2@gmail.com and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
Posten speaks July 18 at Dacula Library
The Gwinnett Soil and Water Control District will hold its monthly meeting on Wednesday, July 17 at 9:30 a.m. at the Gwinnett Senior Center, 567 Swanson Drive, Lawrenceville.
Helping Kids Manage Big Emotions will be a program at the Centerville Branch of Gwinnett County Public Library on July 17 at 5:30 p.m. Gain a greater understanding of the challenges facing your child and practical steps you can take to ensure your child’s needs are met.
McCracken Posten Jr., an author and attorney, will discuss his true crime story of Zenith Man on Thursday, July 18 at 7 p.m. at the Dacula Branch of Gwinnett County Public Library. Books will be available for sale and signing.
Writers Workshop is coming to the Lilburn Branch of Gwinnett County Public Library. The workshop will be July 20 at 1 p.m. Learn more about writing, network with other writers, and listen to accomplished authors offer tips to improve your writing. In partnership with the Atlanta Writers Club. Registration is recommended.
Lionheart Theatre in Norcross presents The Enchanted Bookshop by Todd Wallinger on July 25-28. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday; on Saturday at 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday at 3 p.m. The playhouse is located at 10 College Street. For tickets at $12, call 404 919 4022.
Braselton 5-K run benefiting the Braselton Police Foundation will be Saturday, July 27, starting at 6:30 a.m. This is a certified run and the time can be used as a qualifier for next year’s AJC Peachtree Road Race. To register, go to this site.
Celebrate Harry Potter’s birthday: Come to the Duluth Branch of Gwinnett County Public Library at 7 p.m. on July 31 to join the party. Enjoy themed snacks and drinks, participate in wizarding games and activities, and celebrate your love of the Harry Potter universe! Costumes and wizarding attire are highly encouraged. This event is for adults only. Advance registration is preferred.
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