GwinnettForum | Number 21.24 | Mar. 26, 2021
REFURBISHED BUNGALOW: Retired school counselor Johnny Day has spruced up this 1917 bungalow on Thrasher Street (facing the railroad). He’s lived in the house since completing the work in 2017. To peek inside, and learn more about this, see below in EEB perspective. The house was previously owned by Danny Lay.
TODAY’S FOCUS: The Water Tower releases “Year of First” annual report
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Check out the 100-year-old bungalow restored in Norcross
ANOTHER VIEW: It’s a risky business for anyone to deny science today
SPOTLIGHT: MTI Baths Inc.
FEEDBACK: Some fall victim to problems with second vaccine shot
UPCOMING: Rail Museum announces group to lead $5 million campaign
NOTABLE: Three solar sites now in operation in South Georgia
RECOMMENDED: Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War by Nathaniel Philbeck
GEORGIA TIDBIT: William Rabun, as governor, clashes with Andrew Jackson
MYSTERY PHOTO: Handsome building may challenge you as Mystery Photo
The Water Tower releases “Year of First” annual report
By Kristan VandenHeuvel
BUFORD, Ga. | The Water Tower (TWT), the new water innovation hub here, has released its first annual report, the “Year of Firsts.” The report highlights significant progress made through impactful programming and campus construction at TWT during its first full year of operation. Established in late 2019, TWT’s mission is to be a thriving ecosystem of water innovation fueled by imagination, informed by research, and powered by pioneers.
Nick Masino, founding TWT board member and chairman, says: “The work completed so far and what’s planned will bring incredible technologies, water-related businesses, innovative researchers, and next generation of employees to Gwinnett.”
Accomplishments in TWT’s four key pillars of applied research, technology innovation, workforce development, and community engagement are featured throughout the report, as well as strategic partnerships that enhanced and supported the success in these areas. TWT’s powerhouse founding partners, including Mueller Water Technologies, Siemens, JEA, Gwinnett County, and Gresham Smith, as well as TWT’s innovation partners, are highlighted.
The past year saw the first workforce development classes with partner Georgia Water and Wastewater Institute (GWWI), which recently announced their northern Georgia training campus will be housed at TWT. The Lake Lanier Watershed 5-Year Research Plan, developed with stakeholders and technical experts over the past year, was published and the applied research projects to protect the lake will begin this year.
A technology developed by Olea Edge Technologies, demonstrated at TWT, provides an advanced asset management tool for water utility revenue. Engagement with the community included the first “Watering Hole” golf tournament fundraiser and virtual events such as networking, panels, and book clubs.
Melissa Meeker, chief executive officer of The Water Tower, says: “Through hard work, dedication, and a little bit of elbow grease, what started as an idea is coming to fruition before our eyes. We are energized as we continue to build on the momentum from our first year to serve water and wastewater utilities in our community and across the U.S.”
Construction of TWT’s Phase I Campus, funded through a key partnership with Gwinnett County and the Gwinnett Water and Sewerage Authority, is ahead of schedule. Beginning in early 2022, TWT will open its doors to innovators from across Georgia, the Southeast, the United States, and the world to contribute to its ecosystem of water innovation. TWT is currently has its offices near the site.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Check out the 100-year-old bungalow restored in Norcross
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
MARCH 26, 2021 | A 1917 Norcross bungalow got a new owner nearly 100 years after it was built, and has been beautifully remodeled by Johnny Day. This Thrasher Street house was built by William McElroy, who ran a coal business in the area. He is an ancestor of S.T. McElroy, who ran a lumber company in Norcross.
Now this house has been handsomely refurbished by Day, 72, a retired school teacher and counselor who was in the Forsyth County school system until he retired. He and his late wife, Teresa (Adams), bought the house in 2015, just months before she died from cancer.
Day says: “Teresa was a creative person and saw the potential in the house. She realized she was not going to pull through, but she wanted me to restore it and as she said ‘….Make it as beautiful as you can.’ I began the restoration in early 2016. It took nearly a year. I moved in in early 2017 when I sold my house in St. Ives. It’s so much a pleasure to sit on the front porch and watch the people go by and remember what Teresa saw in this house.”
The couple met at the University of Georgia, when they became badminton partners in a freshman PE class. She was from Decatur. They were married in 1971, and both were teachers in the Forsyth County school system. When babies arrived, she became a stay-at-home mother. Day has two sons, Adam living in Auburn, Indiana, while Matthew lives in East Atlanta. There are six grandchildren.
When originally living at Sturbridge Square in what would become Peachtree Corners, they became friends with another couple, Kendell and Gary Collier. Day remembers: “Soon Teresa and Kendell were trying to outdo each other in throwing dinner parties.”
On a trip together to Savannah, they realized that both couples enjoyed parties so much, so why not do it for a living? In 1987 Teresa and Kendell began an events company, originally called Magic Moments.
This company bought at auction on the courthouse steps the Flint Hill mansion, once owned by S.L. McElroy, on South Peachtree Street in Norcross, and began a catering business under the name “A Divine Event.” (Magic Moments is the corporate name, and A Divine Event is the catering branch.) In 1992, they added a 3,000 square foot ballroom to the Flint Hill property. Later they purchased a former bank building across Norcross-Tucker Road to hold functions, and then bought the Lively House, one of the oldest in the city, for their offices.
The two ladies thrived in this business, holding weddings and other events. Prior to Teresa Day dying, she sold the business to Kendall. Today this same company is thriving and has event facilities in Roswell (Primrose Cottage); in Lilburn (Little Gardens); in Lexington (Clover Leaf Farm) and in Newnan (Vinewood Stables). The company has 60 full time employees and 150 part timers.
Johnny Day is content in his remodeled home. “I really like the house the way it has been restored, the neighbors, the area, the ease of walking to downtown Norcross for the restaurants and shops and concerts. People walking by tell me how much they love what we’ve done to the house. And I even enjoy the trains coming by often, and I’m used to them now. Being here is great fun for me.”
No doubt William McElroy would be pleased with the restoration of his former home.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
It’s a risky business for anyone to deny science today
By David Simmons
NORCROSS, Ga. | It’s risky business for people to deny science these days.
President Trump called it “The China Virus.” I call it “The Wuhan.” Call it what you will, how do you know what the science really is? It sure has changed. First off, Dr. Anthony Fauci (“The Great Fauci”) said that masks wouldn’t help at all, then he said that they would. Now, months later, he wants everyone to wear two masks. Go figure!
(Science has been constantly changing. It probably will continue to change, so why should people who are resistant to buying into the current, not so dead solid perfect science of the day, be castigated as science deniers? What was science yesterday may or not be the science of today.)
Another example of how the science has changed is that a year ago people were ordering stuff to be delivered to their home, then spending hours disinfecting everything before bringing it in. The experts said, watch out, you can get The Wuhan by touching an infected doorknob. Or a grocery cart handle! And then there were the memes showing how one sneezing person could send The Wuhan up and over 7 foot grocery store shelves and infect victims two and three aisles away!!! That was the so-called science then. Now? Not so much.
All the while, the woke were exclaiming, “Wear a mask, you science denier, you are killing people! Have you no conscience?” Meanwhile people who were sick from all the normal ways were suddenly denied the comfort of having their loved ones be there with them in their time of need and died alone. And although the cancer, heart disease, or flu took them home, some hospitals labeled it The Wuhan, because it was fiscally advantageous to the hospital. Science or money?
States shut everything down, destroying small businesses while the Big Box Stores thrive, and so did the economy and the stock market. The teachers’ unions refused to allow their members to go to work. School aged kids were forced to try to educate themselves, while stuck at home with no highly needed social interaction. Their parents tried to figure out how to make a living and educate their children at the same time.
The word was, we just need two weeks for us to flatten the curve. It’s been over a year now, but it still isn’t enough. Blue States shut down, stayed that way, and suffered. Red States re-opened, and have bloomed, and The Wuhan numbers for all states came out about the same. Follow the science? Please.
For almost a year now the gold standard was social distance, six feet at all times and wear a mask. But a couple of days ago the CDC decided for schools three feet is plenty. Which science are we supposed to follow?
And at Warp Speed, we have a new vaccine that isn’t a vaccine at all, but a not fully tested experimental gene therapy. Odds are that shortly you will need proof of vaccination or be denied all kinds of rights and opportunities. The woke are overjoyed!
Now we hear that airlines may soon require proof of vaccination to board their planes. That’s scary, the tip of the iceberg. What’s next?
I’m telling you. It’s scary times. Why? Because there are hordes of vicious people out there who will strike out at anyone who thinks differently from themselves. Cancel culture is real.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
MTI Baths Inc.
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Some fall victim to problems with second vaccine shot
Editor, the Forum:
We have just had our second Pfizer vaccine dose on March 15. So here is my wisdom: Stock up on chicken noodle or stars or rice soup, several bottles of Gatorade, ginger ale, plain saltine crackers, white or wheat bread to make dry toast or whatever bland food you like.
Nothing happened on Day 1 or 2, though maybe felt a little out of it, but nothing I couldn’t handle. But, WHAM, Day 3 really hit me home (my husband was still feeling okay). It wasn’t until Day 4 that my husband was down for the count, but by then I was starting to feel somewhat human. Here’s the cautionary tale, just because you may feel somewhat fine, stick with the plan of soft foods like soup and lots of liquids.
I kind of let my guard down and thought I could handle something light like a salad and a plain baked potato, but nope, not ready yet. After I dragged myself out of bed to call the Emory Healthcare hotline, the RN on the phone said to “Treat the symptoms.” We did. I eventually felt better.
Not everyone will have these reactions. In fact it’s a small percentage of us who will develop reactions at all, lucky us. Getting the vaccine is well worth the “slight” discomfort. We are all doing our part by trying to save mankind. TAKE THE VACCINE!
— Sara Rawlins, Lawrenceville
Feels many are leaving the Republican Party
Editor, the Forum:
The way that I presently understand the political set up in the United States now is that the Republican Party makes up 25 percent of the electorate. The Democrats have more, but I am not sure how much more. That puts the Independents really in control, with probably 40-50 percent of the electorate.
To go about like Stacey Abrams did and register Blacks as Democrats, that means the next election is not going to be enough. Their efforts are, at least a bit of them, better oriented towards the Independents. The percentages that I mentioned are pre-election percentages, from what the news is reporting hundreds of thousands are leaving the Republican Party as I write.
— Raleigh Perry, Buford
The changing times require changes in leadership
Editor, the Forum:
You need to accept change. The changing time and demographic require change in leadership. Your loyalty should be to the system, not to a man. People come and go. You must commit not wish to the continued success of Gwinnett County Public Schools.
— Renee Haygood, Lawrenceville
Dear Renee: I’ve been in Gwinnett for 47 years, and seen nothing but change. And yes, this change has been good for Gwinnett, and no doubt, will continue to be. –eeb
Agrees with recent assessment about School Board action
Editor, the Forum:
Yes, I totally agree with your assessment of the firing of Mr. Wilbanks. Finally someone put into words what we all knew and were thinking!! Kudos for having the backbone to say it!!
— Annette Summerour, Duluth
Remembers Gwinnett marker about Eastern Continental
Editor, the Forum:
About a couple of years ago, my wife, Carolyn, and I saw a marker indicating the Eastern Continental Divide next to Zion Hill Baptist here on Ridge Road. But now it seems to be gone. We are wondering if it was stolen, covered up or what. We would like to have this marker found or replaced. Does anyone else remember it, or know something about it?
And if we can find it, who do we need to call to get it erected again? We hope someone will know something about this. Have them call me at 770-945-3611.
— Ron Buice, Buford
Dear Ron: Indeed, this is a significant item uniquely situated in our county, and we need to publicize the Eastern Continental Divide. Since Gwinnett takes water out of one basin, and uses the majority of it in another, that’s just one incident of its importance. Thanks for bringing this to people’s attention. –eeb
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. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Send feedback and letters to: elliott@brack.net
Rail Museum announces group to lead $5 million campaign
The “Fast Track to the Future” fundraising campaign to benefit the Southeastern Railway Museum (SRM) has announced its campaign leadership. Brooks Coleman, former Georgia state representative, will chair the initiative’s Campaign Leadership Council to underwrite the museum’s five-year, $1 million program to expand and enhance Georgia’s Official Transportation History Museum located in Duluth.
Coleman says: “Over the last 50 years, the Southeastern Railway Museum has provided an educational atmosphere to bring to life the cultural, technological and historical importance of railroads and land transportation to our region. This is an extraordinary venue for children, youth and adults to see and touch and understand how transportation transformed our country and its economy. I’m excited to play a role in helping to revitalize this one-of-a-kind museum in Gwinnett County and North Metro Atlanta,” said Coleman.
Joining him on the Campaign Leadership Council are Nancy Harris, mayor of Duluth; Lisa Anders, executive director of Explore Gwinnett; Rob Marbury, president of Marbury Creative Group in Duluth; Dr. Mary Kay Murphy, District 3 Gwinnett Board of Education; Connor Poe, of Norfolk Southern Corporation; and other corporate and community leaders from the region. They includes Dan Adkins, John Bacon; Steve Dorough; Dave Fox, Sue Kelly, Kelly Kelkeberg; Warren McClellan; Kay Montgomery, Brian Phibin; John Pollock; Randy Pirkle; Matt Reeves; Allen Rider; and Mark Williams.
Over the next five years, through the Fast Track to the Future program, SRM will:
- Develop a classroom at the Museum to host elementary, middle school and high school classes visiting SRM to study transportation.
- Revitalize the Museum’s collection of historic railway locomotives and cars to enhance the visitors’ experience.
- Come up with a new Master Site Plan to better portray the impact of transportation on our country; make the Museum grounds more visitor friendly while improving safety and security.
- Recruit a full time professional Executive Director to implement the dynamic Fast Track to the Future program.
GGC returns to in-person graduation rites on May 13
Georgia Gwinnett College will hold three in-person spring commencement ceremonies on Thursday, May 13 at the Infinite Energy Arena in Duluth. More than 700 spring 2021 graduates will be recognized in socially distanced ceremonies beginning at 8:30 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Graduates from the Class of 2020 will also be invited to participate in the spring 2021 ceremony. All graduates who attend in person must register though their graduate registration portal and will be assigned a ceremony based on school and class year once registered.
Every student will receive at least two guest tickets to the event. The number of guests per graduate will be based on current public health guidance and may increase closer to the ceremony date. Graduates must pre-register their guests through the graduate registration portal.
In accordance with safety measures, attendees must wear masks and practice social distancing. All ceremonies will be live streamed for those unable to attend.
- For more information and frequently asked questions, visit ggc.edu/commencement.
Downtown Norcross merchants plan Easter Stroll April 3
An Easter Parade is coming to Gwinnett County. Well, not so much a parade, as a stroll. It’ll take place April 3 in Norcross at 11 a.m., sponsored by the Downtown Norcross business merchants.
Those wanting to participate in the parade will gather at One Heart Church before departing down North Peachtree Street, led by the city’s trolley. The stroll will end in the Crossing restaurant parking lot. Easter eggs filled with candy and gift certificates will be hidden in downtown Norcross for hunters to find when the stroll ends.
Tammy Norwood of Social Fox Brewing says that the merchants will have 1,500 Easter eggs hidden in the downtown area. “We encourage people to dress up in their best frock or seersucker outfit, wear a hat, walk the route and enjoy the stroll.”
Three solar sites now in operation in South Georgia
Three solar facilities that provide renewable energy to Jackson EMC have been completed, according to Green Power EMC, the renewable energy provider for 38 electric cooperatives in Georgia. With the completion of the facilities, 200-megawatts of solar energy can entirely serve renewable energy to more than 35,000 homes in Georgia.
The plans for these three now completed projects were first announced in 2017 by partners Green Power EMC and Silicon Ranch, one of the nation’s largest independent solar power producers. Jackson EMC is one of 38 cooperative members that make up Green Power EMC.
The three solar sites in south Georgia were developed, funded and built by Silicon Ranch, which also owns, operates and maintains the solar arrays in each facility. Green Power EMC is purchasing all the energy and environmental attributes generated by the facilities on behalf of its member EMCs for the next 30 years.
The first site, known as Hazlehurst III, opened in December 2019 and is a 40-megawatt facility located in Jeff Davis County. In August 2020, Silicon Ranch commissioned the second site, the 74-megawatt Terrell Solar Farm, in Terrell County. In December 2020, the partners commissioned the third and final site in the portfolio, Snipesville I, an 86-megawatt facility also located in Jeff Davis County. Jackson EMC receives renewable energy from each of the facilities.
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War by Nathaniel Philbeck
From Susan McBayer, Sugar Hill: If you view the Pilgrim myth with romanticized nostalgia, this book may alter that. Only half the Mayflower passengers were the radical religious rebels called ‘Separatists’ who arrived in America in 1620. Not all those people were filled with sweetness and light. They believed their God sanctioned everything they did and they did some ungodly things. They wanted religious freedom, yet they would not grant such freedom to others. Their first years here included disharmony, disease, hardship, killing, arson, stealing and beheading. Within the first few decades, the Plymouth settlers became bitter enemies of the Indian tribe that had befriended them upon arrival. The second generation was much more interested in acquiring money than in pleasing God and they sold more than 1,000 Indians as slaves. This eye-opening book concludes with a detailed description of King Philip’s War in which the English and the Indians nearly annihilated each.
- 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
William Rabun, as governor, clashes with Andrew Jackson
William Rabun served as governor of Georgia from 1817 until his death in 1819. He was born in Halifax County, N.C., on April 8, 1771, to Sarah Warren and Matthew Rabun. He moved with his father to Greene County (which later became part of Hancock County) in central Georgia in 1785. The family home in Powellton is located ten miles northeast of Sparta. In 1793 he married Mary Battle, and the couple had one son and six daughters.
Self-educated in the backwoods tradition of reading and observation, Rabun was a devout Baptist. He was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives from Hancock County in 1805 and served in the Georgia senate from 1810 until 1817.
Due to his position as president of the Senate, Rabun became the ex-officio governor of Georgia on March 4, 1817, when Governor David B. Mitchell resigned to accept U.S. president James Madison’s appointment as U.S. agent to the Creek Nation. Mitchell replaced famed Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins, who had recently died.
In November 1817 Rabun was elected by the legislature to a full term as governor from the Democratic-Republican Party, and he pushed for both more support of free public schools and internal improvements for the navigation of the state’s rivers.
During the First Seminole War (1817-18), Governor Rabun called out the state militia, under the command of General Edmund Pendleton Gaines, to respond to raids on southern Georgia settlements. He ordered the Hopaunee and Philemmee Indian villages to be destroyed for their suspected participation in the raids on white settlers. By mistake Captain Obed Wright burned the Creek village of the Chehaws, and his men killed ten inhabitants. Andrew Jackson, a general and the future president of the United States, had promised to protect the village, and he wanted the captain prosecuted for murder and held in leg irons at the pleasure of the president.
Rabun rejected the authority of the federal government to intervene in the affairs of a state, and especially over a state-controlled militia. He famously remarked to Jackson, “When the liberties of the people of Georgia shall have been prostrated at the feet of a military despotism, then, and not till then, will your imperious doctrine be submitted to.” The governor went on to criticize the general for his failure to protect white Georgians from the Seminoles and the Creeks. Although he created a bitter rift with Jackson, Rabun endeared himself to the Georgia people and had the full support of the state legislature.
While home in Powellton between legislative sessions, Rabun caught a fever and died unexpectedly on October 24, 1819. The president of the senate, Mathew Talbot, assumed the governor’s office, and two months later the General Assembly created Rabun County, ceded from Cherokee territory in northeast Georgia. Jesse Mercer, a prominent Baptist minister, delivered a sermon in memory of the late governor at the behest of the legislature.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to http://georgiaencyclopedia.org
Handsome building may challenge you as Mystery Photo
Where do you think this handsome structure is located? Be careful. You first blush might not be the right answer. Figure out this location and send your answer to elliott@brack.net to include your hometown.
The most recent Mystery Photo turned out to be somewhat tricky, though lots of people got it right. George Graf of Palmyra, Va. nailed it, identifying Fort Pulaski on Cockspur Island between Savannah and Tybee Island, Ga. He added: “By the turn of the 20th century, the fort began to fall into disrepair. In an effort to save the old fort, the War Department finally declared Fort Pulaski a National Monument on October 15, 1924 by presidential proclamation of Calvin Coolidge. The monument was transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service on August 10, 1933. Repairs were then started, and members of the Civilian Conservation Corps arrived on Cockspur Island and began rehabilitation of the fort. Fort Pulaski was opened to the public only for a short time before the beginning of World War II, which would see further use of Cockspur Island as a section base for the US Navy. After the war, Fort Pulaski reverted to the control of the Park Service and was administratively listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. Its museum opened in the 1980s.”
The photograph came from Stewart Woodard of Lawrenceville.
Others recognizing it included Beverly Paff, Lawrenceville; Raleigh Perry, Buford; Ashley Herndon, Oceanside, Calif.; David Will, Lilburn; Randy Brunson, Duluth; Matthew Holtkamp, Buford; Mikki Dillon, Lilburn; Lou Camerio, Lilburn; Herb Hoffman, Duluth; David Earl Tyre, Jesup; Susan McBayer of Sugar Hill; Rick Krause of Lilburn; and Bob Foreman of Duluth, who added: “I think it is really interesting that the curved lines in the floor show where the cannons were positioned so they could be aimed and fired through openings in the walls of the fort.”
Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. added: “Fort Pulaski was claimed by the State of Georgia before the Civil War, and was occupied by Confederate troops from January 1861 to April 1862. The only battle at Fort Pulaski occurred on April 10-11, 1862 between Union forces on nearby Tybee Island and Confederate troops inside the fort. Union troops occupied Fort Pulaski from April 1862 until the end of the Civil War. After 1862, Fort Pulaski was used as a military and political prison, and prior to Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, the fort became a destination on the Underground Railroad for slaves searching for freedom.”
Opening in the spring
Here’s a conception of what the now-abuilding Duluth Library will look like. The new library is expected to open this spring, and is located on a site between the Duluth City Hall and the rail tracks. A rail viewing platform will be a highlight on the back of the property. The architects for Duluth are LAS – Lord, Aeck and Sargent, Inc. of Atlanta.
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