GwinnettForum Number 23.98 | Dec. 17, 2024
FIVE NEW NAMES will soon be added on plaques to Gwinnett’s Preservation Hall of Fame. This monument is located in Lawrenceville between the Female Seminary on South Perry Street and the Issac Adair House on South Clayton Street. The new inductees were announced Sunday night at a dinner at the Historic Gwinnett Courthouse. For more details, see Upcoming below.
TODAY’S FOCUS: After fire, Buford pastor thankful for outpouring of love
EEB PERSPECTIVE: New book compares Charleston and Savannah
SPOTLIGHT: The 1818 Club
ANOTHER VIEW: Shortage of 275 beds for hospitals in Atlanta
FEEDBACK: Finding work after age 50 is most difficult
UPCOMING: Kids who read five books earn circus tickets
NOTABLE: Five inducted into Preservation Hall of Fame
RECOMMENDED: Conclave, a movie directed by Edward Berger
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Bond’s poetry is about Georgia
MYSTERY PHOTO: Tell us about this long, low-slung structure
CALENDAR: A Christmas Carol is Dec. 21 at Christ Episcopal Church
After fire, Buford pastor thankful for outpouring of love
By Jordan Copeland
Pastor, First Pentecostal Church of Buford
BUFORD, Ga. | Thanksgiving Day began like so many others—a day filled with gratitude, family, and cherished traditions. We shared a wonderful time at home before joining our church family in the early afternoon. It was a day of love and connection, but by 10 p.m., everything changed.
Copeland
I received a call that would alter the course of our lives—our church was on fire. As I arrived and saw the flames rapidly consuming the building, an overwhelming wave of emotion swept over me. This wasn’t just a structure; it was the heartbeat of our community. The church was originally built in 1932 as the First Baptist Church.
Within those walls, countless lives had been transformed. It was a place of redemption, celebration, and healing. It was where my father faithfully led our congregation for over two decades, leaving behind a legacy etched in every corner. His office housed irreplaceable memories, and my own office held years of personal writings. This sacred space bore witness to baptisms, weddings, and funerals—moments that defined our church family.
While we know the church is not confined to a building—it is the people, the relationships, and the love we share—this building was where our hearts grew together in faith and unity. Despite the heartbreak of this loss, I am overwhelmed with gratitude to God for His protection.
Not a single life was harmed. On any other Thursday night, we would have been gathered for midweek service, but because it was Thanksgiving, that service was canceled. I also thank God for the courage of three young men who ran into the building with extinguishers to fight the fire. By His grace, they made it out unharmed.
During and after the church fire.
In the two weeks since the fire, we have experienced an outpouring of love and kindness from our city. So many people have reached out with prayers, support, and generosity. Local churches and businesses have extended their hands to us, offering spaces for our services and our school.
We are especially grateful to Pastor Joey Grizzle and the Buford Church of God, Pastor Jim Buckman and Buford First Methodist, Pastor Dinora Merida and Iglesia de Cristo Elim, and businessman Tamer Massalha, who has generously provided meeting space on Main Street in downtown Buford. Pastor Aaron Young and Rising Church have also been unbelievably kind in opening up a place for our school.
Through it all, I cannot help but see God’s hand at work. Even in loss, He has shown us His faithfulness. Buildings can be replaced, but the bonds of our church family—and the vision God has for us—remain unshaken. I firmly believe He is guiding us through this season and has a greater purpose in store for our congregation.
All in all, I cannot complain. God has kept His hand on us, and things could be a lot worse than what they are! With all my heart I believe that God has a plan for our congregation, and I’m believing that He will bring us all the way through. Thank you to everyone for your love, prayers, and support!!!
From the depths of my heart, thank you for your prayers, love, and unwavering support. Your kindness has strengthened us in ways we cannot fully express.
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New UGA book compares Charleston, Savannah
From the book cover.
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
DEC. 17, 2024 | A new book from the University of Georgia Press compares two nearby coastal cities, Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga. It makes for interesting reading.
The author is Thomas D. Wilson, who wrote books previously about the two cities. Wilson, who lives in Nashville, Tenn. , earlier wrote: The Oglethorpe Plan: Enlightenment Design in Savannah. His book about Charleston was The Ashley Cooper Plan: The Founding of Carolina and the Origins of Southern Political Culture.
His new book is entitled: Charleston and Savannah: The Rise, Fall and Reinvention of Two Rival Cities. It contains 301 pages and is priced at $39.95. It has considerable photographs in the book illustrating points in the narrative.
Charleston was founded first, in 1670, and made its earlier wealth from the transatlantic trade routes, often offloading slaves from Africa. Early arrivals were from England, Ireland, the Bahamas and Barbados. Considered the colony’s major founder is Ashley Anthony Cooper, who had the backing of Oliver Cromwell. By 1690, rice was a valuable export crop, benefiting from the knowledge slaves brought with them.
Georgians know that James Oglethorpe laid out Savannah in 1733 with its squared and elegant simplicity. Meanwhile, Charleston never had such a structured plan for its layout, hemmed in by the Ashley and Cooper Rivers. And Savannah was also founded on a high ridge, while most of Charleston is only a few feet above sea level. While Charleston benefitted from nearby plantations, Savannah in a relatively short time became industrial, Wilson says, and that continues to this day.
Savannah benefitted directly from Eli Whitney in 1791 inventing the cotton gin at Mulberry Grove, up the Savannah River. Soon Savannah began as a major exporter of cotton, mainly to England.
About that same time, William Longstreet in Augusta got the idea for a steamboat design in the 1790s, shortly after Robert Fulton came up with a similar idea, and got the credit for it. Longstreet later designed his first steamboat, and many more, to sail the Savannah River. More than 50 steamboats once plied the river from Savannah to Augusta, hauling goods both ways. This helped Savannah grow.
Here are some other tidbits we learned from this book.
- Charleston owes some of its early planning to Anthony Ashley Cooper’s friendship with English philosopher John Locke. It was Locke who conceived the “fundamental constitutions” and governance of the Carolinas.
- A 102-mile railroad, swinging inward to avoid the marshes, linking Charleston and Savannah was chartered in 1853…and began operations in 1860. It was an essential part of the Civil War effort in the South.
- The two cities have competed in tourism particularly since the turn of the century. Visitors find both cities charming, and full of history. Charleston earlier had an azalea festival, and its Spoleto Festival is an outstanding draw. The biggest day of the year in Savannah is St. Patrick’s Day, full of merry-making, drawing on its Irish heritage.
But people flock to the two cities all during the year, with their mild climates. In 2020 Charleston counted 4.8 million hotel room nights occupied, while Savannah totaled 4.1 million.
This book will enrich lovers of these low country cities.
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The 1818 Club
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s underwriter is The 1818 Club, named for the year that Gwinnett County received its charter. The 1818 Club is a member-owned, private dining experience providing the best in food, service and meeting accommodations for its members. Whatever your business or social dining needs, the 1818 Club has the proper facilities, recently renovated, to gracefully host your gatherings.
- 100-seat formal dining room open for breakfast and lunch.
- Capital Room open for breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as cocktails.
- Five private rooms – of various capacities – can be used for dining or meeting space. Each room includes the complimentary use of WIFI and Audio/Visual equipment. “
- 220-seat Virgil Williams Grand Ballroom, divides into three sections, all with AV.
Our top-notch service team enhances your experience by providing a sophisticated social atmosphere, engaging events and a full serving of dining and entertainment opportunities. If you want an urbane and central site to entertain people, consider joining the 1818 Club. For more details, visit https://www.the1818club.org/Home.
- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, click here.
Shortage of 275 beds for hospitals in Atlanta
By Jack Bernard, contributing columnist
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. | There is a continuing national trend of hospital mergers and acquisitions. Some of these actions are good for society, but many others are clearly done solely for self-interested purposes.
I know. I was a vice president of acquisitions for National Medical Enterprises (now Tenet). Per corporate policy, we acquired hospitals with high private pay insurance, low indigent care and minimal Medicaid. Why we were instructed to do so is obvious. Those were the hospitals most likely to make a profit when we attempted a financial turnaround. Eventually, I tired of the shenanigans going on in the for-profit hospital field and left to work with a firm owned by large non-profit healthcare systems.
Well after my departure, Tenet acquired Georgia Baptist Hospital in Atlanta, first started in 1901. Tenet renamed it the Atlanta Medical Center (AMC). At the time of the 1997 acquisition, I questioned the wisdom of that purchase from a business standpoint.
Improving the bottom line of a facility with a high indigent care and Medicaid mix would be very difficult, probably impossible, even for a “take no prisoners” for-profit.
As I had predicted, Tenet was ultimately unsuccessful. Tenet then sold the hospital to WellStar Health Systems, a large non-profit chain whose main office is in Cobb County. Naively, I thought that Wellstar had the community’s interest at heart and was willing to absorb the facility’s losses. Surely, they realized the financial problems caused by Atlanta Medical Center’s payer mix (Medicaid and indigents).
But I was wrong. After heavy losses (partially caused by outrageous executive salaries), Wellstar closed the 460 bed AMC, a Level I trauma center. That created a financial opportunity for developers wanting to push gentrification (i.e. pushing out the area’s low-income residents). Working with Wellstar, the for-profit developer Integral Group has now convinced the city to approve a re-development plan which will include mixed uses, retail, commercial and residential. Who gets the substantial profits generated from this agreement is unclear, but the property is now very valuable… and still owned by Wellstar.
Meanwhile, AMC’s closing dumped needy Medicaid and indigent care patients onto already financially strapped Grady Hospital, Atlanta’s only remaining Level I trauma center. Using American Rescue Plan Act funds created under the Biden Administration, Governor Brian Kemp has provided an additional $130 million to Grady. Fulton County gave $11 million more, enabling Grady to add 185 beds. However, that still leaves a deficit of 275 beds for Atlanta. And, from a healthcare viewpoint, that is where things stand today, a continuing mess and shortage of beds.
Frankly, the AMC closure could have easily been avoided but for the lack of insurance coverage of the residents in the Boulevard area. If all Atlanta Medical Center patients were covered 100 percent, by expanded Medicare for All, this could negate that devastating payer mix issue. You do not see hospitals in Canada or Europe facing these problems
With universal coverage, all healthcare facilities could compete on a level playing field. Instead, we have facilities which serve low-income populations having their hands tied behind their backs by a lack of adequate third-party reimbursement.
With nearly 10 percent of our non-elderly uninsured (14 percent overall in Georgia), we are far behind every developed nation in the world. The best time to enact universal coverage was yesterday. For more healthcare information on single payer healthcare, go to the national web site for Physicians for a National Healthcare Program a https://pnhp.org/
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Finding work after age 50 is most difficult
Editor, the Forum:
Ashley
Herndon’s column in the Forum of December 10 is one where though I agree with much, maybe most, of what he wrote, I must take issue with the idea that unemployed people “don’t want to work.”
As one who was, during the last ten years of my working career, out of work almost 50 percent of the time, I can attest to the fact that I, and many others in my situation, sincerely wanted to work.
My grandmother once told me that anyone could get a job digging ditches if they couldn’t find anything else. Not anymore. You have to be a Certified Backhoe Operator.
I tried to get a job working in a warehouse, as that was my field, transportation and distribution. I sought work not as a warehouse manager, understand, but an “order puller.” Nope. Got to be a Certified Forklift Operator.
I applied to a job as a salesman in the camera store where I did business. The manager told me, “They’d fire me if I hired you. They know you’d leave as soon as you could get a job in your field and at your level.”
I’ve often heard the term, “over qualified.” I’ve been told that I was overqualified for half the jobs I’ve had past the age of 30, but it didn’t seem to matter until I was in my 50’s.
I’ve heard the term “we’ve decided to move in another direction” so often that I wanted to buy them a compass.
While I agree with most of what Mr. Herndon said, I don’t think he had an accurate picture of unemployment in this nation, especially after the age of 50.
I do. Been there, done that, got the scars.
– Robert H. Hanson, Loganville
HOA covenants can help stem corporate rental housing
Editor, the Forum:
Most of these firms buying rental houses in Georgia are also equity firms, meaning they are not publicly traded and are not under the same public disclosure rules. Typically, they are also looking to purchase homes and entire neighborhoods that are priced at $500k or lower.
The best way for communities with homeowner associations (HOAs) and property owner associations (POA) to combat this is to get the homeowners to approve a covenant change that allows five percent or less of the homes to be rented. Certainly, these covenant clauses should be developed in conjunction with legal counsel.
The main difference in HOA and a POA is that a POA has the ability to actually initiate liens for nonpayment of dues or fines without the need for an attorney. This can save money in the long run. There are a few other benefits, but the lien administration is a huge factor.
Very active communities with good HOAs have already done this or are in process.
Unfortunately, when a community HOA or POA is not functioning well, this opens the door to a “corporate takeover.” Renting is very popular right now because of housing prices and interest rates. Until this mitigates, the buy-up will not likely change. Many of these firms are also taking housing inventory out of the market causing home prices to rise due to supply and demand.
– Sid Camp, Dawsonville
Willing to eat crow to see grocery prices fall
Editor, the Forum:
Well folks, here’s my first “Told you so.” In an interview with incoming President Donald Trump, a reporter from the Time magazine asked about bringing down grocery costs. It turns out it may be a promise he can’t keep because “prices that go up may not come down.” This was one of the main items Trump promised he would do, even though he had no plan at the time.
So, the score is: one: “I told you so,” to zero: unkept promise. Don’t get me wrong, I’m hoping Trump or someone will figure out a way to bring the cost of groceries down, and I’m willing to eat crow, but for now, I told you so.
– Sara Rawlins, Lawrenceville
Grocery prices usually regulated by the weather
Editor, the Forum:
President-elect Trump said it will be “very hard” to lower grocery prices now that they have risen, but he predicted they will come down.
He should have figured this out a long time ago. Grocery stores really have no way to control prices. There is no way to control the weather, there is not a way to control the cost of raising livestock. And with him not understanding tariffs, he is going to kick prices up in all areas. Since much of our food is imported, that means that the tariffs will kill us.
Canada is contemplating either stopping of the import tariffs on electricity or just stop selling it.
In two years, Trump will probably be out-voted both in the House and Senate.
– Raleigh Perry, Buford
Lyrics in song by Temptations continues to bug him
Editor, the Forum:
This has been bugging me for a long time. I finally wrote it down. Do you or your readers have the answer?
Everybody has heard the song, Papa Was A Rolling Stone by the Temptations. I’ve never looked up the lyrics, but I have long been impressed by the either intended or not intended double entendre. And yes, double entendres are typically sexual or risque in nature, but don’t necessarily have to be. And in this case it’s not, but it does work as a double entendre. The lyric is
Papa was a rolling stone
wherever he laid his hat was his home
and when he died, all he left us was …
Was it? “a loan” or “alone”?
Which way did you hear it? And did you ever think of it both ways? Please don’t tell me it was only me.
– Davis Simmons, Norcross
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: ebrack2@gmail.com.
Kids who read 5 books earn circus tickets
Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus has partnered with the Gwinnett County Public Library on a reading program that is easy and fun for kids to participate in. It gives them the opportunity to earn a free ticket to The Greatest Show On Earth (with the purchase of one adult ticket).
Children are encouraged to visit their nearest Gwinnett library branch to pick up a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® Reward Club Card with program specifics. Once the child has read five or more books, the child and their parent/guardian can take the Reward Club Card to the venue box office of their choice to redeem for performances at the State Farm Arena and Gas South Arena in mid February.
The voucher can be redeemed between February 14 and 23. Box office hours are available on State Farm Arena and Gas South Arena’s websites and on the back of the Reward Card. Please review the Reward Card for comprehensive program details and restrictions.
5 inducted into Preservation Hall of Fame
From left are Pleasant Hill Baptist Church Pastor Dr. Ronald D. Dunnigan, Brandon Hembree, Betty and Charles Warbington, Historic Preservation Co-Chair Donna Bowlick and Elliott Brack.
Gwinnett County honored five individuals and organizations for their contributions to preserving and protecting Gwinnett’s history during the 2024 Preservation Hall of Fame ceremony on December 15 at the Historic Courthouse.
The award ceremony highlighted the County’s ongoing commitment to celebrating its cultural and historic resources. Inductees were recognized for their work in areas such as historic restoration and preservation, contributing historical artifacts, documenting oral histories and publishing written records of Gwinnett’s history.
The honorees are:
- Betty and Charles Warbington, who dedicated countless hours to preserving two of Gwinnett County’s earliest historic sites: the Fort Daniel site and the Elisha Winn property, both predating the county’s founding on December 15, 1818.
- Brandon Hembree, who played a pivotal role in establishing the Sugar Hill Historic Preservation Society and the Sugar Hill History Museum, ensuring the rich history of Sugar Hill and the surrounding area is archived and accessible for future generations. He is mayor of the city.
- Elliott Brack, a journalist in Gwinnett County since 1974, who has chronicled the county’s evolution in his columns and stories, preserving its history through the power of storytelling.
- Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, which has continually educated and supported Gwinnett’s residents with a history spanning over a century. Its ministries foster knowledge and community engagement across generations.
- The Suwanee Creek Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, which led the preservation of the Island Ford Baptist Church Cemetery, memorializing forgotten enslaved individuals and ensuring their vital place in Gwinnett’s history is acknowledged.
Ann Bender, chairwoman of the Gwinnett Historical Restoration and Preservation Board, says: “Every two years, the Historical Restoration and Preservation board reaches out to the community to identify individuals, groups, businesses, community leaders and professionals who have contributed to the preservation of Gwinnett County history.” A five-member advisory group sorts through and scores all the nomination letters to select the winners.
Each honoree’s name will be commemorated with markers on a stone monument on the Preservation Lawn at the Isaac Adair House and the Lawrenceville Female Seminary.
Braselton’s hospital delivers 10,000th baby
The 10,000th baby has been delivered at Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC) in Braselton. Scarlett Star Martin arrived on October 24 at 5:23 p.m., weighing 7 pounds and 9 ounces, and she’s the second child born to Taylor and Jared Martin of Flowery Branch.
Tappie Hurdelbrink, a certified nurse midwife with Northeast Georgia Physicians Group OB/GYN in Braselton, delivered Scarlett.
Since the first baby was born on September 12, 2016, NGMC Braselton has been a cornerstone for maternal and neonatal care, equipped with advanced technology and a compassionate team. The hospital’s comprehensive care for expecting mothers includes prenatal education, specialized care for high-risk pregnancies and a Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
Hawkins heads to stateside EAGLE Institute
Hawkins
Logan Hawkins has been chosen to represent Gwinnett Technical College at the statewide EAGLE (Exceptional Adult Georgian in Literacy Education) Leadership Institute in March 2025. The Leadership Institute recognizes and honors students with superior achievement in adult education classes and programs. Hawkins, a resident of Sandy Springs, first came to Gwinnett Tech after a significant life event. He enrolled in Gwinnett Tech’s Take Ten+ program and earned his high school equivalency (HSE) and welding certification. EAGLE is the first statewide program in the nation to recognize and reward excellence among students enrolled in adult education programs. The student recognition program is designed to increase awareness of educational opportunities in local communities and foster greater involvement in lifelong learning pursuits.
Conclave, a movie directed by Edward Berger
From Karen J. Harris, Stone Mountain: When Pope Gregory the XVII dies ,the College of Cardinals meet in seclusion to select a new pope under the leadership of Cardinal Dean Thomas Lawrence. The four main candidates are Aldo Bellini from the United States, a liberal under Pope Gregory; Joshua Adeyemi of Nigeria, a social conservative; Joseph Tremblay, a mainstream conservative; and Goffredo Tedesco, a reactionary traditionist. A mystery candidate arrives, who claims he was named by the late Pope Gregory by making him an Archbishop in Kabul. The politics involved in selecting a pope, complete with rivalries, hidden agendas and even crime are on display in this engrossing movie that ends with a selection sure to shock the House of Cardinals and possibly the greater Catholic world.
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Bond’s poetry is about Georgia
Adrienne Moore Bond, poet, fiction writer, scholar, and mentor to other writers, was a native of Macon County. She was born in 1933 to Violet Moore, a writer, and Sidney L. Moore Sr., an attorney. She earned her B.A. and M.F.A. from Mercer University (1954, 1971) and studied for the Ph.D. at Georgia State University. She taught in the English department at Mercer from 1965 until her death in 1996.
Bond’s main body of work is centered in three books. In The Voice of the Poet: The Shape and Sound of Southern Poetry Today (1989), she focused on a variety of poets in her discussion of the important themes of traditional southern poetry, such as the land, hunting, and storytelling. By the time the book appeared, she was already gaining attention through her own poems, which appeared in such prominent journals and magazines as the Southern Review, the Georgia Review, and the New Yorker.
Sugarcane House and Other Stories about Mr. Fat, published posthumously in 1997, is a book of children’s stories, although adults find them entertaining as well. These stories are reminiscent of the folk/fantasy method of narration practiced by Morgan County’s Raymond Andrews, especially in his book Appalachee Red. They have been compared as well to the Brer Rabbit stories of Joel Chandler Harris.
Bond’s selected poems were published in 1996 under the title Time Was, She Declares. Her poems are eclectic in setting and subject. They include scenes from Georgia’s rural past in Macon County and draw from the concrete realities of Norway and Switzerland, and Macon as well. Characterizing southern poets in her first chapter to The Voice of the Poet, she could have been describing her own style: southern poets, she wrote,” tend to focus on place, and they often see place as informed by time, by history and memory. They write about family members and family events. Southern poets tend to use concrete details and to approach abstraction cautiously through explorations of the natural world…. southern poets love folklore and tall tales, and have a gift for story telling and character portrayal, as well as a fine ear for the spoken language.”
“Christmas Basket: 1943,” her recollection of a childhood trip with her grandmother to visit an infirm Black friend, becomes a meditation on personal responsibility, race, and the southern past. Another poem, “Blues,” is about the musical tradition Bond was researching when she became ill in 1995.
Bond was advisor and mentor to a wide range of Georgia poets, including those in the “Macon Poetry Group”—Michael Cass, Judith Ortiz Cofer, George Espy III (George Muhammed), Anthony Grooms, Anna Holloway, Seaborn Jones, Anthony Kellman, Robert Kelly, and Judson Mitcham.
She brought many of the nation’s poets to numerous Georgia colleges and communities through the Georgia Poetry Circuit (funded in part by Georgia Humanities), which she founded and directed. She also served as associate vice president for development and director of the university grants program at Mercer University. Among her many honors was the Governor’s Award in the Humanities in 1996. Married for a time to Alpha M. Bond, she was the mother of three sons: Alpha, Ernest, and Thomas.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Tell us about this long, low-slung structure
The gun emplacement on the right might give away the function of this building. Yet the question remains: where is it? Send your idea of the location of this Mystery Photo to ebrack2@gmail.com, and list your hometown.
The previous mystery was of Camden, Maine, harbor, which several readers recognized. Among them were Cathy Loew, Peachtree Corners; Jay Altman, Columbia, S.C.; George Graf, Palmyra, Va.; Stewart Ogilvie, Rehobeth, Ala.; and Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. The photograph came from Michael Clark of Atlanta, via Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill.
He added: “This colorful fall scene is of Camden Harbor at the foot of Mount Battie, all along the coast of West Penobscot Bay in Maine. Camden Harbor is known for its historic windjammers, tall-masted sailing ships from the 19th and 20th centuries. If you want to take an excursion on the oldest such schooner in America, just head to the red building in the center of the mystery photo, and buy tickets to board the Lewis R. French Schooner which was built 1871.
“The Town of Camden is one of only two places on the Atlantic seaboard where the mountains meet the sea, and is considered by many to be one of the prettiest spots in Maine. Mount Battie is a 780-feet high summit in Camden Hills State Park that is topped with a 1921 World War I Memorial Tower, offering the visitors a panoramic view of the town, the harbor and the entire bay.”
- 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.
A Christmas Carol is Dec. 21 at Christ Episcopal Church
Lionheart Theatre of Norcross will present Game’s Afoot, or Homes for the holidays, on December 19-22 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and on Sundays at 2 p.m. There will also be a Saturday matinee on December 21 at 2 p.m. This is to be directed by Darci Rose Wells. Tickets available by calling 404-919-4022.
The Nutcracker will be the Gwinnett Ballet Theatre’s 42nd annual production continues on December 19-22 at the Gas South Theatre in Duluth. Be captivated as Drosselmeyer’s magic ushers in an army of mice at the stroke of midnight and the Christmas tree and Clara’s beloved nutcracker spring to life. Travel with Clara and her Nutcracker prince as they set out on a wonder- filled journey to battle the Mouse King and travel through the Land of the Snowflakes and Kingdom of the Sweets to meet the Sugar Plum Fairy. For tickets, visit this link.
Mobile Career Lab will be at the Lawrenceville Branch of Gwinnett County Public Library on December 19 from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. Climb aboard the Mobile Career Lab to receive assistance from a professional Human Resource Specialist in career planning, job readiness coaching, resume assistance, information about training opportunities, and more.
The Christ Episcopal Church Players of Norcross will present the Christmas Classic A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens on Saturday, December 21 at 3 p.m. at the church. A light reception will follow in Webster Hall. Those wishing to join the reading are welcomed. Rehearsals will be at noon on December 8 and December 15. The Church Players are also looking for singers for music interludes during the reading. If you are interested in joining in on those, email Tracey Rice at traceyrice99@gmail.com
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