GwinnettForum | Number 21.54 | July 29, 2022
POTENTIAL DESTINATION: A new travel program is being offered by the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and its Chairman’s Club. Embark is the program name, and it offers destinations to a dozen destinations, such as Abu Dhabi (seen here), Delhi, Agra and other areas. Trip packages start at $6,250 per person for double occupancy or $7,250 per person for single occupancy. To learn more and book a trip for February 2023, visit GwinnettChamber.org/Embark.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Gwinnett family escaped Vietnam via the sea in a small boat
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Eventually Northside Gwinnett Hospital will have largest campus in state
SPOTLIGHT: The 1818 Club
FEEDBACK: Concern about handicapped parking got his attention
UPCOMING: Gwinnett Place site team releases plan for redevelopment
NOTABLE: Lawrenceville to start using cameras to slow school zone speeders
RECOMMENDED: The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain De Botton
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Wesleyan College in Macon has sterling reputation
MYSTERY PHOTO: Here’s another artist’s conception for you to identify and locate
CALENDAR: Southwest Gwinnett Chamber meets August 5 at Crown Plaza Hotel
Gwinnett family escaped Vietnam via the sea in a small boat
Le’s greater family
(Editor’s note: Gwinnett is home to people from around the world. This journey of freedom is from a successful businessman who immigrated from Vietnam. It is a compelling story, and it’s longer than normal. That’s why we’re going to present it partially today, and then print the second part in the next issue. It’s a thrilling and inspiring story about some of our new neighbors. The author is a businessman with offices in Duluth and Peachtree Corners.–eeb)
By Tim Le
PEACHTREE CORNERS, Ga. | After the fall of Saigon, more than one million Vietnamese Boat People gave up their livelihood and dignity to seek democracy and freedom. About 700,000 Vietnamese refugees successfully resettled in the USA between 1975 and 1997.
Le
My family was part of this massive exodus to escape communist Vietnam. My own journey started in March 1981 from Rach Gia, Vietnam. My father had arrived there a few months earlier and bought a house on the river to blend in with the locals. My sister and I joined my father in the spring of 1981 as other members of our family slowly gathered.
My mother was at home in Dong Nai with my two sisters. Our family couldn’t risk escaping all at once. We had to have either my Mom or Dad on each trip to ensure that the remaining parent would take care of us if something went wrong.
We collaborated with a local fisherman’s family to plan our escape. My father offered to purchase a boat for them and have them navigate and fish the Mekong River delta for three months before our escape. The boat’s shell was overhauled and waterproofed with tar a few days before the trip. Eyes were painted at the front of the boat in a similar style of Thai’s fishing boats.
As kids, we didn’t know what was going on (I was nine years old at the time) and thought that it was a vacation. It was the first time that my sister and I enjoyed a carefree vacation. I cannot imagine the stress and nervousness that my father and elders were feeling as they made preparation for this life-changing journey. They were coordinating with the local water taxis, and paying off bridge guards.
One early morning in March, 1981, the journey started with a 4 a.m. water taxi ride to the main boat. We passed guarded bridges and traveled approximately one hour in open water to reach a 19-meter fishing vessel.
I still remember the glow of the water in the moonlit night as the water taxi cut through it. We hid underneath blankets and saw the star-filled night sky. There were 29 of us passengers, with 15 passengers being our family members. I didn’t know what was going on , so I did not feel afraid. I believe my parents bore all of the fears for us. They stayed back because they had other plans to escape with my two sisters at a future time. We didn’t want to have all of our eggs in one basket, in a survival sense.
That morning we enjoyed a moment of peace and tranquility until it was abruptly interrupted by the Vietnam Coast Guard. They spotted us as we were navigating through some of the smaller coastal islands. The three-hour pursuit into international water was tense with many silent prayers. We had both engines roaring full throttled, a Yarma F10 inboard and a Bridgestone 16 outboard. The Bridgestone 16 overheated and was dumped into the ocean at the end of the pursuit. Our first goal was to get to the coast of Thailand, about 800 kilometers across the Gulf of Thailand.
During the three -day trip to Songkhla, Thailand, we were boarded twice by pirates. They were local fishermen looking for opportunities during a turbulent time. The first boarding stripped us of any valuable possessions that we had.
The second boarding was most frightening. We did not have any more valuables for the pirates to take. The women and children were removed from our fishing vessel to the pirate’s ship and searched. They were then allowed back onto our vessel after the search. Then men and boys had to board the pirate’s boats. We were lucky to be allowed back onto our boat after they thoroughly searched us.
We heard of many cases from other refugees that were not as fortunate. Other pirates would separate the women and children, and might sell them for labor. In some cases, the pirates would sink the fishing vessel and throw the men overboard to drown.
Next the pirates tied our boat to the back of theirs and towed us a good distance. Each time a high wave would come, we would slam into the back of their boat. Our boat encountered huge damages and our guys had to work to repair it. Eventually, they cut the line and left us adrift.
(To be continued in the next edition, on August 2)
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Northside Gwinnett Hospital to have largest campus in state
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
JULY 29, 2022 | By the time a new 17-story tower at Northside Hospital Gwinnett is completed in 2026, that would mean it would be the biggest single hospital campus in Georgia.
Debbie Mitchum, president of that Lawrenceville hospital, says: “We will first add 240 beds to the new tower, and completely build out 12 floors. We’ll hold the other floors for expansion of another 240 beds as warranted. Eventually with our other rooms, we’ll have a total of 973 beds, the biggest hospital at one site in Georgia.”
The anticipated cost of the first phase is $500 million, with the fully-completed hospital costing close to $800 million. It’s expected that the first phase should open in 2025 and all 17 stories as determined by need. Ms. Mitchum succeeded Phil Wolfe, who retired Aug. 28, 2019.
Ms. Mitchum says: “We originally thought that 10 stories would be needed here, but the state model for the number of beds showed we needed more. That plus the anticipated growth in Gwinnett, made us stop and reassess, and we realized that we had to have more space, and it was best to go taller in floors. We then filed for a second Certificate of Need.”
Mitchum
The 17-story height of the building was limited by another factor: the nearby airport Briscoe Field, where the take-off and landing flight paths are over Lawrenceville and the hospital.
While all of the 17 floors will not be immediately used, building all 17 stories is well underway, having started earlier this year.
Ms. Mitchum succeeded Phil Wolfe as president of the Lawrenceville hospital in 2019. She is a veteran of the hospital business, and has spent 30 years at Northside, the most recent as chief financial officer and vice president for finance. She’s originally from Norwich, N.Y., and moved with her mother to Douglas County when she was eight years old. She immediately felt the wrath of other native school students, who chanted at her “Yankee, go home.” She was confused by it, saying: “I had to go home and ask my mother what a Yankee was.”
Once graduated from Douglas County High, she decided to go to Georgia Tech. “I originally thought I wanted to be a doctor, but went to Tech because of its great engineering program.” Her major was in health science. “I always knew I wanted to work in the medical field. My major was like industrial engineering for hospitals.” After graduation, her hospital work took her to Pensacola, Fla., Amherst, Mass., and to Gainesville, Ga. , where she worked at the Northeast Georgia Health Center, before joining the Northside staff.
Ms. Mitchum has been active in her community, serving on the board of Sacred Hearts, a Georgia-based nonprofit helping girls who have been sexually trafficked in Costa Rica. She is an elder in the Presbyterian Church and has an interest is Street Grace, another group dealing with domestic minor sex trafficking. She recently was named to the board of Rainbow Village of Duluth. She lives in Dunwoody, and has one adult daughter.
In a few weeks, she’ll embark on a trip overseas. “It’ll be a honeymoon, as I am getting married again. We plan to spend a week in Italy on the Amalfi coast and then a week in Sicily.”
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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.
- Three private rooms which can be used for dining or meeting space. AV is offered in each room.
- 220-seat Virgil Williams Grand Ballroom, divides into three sections, all with AV.
- Gwinnett Room for upscale dining, with Frankie’s menu available.
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
Concern about handicapped parking got his attention
Editor, the Forum:
Your article on handicap parking was spot on. Before I became handicapped, I would never park in a handicapped space.
The biggest problem today is there is no deterrent for the offenders. When is the last time you have seen a police officer cite an offender? They don’t even look! Selective policing is the future, unfortunately.
– David Sands, Peachtree Corners
Dear David: what really burns me is that you see those expensive cars with no handicapped permits parked in those spaces. People who do that essentially thumb their nose to what’s right. You are right: we need more enforcement.—eeb
Questions why one guy’s views were published
Editor, the Forum:
Reading today’s issue and I saw Ashley Herndon’s little ditty. It’s no wonder we can’t have a decent dialogue between the left and right. What point is he making other than “My Side Good–Your Side Evil?”
– Tim Sullivan, Buford
Dear Tim: Yes, we may have gone a little overboard on publishing that one. But after all, the whole idea is to have this dialogue that you mention. This is one way, and thanks for participating. –eeb
Editor, the Forum:
Regarding Ashley Herndon’s article, “Applying recent insurrection to popular gospel song,” I believe he has made a mockery of an old much-loved song that is dear to the hearts of many Christians.
– Elizabeth Truluck Neace, Dacula
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.
Gwinnett Place site team releases plan for redevelopment
The Gwinnett Place Mall Site Revitalization Team has completed a redevelopment concept of what the dying Gwinnett Place Mall site could become. Its Global Villages concept is based on extensive community input and a data-driven, market supportable and economically feasible analysis.
Joe Allen, director of the Gwinnett Place Community Improvement District, says “Based on months of study and engagement, the Global Villages concept is predominantly residential with modest amounts of new retail and office developments. The focal point will be a new international culture and community center and central park where people who live, work, dine and play in the district can experience and enjoy all the cultures that comprise our diverse community.”
Global Villages could include the following:
- Seven residential villages centered on small parks, plazas and pathway.While different in design, each village would include 150 to 500 units of multi-family housing with a mix of market-rate and affordable/workforce housing.
- International culture + community center, where people could engage with a diversity of cultures, participate in the arts, access education, and obtain job training.
- A central park, the focus of arts and performances.
- Ring Road greenway trail (1.25-mile loop).
- Walkable, transit-oriented development.
- Redevelopment spurred by catalyst projects.
- Structured parking decks with an artistic design (200 spaces per floor, no more than five floors).
- Restaurant- and culture-focused retail spaces of 50-100,000 square feet; and
- Commercial office space (25,000 square feet.)
At their request, three major current retail stores, Macy’s, Mega Mart, and Beauty Master, would remain in their current buildings and be a part of the site’s transformation.
Mobility enhancements would come in the form of a new Gwinnett Place Transit Center, serving multiple local bus lines and including a new transit center building, park-and-ride and kiss-and-ride lots. In addition, the center could accommodate future Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), which is being studied by Gwinnett County to potentially link Gwinnett Place to both Jimmy Carter Boulevard and Sugarloaf.
A detailed implementation strategy will be completed by August 31, 2022. To view more about Global Villages redevelopment concept, visit the Gwinnett Place To Be website here.
Lawrenceville to use cameras to slow school zone speeders
Lawrenceville will begin in August what other cities are doing to slow speeding cars in school zones. Its police department will begin an automated traffic enforcement speed device program at six public schools within the city limits to increase safety for students, parents, educators, and anyone traveling through the school zones. The City Council approved the program last December.
An initial 30-day warning period will begin August 3, during which violators will receive a warning in the mail that carries no fine. After the warning period expires on September 5, violators will receive a citation in the mail. The fine is $75 (+$25 processing fee) for the first offense and $100 (+$25 processing fee) for each subsequent offense.
The automated speed zone will be enforced on school days starting one hour before and after school begins and one hour before and after the end of the school day.
School zones included are Benefield Elementary School, Central Gwinnett High School, Discovery High School, Lawrenceville Elementary School, Oakland Meadow School, and Winn Holt Elementary School.
Firm seeking to find owner of iconic Gwinnett photograph
A business in Gwinnett wants to use a photo, but needs to know who took the photograph to get permission to use it. It’s the photo of the water towers that once stood by Interstate 85 near Norcross, one saying “Gwinnett is great,” and the other which said “Success Lives Here.” The photo was on the cover of Elliott Brack’s history of the county, the 850-page book entitled: “Gwinnett: a little above Atlanta.”
This new business wants to know who owns the copyrighted photo. If any reader knows, they should contact GwinnettForum (770 840 1003).
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain De Botton
From Karen J. Harris, Stone Mountain: Alain de Botton takes the conundrums faced by people through time and philosophical ways of thinking that provide understanding and possible solutions. There are consolations for unpopularity from Socrates, for inadequacy by Montaigne, for a broken heart by Schopenhauer and for frustration by Seneca. Nietzsche challenges us to look upon difficulties as part of the ebb and flow of events in life. By not taking the joys or sorrows too seriously we have less dissonance in life. There are other suggestions that are illuminating including one from Schopenhauer which states “We must between period of digging in the dark, endeavor always to transform our tears into knowledge” and from Nietzsche, “Not everything which makes us feel better is good for us, Not everything that hurts may be bad.” Filled with tidbits of history which supports the concepts presented, The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton provides that and more.
- 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
Wesleyan College in Macon has sterling reputation
Chartered in 1836 as the first degree-granting women’s college in the world, Wesleyan College is a private four-year liberal arts college for women located in Macon. Wesleyan enjoys a reputation as one of the South’s premier educational institutions for women.
In 1835 several Macon businessmen met to discuss the opening of a women’s college. On July 8 they held a town meeting and secured $9,000 for the school’s construction. In January 1836 the Georgia Methodist Conference agreed to adopt the college, and on December 23 the state legislature issued a charter for the Georgia Female College.
From the beginning, the college’s administrators planned to provide an education that equaled those offered at men’s colleges. Upon completing the course of instruction, a student received the “First Degree,” the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree. By the end of the term, 168 students were enrolled, at a time when many state-sponsored colleges in the South often had fewer than 200 students. The school graduated its first class in July 1840.
In 1851 six students founded the Adelphean Society. Later renamed Alpha Delta Pi, the group has the distinction of being the mother of the modern sorority system. Wesleyan also organized the world’s first alumnae association in 1859 and established the first Phi Kappa Phi chapter at a Georgia liberal arts college in 1969.
In 1843 the Methodist Church assumed direct responsibility for the school, leading to its being renamed Wesleyan Female College in honor of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. Wesleyan remained in constant operation throughout the Civil War (1861-65), and by the end of the19th century enrollment stood at approximately 250 students.
In 1917 “Female” was dropped from the name, known ever since as Wesleyan College. Two years later the school received accreditation from the organization now known as the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, an endorsement that Wesleyan still holds. In 1928 the College of Liberal Arts moved its location from the original structure near downtown Macon to its current campus in the suburban Rivoli area, north of town.
Wesleyan survived the Great Depression of the 1930s and benefited from the post–World War II (1941-45) economic boom of the 1940s and 1950s. By the 1960s it had an enrollment of more than 700 students. Like most women’s colleges nationwide, Wesleyan’s enrollment decreased drastically during the mid-1970s, due largely to the women’s movement. A recent revival in the popularity of women’s colleges, combined with Wesleyan’s tradition of academic excellence, has brought enrollment numbers back to around 650 students.
Wesleyan now offers a dual-degree program in engineering with the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta; Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama; and Mercer University in Macon.
Wesleyan graduates enjoy an impressive 95 percent acceptance rate to medical or law school, while the acceptance rate for those applying to masters’ programs is nearly perfect.
The school has several well-known alumnae, including May-ling Soong, wife of Chinese nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek; Neva Jane Langley Fickling, Miss America 1953; playwright Sandra Deer; and Toni Jennings, the first woman lieutenant governor of Florida. In 1990 a group of Wesleyan alumnae and other prominent Georgians founded Georgia Women of Achievement, an organization dedicated to honoring the accomplishments of outstanding women in the state.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Here’s another artist’s conception to identify and locate
For the mystery for this issue, it’s a sculpture. Not only must you figure out where this piece of art is located, but also tell us what it represents. You might be surprised. Send your idea to elliott @ brack.net and tell us your hometown.
Sara Rawlins of Lawrenceville recognized last week’s mystery. “This sculpture is made up of several fire hydrants to look like the old fashion toy: Jacks. It’s located on U.S. Highway 7 in Shelburne, Vt. The artist, Chris Sharp, welded the hydrants together into a giant Jack. He says he made the sculpture to honor FireFighters and First Responders of 9/11. It’s a playful sculpture. The artist got his inspiration from the courage and selflessness of the men and women on the front lines.”
The photograph came from Catherine Brack of Charleston, S.C. Others spotting it included Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill; George Graf, Palmyra Va., who noted that the location was across the highway from the Shelburne Fire Department; Lou Camerio, Lilburn; and Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex., who added: “The earliest version of this sculpture was created in May of 2007 when it resembled a typical six-armed jack. But over the years, it has grown increasingly larger as more hydrants were added. Today, the toy-shaped structure has sprouted another six fireplug arms, so that technically it is no longer like a traditional jack.”
First Friday Breakfast: Speaking at the August 5 meeting of the Southwest Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce will be Tim Perry of North American Properties, the real estate company which recently bought the Forum on Peachtree Parkway. The meeting will be at Crowne Plaza Hotel in Norcross, beginning at 7:30 a.m. Registration is required by August 2.
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