NOT SEEN IN GWINNETT: This giant railroad snowplow is never seen in the South. It’s one of the mechanical marvels at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich. For more detail on his trip to Detroit recently, see Elliott Brack’s perspective below.
IN THIS EDITION
TODAY’S FOCUS: Beaver Ruin Watershed Clean-Up Is Target of Clean and Beautiful
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Diego Rivera Masterpiece at Art Institute Worthy of Trip to Detroit
ANOTHER VIEW: What Happens When Rich and Poor Are Too Far Apart?
FEEDBACK: Remember the Simpson-Bowles Debt Reduction Plan?
UPCOMING: Ga-PCOM Wins Approval for Master’s in Physician Assistant Studies
NOTABLE: Gander Mountain Opens Outlet in Snellville
RECOMMENDED READ: Her by Harriet Lane
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Veterans in Vanguard of Changes in Georgia After World War II
TODAY’S QUOTE: What Women Get Soon, But for Man Takes Forever
MYSTERY PHOTO: Perhaps This Railroad Engine Will Give You an Idea
LAGNIAPPE: DAR Chapter Welcomes New Citizens at Naturalization Ceremony
TODAY’S FOCUS
Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful plans Beaver Ruin watershed clean-up
By Kasie Bolling
DULUTH, Ga., Oct. 2, 2015 | Celebrating its 16th year, Great Days of Service is a cooperative and community-focused initiative created by the Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services. Because the environment plays such a vital role in the health and wellness of the citizens it serves, another local nonprofit has been honored to play a role in Great Days of Service since its inception. Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful (GCB) is proud to carry on that tradition with a special focus on a local watershed.
Last year, alongside the Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources, GCB and caring volunteers fanned out over the Jackson Creek Watershed in Norcross while undertaking a number of tasks that are vital to the preservation and protection of the watershed. This year, GCB shifts its focus to the Beaver Ruin Watershed in Duluth with a cleanup scheduled for Saturday, October 24 from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.
GCB Executive Director Connie Wiggins explains: “Great Days of Service is a wonderful reminder from one year to the next to ask ourselves a very simple, but extremely critical question… ‘What can I do to help my community?’” She adds: “There are so many different ways and areas in which we can serve. The reasons to protect the health and sustainability of our watersheds reach far beyond their impact on the physical beauty of the area. The alarming truth is that everything that happens on and around the watershed, which represents the surrounding area of land that feeds into a lake, stream or pond, can have an impact on nearby waterways.
“The very same waterways that sustain life for local flora and fauna, provide an outlet for recreational pursuits like fishing and swimming, and sometimes even provide drinking water for our neighbors here in Gwinnett and further downstream. Water from rain and runoff flows downhill from the watershed into the waterway, often carrying litter, chemical pollution and the like with it. That’s where our volunteers come in.”
On October 24, volunteers for the Great Days of Service-Beaver Ruin Watershed Initiative will show their community pride by working together as neighbors to:
- Remove litter and invasive plants that threaten the health and sustainability of the Beaver Ruin watershed;
- Stencil storm drains with the important message, “No dumping, Leads to Streams” and educating neighbors about how anything that goes down the drain directly affects our waterways;
- Install bird and bat boxes that provide a welcoming habitat for creatures that disperse seeds and pollen and – in turn – help the watershed thrive; and
- Plant additional native shrubs and trees to discourage the growth of invasive plants, and increase the watershed’s ability to help filter pollutants from the water and provide a habitat and food for local fauna.
All volunteers must pre-register and be 14 or older to participate. To pre-register and learn more about Great Days of Service – Beaver Ruin Watershed Initiative, visit www.GwinnettCB.org. Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful offers a wide variety of ways to help residents get educated and engaged to care for our environment.
EEB PERSPECTIVEDiego Rivera masterpiece alone is well worth a trip to Detroit
By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher
OCT. 2, 2015 — Planning a trip to Michigan, we had heard about the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, so that was our first stop in a week’s trip to Michigan. It is adjacent to Greenfield Village, which we strolled around one morning, then took in the Museum in the afternoon.
Both are stellar places to visit. The Village was created by Henry Ford to showcase many of America’s original historic homes. There’s Ford’s home where he grew up, the home of the Wright Brothers, disassembled and moved to the site, and Thomas Edison’s laboratory. Real-size historic railroad engines move on a circular track around the park, and numerous historic buildings Americans lived in during an age when bringing out new labor-saving machines was happening in our country.
The Village is laid out like a city, while old-time cars chug around, hauling tourists. The stroll around the village is leisurely, and there’s decent food served in an old-style tavern.
Our afternoon visit to the Henry Ford Museum far exceeded our anticipation. It’s huge! And it feels like something that ought to have “Smithsonian” in its name.
Detail of auto assembly production. Click image to enlarge.
Key American automobiles are highlighted. You see several presidential limousines, while there are most of the classic cars of the ages, from T Models and Edsels, to Thunderbirds and even brands other than Ford. There’s Charles Kuralt’s “On the Road” bus that he traveled the country in.
Interesting to us was the first Blue Bird school bus out of Ft. Valley, Ga., a wooden-sided yellow bus that would transform that town even to today. And trains, some of them monstrous! The snowplow-engine from Canada was our favorite.
If you go, plan at least a half a day at both the museum and village. The admission is pricey, but well worth it.
* * * * *
One giant wall of the Diego Rivera mural in Detroit. Click image to enlarge.
On our second full day staying in Dearborn, we motored 16 miles to downtown Detroit, for a visit to the Detroit Institute of Art (DIA). (If you are a High Museum member, you can get in free.)
The DIA is amazing, a museum with numerous pieces of fine art. It would take several days to totally see it. It has treasures galore and recently escaped having to sell many of the masterpieces threatened because of Detroit’s financial problems.
Yet the key reason for visiting was to see the Diego Rivera mural masterpiece in the main hall. Commissioned by Henry Ford himself to depict the modern assembly line on the massive main hall, in three years Rivera provided the world an enormous, beautiful and historic work. People are shown in their various labors in factories, while the massiveness of the operation overwhelms you. The many vignettes show different aspects of a working factory, complete with supervisors (some of them with hats on) observing the workers. Some of the art work is critical of the way Ford assembly lines operated.
Another wall showing details of assembly line production. Click image to enlarge.
Everywhere you turn in the great hall, there’s Rivera art, massive, yet intricate, all telling a story. It’s worth a visit to this gigantic museum, if you see nothing else in Detroit.
Detroit may be hurting these days, but we know that the Detroit Institute of Art itself is a national treasure.
* * * * *
One more thing about Detroit. Pepsi Cola is dominant. There’re no Coca Colas at Comerica Park (where we saw the Tigers play). And if you want a Coke at the Detroit Airport, you are out of luck, since you can’t take one in with you. But that’s also the case at the Gwinnett Arena. Perhaps Coke will bid higher next time the Gwinnett contract comes round.
ANOTHER VIEWWhat happens when rich and poor are too far apart?
By George Wilson
OCT. 2, 2015 | We feel instinctively that societies with huge income gaps are somehow going wrong. It is a well-established fact that in rich societies, the poor have shorter lives and suffer more from almost every social problem. Indeed, 30 years of research takes this truth a step further. One common factor links the healthiest and happiest societies: the degree of equality among their members. Furthermore, the more unequal societies are bad for everyone, the rich and middle class as well as the poor.
Thus, renowned researchers, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, authors of The Spirit Level, charted the hard data on economic inequality, and show what gets worse when rich and poor are too far apart: “real effects on health, lifespan, and even such basic values as trust.” The Spirit Level laid bare the contradictions between material success and social failure in the developed world. They also offer a way toward a new political outlook, shifting from self-interested consumerism to a friendlier, more sustainable society. The remarkable data assembled in the book, The Spirit Level, exposes stark differences, not only among the nations of the first world but even within America’s 50 states. Almost every modern social problem-poor health, violence, lack of community life, teen pregnancy, and mental illness, is more likely to occur in a less-equal society.
Finally, government redistribution of wealth and market forces that create wealth can be equally effective, and the authors provide examples of both. How societies achieve equality, they argue, is less important than achieving it in the first place.
In 2005, the average CEO in the United States earned 262 times the pay of the average worker; in 1969 they earned 24 times more. Major improvements here and in other areas, such as unfair tax laws and raising the minimum wage, are needed.
IN THE SPOTLIGHTHeaven & Associates, P.C.
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County needs to return to debt ideas of Simpson-Bowles
Editor, the Forum:
Our national debt is unsustainable. Unfortunately the debate has solely focused on reducing spending. A good business should balance spending with revenues. I submit to you a balanced plan would not only focus on cost reduction but also explore reasonable ways to increase government revenues. Such a plan was suggested by Simpson-Bowles. Perhaps our elected officials should take another look at their balanced approach to our debt.
— Alan Schneiberg, PhD, Sugar Hill
- SEND FEEDBACK AND LETTERS: elliott@brack.net
Ga-PCOM wins approval for master’s in physician assistant studies
Approval has been granted of the Physician Assistant program at the Georgia Campus – Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (GA-PCOM) as a site for a Master’s degree in Physician Assistant Studies. The approval came from the Accreditation Review Commission (ARC-PA) on Education for the Physician Assistant.
From left are Ga-PCOM faculty members Assistant Professors Carrie Smith and Nancy McLaughlin Assistant Program Director and Georgia Campus Site Director Rebekah Thomas ;and Assistant Professor and Didactic Coordinator Tia Solh.
Twenty students will be admitted to the two year program which will begin in June 2016. Prospective students may apply through the Central Application Service for Physician Assistants.
The PCOM Physician Assistant Studies program in Pennsylvania sought approval for the distant campus location at its branch campus in Georgia. The ARC-PA has granted Accreditation-Continued status to the PCOM Physician Assistant Program sponsored by Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. Accreditation-Continued is an accreditation status granted when a currently accredited program is in compliance with the ARC-PA Standards.
Georgia Campus Physician Assistant Site Director Nancy McLaughlin says: “The faculty and staff are very excited to gain accreditation and soon welcome students. Georgia is an amazing state in which to practice due to the strong practice laws. It is a privilege to start educating physician assistant students and to help make an impact on healthcare in our state.”
Physician Assistants are health professionals who practice medicine with supervision by licensed physicians. They deliver a broad range of medical and surgical services in a variety of clinical settings.
GA-PCOM offers students a holistic view of healthcare – one that considers all areas of well-being and provides the opportunity to learn with students from a variety of healthcare disciplines. The 20-acre campus, located in Gwinnett County in Suwanee, features pharmacy research and teaching laboratories, a large anatomy lab, a clinical learning center, research and multi-use basic science laboratories, three pharmacy practice labs and a large osteopathic manipulative medicine practice suite.
In addition to the Master’s degree in Physician Assistant Studies, the Georgia campus offers Doctorate degrees in Osteopathic Medicine and Pharmacy, as well as the Master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences. The campus will host an Open House Friday, October 2 from 5:30 until 8 p.m. where prospective students can meet faculty, staff and students, learn about programs and tour the campus. To register for the Open House, visit admissions.pcom.edu/events.
7th Fort Daniel Frontier Faire coming to Hog Mountain in October
Fort Daniel Foundation and Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society are cosponsoring the seventh Annual Fort Daniel Frontier Faire on Saturday, October 17 at Fort Daniel Archaeological Site located at 2505 Braselton Highway/GA124 in Hog Mountain. Hours are 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Individual admission is $2 and family admission is $5. Parking is provided free of charge on the site.
Planned activities include: community archaeology throughout the day, re-enactors, an archeology lab, Fort Daniel Museum, trading post, food, demonstrations, and Native American storytelling by Barry Stewart Mann at 10 a.m. Music will be by the Skillet Lickers at 1 p.m.
Many natives of Gwinnett County can recall driving by the historical marker at Hog Mountain, but knowing little about the history of the site. Thanks to the archaeological work done at the site and the research through archives, detailed information is now available through The Fort Daniel Foundation’s website and through scheduled onsite public events. The Fort Daniel Archaeological site is owned by Gwinnett County and managed by The Fort Daniel Foundation.
Fort Daniel was situated 3,600 ft. northeast of the head of the Apalachee River (aka south fork of Oconee River). This point is the south end of boundary allotted to Cherokees for their hunting grounds, between the Indians and the citizens of the United States as described in the 1785 Treaty of Hopewell. The line served as the western boundary of Franklin County, then Franklin and Jackson Counties.
The head of the Apalachee River is cited again in 1790 Treaty of New York and the 1796 Treaty of Coleraine, and served as the western end of treaty line separating the Creeks from U. S. territory. Early fortified sites along the frontier played an important role in Georgia’s history as settlement of new territories invariably led to conflict between the settlers and the indigenous peoples. Such was the purpose of the fort at Hog Mountain.
In a letter dated October. 21, 1813, Maj. Gen. Allen Daniel, Commander of 4th Division of Georgia Militia, detailed to Frederick Beall plans for the mustering of militia at Fort Daniel, explained the sad state of the buildings at the Hog Mountain Fort and gave details for construction a new building.
In connection with the fort, many will be interested in knowing the history of Old Peachtree Road being built to link Fort Daniel to Fort at the Standing Peachtree, located in what is now the Atlanta Water Works. Gwinnett County was formed in 1818 from the combination of land ceded to the state of Georgia by the Cherokee and Creek Indians and this portion of Jackson County.
- For more detail, visit thefortdanielfoundation.org.
Library systems present author Hickam in two appearances
Hickam
Gwinnett County Public Library, Hall County Library System and Piedmont Regional Library will welcome Homer Hickam, best known for his No. 1 New York Times bestselling memoir “Rocket Boys” which was adapted into the ever-popular movie October Sky, for North Georgia Reads, a regional book signing event on October 17 and 18. North Georgia Reads was created to promote collaboration between neighboring library systems and bring bestselling authors to a community of 29 libraries in the region.
Hickam will speak at Lanier Technical College’s Barrow Campus on October 17 at 3 p.m. and at the Norcross Cultural Arts and Community Center on October 18 at 3 p.m. He is the winner of the prestigious University of Alabama’s Clarence Cason Award and the Appalachian Heritage Writer’s Award for his memoirs and fiction plus many other writing awards including an honorary Doctorate of Literature from Marshall University. Mr. Hickam has been a coal miner, Vietnam combat veteran, scuba instructor, NASA engineer, and now a best-selling author.
Both events are free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase and signing.
Learn about your roots in session from library at Peachtree Corners
Who’s in your past? Yankees or Confederates? Does your family date back to the American Revolution or before? Are you from continents unknown? Where did your family come from? Free, valuable sources for all these answers are waiting at your Gwinnett Library. Let the experts guide you through premium and exclusive sources including the Library Edition of Ancestry.com! All for free!
Come join us Saturday, October 10 at 2 p.m. at the Peachtree Corners Branch of the Gwinnett Library, 5570 Spalding Drive in Peachtree Corners. Your ancestors are waiting. For more information, call 770-978-5154 or visit www.gwinnettpl.org.
NOTABLEOutdoor retailer Gander Mountain now open on Scenic Highway
Gander Mountain, the nation’s largest and fastest-growing outdoor specialty retailer, is now open in Gwinnett. The 52,000-square-foot store is located at 1200 Scenic Highway.
As part of the Grand Opening, the first 1,000 customers through the door each day until October 4, will receive a free scratch-off card. Every card is a winner with prizes including gift cards valued up to $100 and coupons for up to 50 percent off shirts, hats and sunglasses. Customers may also register for a chance to win a $500 Gander Mountain gift card.
Eldrich Granger, general manager of the Snellville Gander Mountain store, says: “We are excited to open in the Snellville area and provide the countless outdoors enthusiasts with the gear they need. We’ve put together a fun grand opening weekend with a focus on fishing, hunting, boating, archery and camping activities for the entire community to enjoy.”
Among upcoming events:
- Free line winding during the Berkley Trilene Happy Hour from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday.
- The first 100 kids each day get to design their own fishing lure at the Create-A-Lure event, sponsored by Spro, on Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from Noon to 3 p.m.
- Travis “T-Bone” Turner, host of Michael Waddell’s Bone Collector on the Outdoor Channel, will be signing autographs on Friday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Elite Bassmaster Angler and Gander Mountain Pro-Staffer Dean Rojas will provide demos and interact with customers Thursday and Friday, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
- Former professional baseball player and Hardcore Hunting co-host Ryan Klesko will sign autographs on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- The first 75 kids each day can Build-A-Call and learn to use it with the help of Buck Gardner Calls from Noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
- *Kids can also learn to cast at the Casting Event, sponsored by Shimano, from Noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
- The Carhartt Experience will show off new brand innovations and give people the chance to win prizes Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Professional football player Jake Matthews will sign autographs on Friday from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Gander Mountain Company, headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., is the nation’s largest and fastest-growing retail network of outdoor specialty stores for hunting, fishing, camping, marine and outdoor lifestyle products and services.
RECOMMENDEDHer
A novel by Harriet Lane
One day Nina instantly recognizes Her, Emma, a woman who unknowingly has a profound influence on her life. On a street on an ordinary day, Nina fastens her attention and intention on finding a way into Emma’s world entering her life as unobtrusively as Emma did hers decades ago. This story unfolds as two very different women find connection despite the differences in the arcs of their lives. Beneath the surface of the bright promise of a budding friendship, the psychopathic menace of Nina’s obsession with Emma grows slowly as poisonous memories of unspoken loss and withering contempt become laced with a desire for revenge. The chapters alternate with Nina and Emma sharing their life experiences and record of their encounters, of which most different descriptions of the same events. Slowly the tension builds to a shocking and unresolved conclusion. All I could murmur after reading this was….Oh my, what a story!
— Karen J. Harris, Stone Mountain
An invitation: what books, restaurants, movies or web sites have you enjoyed recently? Send us your recent selection, along with a short paragraph (100 words) as to why you liked this, plus what you plan to visit or read next. –eeb
GEORGIA ENCYCLOPEDIA TIDBITVeterans in vanguard of changes in Georgia after World War II
(From previous edition)
Despite his accomplishments, Gov. Ellis Arnall could not convince the legislature to change an amendment prohibiting gubernatorial succession and was thus barred from seeking reelection in 1946. In any case, his unwillingness to fight a 1946 judicial ruling mandating the end of the white primary would have likely hampered his reelection chances. Talmadge, however, was not similarly inclined and vowed to restore the white primary during his successful 1946 gubernatorial campaign. His subsequent death following the election, and the notorious “three governors controversy” that ensued, suggested that Georgia’s politics might remain corrupt but colorful during the postwar period, and the election of Talmadge’s son, Herman, as governor two years later confirmed the worst fears of many observers.
As the state’s chief executive, Herman Talmadge followed in his father’s footsteps as a defender of the “southern way of life,” thereby precluding any meaningful civil rights reform. In other respects, however, the younger Talmadge proved to be an able administrator, promoting economic development, increasing the state revenues, building infrastructure, and establishing a statewide public school system. Nevertheless, his dependence on patronage and machine politics did little to alter the fundamental tenets of the old political order, and his staunch defense of segregation did even less to accommodate racial progress.
However, while the pace of change was slow, Georgia’s politics eventually modernized during the postwar period. As wealth became increasingly concentrated in the state’s urban centers, middle-class reformers challenged the leadership of county-seat elites and ultimately reshaped Georgia’s political economy.
The state’s veterans were at the vanguard of this movement. Having left home, in many cases for the first time, to defend freedom abroad, soldiers often returned with a renewed commitment to political freedom and a critical perspective on local politics. Although they did not always speak with a common voice, politically active veterans did demonstrate a general inclination toward progressive policies, good government, economic development, and racial moderation. While significant civil rights reform would require federal intervention, the modernizing reforms of the postwar period and the abolition of the county unit system in 1962 represented important changes in Georgia’s politics.
MYSTERY PHOTOPerhaps this train will give you an indication
Does this train signal anything to you about where this photo may have been taken? If you think you know where this photograph was made, send your answers to elliott@brack.net and be sure to include the town where you live.
Several people recognized the last Mystery Photo, sent in by Bob Foreman of Grayson. First in was Mike Sweigart of Suwanee, who said it was “the downtown harbor area in Vancouver, where a lot of the Alaska cruise ships arrive and depart.” Ruth Lachman Paul was more specific, calling “Canada Place in downtown Vancouver, BC, Canada.”
Howard Williams Jr. of Snellville added: “This is the Vancouver, BC Convention Center featuring Canada Place and the Pan Pacific Vancouver Hotel. The wife and I were there for a week in fall of 1995 for the Telephone Pioneers of America International Convention. Cruise ships dock there for Alaska. With a little before and after time we made day trips to Whistler/Blackcomb, and Butchart Gardens and Victoria on Vancouver Island. With Stanley Park within walking distance and the University of British Columbia a short commute, one could spend a month there and not experience it all!“
LAGNIAPPEPhiladelphia Winn Chapter of DAR recognizes new U.S. citizens
FETING NEW CITIZENS: A total of 162 new citizens representing over 50 countries took the Oath of Allegiance and pledged their loyalty to their new country in a ceremony in U.S. District Court for the Northern Area of Georgia recently. Following the speaker, the District Judge Leigh Martin May invited the Philadelphia Winn chapter (in Lawrenceville) of the Daughters of the Americana Revolution chapter to speak. Member Debbie Houston congratulated the new citizens and urged them to uphold American ideals and show others how to live in the same way. Following the ceremony, the chapter had a table filled with cookies for the new Americans to enjoy. In attendance at a recent naturalization ceremony in Atlanta representing the DAR chapter were Elizabeth Jaeger, First Vice Regent Kitty Watters, Cindy Gaskins, Mary Lou Godbey, Jared Ogden, Randi Minor, Debra Houston, Robert D. McCleskey. (Photo by Debra Houston.)
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