GwinnettForum | Number 21.47 | June 22, 2021
SHOWING THE COLORS. Mackenzie Snell, a graduate arts journalism student from Syracuse University, snapped this photo recently of a flag flying above Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. What a great angle! See something you think our readers would enjoy? Snap a shot and send it along to elliott@brack.net. Copyrighted photo by Mackenzie Snell.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Thanks, Alvin Wilbanks, for a job well done as superintendent
EEB PERSPECTIVE: With Covid falling, times are good for local businesses
ANOTHER VIEW: Looking at Eisenhower Republicans compared to today’s GOP
SPOTLIGHT: PCOM Georgia
FEEDBACK: This serious fisherman always wondered about cricket boxes
UPCOMING: Youth Police Academy accepting applications for July classes
NOTABLE: County marks first official Juneteenth observance
OBITUARIES: Hill Jordan, Jim Steele
RECOMMENDED: Movie: The Father, by Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton
GEORGIA TIDBIT: UGA swimming programs become powers in NCAA competition
MYSTERY PHOTO: Check out another lighthouse as this issue’s Mystery Photo
Thanks, Alvin Wilbanks, for a job well done as superintendent
(Editor’s Note: The following article comes from an educator who worked for 25 years with the Gwinnett Schools, with his last years as executive director to the superintendent. He was for 21 years the principal of St. Pius X High School, then moved to become president of its foundation before retiring.)
By Steve Spellman
DUNWOODY, Ga. | As the final days of Superintendent Alvin Wilbanks’ tenure with the Gwinnett County Public Schools approach, I am one of many who has had the honor and privilege of working closely with him for the benefit of the young people of Gwinnett County.
Spellman
Leaders with the quality of Alvin Wilbanks are very rare. According to the U.S. Department of Education, the average tenure of a school district superintendent lasts five to six years (most common is a three or four year tenure). Mr. Wilbanks has served 25 years. It would be difficult to find a superintendent who has so successfully led a school system that has undergone the historical transformation of Gwinnett – an ever-growing student enrollment, expanding diversity, ongoing building needs and the focused recruitment and retention of outstanding teachers.
When first appointed in 1996, Mr. Wilbanks’ primary goal was to immediately lay the foundation for a system of world class schools. His efforts toward that goal have been untiring these last 25 years. His calibrated focus on data driven decisions, especially in “Teaching and learning, with an emphasis on learning” has been a key cornerstone of his efforts.
Wilbanks
Mr. Wilbanks ensured Gwinnett recruited and hired quality personnel for its positions and gave each employee outstanding resources to be able to do his/her job. With the Board of Education’s complete support, the results have been validated year after year. Based on any measure or benchmark, especially for a system making the demographic transition to a minority-majority system, the school system has been extremely successful. Awarded two National Broad Awards, (the only school system in the country to attain such high levels of success), the Gwinnett County Public Schools System has earned national recognition.
Mr. Wilbanks’ leadership has been recognized by two U.S. Secretaries of Education and three Georgia governors, who have all requested his assistance in developing education reform at both the federal and state levels. He also worked in developing a project close to his heart – a statewide Leadership Academy to improve the quality and training of educational leaders throughout Georgia.
For years, this vibrant school system has attracted families to move to Gwinnett for a quality education for their children. The economic impact this suburban county over the years has been more than significant. Mr. Wilbanks has worked closely with the business community and with higher educational institutions to ensure Gwinnett County would continue an upward trajectory as a family-oriented county that offered a quality of life, including places to learn, live, work and thrive.
We owe Mr. Wilbanks a deep gratitude for devoting his life to making the Gwinnett County Public Schools System world class. His many contributions to the young students, their parents, the educators and all the citizens of Gwinnett are deeply appreciated.
Thank you, Alvin Wilbanks, for a job well done!
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
With Covid falling, times are good for local businesses
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
JUNE 22, 2021 | Talking with business people throughout Gwinnett, the times are good. The fallout from Covid seriously hurt some companies, but that appears to be over for most. We talked to one Gwinnett businessman, and his words were straight-forward: “Sales are booming!”
While we won’t identify him, let us say that his company serves five southeastern states, with 600 employees. About 250 are in the Metro Atlanta area, and his firm has $620 million in sales. No small-fry.
“We are up 20 percent in sales. Our profit would be up significantly higher, but we are packing a reserve account for a major operating system conversion. Even with that, profits are at record levels. Historically, our best years are when we first recover from a recession. Sales run over our expenses faster than expenses can increase.”
However, one problem has arisen: “Customer service lags because of a personnel shortage. We currently have 25 vacancies. That’s also a new record for us.”
Prices from suppliers have significantly increased after Covid, for a number of reasons. “We have also passed through a record number of price increases. Suppliers that raised prices early in the year are realizing they didn’t go up enough. Usually they try to get ahead of what they expect to happen to their cost over the next 12 months.
“We add a half percent to each increase in our prices for what we call ‘breakage.’ That’s our term for customers that refuse an increase or old quotes we need to honor. The price increases are coming so fast and furious that no one can complain. Even chronic complainers (home builders) are numb and overwhelmed. We just pass through what comes, and don’t attempt to anticipate general price increases.”
What this CEO sees more of today are supply chain interruptions. “They are too numerous to discuss. A consistent flow of goods on a predictable schedule is a relic of the past. The Biden economic plan should fix all this. A tax increase to generate a full-blown recession will reset the table. Those 25 vacancies will become 25 people we don’t have to lay off.”
The only source of revenue is the retail customer. Every penny of taxes is paid by the ultimate consumer.” The businessman recognizes that when earnings are reduced……you have just three options if you want to stay in business:
- Raise prices.
- Cut expenses.
- Increase sales.
“The last option exists mostly on paper. Unless you have tremendous elasticity in your overhead, an increase in sales will increase your expenses. Recovery will require an unrealistic increase in sales. The first two options are the only viable ones. When taxes go up, retained earnings go down. Now you have to react.”
He adds that we hear talk of higher taxes: “They say ‘We are only going to raise taxes on incomes over $400,000.’ That’s the biggest lie since we were told ‘You can keep your doctor under our insurance plan.’ All you have to do is look in the mirror to see the ‘ultimate source of the dollar.’ That’s who ultimately pays every penny of taxes.”
The businessman gave a parting word: “My father told me years ago, ‘Don’t try to change the world. Just figure out how it works, and make it work for you.’ If some force reduces my retained earnings, I fix it. I’m not alone in this. That’s how the world works.”
That’s the way one guy see it in this post-Covid world. Thanks, Mr. Businessman!
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Eisenhower Republicans compared to today’s GOP
By Ashley Herndon
OCEANSIDE, Calif. | There is a difference between Dwight Eisenhower’s Republican Party and today’s bunch.
Herndon
In domestic affairs, President Eisenhower supported a policy of “modern Republicanism” that occupied the middle ground between liberal Democrats and the conservative wing of the Republican Party. President Eisenhower continued New Deal programs, expanded Social Security, and prioritized a balanced budget over tax cuts. His record show he was concerned about and worked for all the people…not the few.
The country during the 50s is what current rightists claim they wish would return. Bring it on! The growth and pride was enormous. Hmmm. This is totally different from the Trumpian Party of today. It seems when you stop teaching and abiding by factual history, minds and hearts get misshapen.
My oh my, today’s bunch are proof of how mis-education and propaganda cause times and hearts to change. Which draws a comparison of how DJT, the most recent former President, and friends ran and would love to continue running things.
Way back in 2017, Livia Gershon, a freelance journalist based in New Hampshire, wrote: “Today when politicians talk about reforming SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), Medicaid, or Medicare, we can be pretty certain they mean reducing benefits. But almost 50 years ago, politicians proposed, and sometimes won, social benefit reforms that actually made aid programs more comprehensive.”
Richard P. Nathan is the former director of the Rockefeller Institute of Government and the Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the State University of New York at Albany. He explained: one important agent of this effort was none other than Richard Nixon.
“Nixon was a known opponent of expansion of federal benefits under Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society program. Years after he left office, his domestic policy chief recalled Nixon thought the programs wouldn’t be able to fulfill their promise with African-Americans because he believed they were inherently less intelligent than whites.
“Like his Republican counterparts today, Nixon framed his ideas about reform in terms of getting people to work and giving states flexibility.” But Nathan writes, he only called for greater local control over things like education, workforce training, direct social services, and law enforcement. Nixon believed transfers of cash and in-kind services were federal responsibilities, modeling them after Social Security.
While many of Nixon’s proposals foundered, he did end up expanding the welfare state.
According to Nathan, Nixon’s most ambitious effort was the Family Assistance Plan, a precursor of the concept of universal basic income, which promised to replace unpopular welfare and social services with a simple cash payment. He presented the idea as an extension of decentralization, allowing individual recipients to choose how to spend the money rather than providing services through a bureaucracy. “The best judge of each family’s priorities is that family itself,” Nixon said.
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PCOM Georgia
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Established in 2005, PCOM Georgia is a private, not-for-profit, accredited institute of higher education dedicated to the healthcare professions. The Suwanee, Ga., campus is affiliated with Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, a premier osteopathic medical school with a storied history. Doctoral degrees in Pharmacy (PharmD), Physical Therapy (DPT) and Osteopathic Medicine (DO) are offered at PCOM Georgia. Graduate degrees at the master’s level can be earned in Biomedical Sciences and Physician Assistant (PA) Studies. Emphasizing “a whole person approach to care,” PCOM Georgia focuses on educational excellence, interprofessional education and service to the wider community. To learn more about how PCOM Georgia is shaping the future of health, visit www.pcom.edu or call 678-225-7500.
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This serious fisherman always wondered about cricket boxes
Editor, the Forum:
Really enjoyed your article on cricket boxes! I have often wondered about who designed this very useful item. I have one of those boxes. Most of us realize they are necessary for us serious fishermen.
No “serious” fisherman is without one down here in God’s country. One can put a lanyard on it and carry it on the chest. It sure beats looking around the boat for the bait can! Besides, the cricket is always at the port when you need a fresh bait!
— David Earl Tyre, Jesup
Dear David Earl: We got several comments on this article. And I guess my own father was a “serious fisherman,” for he had one of these Duluth cricket boxes. –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. The views of letters are the opinion of the contributor. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Send feedback and letters to: elliott@brack.net.
Youth Police Academy accepting application for July classes
The Gwinnett Police Department is now accepting applications for its summer Youth Police Academy in July. Middle school and high school students will have an opportunity to learn about the Gwinnett Police’s role in the community, the services it provides, and how officers enforce local and state laws.
The Youth Police Academy is free of charge and is a one-week session, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- July 12 – 16: Current or upcoming middle school students (grades 6 – 8); and
- July 19 – 23: Current or upcoming high school students (grades 9 – 12).
The deadline to apply for the summer Youth Police Academy is June 23. Applications can be submitted by email to Sergeant Eric Rooks at William.Rooks@GwinnettCounty.com or by fax to 678-27-.0011. For more information, call 770-513-5119.
County marks first official Juneteenth observance
Gwinnett County and the United Ebony Society teamed up on Gwinnett’s first celebration of Juneteenth after it was declared a national holiday. It was held Saturday at Rhodes Jordan Park.
Gwinnett Community Outreach Director Shaunieka Taylor says: “We were excited to partner with the United Ebony Society for this celebration, We can commemorate Juneteenth, not just for its impact on the lives of African Americans, but for its indelible mark on American history.”
The Juneteenth Celebration follows a soil collection ceremony hosted by the county, city of Lawrenceville, the Gwinnett Historical Restoration and Preservation Board and the Gwinnett Remembrance Coalition near the Gwinnett Historic Courthouse. The ceremony honored the life of Charles Hale — a Black man who in 1911 was kidnapped and lynched by a white mob in downtown Lawrenceville.
Annandale at Suwanee has new update of its website
Annandale Village, a Gwinnett nonprofit that serves adults with developmental disabilities and acquired brain injuries, is launching a new website. Founded in 1969 and located in Suwanee, Annandale is a nationally recognized leader among nonprofit organizations and is the only nonprofit in the southeastern United States that serves individuals with developmental disabilities and acquired brain injuries at all levels of care throughout an individual’s lifetime – a full continuum of service and care.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Adam Pomeranz says: “The website project had been on the forefront of our minds for years, and the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a pause for the Marketing Department at Annandale. The pandemic gave the team the time it needed to focus on a project of this magnitude.”
Annandale’s marketing team partnered with Skot Waldron and his team at Multiple, Inc. to create and develop the website. Additionally, Annandale partnered with Jennifer and Rob Mottola with East2West Creative, to provide the photo imagery that captures the spirit of Annandale’s residents, affectionately called “Villagers.”
- For more information of Annandale Village’s new website, contact Kayce Pearceat kayce.pearce@annandale.org. Visit the new website at annandale.org.
Moneypenny promotes Gonnello to sales manager
Gonnello
Bobbi Jo Gonnello has been appointed as Sales Manager at the outsourced communications company, Moneypenny, with headquarters in Duluth. She was formerly a professional softball player and trainer, at both national and international level. She specializes in Fastpitch Softball and Baseball Instruction and trained the German National Team in 2005 and the Italian team in 2004-5. Moneypenny provides phone answering, live chat and digital communication services to businesses.
Special Needs School gets additional co-bank grant
The Special Needs Schools of Gwinnett was awarded a $5,000 grant through a nomination by Jackson EMC to the CoBank Sharing Success Program. The grant will assist the Lawrenceville-based nonprofit with purchasing an interactive SMART Board for each classroom, which will create an immersive educational experience for students with special needs.
In 2020, Jackson EMC provided the Special Needs Schools of Gwinnett with a $25,000 donation, which was made possible using margin refunds that had been unclaimed by the electric cooperative’s members for five years. Legislation passed in 2005 permits Georgia’s electric cooperatives to make charitable, education and economic development contributions of unclaimed margin refunds.
The Jackson EMC donation made the nonprofit organization eligible for a grant nomination from the CoBank Sharing Success program. The program matches contributions — up to $10,000 —made by its cooperative members, including Jackson EMC.
Hill Jordan
Hilliard Rhodes Jordan, Jr., 74, best known as “Hill,” passed away at his home in Skylake on June 18, 2021. As in life, his death marks a milestone in the lives of those who knew and loved him.
Jordan
Services for Hill will be held at First Baptist Church, Lawrenceville, on Tuesday, July 6, 2021. Visitation will begin at 1 p.m., with services at 3 p.m.
Born on June 6, 1947, Hill spent his childhood on Culver Street in Lawrenceville. He graduated from Central Gwinnett High School in 1965, staying close to his classmates for over 50 years. After college at Emory, the draft in Korea, and law school at the University of Georgia, Hill practiced law with his father, mayor of Lawrenceville, Rhodes Jordan Sr. Years of legal practice, marriage and children, gave Hill the opportunity to become deeply involved in the welfare of his community. He was a servant leader in his church, its youth group, the American Red Cross, AID Gwinnett, the Kiwanis Club, and a variety of projects over the years.
After the death of his father, Hill closed their law practice and found his calling in the world of secondary education. In 1996, he joined the staff at Phoenix High School in Lawrenceville, and spent a decade as a teacher to the students in his government and law classes. Retiring in 2008, he continued to give time to projects he valued, serving as president of the Property Owners Association in the northeast Georgia community of Skylake, as well as a member of the Scholarship, Emergency Preparedness and Trail committees.
If the stories told by his friends are to be believed, Hill was a man whose life story was checkered enough to be herringbone. He was raised with the Baptist faith and a “catch the wind” spirit, which his sense of self confidence never questioned. His charm and manners belied a wicked wit and rejection of foolishness and pretension. We all learned early on not to ask his opinion unless we were ready to hear it.
He would always look you in the eye. His love of travel and adventure still serve as springboards for stories among his friends. He could find humor in almost any situation, and somehow make us believe that, whatever the challenge, things would turn out all right in the end.
His spirit has enriched the lives of so many. In our sorrow, we find comfort, knowing that his life had meaning and touched the future in ways that we are yet to see.
Hill is survived by his wife, Denise Hartzell, daughters Allison Jordan (Ken), Emily Carter (Chris), and Annie Zonneveld; sisters Judy Jordan Johnson (Allan), and June Franklin (Barry). He adored his granddaughters, Elizabeth and Kathryn Carter, and Olivia Zonneveld, his nephew Stephen Franklin (Melissa), niece Kelley Munger (Evan), their children and an extended family of great nieces, nephews and cousins.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to:
- Children First/CIS, P.O. Box 16695, Asheville, N.C. 28816;
- The Michael J. Fox Foundation, P.O. Box 5014, Hagerstown, Md. 21741-5014; or to
- Charles Smithgall Humane Society, P.O. Box 2090, Cleveland, Ga. 30528.
Steele
Jim Steele
GwinnettForum has learned of the death of Jim Steele of Lawrenceville and Toccoa, former chief operating officer of the Gwinnett County Public Schools. Look for the Friday edition for information on his death.
Movie: The Father
Co-written and directed by Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton
From Karen J. Harris, Stone Mountain: Anthony Hopkins stars as a man stricken with dementia in the mesmerizing and heart-rendering film. He lives with his daughter but seems losing the ark of events as day seemingly follows day. His interactions with his daughter become muddled. He mistakenly thinks his dead daughter, is still alive. Hopkins is very dependent upon his watch, which keeps him oriented and focused. When it is missing, he is certain that the home aide has stolen it. The slide of his grasp on reality is slow, crippling and the viewer will clearly see what happens to those who lose their minds in this way. As the film moves to the denouement, he cries piteously, ‘I feel like I have lost all my leaves, the branches, the wind and rain.’ This is an important film for all to view. This film shows the toll dementia takes upon a family.
- 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
UGA swimming programs become NCAA powers
The University of Georgia (UGA) swim program was founded in 1926 by Athens YMCA athletic director C. W. Jones. Over the next six decades the program expanded to include diving and added a women’s team in 1974. In the 1990s the team became a consistent top finisher in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and a competitive power in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships. As of 2005, the men’s team has finished in the top 15 in the country every year since 1996; the women’s team began placing in the top five in 1996 and has won first or second at the NCAA championships every season since 1999.
In 1995 UGA opened the multimillion-dollar Ramsey Student Center for Physical Activities. Inside, the 2,000-seat Gabrielsen Natatorium contains state-of-the-art swimming facilities. The 844,000-gallon 50-meter competition pool has movable bulkheads allowing four different configurations of the pool layout. The diving pool has nine diving boards, of various heights and types, overlooking a 16.5-foot-deep pool of 525,000 gallons and is equipped with an air sparger system that cushions a diver’s entry into the water.
In 1926 Jones agreed to coach the fledgling men’s team, which practiced at the Athens YMCA because UGA lacked a pool. Jones remained the head coach until his retirement in 1942, when UGA physical education teacher B. W. “Bump” Gabrielsen was appointed head coach. In 1943 UGA built Stegeman Hall, which housed the team’s practice facility for more than 50 years.
Although Gabrielsen had no scholarships to offer, he was successful in recruiting strong swimmers, including Reid Patterson, a Kentuckian who had never swum competitively before joining the UGA team. Patterson became UGA’s first NCAA swimming champion in 1953, when he won the 100-yard freestyle at the NCAA championship meet. Patterson broke the American record in the event and was a member of the 1956 U.S. Olympic team.
In the late 1940s the team began amassing a series of successes. UGA placed third at the 1948 SEC championship meet before winning the conference championship in 1951, 1952, and 1955. Team members Charles Cooper, Charles Guyer, Patterson, Hal Stolz, and Bill Volk repeatedly scored at the NCAA championships, although the team as a whole did not place.
When Gabrielsen retired in 1966, his assistant Richard Wammock took over as head coach for the 1966-67 season. Alan Gentry coached the team from 1967-70, followed by Pete Scholle from 1971-82. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s the men’s team consistently finished in the middle of the SEC but had a strong dual meet record under Scholle.
(To be continued)
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Check out another lighthouse as this issue’s Mystery Photo
If we see a lighthouse photo, and we haven’t used it before, we’re suckers for making that a Mystery Photo. So here’s another lighthouse. Now figure out where it’s located, and send your answer to elliott@brack.net to include your home town.
Last week the Mystery Photo was nearby, as Otis Jones, Buford recognized: “That’s in Columbus Ga., entering Fort Benning, at the intersection of I-185 and the four lane highway that goes south thru Fort Benning, eventually known as Highway 520, towards Cusseta, Ga.” The photo came from Lou Camiero of Lilburn. Also recognizing the photo as David Will of Lilburn; George Graf of Palmyra, Va. and Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex.
Graf expanded on the photos: “The Follow Me and Trooper of the Plains statues are 50-foot pedestals standing on either side of the interstate. Representing the Infantry and Armor schools, the 12-foot statues, built by Bronze Services of Loveland, Colo., weigh more than 1,200 pounds. John Flournoy, chairman of the Columbus Gateways Foundation, said the initial cost of the Fort Benning Gateway was estimated at $5.5 million. Ongoing care will be managed by the city of Columbus. The foundation’s next project is the Traffic Circle at the intersection of Victory Drive and Benning Road.”
The mystery from the last issue.
Peel adds: “The Fort Benning Gateway was designed to honor the men and women serving at one of the largest military facilities in the nation, including members of the infantry, who have called Fort Benning their home since 1940. The statue on the left of the mystery photo is an eight-foot-tall bronze replica of the Follow Me statue—depicting ‘Iron Mike’ charging forward. The name ‘Iron Mike’ is an American slang term used to refer to men who are especially tough, brave, and inspiring. The original of this sculpture was called The Infantryman and was created in 1959 by two soldiers, PFC Manfred Bass, sculptor and designer, and PFC Karl H. Van Krog, his assistant.
“The other statue is an eight-foot-tall, 10,000 pound replica of Frederick Remington’s Trooper of the Plains sculpture which salutes the U.S. Army Armor School. Finally, while not shown in the mystery photo, there are two eight-foot-tall bald eagle statues, also mounted atop 50-foot-tall towers, that bid farewell to people leaving Fort Benning as they approach the Gateway heading North.”
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