GwinnettForum | Number 21.55 | Aug. 2, 2022
DEDICATION DAY: Members of the Stonehedge Garden Club of Buford gathered for the dedication of a gigantic sculpture of a daylily at the Buford Main Street Park and Amphitheater on May 4, 2021. The sculpture was the Mystery Photo of last week and is the work of Jim Bradford of Buford. For more details on this sculpture, go to the Mystery Photo below. (Photo by Stewart Woodard.)
TODAY’S FOCUS: After Thailand, Vietnamese family finally lands in States
EEB PERSPECTIVE: County schools starting with record 182,865 enrollment
SPOTLIGHT: Georgia Banking Company
FEEDBACK: Couldn’t wait for second installment of escape from Vietnam story
UPCOMING: Buford branding agency wins an award in communications
NOTABLE: Project SEED at Georgia Gwinnett provides hands-on learning
RECOMMENDED; The Slow Reading Movement:
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Southern Labor Archives located at Georgia State University
MYSTERY PHOTO: This lighthouse seeks to extend your imagination
After Thailand, Vietnamese family finally lands in States
Le’s grandparents. Photo provided.
(Editor’s note: this is the second installment of a story of one family’s efforts to escape Vietnam. The edition of July 29 told of their journey to Thailand, and of pirates twice boarding their boat seeking valuables. This picks up with the family on the sea in the Gulf of Thailand.—eeb.
By Tim Le
PEACHTREE CORNERS, Ga. | On the third night at sea headed to Thailand, we encountered a storm which knocked out the engine. We had to set up a sail that night and let the wind take us. The following morning, the men worked on the Yarma engine and adjusted the valves to generate engine compression and got it going. The remainder of the trip took about a day and was peaceful and uneventful. I remember my uncle making his prayers asking for safety and blessings.
Le
As we reached Songkhla coast of Thailand, there were many ships around. A few of our adults knew some English, and asked passerby ships for guidance. One ship towed us and delivered us to the port authority. We disembarked our boat and sat on the lawn not realizing the impact of the journey. (The feeling of still being on the water remained, as I imagined that the earth surface was moving beneath my feet.)
My uncle took out some incense sticks and approached the boat to send a prayer. He stuck the incense sticks into the tip of the wooden bow and lit them. Not more than 15 minutes later, the boat on fire yielded to the incoming water and rested on the bottom. It was a regular occurrence at this specific port. I can imagine the stories of each journey. Those who made it to port are all blessed.
We were admitted to Thailand for three months and lived at three different refugee camps. I went to school there and learned English. I was ranked second in the class of 20 students.
A cousin birthing a daughter delayed our leaving for the United States. She had her daughter in Pulau Galang in the fall of 1981. This caused a two month delay from being admitted to the U.S. Every afternoon, my family would gather at the center of the camp to listen to the public announcements, and we all cheered with joy as names were called to go to the USA. When our family was finally called, that was the happiest day of our journey.
We temporarily were held over in Singapore for a week. The next stop was in Hong Kong for just one night before flying to Seattle, Wash. and then transferred to Chicago, Ill. on Jan 19, 1982.
I completed San Bernardino high school in 1990, before going to college at California Polytech Pomona, where I graduated in Mechanical Engineering in 1995. Since then, I have worked as a Senior Equipment Engineer for NEC Electronics USA and eventually became an entrepreneur and real estate investor.
I have offices in Peachtree Corners and Duluth and have been on the Gateway Community Improvement District board since 2012. I am also a member of the Gwinnett Rotary Club and also involved with the Vietnamese community and with activities of the Asian American and Pacific Islanders. I am also on the board for the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, the Peachtree Corners Downtown Development Authority, Leadership Gwinnett and the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce.
My wife, Amy, is in property management. We have one daughter, Tiffany, who is 20, is a student at the University of Georgia.
My family had lost our share of dignity trying to search for freedom. My parents lived in Rialto, Calif., where my father was in the landscape and later water purification business. My parents in 2005 moved to Norcross. We are blessed to have them in Georgia.
I am grateful for the Americans that fought for democracy and freedom throughout the world. I am also grateful for America helping and admitting all of the Vietnamese refugees into the United States and giving us the platform to build our foundation to prosper and thrive.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
County schools starting with record 182,865 enrollment
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
AUG. 2 , 2022 | With school starting this week, Gwinnett County Public Schools are expecting 182,865 students to enroll, the most ever. The county schools employ 22,731 people, and is the largest employer in Gwinnett, and fourth largest in Metro Atlanta. The school district is now the 11th largest district in the entire country.
Remember, too, that Buford operates its own city school system. It is expecting 5,750 students this year, and employs 657 people.
Also in Gwinnett are 12 private high schools with at least 100 students. These private schools enroll 7,566 students.
At Georgia Gwinnett College, classes begin August 8.
Here’s hoping all these schools have a successful year!
Have you noticed that several Chick-fil-A outlets have been retrofitted recently? Some closed entirely for major renovations, while others remained open, but traffic was moving around orange cones during construction. This created quite a traffic snarl for drive-through orders, but the restaurant kept feeding.
The upshot is at least two of the local restaurants opened a second traffic lane for orders. We salute Chick-fil-A for engineering a way to cruise through its pick-up line quickly!
Since beer and wine became legal in Gwinnett in 1961, Gwinnett cities and the county have seen an increasing revenue from this tax. Beer is taxed, for instance, at five cents a can. That first year, beer and wine sales brought in $85,000 for the county government.
After alcohol sales legalization, it’s become a bonanza for the tax coffers. Gwinnett County collected $9.5 million in alcohol revenue last year. And the cities did OK, too, collecting altogether $8.9 million.
Duluth got the most from the alcohol tax, $1,091 million, while Braselton was just behind at $1.026 million. (Braselton has a luxury hotel plus a winery within the city.) Lilburn, which had one of the first liquor stores, leads in alcohol revenue per person at $66.51, again followed by Braselton, at $65.46. (See table.)
Suppressing voting: as the Georgia Legislature has moved to make it more difficult to vote, some unexpected consequences have come out of it. For instance, it’s now illegal to offer a bottle of water to people standing in line to vote. Apparently, some legislator thought that a $1 bottle of water might buy someone’s vote. (See comment below.)
If it’s illegal to hand out water to voters standing in line, how come it’s not illegal for candidates to have grocery giveaways? A bag of groceries cost far more than a bottle of water. Yet the campaign of Herschel Walker has been up to this tactic in some parts of South Georgia. Yep, unintended consequence.
Buying votes: It was years ago. I was in a South Georgia town, and stopped by to see an advertiser, the local bank. Its president asked me what route I would take to return to my home in Jesup. “Doesn’t matter to me,” I said, and he asked if I would go back through Ludowici, just 11 miles north of Jesup. I asked why he wanted me to go that way.
The banker replied: “The bank down there ran out of $5 bills. You see, it’s election day in Ludowici.” (That may give some idea of the cost of buying a person’s vote that year.)
Then I asked: “Won’t it be dangerous for me to take that cash to Ludowici.”
The banker replied: “Naw. No one would ever suspect a newspaperman had that much cash!”
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Georgia Banking Company
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s underwriting sponsor is Georgia Banking Company, a bank that provides the best of technology and product offerings to ensure customer experiences are efficient and high quality. Investments have been made at every level to provide the service excellence customers have come to know from banking with GBC, including the introduction of Virtual Teller Machines (VTMs) at several branch locations. With an ATM-like interface and enhanced with a video screen that allows customers to connect with a real banker (even after hours), customers can now perform transactions via video without stepping foot into a branch – just as you would in person. Serving customers in more convenient and efficient ways is at the root of GBC’s vision to be the bank of choice by meeting the needs of small to medium sized companies, including not-for profit companies, while delivering an exceptional customer experience. Visit www.GeorgiaBanking.com/locations to learn more and find a GBC VTM near you.
- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, click here.
Can’t wait for 2nd installment of escape from Vietnam story
Editor, the Forum:
What an incredible first person experience Tim Le is giving us in escaping Vietnam.
I cannot wait for the next portion of it!
– Mickey Merkel, Berkeley Lake
Rudeness is alive and dangerous, especially in parking lots
Editor, the Forum:
Just as I was pulling out of my space at Costco yesterday, a new top-of-the-line, Genesis SUV zoomed into the handicapped space across from me. Whoever was driving this vehicle almost ran over a lady walking to the store, and then almost hit me.
I put down my window to speak to the pedestrian, who was shaken up by the incident. I commented on how rude the driver was and how some people don’t care about those walking. She waited for the driver to emerge from the vehicle, but nothing happened before I pulled away.
Some shouldn’t be able to drive. Retesting of drivers should be conducted periodically. Rudeness is so common that it makes parking lots most dangerous. Costco has some of the rudest drivers I have ever seen. I don’t know how they passed the driver’s test.
== Byron Gilbert, Duluth
Dear Byron: Yes, and it’s not limited to parking lots. On almost every trip driving, you see some people rolling fast and weaving left and right most dangerously. You almost hope that they, alone, have a wreck.—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.
Buford branding agency wins an award in communications
A Buford women-owned, omni-channel branding firm has landed a 2022 Award of Excellence from the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts’ Communicator Awards. The award came from their first jointly-written ebook entitled Unconventional Entrepreneurship. The Edge Agency won this award out of over 4,000 entries from firms all around the world.
Tatum and Radford. Provided.
The partners are Lauren Tatum and Alex Radford, who says: “Not only was this our first e-book, but it is the first time we’ve submitted our work for such a prestigious industry award.” Tatum adds: “It shares our own unconventional journey from start-up to success while offering invaluable tips for burgeoning entrepreneurs, as well as established company leaders looking to scale to the next level.”
The company began in 2017. It has demonstrated exponential growth in its revenues, client base and creative team in the five years since its launch. The firm offers free consultation to companies seeking a creative partner to establish their brand or expand their current marketing strategies.
Tatum grew up in Buford, is a Buford High graduate, and completed college at Austin Peay State University. She lives with her husband and three girls in Milton. Radford grew up in Buford and graduated from Mill Creek High before going to the University of Georgia. She lives in Flowery Branch with her two sons.
Project SEED at Georgia Gwinnett provides hands-on learning
From violets to the virus: Area high school students spend summer doing real-world research at Georgia Gwinnett College
High school students from three Gwinnett County schools got hands-on research experience at Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) this summer, thanks to an innovative program targeted toward youth with under-served backgrounds. The American Chemical Society’s Project SEED summer program brought students to college and university campuses for eight-to-10 weeks at host institutions like GGC, where they work alongside faculty to conduct scientific research.
The mission of Project SEED is to advance and enrich the chemical science enterprise by providing sustained STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) research, learning and growth opportunities for high school students with diverse identities and socioeconomic backgrounds.
GGC started its Project SEED program in 2017, and 15 students completed the program by 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. The program was held virtually in 2020 and 2021 and restarted in person this year with six high school students participating in three different research projects:
- Studying the medicinal properties of Australian violets, which is part of a research grant from the National Science Foundation.
- Designing antimalarial molecules and antivirals that can resist the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the virus that causes COVID-19.
- Synthesizing and characterization of pharmaceutically active self-healing, soft materials.
The students work from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday with Drs. Ajay Mallia, Neville Forlemu and Simon Mwongela, all GGC associate professors of chemistry. The students hail from Shiloh High School, Peachtree Ridge High School and The Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology.
The real-world experience looks great on the budding scientists’ resumes and gives them a taste of what their lives as scientists will be like, says Dr. Mallia. There is also a tangible monetary benefit as each student receives a $3,200 stipend for their eight weeks of research.
It’s a mutually beneficial relationship, as GGC shares knowledge about its research programs by participating.
Dr. Mallia says: “Since 1968, the Project SEED program has given research opportunities and career guidance to more than 11,000 high school underprivileged students, thus helping them to learn problem-solving skills. This program helps GGC to publicize its research programs to students and the community, and is well-aligned with the mission of GGC and its School of Science and Technology.”
Active within the program since 2011, Dr. Mallia says every student who has participated in the GGC program has gone on to college. What’s more, Project SEED students who join a chemistry or biochemistry-related undergraduate program are eligible to apply for up to $20,000 in college scholarships.
Jane Yoo, a rising senior at Peachtree Ridge High School (PRHS) in Suwanee, says: “This project is exciting because it isn’t just a controlled experiment created for an educational purpose; this is research that can genuinely impact the field when done right. I learned so much the past few weeks by working on this project, which helped me develop more confidence in my learning ability. I am not the same student I was two months ago, and working on research this summer has inspired me to work even harder in school as my trust in what I’m capable of grows.”
Yoo’s fellow Project SEED participant Rahul Pandit, a rising junior at PRHS, said obtaining practical knowledge and conducting genuine research was very appealing to him as a prospective medical student. “The program’s educational structure has helped me maintain the academic routine I developed during the school year, helping me stay focused as I head into my last two years of high school.”
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
The Slow Reading Movement
From Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill: Let me recommend the slow reading movement. Like the slow food and slow living movements, this slow reading idea has been around for a while, but I only embraced it during Covid. The idea is to intentionally reduce your speed of reading in order to increase comprehension and pleasure. Reading less books runs counter to my normal practice of reading books quickly (and not remembering much later). But it makes sense. The idea is to become more selective about what you read and to “live with” a book for a while. Savor every page. Digest it fully. Mull it over after each chapter. When books used to be serialized, it took people ages to get through one. But by the last chapter, they knew a book thoroughly. By slowing down, I now have the patience to read longer and more difficult books and I can remember them better.
- 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
Southern Labor Archives located at Ga. State University
The Southern Labor Archives is committed to “collecting, preserving and making available the documentary heritage of Southern workers and their unions, as well as that of workers and unions having an historic relationship to the region.”
Holdings are particularly strong in the areas of aviation, machinery, and aerospace; the textile and garment industry; building trades; the nursing profession; the communications industry; government, office, and retail workers; furniture and wood industries; and union activities in the Southeast. The largest accumulation of labor records in the Southeast, the Archives includes materials dating from 1884 to the present and comprises union records, the personal papers of individuals, photographs, artifacts, periodicals, film and sound recordings, and oral history interviews.
Georgia State University (GSU) history professor Merl E. Reed realized the need for a labor archives in Atlanta when he learned about the Texas Labor Archives, housed at the University of Texas at Arlington. Reed collaborated with leaders in the local labor community, who in 1969 planned a dinner to honor the labor attorney Joseph Jacobs, with the proceeds earmarked for founding the Archives. Approximately 600 people attended, and the event raised $3,750 for the future Archives.
On April 28, 1970, GSU representatives, including Reed, history professor Gary Fink, and library administrators, along with local labor union representatives signed a memorandum of understanding establishing the Southern Labor Archives. The labor community pledged continuing financial support, and the university agreed to house and administer regional labor records at the library.
In 1976, Leslie S. Hough was hired as the Archives’ second director. Under his guidance, the collections continued to grow as did the Archives’ national reputation. Collections of note that came in under Hough’s administration include the records of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO), the papers of former U.S. secretary of labor W. J. Usery Jr., the records of the United Garment Workers of America, and the papers of Stetson Kennedy, a renowned investigative reporter and labor activist. In 1992 the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers made the Southern Labor Archives its official repository.
By 2015 the Archives housed more than 500 collections covering work and workers across the Southeast and the nation. In addition to its papers and records collections, the Archives also collects oral history interviews with leaders of the labor movement, workers, and representatives from associated communities.
In 2010 Georgia State University Library began a digitization program that provides online access to its collections. Selections from the Southern Labor Archives include the underground newspaper Great Speckled Bird, the records of PATCO, the Eastern Air Lines Digital Collection, and photographs and manuscripts documenting unions, work, and workers from across the Southeast.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
This lighthouse seeks to extend your imagination
Yep, another lighthouse for today’s mystery. This time you should extend your imagination of where this particular lighthouse might be. Let’s see if this mystery is difficult for our readers. Send your guess to elliott@brack.net and include your hometown.
Perhaps many of our readers haven’t been to Buford lately. For that is the location of last week’s Mystery Photo. George Graf of Palmyra, Va. pinpointed it: “This is the Stonehedge Garden Club’s Daylily Sculpture, at the Buford Main Street Park and Amphitheater. The idea of a Daylily Sculpture took hold in the imaginations of club members as that flower is the club’s symbol. Jim Bradford, a sculptor who lives in Buford, was approached with the idea to see if this was feasible and affordable. His concept is a 16-foot tall daylily placed at 400 East Main Street in Buford. It features stainless steel stems and copper flower leaves, and moves slightly in the wind. The sculpture was dedicated on May 4, 2021.
“The Stonehedge seed money started the project off, but more was needed. Members approached individual donors. The city pledged the labor and the land. Other funding was raised by individuals contributing in honor of loved ones. The names honored are Doris “Dot” Kilgore Beard, Donnis Cheek Bowman, Selma Medlock Cheeley, Mae Alice Coleman and “Mac” Miller.
“Public art is increasingly the type of project that cities across the country are taking on to beautify their towns, but also to celebrate and support the arts. Bradford even added an educational component by including directional plaques on each side of the flower’s base: pointing north, south, east and west. Says Mary Alice Beard, “I have never passed by the sculpture that there weren’t people sitting there admiring it.”
The mystery photo came from Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill.
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