ELECTION DAY: Not only is today, November 3, Election Day in several Gwinnett municipalities, and the day of a county-wide vote on E-SPLOST, but anyone can vote until March 2017 (that’s right, 2017!) on which of 17 public art pieces the City of Suwanee will purchase. One of the pieces now on exhibit in Suwanee is “The Herd” by Decatur Artist Phil Proctor. The City’s permanent collection includes Proctor’s Iron Canopy, now in Sims Park. To see other public art now on exhibit in Suwanee, go to this website. Remember, be sure to vote today!
IN THIS EDITIONTODAY’S FOCUS: School Testing Reduction Can Expand Students’ Minds
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Gwinnett Needs More Regulation on Drinking Establishments
ANOTHER VIEW: Democrats and Republicans Can Learn from One Another
FEEDBACK: More on When People Are Free; Suggests Group to Help Pet Adopters
UPCOMING: Peachtree Corners Invests in Business Incubator
NOTABLE: Watch Out for Scammers on New Chip Cards
RECOMMENDED READ: The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Early Royal Georgia Was Unsettled Time for Most Residents
TODAY’S QUOTE: One Season Which Is Far Richer Than the Others
MYSTERY PHOTO: Three Recognized Location in Western France
TODAY’S FOCUSReduction in school testing necessary to expand students’ minds
By Holly Moore
SUWANEE, Ga., Nov. 3, 2015 — Education stories, particularly public school education stories, often dominate our news. You can’t escape the latest study or data pointing to successes and far too often failures.
Moore
Bureaucrats, with little to no education background, weigh in on the best way to “fix” our schools. Systems explore the next big trend in teaching. Both of these groups have in recent years relied on standardized test results to support their new initiatives. The news that the Obama administration will cut back on standardized testing is a step in the right direction for our nation’s public school students.
Albert Einstein said, “Education is not the learning of facts, it’s rather the training of the mind to think.”
Prior to school beginning this past August, several local school systems announced their development of new school initiatives. These initiatives were directly related to the desire of parents to see their children being taught to think and to explore the world around them – whether it be through the arts, science and math, language, honors programs, nature programs, etc. The argument was that if the school model changes, parents won’t leave public school systems for private school options. Equally important to remember, however, is that many of those departing public schools are doing so because of the proliferation of standardized testing.
Why not allow existing public schools to focus more on education instead of rote memorization? Why not allow more time for in-depth projects or studies at all grade levels and schools?
Ask teachers and most will agree that education should be about training the mind to think. However, given today’s emphasis on standardized test results, public school teachers have been compelled to spend far too much time drilling facts into students’ minds. There is not a lot of time left for training these young minds to think independently.
And yet, countless teachers do educate — as it is defined above. Some work for systems that encourage out-of-the-box creativity, while others carve out the time within their teach-to-the-test schedules because they are passionate about education.
I’ve seen local examples: an alternative school fourth grade teacher whose students, unrestrained by standardized testing norms, spent the final weeks of the last school year researching how technology in the world has impacted disease.
A fifth grade teacher in a metro Title 1 public school conducted a college/career fair for her students. Students chose their dream career and researched a university or training program that would prepare them for that career. They learned about prerequisites and career options, they learned about courses they need to start taking now to pursue those careers. Photographs of their projects revealed not only thorough research but also a sense of excitement about the possibilities. Simply put, their research expanded their horizons.
The examples involve students from all socio-economic levels with varying parental support.
All students need the ability to research, problem solve, and think creatively equally as much as they need to meet data-driven standards. While I applaud local public schools for trying to keep families within their system, new school models aren’t necessarily needed to achieve success. Families do not leave successful schools. Success is achievable when teachers are given the freedom, time and ample resources to educate. A reduction in the number of yearly administered standardized tests is a necessary first step in allowing teachers to focus more on the expansion of young minds.
EEB PERSPECTIVECommission took a first step; now regulate bars more closely
By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher
NOV. 3, 2015 — Up through World War II and to about 1950, Gwinnett County was a relatively quiet, rural community merely near Atlanta. Then with the beginning of growth of Atlanta, Gwinnett began to see its own growth, though early on it was incidental, not wide open as it became later.
The reasons for much of its growth was centered on available relatively cheap land to build homes and businesses. The warehouse-distribution facilities led some of the early growth of Gwinnett. Eventually more upscale businesses, including the emerging technology arena, propelled the growth. Finally, with the arrival of its first mall at Gwinnett Place in 1984, Gwinnett emerged as a retail center; today it is one of the most robust of Georgia counties in overall retail sales.
During much of this growth, Gwinnett has seen relatively little entertainment and club activities. Many complained that this was an element missing in Gwinnett, as local citizens enjoyed this, but had to travel toward Atlanta to socialize in nightlife.
But no more. The growth of alcoholic beverage outlets and adult entertainment spots is now part of the Gwinnett scene.
That’s why a recent announcement that adult bookstores, pornographic theaters and strip clubs will be restricted to industrial areas in Gwinnett County from now on is good news.
Gwinnett County has passed legislation that will limit where such businesses can transact their activities. The businesses are also now barred from opening near tax-allocation districts, community improvement districts and activity centers, such as the Mall of Georgia and the Infinite Energy Center. The bans on such businesses in commercial areas is part of an overhaul county commissioners approved last week for adult-oriented businesses.
The new rules mark the first time in 14 years that the ordinances regulating adult-oriented businesses in Gwinnett County have been updated, Planning and Development Director Bryan Lackey says.
“It is time,” Lackey says. “The popping up of (adult novelty store Tokyo Valentino Erotique) on Pleasant Hill Road prompted us to have to take a good look at our ordinance …. to make sure we could fully regulate that store.”
Overall, this is good for Gwinnett. It means that owners of such establishments can no longer take advantage of the previously lax or silent Gwinnett rules on where they locate their operations.
So while we applaud this action by the Gwinnett County Commissioners, we feel that they need to shore up other rules, especially one regarding the operations of what is generally known as “bars.” Current Gwinnett rules allow these establishments to remain open until 5 a.m.
As GwinnettForum has noted before, there is not a lot of commendable activity that goes on in drinking establishments between midnight and 5 a.m. In fact, we doubt that much “economic development” or any thing else we consider “good” goes in such places well into these dark hours. And think of people headed to work at 5 a.m. who could be killed by patrons leaving the bar at closing time!
In fact, regulation of these establishments is one of GwinnettForum’s Continuing Objectives for Gwinnett County. It reads: “Stronger regulation of late-night establishments with alcoholic licenses.”
We reiterate this Objective and ask that the county commissioners take further action to regulate the hours that these “bars” can operate. We suggest that our county would be in much better condition if these bars were closed at least at 3 a.m., if not 2 a.m.
It’s what the majority of the people of Gwinnett would want.
Take action, Gwinnett Commissioners!
ANOTHER VIEWDemocrats and Republicans can learn from one another
By Debra Houston
NOV 3, 2015 — Democrats and Republicans can learn from one another.
Democrats are strong on emotion, but often short on reason. Republicans are just the opposite. They are strong on reason, but often short on emotion.
Empathy is entirely appropriate in politics, but sometimes Democrats twist it into something hateful. They exploit the emotions of minorities when they portray Republicans as “the enemy,” as did Mrs. Clinton at a rally in October.
Republicans are hard-wired realists who think they stand on higher moral ground. We should vote for them because they’re right. Yet they seldom go into inner cities to ask for votes. The best way to find out what makes Americans struggle is to go into the neighborhoods where they live.
The perfect candidate would combine the best qualities of both parties. Hard facts paired with genuine empathy go hand-in-hand. Build on that premise and you have a candidate who can reason, inspire, and persuade.
This election cycle, Republicans have several good candidates who demonstrate both reason and passion. My favorite is Senator Marco Rubio. He has great oratory skills and a pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps story about his Cuban parents who came to this country and worked menial jobs so he could achieve the American Dream.
I saw Mrs. Clinton respond to a “Black Lives Matter” activist on the evening news. The young man spoke of changing people’s hearts. Mrs. Clinton said she wasn’t interested in changing hearts. She was interested in changing laws.
At first I liked her straightforward answer. She sounded downright Republican in that she spoke matter-of-factly. Yet the more I thought about her comments, the more disturbing they became. She made it clear she had no plans to persuade anyone. She would change laws as she saw fit, discussion over.
She might want to work on that if she plans to be the next president. Ask the Republican National Committee how far that attitude will take you.
IN THE SPOTLIGHTWalton EMC
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s sponsor is Walton EMC, which provides electric service to 70,000 Gwinnett homes and businesses in the Lilburn, Snellville, Grayson, Loganville and Dacula areas. Because its customers own the company, service — not profit — is Walton EMC’s primary focus.
- Contact Walton EMC at waltonemc.com, facebook.com/waltonemc or 770-267-2505.
- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, go to: Our sponsors.
Raises more issues concerning when people are free
Editor, the Forum:
Speed: Where there are speed limits, you are not free.
Law: Where there is the rule of law, you are not free.
Responsibility: Where there is personal responsibility, you are not free.
Faith: Where there is faith in a higher power, you are not free.
Common Sense: Where there is a lack of common sense, you can be a Berkley professor or quote one in your column.
— Patrick Malone, Blairsville
Dear Patrick: Welcome back. We have missed your comments on various public matters. –eeb
Wonders if group organized to help people adopt pets
(Editor’s Note: The writer is a former Gwinnettian who has moved recently to Alabama.—eeb)
Editor, the Forum:
Although my husband and I love dogs and cats, we think it would be too hard to have another pet. We hate losing them. It’s painful and sad when they die, as most animal lovers know. And for anyone who has no children at home, a pet is a welcome companion who just loves you with no strings attached. My heart breaks every time I see a Facebook posting of a dog or cat needing adoption, knowing that in many shelters, no adoption means death.
So, I was wondering, if there is a group that Adopts the Adopters of Pets? This group would help an person financially adopt the pet if there is a fee and fund food for as many years as you can afford to do. Some people who could really benefit by having such a “companion” may not have the funds to feed and care for that pet.
Any comments? Probably already such an organization, but I’m not aware of it. So clue me in.
This is different from donating to the shelter, which is something we all can do. Plus shelters need your old blankets and towels, especially for the cold weather.
Just something to think about
— Elaine Fuerst, Hoover, Ala.
- SEND FEEDBACK AND LETTERS: elliott@brack.net
Peachtree Corners invests $300,000 to start business incubator
Peachtree Corners’ economic outlook just got brighter with the announcement that funding is now in place for its new business incubator. The announcement further proves that the three-year-old city is living up to its tagline as “Innovative and Remarkable.”
At its October 20 meeting the City Council approved a $300,000 investment for the launch of a business incubator program. The step is part of a nearly year-long effort to set up the program that will support budding entrepreneurs. The program not only supports startups in their early years, but those new business owners tend to stay in the same community adding jobs as their businesses grow.
The city is partnering with Georgia Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC). The Georgia Tech program offers support by providing expertise and resources in launching and maintaining a successful incubator program. ATDC is currently ranked as one of the world’s top technology incubators and was named a Top 12 Incubator Changing the World by Forbes in 2013.
Mayor Mike Mason says: “We are excited to be able to announce that the city will soon be home to a business incubator. Incubators provide real payback to a community and its citizens. It leads to the creation of jobs and is one of the best economic development tools a city can employ.”
Business incubators have been around since 1959 but only recently has the concept really advanced. According to the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA), there were some 1,400 programs in the U.S., compared to 1980 when there were just 12. NBIA statistics indicate there are 7,000 incubators worldwide.
The next steps are finding a location in Peachtree Corners suitable to serve as its incubator headquarters and bringing in the support necessary for its launch.
Sanjay Parekh of Duluth, who will also be advising the new incubator, says: “This is an exciting project and I am delighted to be a part of it.” Parekh has successfully launched several businesses including Digital Envoy, located in Peachtree Corners, and Startup Riot.
Applications due soon for 2016 Suwanee Youth Leaders program
Applications for the 2016 Suwanee Youth Leaders (SYL) program, an eight-month City of Suwanee leadership program for high school sophomores and juniors, are being accepted through December 4. Applications are available through local high schools and at suwanee.com.
The 2015 class of Suwanee Youth Leaders gathered at the Suwanee City Hall to form the “S” of Suwanee.
Now in its third year, SYL is open to students who attend public, private, and home-based schools and live in the North Gwinnett, Peachtree Ridge, and Collins Hill clusters. The program centers on civic involvement, leadership skills, and volunteer opportunities.
Dami Lee, a senior at North Gwinnett High School, says: “Through this experience, I gained important life skills that helped me mature as a person – time management, communication, and teamwork were definitely the three biggest areas that I worked on. With hard work, our SYL committee was able to successfully run a Food Truck Friday. On that night, seeing families and friends enjoy an event that we worked so hard on was probably one of the best moments of the SYL program.”
Adds Katie Reynolds, a junior at Hebron Christian Academy: “Suwanee Youth Leaders was by far one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. The sense of community that formed between all the members of SYL was incredible. We were all working for similar goals that sprouted out of a similar love for the City we lived in.”
The 2016 SYL program will kick off with a required two-day retreat on February 27 and 28. Students will then meet one Saturday each month March through September and also will be expected to volunteer at several community events, which may include the August concert, two Food Truck Friday events, Suwanee Fest, and Arts in the Park.
- For more information about SYL, contact Adam Edge or Denise Brinson.
Watch out for scammers about new chip-credit or chip-debit cards
Recently, the Federal Trade Commission (FDC) released information about the new credit and debit chip cards designed to reduce fraud, including counterfeiting. Now, the FDC is reporting on scammers who are trying to take advantage of the millions of consumers who haven’t yet received a chip card.
Here’s what’s happening: Scammers are emailing people, posing as their card issuer. The scammers claim that in order to issue a new chip card, you need to update your account by confirming some personal information or clicking on a link to continue the process.
If you reply to the email with personal information, the scammer can use it to commit identity theft. If you click on the link, you may unknowingly install malware on your device. Malware programs can cause your device to crash, monitor your online activity, send spam, steal personal information and commit fraud.
So how can you tell if the email is from a scammer?
There’s no reason your card issuer needs to contact you by email — or by phone, for that matter — to confirm personal information before sending you a new chip card. Don’t respond to an email or phone call that asks you to provide your card number. Period.
Still not sure if the email is a scam? Contact your card issuers at the phone numbers on your cards.
Don’t trust links in emails. Only provide personal information through a company’s website if you typed in the web address yourself and you see signals that the site is secure, like a URL that begins https (the “s” stands for secure).
- To learn more about protecting your personal information, check out Privacy and Identity.
- For companies you can trust, please visit bbb.org/atlanta.
RECOMMENDED The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Brothers Karamazov
Expecting this to be a highbrow, heavy tome, I was surprised it read like an over-the-top soap opera. Superficially, it’s about the lives of Fyodor Karamazov – a self-professed buffoon and womanizer living a debauched lifestyle – and Karamazov’s sons. There are orgies, drunken brawls, jealousy, madness, a murder, a suicide and lots of drama. Not at all highbrow. But on another level AND a reason this book is a classic is because Dostoevsky uses these stories to examine such questions as: Is free will a good thing? Can a person be saintly and be human at the same time? What is a father? If there is no God, can people still be good? It also reflects the author’s view on the big changes in Russia during the late 1800s. This book is packed with juicy goings on as well as important ideas, so it probably has something for everyone.
— Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill
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 TIDBITEarly Royal Georgia was unsettled time for most residents
(Continued from previous edition)
Georgia experienced its own kind of tumult when dissident Creek and Cherokee Indians raided the frontier settlements near Wrightsborough in the winter of 1773 and 1774. The outbreak prevented the hoped-for influx of settlers. Wright secured the cooperation of the other southern colonial governors in prohibiting trade with the Indians while the violence lasted.
The boycott worked: in April Creek leaders asked for peace, and in October a treaty was drawn up in Savannah. Wright disappointed backcountry expansionists by neglecting to obtain a further cession of land as a condition of peace, and they accused the governor of favoring the Indian traders and merchants. The outlying parishes that had supported Wright now joined the Lowcountry radicals in opposing the British “Intolerable Acts.”
Opposition to parliamentary efforts to tax the colonies began in Georgia with the Stamp Act in 1765, quieted with the repeal of that act, then simmered while Indian negotiations preoccupied the province. From 1771 to 1773 Wright and the Commons House quarreled over the house claim to elect its Speaker over the governor’s veto. The house insisted on electing Noble W. Jones despite Wright’s disapproval, and the governor retaliated by dissolving that and successive sessions of the assembly until Jones ended the impasse by abstaining from election.
On January 18, 1775, Georgians attended a Provincial Congress in Savannah to decide whether to join the Continental Association and ban trade with Britain. St. John Parish, a hotbed of revolutionary fervor, adopted the association and criticized the other parishes for their timidity. Only St. Andrew followed the lead of St. John. (The parishes were political as well as ecclesiastical divisions, corresponding to the original counties of 1777. Parishes elected delegates to the Commons House of the Assembly.)
At the Provincial Congress, Georgians were too divided to take action, and the delegates elected to the Continental Congress declined to go to Philadelphia. Only Lyman Hall attended the Second Continental Congress in May 1775 as a representative of St. John Parish.
News of the first battles of the Revolutionary War (1775-83) at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts reached Georgia on May 10, 1775, and spurred the radical movement. On July 4, 1775, a second Provincial Congress met at Tondee‘s Tavern in Savannah, agreed to join the Continental Association, elected delegates to Congress, and established a standing committee called the Council of Safety. By year’s end the Council of Safety had effectively preempted Governor Wright’s authority. Local committees made up of Sons of Liberty enforced the ban on trade, at times by the use of tar and feathers.
When British warships sailed into the Savannah River on January 18, 1776, to seize vessels loaded with rice, Wright left Georgia aboard the HMS Scarborough. Georgians adopted a rudimentary constitution called “Rules and Regulations” on May 1, 1776, and elected Archibald Bulloch president. On July 4, 1776, George Walton, Lyman Hall, and Button Gwinnett signed the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, Penn., bringing an end to the period of royal government. A war had to be fought before independence was assured. Wright returned in 1779 and continued as governor of the British-held portion of Georgia until 1782.
- To access the Georgia Encyclopedia online, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Three recognized distinctive Mont Saint-Michel in France
Today’s Mystery Photo is a massive building, and note the water in the foreground and the trees. It might give you a clue. But where is it? Send your answers to elliott@brack.net and be sure to include the town where you live.
The previous mystery photo was taken at an unusual perspective, yet three people still recognized this photo of Mont Saint Michel in France, sent in by Ann Royster of Shelby, N.C. Bob Foreman of was first in, saying: “This is the famous castle Mont Saint-Michel on the coast of France. At high tide it is an island. At low tide it becomes part of the mainland.”
Ruthy Lachman Paul adds: “Mont Saint-Michel, a tiny island with a medieval village and is considered France’s most beautiful settlement. The phenomenon of the tides is almost an abstract concept. But at Mont Saint Michel, the tide is a great experience. At the top of the island, which is less than a kilometer circumference, bears a huge Gothic architectural complex, which served as a station for pilgrims to Compostela, Spain.”
Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill: “This is Mont Saint-Michel in France. My sister stayed on the island this summer during a Rick Steves’ tour and absolutely loved it.”
CREDITSGwinnettForum is provided to you at no charge every Tuesday and Friday. If you would like to serve as an underwriter, click here to learn more.
- Send your thoughts, 55-word short stories, pet peeves or comments on any issue to Gwinnett Forum for future publication.
- MORE: Contact Editor and Publisher Elliott Brack at: elliott@gwinnettforum.com
UNSUBSCRIBE
We hope you’ll keep receiving the great news and information from GwinnettForum, but if you need to unsubscribe, go to this page and unsubscribe in the appropriate box.
© 2015, Gwinnett Forum.com. Gwinnett Forum is an online community commentary for exploring pragmatic and sensible social, political and economic approaches to improve life in Gwinnett County, Ga. USA.
Follow Us