GwinnettForum | Number 20.50 July 14, 2020 6
BECOMING A GWINNETT FAVORITE of photographers is the handsome Holy Vietnamese Martyrs Catholic Church at Beaver Ruin Road and Interstate 85. Roving Photographer Frank Sharp clicked this view of the new building, which was dedicated last November. The $14 million church of the Archdiocese of Atlanta will seat 1,120 worshipers. For mass times, click here.
TODAY’S FOCUS: There Appear To Be Two Sets of Rules in These Situations
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Used Car Licenses, Wisteria, Early Streetcars and Two Daylilies
ANOTHER VIEW: Why Do Some Get Sick, While Others Exposed Never Whimper?
SPOTLIGHT: Law Office of J. Michael Levengood, LLC
FEEDBACK: Indeed, Fact after Fact Show That Georgia Has Many Dismal Records
UPCOMING: Early Voting for August 11 Runoff Will Begin in Gwinnett on July 20
NOTABLE: Porter Joins Call Asking Removal of Statue from Historic Courthouse
RECOMMENDED: Leadership in Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Maybe the Most Storied Atlanta Speedway Race Happened in 1992
MYSTERY PHOTO: Perhaps a Friendly Face, Easy-to-Spot Setting Is Today’s Mystery
LAGNIAPPE: Travel Photography of Frank Sharp Now on Display at Grayson Library
There appear to be two sets of rules in these situations
By Jack Bernard, contributing columnist
“I sorta get away with things like that.” — Donald Trump regarding bursting into beauty pageant dressing rooms containing very young nude women.
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. | Real world situations are usually not black or white; they’re more often grey. Because of the absolutism of the ‘Me-Too’ movement, some progressives see all sexist actions as being equal, with no differentiation as to degree. An example is liberal Senator Al Franken’s being drummed out of office by fellow Democrats because he allegedly committed a few inappropriate acts. It was not enough to censure him or ask him to publicly apologize. (He did). He had to be politically executed and declared forever dead.
Contrast this situation to the Justice Brett Kavanaugh hearings. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a Stanford psychologist, stated that Kavanaugh attempted to rape her when they were teenagers. The GOP stood solidly behind him, winning him a seat on the Supreme Court and ensuring conservative domination of court.
Conservatives are fully aware of this ‘Me-Too’ weakness on the part of progressives. They will make use of it in their 2020 election strategy to ensure that President Trump, a long-time womanizer and misogynist, wins. The mainstream media is being goaded into covering and asking for a full investigation into unfounded charges against Joe Biden brought by Tara Reade, a low-level staffer nearly 30 years ago.
Reade was not performing as an employee in his Senate office, and was let go. Reade is on record as praising Biden several times over the last few decades. Further, her sexual assault allegations have changed dramatically over time and been deemed untrustworthy by several reputable organizations that investigated her charges.
Now, contrast this situation to Donald Trump’s long history of misogyny. According to various sources, 25 women have accused him of sexual assault since he became an adult in the 70s. See Business Insider for a detailed description of each of these alleged attacks.
To confirm that these allegations are likely to be true, listen to President Trump himself when he was secretly recorded (the famed ‘Access Hollywood’ tape) saying with glee that he was such a big shot that he could grab women’s private parts and they would do nothing about it.
Unsurprisingly, outlets like FOX and Breitbart will spend a lot of time and energy blowing the unfounded allegations against Biden totally out of proportion at election time. At the same time, they will ignore the 25 women who have accused Trump, although many of the accusers are accomplished professional women unlikely to be fabricating facts.
Progressives (and the mainstream media) do not need to emulate Fox and keep repeating the unfounded Reade allegations while ignoring the president’s long record of misogyny.
If liberals want to truly support the principles of the ‘MeToo’ movement, start by criticizing the real bad guy, Donald Trump. Let’s finally investigate the charges brought by those 25 women rather than examining unfounded allegations against Joe Biden brought by a person with a long history of personal problems.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Used car licenses, wisteria, early streetcars and two daylilies
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
JULY 14, 2020 | The business community of Peachtree Corners is growing, as are many Gwinnett cities. A report from Peachtree Corners the other day listed 33 new businesses in the city in June. But on close inspection, 14 of these new firms had applied and were granted a license as a used car dealer.
What’s this? Peachtree Corners breaking out in used car lots?
Not so, says Brandon Branham, assistant city manager. “The city is not approving used car lots. These are persons who must get a state and city permit to sell one automobile at a time. In the economic climate we are in now, some people think they might make some money by selling used cars. Most of the time, they don’t renew their license a second year.”
He adds: “There’s a big turnover in this area. We issue about 75 such licenses a year. But each year we lose about that many. It cost $400-500 for a state license, and $300 for a city license.”
Part of the license requires that the license holder cannot sell the vehicle on his residential property, but must meet the buyer at a public location, such as a parking lot. Note that a person must make about $1,000 on a used vehicle to come out with a slight profit. We learned that several other cities allow such licenses, but that seldom results eventually into a used car lot.
“It’s just a few residents trying to make some money during these times,” Brandon added.
The late Mrs. Louise Cooper for years promoted her hometown of Lawrenceville as the “Wisteria City.”
What happened? We never hear of that any more. Is the town still the Wisteria City? There is certainly enough evidence. We see that some people in Lawrenceville still like wisteria.
We raise this as we note that the City of Williamson in Pike County now has a Wisteria Festival every April. Has Williamson taken away from Lawrenceville, that title as the Wisteria City of Georgia?
Think back about 200 years ago, as New York City was beginning to grow fast, as Gwinnett is now. It needed a means to move people around the area. Soon a horse-drawn wagon, outfitted to haul people emerged, the first streetcar, run by a man named John Mason, a banker and big landowner. It originally looked like a stagecoach, and ran on rails laid on the streets in Lower Manhattan.
Each streetcar had a driver and a conductor, who rode in the back, collected fares and instructed the driver. By 1880, New York counted 150,000 horses in the city, each horse producing 22 pounds of manure each day. The city literally “smelled.” But by 1917, powered vehicles replaced horse-drawn street cars….and the city had purer air.
By comparison, gas fumes don’t sound so bad. But Gwinnett sure needs a better way of moving people around. Perhaps this fall’s election will provide future relief.
Remember that photo of a single red daylily we published a few weeks back? Eventually we had two blossoms at the same time. But now the flowers have withered, and we’ll have to wait until next year’s hotter temperatures to produce these beauties again.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Why do some get sick, while others exposed never whimper?
By Alex Tillman
VALDOSTA, Ga. | In March, my 85-year-old mother became increasingly ill. She was having difficulty breathing and we took her to the physician. In her weakened state I had to almost carry Mom to the car. She was ultimately admitted to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with COVID-19. She has recovered and is back at home telling me how to run my life again. But a question remains. Why did I not get COVID-19 when I’m convinced I was exposed to it?
Tillman
As a career educator, I have lived through dozens of germs running through the schools. Working in a school is akin to living in a dirty petri dish. It’s unavoidable, yet I rarely caught whatever was going around. Why don’t I get sick? I’ve never been one to get sick easily in my whole life. I’ll catch sometime maybe a cold once a year or so, but it’s gone in 12 to 18 hours without me taking medication. I’m hard-headed and believe that it is best to let my body heal itself.
I’ve asked a few medical professionals this question. The response I get is they don’t know why some people don’t get sick. They have some knowledge of the human immune system , but they don’t fully understand it. Maybe the answer lies with my mother, who breast fed me as a child while preparing whole foods for the family she loves.
I grew up in South Georgia playing outside, swimming in ponds and inadvertently drinking my share of pond water, getting licked in the mouth by every dog in the neighborhood, eating healthy whole foods my mother cooked, and not being sent to the pediatrician for antibiotics every time my nose ran. As an adult I’m fairly health conscious. I’m not overweight, don’t smoke, drink moderately, exercise regularly, and eat whole foods.
Yes, I believe there are correlations here.
During this pandemic you can make the case that the first priority should be a cure while the second goal should be an effective immunization. I cannot disagree with that, but what about the next infectious disease that will come? How much research is going on about the human immune system to determine why some people do not get sick and how can we increase that number?
A cure and an immunization would be highly profitable for the pharmaceutical company that hits the grand slam and finds the cure. But alternatively, let’s use some of our resources to prevent infectious diseases before they strike. What I fear is the answer is too simple and not profitable.
Taking the advice of an 85=year-old mother that all children should be breastfed is not a glamorous answer. What is the correlation to breast feeding and our immune system? Is exposure to germs, and not popping a pill every time we fill a bit “under the weather,” the key? We need to find out more and why some people just don’t get sick much.
- 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 six 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.
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Indeed, facts show Georgia has many dismal records
Editor, the Forum:
George Wilson’s column pointing out what a dismal record and reputation Georgia has is right on. The failing rural hospitals, poor infant mortality, the state losing money because of not expanding Medicaid, the second highest number of people without health insurance, etc, etc, does indeed demonstrate that Georgia is a very backward state.
And Jack Bernard’s shocking comments and revelations about Jody Hice demonstrate, with his attitude about women, he should be shoved back under the rock from whence he emerged.
— Lucy Brady, Suwanee
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. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Send feedback and letters to: elliott@brack.net
Early voting for Aug. 11 runoff will begin here July 20
Early voting for the August 11 runoff will soon be underway. The Voter Registrations and Elections office is providing opportunities for Gwinnett County voters to cast their ballots before the runoff election.
The deadline for residents to register to vote and be eligible to cast a ballot in the Primary and Nonpartisan runoff election has passed, being Monday, July 13. If someone did not vote in the June 9 primary election, they may still vote in this runoff election if they are registered.
Eligible voters may vote in advance in person every day, including weekends, from July 20 to August 7 at the Voter Registrations and Elections Beauty P. Baldwin Building located at 455 Grayson Highway, Suite 200 in Lawrenceville from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Satellite voting at four additional sites will begin August 1 and continue through Friday, August 7 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day, including weekends. The additional satellite voting locations are:
- Bogan Park Community Recreation Center, 2723 N. Bogan Road, Buford;
- George Pierce Park Community Recreation Center, 55 Buford Highway, Suwanee;
- Lenora Park Gym, 4515 Lenora Church Road, Snellville; and
- Lucky Shoals Park Community Recreation Center, 4651 Britt Road, Norcross .
Note the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds will not be an advance voting site for the runoff election.
Voters may request an absentee/advance by mail ballot for the August 11 General Primary and Nonpartisan Runoff Election now through August 7. Voting by mail is an option for all voters, not just those who will be out of town. A completed application must first be received before an absentee/advance by mail ballot is issued. Please call the Voter Registrations and Elections Office at 678-226-7210 to request an application or complete the form online.
Voters may return their voted absentee/advance by mail ballot by mail or in one of eight official ballot drop boxes. No postage is necessary on ballots placed in the drop boxes. The drop boxes feature 24-hour surveillance and will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week beginning Saturday, July 11 through Tuesday, Aug.11 at 7p.m. The drop boxes are located at the Elections Office, the four satellite voting locations, and Dacula Park Activity Building, Mountain Park Aquatic Center and Shorty Howell Park Activity Building.
Voters may check the status of their voter registration and see a sample ballot on the Secretary of State’s My Voter Page.
Deadline is July 24 for firms to apply for CARES Gwinnett
Small businesses hurt by the pandemic have until 5 p.m. on July 24 to apply for Gwinnett’s federal CARES Act grants and loans.
The Gwinnett County Small Business Assistance Program is administering $20 million in federal grants and loans for for-profit companies needing help with pandemic-related expenses, such as deep cleaning facilities, modifying facilities for social distancing, restocking, marketing, and/or paying staff in advance of reopening and achieving revenue.
The $10 million in grants is being administered by the Gwinnett Community Development Program, and the $10 million in loans is being handled by Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs Inc., a federally certified Community Development Financial Institution.
Grants are capped at $75,000. The grants are targeting small businesses that cannot access capital due to their inability to meet minimum underwriting standards. To be eligible for a grant, the applicant needs to be a Gwinnett-based business in operation for more than one year, with up to 200 employees, and have organizational documents in good standing.
The SBAP also is offering 36-month term loans between $50,000 and $200,000 with the first nine months of principal and interest payments waived. The loan program is focusing on small businesses that can adapt and continue to generate some sales.
Applicants for the loans need to be businesses with more than two years in operation with up to 500 employees, and have organizational documents in good standing.
- Those interested in applying for grants and loans should visit the Small Business Assistance Program page at GwinnettCounty.com.
Porter joins call asking removal of statue from courthouse
The effort to move a Confederate monument on the Gwinnett Historic Courthouse grounds got traction this week. District Attorney Danny Porter is now petitioning the Board of Commissioners to remove the statue from Lawrenceville. His opponent in the General Election, Patsy Austin-Gatson, also called for the monument to be removed from the grounds of the Gwinnett County Historic Courthouse during a protest rally on the square Sunday.
Porter and Austin-Gatson were in attendance at a peaceful demonstration, held on the Courthouse Square, calling for removal of the monument. After the event, Porter said: “I was proud to add my name to the petition asking to remove the Confederate monument. I fully support this peaceful effort and believe the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center would be a more appropriate venue than outside this courthouse.”
He added: “Some people might be surprised by my attendance and support of this. However, as Gwinnett’s District Attorney it is my responsibility to represent every citizen and ensure that there is an equitable distribution of justice for all. My office is for the people and this monument does not represent the people of Gwinnett.”
Unique send-off set for Leadership Gwinnett Class of 2020
With the current pandemic, the class of 2020 of Leadership Gwinnett will have a distinctive graduation ceremony. First, they will graduate via Zoom on July 15 at 9 a.m. But instead of meeting with former graduates in person at a reception, the new graduates on July 15 from 4-5 p.m. will gather at the parking lot of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce.
Former Leadership Gwinnett graduates are being invited to give the new graduates a welcome by “driving by” wearing masks with signs, cowbells, horns, et al, to fete the new graduates. Of course, all will be socially distanced from one another, as they cheer the Class of 2020 with the unique celebration.
4th annual household hazardous waste collection is July 18
The fourth annual household hazardous waste collection day is scheduled for Saturday, July 18 at the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds. The time will be from 8 a.m. until noon. Gwinnett County Fairgrounds is located at 2405 Sugarloaf Parkway in Lawrenceville.
Social distancing is observed for the safety of staff members, partners and participants. County residents may bring up to five containers of household hazardous waste during this free event. Containers may include laundry baskets, storage bins, copy paper boxes or similarly sized receptacles. Please bear in mind that containers will not be returned.
For examples of container sizes, visit the event page at www.gwinnettcb.org. Items that will not be collected during the Day include (but are not limited to): ammunition, radioactive waste, pharmaceuticals, and biomedical/biohazard waste.
- Click here to read the event press release, which details many of these measures.
- Click here to read items that are not acceptable for the collection event.
Leadership in Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin
From John Titus, Peachtree Corners: In her latest book, Goodwin examines presidential leadership by describing the actions of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson during times of crisis in their presidencies. For Lincoln it was the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation; for Theodore Roosevelt, the 1902 coal strike; for Franklin Roosevelt, his first 100 days; and for Johnson, the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As a prelude to these defining moments, she explores their ambition, the recognition of their leadership by others, their response to adversity and subsequent growth as preparation for the leadership they demonstrated in turbulent times.
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
Maybe the most stories Atlanta Speedway race came in 1992
(From previous edition)
Perhaps the most storied race in Atlanta Motor Speedway history came in such a year, 1992. On November 15 the Hooters 500 attracted a huge crowd to witness NASCAR legend Richard Petty’s final race and a battle among five drivers with a mathematical chance to win the championship. The favorite to win the championship, Davey Allison, crashed on the 253rd lap, leaving Georgia’s favorite son, Bill Elliott, and Alan Kulwicki to battle for the title.
Although Elliott won the race, Kulwicki finished second and led one more lap than Elliott, which gave him five bonus points for leading the most laps and the Winston Cup championship by ten points. After the race Richard Petty commented on the reaction of the fans: “Nobody left. There was so much going on. You had a race winner, a new champion, and me running my last race. I wish we had this much enthusiasm for all the races.”
Later the race gained additional significance as the first Winston Cup race for Jeff Gordon, who would dominate Winston Cup racing for the rest of the 1990s.
Although inexperienced or journeyman racers have occasionally won Winston Cup races at Atlanta, most often the winner of an Atlanta race is a skilled driver. Indeed, the winners of multiple races at Atlanta reads like a “who’s who” of Winston Cup racing. Multiple winners include Jeff Gordon, Fred Lorenzen, David Pearson, and Darrell Waltrip (each with three wins); Bobby Allison and Bill Elliott (each with five wins); Bobby Labonte and Richard Petty (each with six wins); Cale Yarborough (seven wins); and the late Dale Earnhardt, who holds the record with nine wins.
Since the 1997 renovation of the track, Atlanta Motor Speedway has become the fastest and one of the most competitive tracks on the Winston Cup circuit. Qualifying speeds at the track have exceeded 190 miles per hour in recent years, and the races themselves invariably feature more than thirty lead changes, almost double the average for a Winston Cup race.
Atlanta Motor Speedway also regularly hosts car shows, corporate functions, outdoor concerts, and even dog shows.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to http://georgiaencyclopedia.org
Friendly face, easy-to-spot setting is Today’s Mystery
The setting, the clues, the person may be familiar to many this time. However, the key point is to identify just where this statue is located. Send your ideas to elliott@brack.net and be sure to include your hometown.
The Mystery Photo from last week was first solved by someone who had actually seen that statue, which was sent in by Jerry Colley of Alpharetta. Mikki Dillon of Lilburn wrote: “I remember seeing this sculpture on the banks of the Chattahoochee River in Columbus, Ga on the River Walk. That location is very close to the art building at Columbus State University. I’m sure that’s why the sculpture is situated there. My friend and I have painted the river and the old power plant at the now-gone dam very close to the sculpture.”
George Graf of Palmyra, Va. nailed the location. “It’s a sculpture entitled ‘When Now Becomes Then’ located along the Chattahoochee Riverwalk, in Columbus, Ga. It is a bronze cast sculpture created by J. Seward Johnson, Jr. This statue is very life-like because it was created by casting a mold of a real person, then using the mold to form the bronze model. Johnson is best known for casting statues, like this one of real people doing everyday activities. The realistic imagery achieved by the casting and by the painting of the statue is the technique called ‘trompe l’oeil,’ or ‘deceives the eye.’ Johnson is also famous not only for his art, but for being a controversial heir to the Johnson and Johnson fortune.”
Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. added: “The statue was created by J. Seward Johnson, Jr. (1930-2020) in 1992. This particular piece is quite popular and appears in several public parks throughout the USA. Each rendition of this sculpture however is unique in that the drawing that the woman is working on is customized to correspond to the site where the statue is situated. if you were to peer over the shoulder of the statue, you would see that she is creating a colored drawing of the waterfall just upstream from her location.”
Travel photography of Frank Sharp now at Grayson library
Here’s the setting for a current exhibit of the travel photography of Roving Photographer Frank Sharp, now on display at the Grayson Library. The exhibit of 18 photos will remain until July 30. Note the social distancing at all libraries now. Hours are from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. each day except Sunday, which is open from noon to 5 p.m.
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