GwinnettForum | Number 23.100 | December 24, 2024
NEW OWNER: The historic Norcross Woman’s Club building is officially under city of Norcross ownership. The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation announced its agreement with the city to sell the building for $450,000 on December 17. Under the new agreement, the Norcross City Council agreed to incorporate the property into the local historic zoning district and committed $230,000 to rehabilitate the building in 2025.
Editor’s Note for holidays: The next edition of GwinnettForum will appear on Jan. 3, 2025. Happy holidays.
TODAY’S FOCUS: A trip in the early spring to the deep s0uth: Antarctica
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Appreciating Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing
SPOTLIGHT: Peach State Federal Credit Union
ANOTHER VIEW: There are tax benefits for owning a business
FEEDBACK: Thinking about other survivors at Christmas
UPCOMING: GGC grant of $2 million enhances HACER program
NOTABLE: Aylo Health expands to add practice in Suwanee
RECOMMENDED: The Country Girls, by Edna O’Brien
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Radium Springs has been an attraction near Albany
MYSTERY PHOTO: More mystery photos needed by GwinnettForum
LAGNIAPPE: Recycle Christmas trees at “Bring One for the Chipper”
A trip in the early spring to the deep south: Antarctica
Drone photo of about 70 passengers who had disembarked from the NG’s Explorer lodged in about four feet of ice in a cove off the Southern Ocean.
By Norm Zoller
SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. | Unless you have traveled to one of our planet’s poles, you can’t fully appreciate that Antarctica and its vistas are astonishingly majestic, superbly stark, stunning, and in fact, unique, in the dictionary meaning of that word. My wife’s and my journey this past Thanksgiving was the result of our conversations about such a possibility that began some ten years ago. The area is so far away yet not inexpensive.
Norm Zoller
It was about a year ago, however, we finally concluded that we would make this journey, and began searching web sites for possible carriers. One was National Geographic (NG) /Lindblad Expeditions with whom we had traveled previously (Alaska’s Inside Passage and Iceland).
As it turned out, that carrier was featuring a mid-November inaugural trip which combined ship travel via the Drake Passage (about two days). No worries: we had relatively calm seas, and not the 30 foot swells that might have challenged passengers and crew. The return from Antarctica’s King George Island was via air (two hours) to Chile, with takeoff from a gravel runway.
Our flight was from Atlanta to Buenos Aries (nine hours, overnight); then to Ushuaia, Argentina (about three hours). We finally boarded NG’s Explorer headed for King Georgia Island and other islands in the Southern Ocean and the chain of the South Shetland Islands.
On return, we disembarked the Explorer at the airfield on King George Island and flew to Puerto Natales, Chile (about three hours); then to Santiago, Chile; and a flight home (about nine hours) overnight to Atlanta.
Logistically, while aboard NG’s Explorer with its 148 guests and 81 cabins, with all meals served on the ship. In the mornings and afternoons, passengers were ferried to various shore destinations, often through towering sometimes multicolored icebergs, via 10-passenger zodiacs. We did this about 10 times.
Norm and Harriet Zoller
Shore excursions featured varieties of penguins, seals, birds (though regrettably, we never saw an albatross, soaring or otherwise), deserted scientific research stations, cabins from various nations, more nearby icebergs, and some moderate and some challenging walks.
Walking sticks were a must for us (ship supplied), and we never fell once (a potential concern since we’re in our 80s) since snow-covered paths (some six to eight inches deep) had recently been tamped down by previous walkers. This was good cardio exercise. The vistas and the vividly dazzling sunsets were glorious!
Including Thanksgiving Day turkey, our meals aboard ship were high quality, appealingly served, and delicious: A, if not A+. All the ship’s crew, likewise, deserved high marks.
One aspect of this trip that was heartwarming was the presence of 15-20 pairs of travelers. One group included a child (age 40-50 or so), and that person’s parent, who was 70-80. It was as though the parent had always wanted to make a trip like this, and now they were doing it with their adult son or daughter.
And did I say that the vistas in this deep, deep South were stunning, stark, majestic, and unique? Consider this rare travel opportunity in this lifetime. An enticing book with photographs is The Antarctic: From the Circle to the Pole, by Stuart D. Klipper.
- Have a comment? Click here to send an email.
Appreciating “Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing”
Portrait of Charles Wesley by John Russell, 1771.
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
DEC. 24, 2024 | It was in Savannah in the early days of Georgia, that German-born Moravian Peter Böhler said to Charles Wesley: “If I had a thousand tongues, I would praise Christ with them all.” That gave rise to the first line of the classic hymn, “Oh for a thousand tongues” often heard at Christmas. Böhler was Charles Wesley’s spiritual mentor in the colony of Georgia.
Charles Wesley (1707-1788) may be called the father of Methodist congregational singing. Searching the internet, and in particular, Wikipedia, we learn more about Charles Wesley, after writing about John Wesley in the previous GwinnettForum.
Charles disliked the prevalence of the psalms in worship songs of his time. Out of that, he gave Methodism and modern hymnody many original hymn texts. He wrote“O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing,” for Sunday, May 21, 1739—the first anniversary of his conversion on Pentecost Sunday, or Whitsunday as it was known then. The conversion had preceded by three days John Wesley’s famous reaffirmation of his faith at Aldersgate Chapel.
The hymn was first published in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists (1780). The significance of this hymn in the Methodist tradition is symbolized by its appearance as the first hymn in the United Methodist Hymnal (1989).
To further heighten the emotional nature of the poem, Wesley punctuates words like “Jesus” and the last words of phrases with an exclamation point. Other poetic devices used to express the incredible nature of salvation include the oxymorons present in stanza six: “Hear him, ye deaf; his praise, ye dumb, your loosened tongues employ; ye blind, behold your savior come, and leap, ye lame, for joy.”
The original hymn had 18 stanzas. The seventh stanza became the first stanza of the hymn that we now know.
Putting the words to music was German born Carl Gothelf Gläser (1784-1829). Gläser was a German composer and contemporary of Beethoven.
Here are the words so beautifully put together in modern hymnals.
1 O for a thousand tongues to sing
my great Redeemer’s praise,
the glories of my God and King,
the triumphs of his grace!
2 My gracious Master and my God,
assist me to proclaim,
to spread thro’ all the earth abroad
the honors of your name.
3 Jesus! the name that charms our fears,
that bids our sorrows cease,
’tis music in the sinner’s ears,
’tis life and health and peace.
4 He breaks the power of cancelled sin,
he sets the prisoner free;
his blood can make the foulest clean;
his blood availed for me.
5 To God all glory, praise, and love
be now and ever given
by saints below and saints above,
the Church in earth and heaven.
Thank you, Charles Wesley.
- Have a comment? Click here to send an email.
Peach State Federal Credit Union
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Peach State Federal Credit Union is a $1.25 billion credit union that serves more than 77,000 members throughout Georgia and South Carolina. Operating as a not-for-profit financial cooperative, Peach State’s mission is to provide quality financial services that meet the needs and exceed the expectations of its member-owners.
- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, click here.
There are tax benefits for owning a business
By Randy Brunson
Centurion Advisory Group
SUWANEE, Ga. | Many of you may know the tax benefits of business ownership. If you do, this will be a refresher. If you don’t, this information may help reduce your tax bill.
Brunson
Keep in mind that the dollars you earn are yours. They are not “foregone revenue”, as the D.C. federal employee types would have you believe. Below is a brief list of some of them.
- Expense it. This has limits. But if you use your cell phone for business, that is a legitimate business expense. Your W-2 friends don’t get that benefit. Business travel can be extended to include personal or tourist days. Tax deductible? We think a case can be made. Shareholder meetings don’t have to be in your office. You can have solid business conversations where the air is warm and the beach is near. But, document, document.
- If you sell your business, focus on structuring the transaction under the Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) rules. This can have a huge positive impact on your tax bill.
- If you are the only employee of your business, or if you and your spouse are the only employees, you can set up a Solo 401(k). Aggregate maximum contributions for 2025 are $70,000 per person, $77,000 for those aged 50 to 59 or 64 or older, and $81,250 for those aged 60 to 63.
- Qualified Business Income, or QBI, can reduce the taxable income from your business by 20 percent. There are limits and exclusions. But for many business owners, it is a nice gift.
- Cash Flow Allocation. You can choose how much to take in salary or earned income, versus how much to take in distributions. The differences? Earned income is subject to FICA or Social Security taxes, as well as federal and if applicable, state income taxes. Distributions are subject to only federal and state income taxes. A note regarding this decision. Earned income is the only form of income that can be used for purposes of making retirement plan contributions. And is the only form of income which will generate a Social Security benefit.
- Consulting and cash flow when in your 60’s. If you have retired from corporate yet want to work and have the opportunity, set up a Sub-S entity or LLC. Take your Social Security benefits. Have the consulting arrangement between the client and your business entity. And pay yourself (for 2025) no more than $1900 monthly in salary. Take the balance in distributions. This allows you to have solid cash flow and still retain your full Social Security benefits, even though you are younger than Full Retirement Age.
- Pay your state taxes using a PTET. Essentially pay personal taxes at the business level to get around the $10,000 SALT cap.
- Find something meaningful your children can do for your company. Take a significant part of their earnings and contribute to a Roth IRA. This has massive long-term positive results.
- For those of you whose incomes are $500,000 to $2 million. In addition to the 401(k) or profit-sharing plan, set up a cash balance plan. Yes, the IRS allows your company to have two retirement plans. Structured well, and with the right mix of employee metrics, we have seen annual deductible contributions which range from $150,000 to more than $600,000, with as much as 90 percent of this (or more) accruing to the owner.
There’s more, but that’s enough for now.
- Have a comment? Click here to send an email.
Thinking about other survivors at Christmas
Editor, the Forum:
Instead of sending money to Ukraine, how about the hurricane victims from Helene, or the Lahaina Maui fire, or the folks in Palestine, Ohio. toxic train derailment, or the homeless in U.S.; 85,000 veterans on our streets? Until we clean up our own backyard we need to help U.S. citizens, so we can then help Ukraine. enough of our tax dollars have been sent to them already with no accounting as to where those funds have gone and to whom!
– Barbara Warden, Norcross
Dear Barbara: Isn’t it amazing that Americans contribute to so many good causes around the world? Aren’t you proud of this? As for dollars that are being collected locally for Ukraine, that is designated for specific health and living issues. –eeb
From Hoschton, enjoys reading GwinnettForum
Editor, the Forum:
It’s really enjoyable reading your newsletter, especially the recent article on the Wesley founders of the Methodist Church.
I hope someone does a tribute to Home Depot founder, Bernie Marcus. I grew up in Doraville where the first Home Depot started.
I handled his donation to Georgia Aquarium and worked for Michael Leven (CEO of the Georgia Aquarium and Days Inn) while at Days Inn headquarters.
By the way, I am a descendant of Dr. Peter Paul Noel d’Alvigny (real Gone with the Wind doctor.) Dalvigney Street in Atlanta is named for him.
– Rick Clarke, Hoschton
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: ebrack2@gmail.com.
GGC grant of $2 million enhances HACER program
Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) has secured a $2 million transformative grant that will enhance two groundbreaking initiatives aimed at improving student success over the next three years. This funding marks a significant advancement in GGC’s commitment to supporting Hispanic students and addressing critical workforce shortages in education.
Dr. Jann L. Joseph, president of GGC, says: “The work we do is ultimately for student success. This grant will help us increase our outreach with the tools to help them succeed. The three-year grant for both initiatives is thanks to The Goizueta Foundation. It was founded in 1992 by Roberto C. Goizueta, who served as CEO of The Coca-Cola Company for 16 years, and focuses on “giving young people the opportunity to succeed through education.”
With this grant, GGC will expand its successful Hispanic Achievers Committed to Excellence in Results (HACER) program. Launched in 2020 with an initial grant, HACER creates a vibrant living-learning community where students co-enroll in linked courses, benefiting from collaborative faculty support and enhanced academic experiences. The new funding will introduce the Students in HACER Internship Program, providing vital support to student interns and facilitating their academic and professional growth.
It will enhance the success of GGC students academically and professionally in four areas: pre-college bridge experiences, student intern leadership development, HACER Learning Community activities, and HACER Scholarships. As a designated Hispanic Serving Institution, GGC serves a diverse student body, with 29% identifying as Hispanic, making these initiatives particularly impactful.
In addition to the HACER expansion, the grant will also enable GGC to launch its P-12 Teacher Workforce Program. It will expand the college’s partnerships across the county, and will establish a pipeline to attract, retain and support GGC students pursuing and graduating with their bachelor’s degree in education.
Oh gets promoted to new role at Chamber
Oh
The Gwinnett Chamber has promoted Paul Oh to vice president, public policy and external affairs, effective January 1, 2025. Oh joined the Chamber staff in February 2020 as manager of public policy and community affairs. Oh lives in Suwanee, and is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology with a B.S. in International Affairs & Modern Languages.
Aylo Health expands to add practice in Suwanee
Aylo Health, an independent, family-owned network of primary care practices in Georgia, has announced it will open its newest Aylo Health Primary Care Practice at 7710 McGinnis Ferry Road in Suwanee on January 6 and serve patients across Gwinnett and Fulton Counties. On the heels of opening a Primary Care and Imaging Center in Woodstock this month, the Suwanee practice will mark Aylo Health’s sixth location in the North Atlanta market and 18th in the state.
Nick Williams, chief executive officer of Aylo Health, says: “Expanding our presence further into the North Atlanta market means more people will have better access to primary care services, ultimately creating healthier communities across the state.”
With the addition of the Suwanee location, Aylo Health is responsible for bringing more than 200 new jobs to the North Atlanta market including clinical, administrative and leadership positions. The opening is part of Aylo Health’s growth strategy into the area that is built on the foundational success of its locations south of Atlanta.
The 14,000 square-foot facility is located in the Shakerag Shopping Center along with Publix Super Market and will offer the convenience of in-house labs, x-rays, extended hours, weekend availability and same-day appointments.
The Country Girls, by Edna O’Brien
From Susan J. Harris, Stone Mountain: Cait Brady and Baba Brennan are two girls growing up in Ireland. Cait is a dreamy romantic searching for true love, while Baba is a rugged individualist seeking independence at all costs. After they are expelled from a Catholic convent for a misadventure, they venture to Dublin to explore and experience life. Their quest for love and excitement is filled with unexpected romantic mishaps. As they both find their way in the world, there is a shift in their relationship as friends since it becomes clear that they want vastly different things. The novel is filled with evocative prose that speaks of the longings both have for fulfillment and actualization. This is the first in a trilogy about the lives of the two characters. It is followed by The Lonely Girl, and Girls in their Wedded Bliss. Follow their lives as they grow, struggle, make choices and evolve as people.”
- 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. Click here to send an email.
Radium Springs has been an attraction near Albany
Radium Springs is a natural cold-water spring located in the eponymously named community of Radium Springs in Dougherty County. It is one of Georgia’s largest natural springs, pumping up to 70,000 gallons of water a minute in ideal conditions.
Before Radium Springs was known by its current name, the indigenous Muscogee people reportedly called it Skywater. European colonists later simply called it Blue Springs. In 1925 the advertising and real estate magnate Barron Collier purchased the springs and hundreds of surrounding acres. Collier, who had initially made his money through streetcar advertising in New York City, owned several resort and amusement properties, primarily in Florida. Located conveniently near the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, Collier called the land Skywater Park and began to draw up plans to turn it into a resort and spa for the well-to-do.
Hot springs and mineral springs have been sought out worldwide for their purported healing properties. Hydrotherapy, the treatment of disease through water, became particularly widespread across Europe and America in the 18th and 19th centuries
In 1927 the Radium Springs Club at Skywater Park held its grand opening. Guests were treated to dinner, dancing, a pageant depicting Ponce de León’s search for the fountain of youth, and a bathing revue—a kind of pageant where women displayed the current trends in swimwear.
Among the club’s features upon opening were its 18-hole golf course, cottages, a swimming pool filled with water from the spring, a boating bay, and, most prominently, the casino. The casino did not feature gambling as our modern usage of the word might suggest; rather, the casino was a grand hall that featured a ballroom, dining areas, promenades, and terraces from which guests could observe the springs.
The Great Depression began to take its toll on visitation to the resort, and Radium Springs gradually became less exclusive throughout the 1930s, eventually opening swimming and recreation up to the broader public. It also continued to be leased out for conferences and tournaments. By 1938 only the golf course and swimming pool were still in use.
In 1942 a group some 70 south Georgia businessmen came together to buy the resort. Under the operation of hotelier Horace Caldwell, Radium Springs regained some of its former glory, this time with a renewed focus on middle class and local visitors.
In 1963 Caldwell took a position as the director of Georgia’s State Parks Department and left the hotel business. Radium Springs would experience a series of sporadic openings and closings over the next several decades, though swimming and golfing continued to be regularly available.
Radium Springs continued to pass through the hands of various investors. An effort was made in the early 1980s to repair the casino, but a fire in 1982 greatly damaged the building. Flooding of the Flint River in 1994 and 1998 further damaged the casino and its surrounding grounds. Along with low water levels due to drought, recreation at Radium Springs was functionally brought to an end in the 1990s.
After the floods Radium Springs and the surrounding grounds were bought by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), who later transferred their portion of the property to Dougherty County. In 2010 Radium Springs reopened as Radium Springs Gardens. Maintaining some of the original stonework of the old structures, the property now features a botanical garden, trails, and new walkway from which to observe the springs.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Identify this classic building
Here’s a classic-looking building that may be closer than you think. Send your guess about this holiday mystery to ebrack2@gmail.com. Happy holidays.
The previous mystery was solved by several people, as Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. described: “It’s a photo of Plaza de España, a large plaza located in the northeast corner of the Parque de María Luisa along the eastern bank of the Guadalquivir River in Seville, Spain. It was designed by Spanish architect Aníbal González (1876-1929), who designed many popular landmarks throughout Seville and Madrid. The Plaza was completed in 1928, a year before González’s death, but well before the May 9, 1929 opening of the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929, the world’s fair in Seville for which the plaza was originally created.” The photo came from Molly Titus of Peachtree Corners. Also solving the puzzle were George Graf, Palmyra, Va.; Lou Camerio, Lilburn; Stew Ogilvie, Rehobeth, Ala.and Jay Altman, Columbia, S.C.
More mystery photos needed
We are about out of high quality mystery photos. Scour your computer for good photos, and send them to us soonest! Send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send to: ebrack2@gmail.com and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
Recycle Christmas trees at “Bring One for the Chipper”
Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful is planning its annual “Bring One for the Chipper” event, transforming live trees into mulch that will grace public spaces and parks over the coming months. With the help of its partners at Jackson EMC, Walton EMC, Republic Services, and the Gwinnett County Departments of Transportation, Parks and Recreation, and Fire, GC&B will collect cut trees between December 26 and January 22, 2025, at select fire stations throughout the county. The trees will then be transported to Bethesda Park at 225 Bethesda Church Road in Lawrenceville for Bring One for the Chipper 2025 on Saturday, January 25, 2025. Volunteers are needed to help haul those collected trees to the chipper, where they’ll be transformed into mulch. To volunteer, interested parties must register online at Volunteer Gwinnett. Questions may be directed to gwinnettcb@gwinnettcb.org or 770-822-5187.
GwinnettForum is provided to you at no charge every Tuesday and Friday.
Meet our team
- Editor and publisher: Elliott Brack, 770-840-1003
- Managing editor: Betsy Brack
- Contributing columnist: Jack Bernard
- Contributing columnist: George Wilson
More
- Mailing address: P.O. Box 1365, Norcross, Ga. 30091
- Work with us: If you would like to learn about how to be an underwriter to support the publication of GwinnettForum as a community resource for news and commentary, please contact us today.
Subscriptions to GwinnettForum are free.
- Click to subscribe.
- 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.
- © 2024, 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