THE JIMMY CARTER BOULEVARD BRIDGE with its diverging diamond interchange across Interstate 85 saw completion of its lighting apparatus over the past weekend. This southern gateway to Gwinnett County is set to be automatically lighted each night going forward. The entire interchange re-working and lighting work was funded by the Gwinnett Village CID at a cost of $7 million. The work provides uplighting along the outside of the bridge fencing to highlight the architectural features. The grill of the bridge has the capacity to change colors. Lights are also installed on the inside walls of the center pedestrian walkway, adding both an aesthetic and safety enhancement. The design was developed by Peter Drey of Design Plus Environmental of Atlanta. The angular design drew inspiration from the Eastern Continental Divide, which runs directly across the bridge. (Photo by Joel Wascher.)
IN THIS EDITIONTODAY’S FOCUS: GACS President Speaks to Common Core and Uncommon Learning
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Georgia Delegate Count Important in Both Party’s Voting Next Tuesday
ANOTHER VIEW: Anti –Abortion Measures Before Legislature Are Deceptive
SPOTLIGHT: MTI Baths Inc.
FEEDBACK: More on Peachtree Corners Tunnel and What Mama Taught
UPCOMING: Aurora Plans Annual Gala Marking 20th Anniversary on March 4
NOTABLE: North Gwinnett Teacher is Winn DAR Outstanding History Teacher
RECOMMENDED: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Southeastern Ring Shout One of Oldest Surviving African Traditions
TODAY’S QUOTE: Time to Listen to An Oracle
MYSTERY PHOTO: Lots of Water To Consider When Looking at This Mystery
LAGNIAPPE: First Goldfinch of the Season Arrives at Lawrenceville Park
TODAY’S FOCUSGACS president speaks to Common Core or uncommon learning
(Editor’s Note: The Common Core has been much in the news in the last few months. Here’s a comment from the president of Greater Atlanta Christian School on the subject. –eeb)
By Dr. David Fincher
President, Greater Atlanta Christian School
NORCROSS, Ga., Feb. 23,2016 | To ensure we are on the same page, Common Core is an educational initiative in the U.S. that details what K-12 students should know in math and English. It’s been a political football at times – but that’s not our focus.
Fincher
Our focus at Greater Atlanta Christian School is the best interest of our students, to think, thrive, and lead ahead. Common Core seeks to create a national platform so that children might find the same learning standards, so to give American students a chance to catch up to the rising international learning of developed nations. It also focuses on a new set of skills and knowledge that 21st-century kids need to know, but which many local public districts haven’t adopted.
Here are four outlooks of where GAC stands on the Common Core:
- As a Christian school with a vision of uncommon, faith-filled learning for our students, we are thrilled to be independent, not under the auspices of state and local government school requirements. We hold dear our independence because we’ve seen too often various layers of local, state, and federal bureaucracies impose the latest initiatives, only to run to the opposite pole shortly after. GAC is not required to adopt government school policies in this area—or our students would lose a key portion of the engine that makes us special, in our independence to think differently and autonomously.
- GAC is always observant and quick to adopt research-based best practices in uncommon, unmatched learning for our students, no matter where we find it. We don’t ever reject a concept or a great practice simply because it was born in a state or federal department. Our view is that the Common Core has some values, some standards that are good, even great. Yet Common Core standards are not the cap, the peak to which we take our students. They can serve as a baseline upon which GAC can build even more for our students.
We believe there are risks in external standards, both to our school’s heart of faith and to the fire of creativity we want to build in students. GAC has no plans to steal from our students’ creativity to force them into a national singular mold of learning. In addition, any standards we adopt must provide great room for faith in Christ and all of his character and ethics for our children.
- Extraordinary Christian teachers play a mighty hand in uncommon outcomes for students. Standards are good, but they pale in comparison to the impact of superb, caring teachers. That is why GAC administrators are dedicating attention to finding and attracting the absolute best teachers to join our faculty, and then committing extraordinary attention to their success, additional education, and evaluation for improvement. Uncommon Christian teachers are the linchpins of student success, far above written standards.
So do we favor defined outcomes (standards) for learning? Absolutely. We already have adopted outcomes – and will regularly adopt new and higher standards in the future.
Some of those will match Common Core, and many others will surpass it. Yet we hold even dearer the creativity standards, our freedom from governmental bureaucracy, deep commitment to attracting and growing superb Christian faculty, and the essence of Christian faith and ethics in every lesson.
The formula for GAC success for a generation of students…is anything but common.
EEB PERSPECTIVEGeorgia delegate count important to both parties next Tuesday
By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher
FEB. 23, 2016 | Have you made up your mind which presidential candidate you’ll be voting for?
If you haven’t, the presidential preference primary is just one week off, on March 1. So think speedily. You must decide soon!
At least what seemed like innumerable Republican candidates has been thinned seriously, with former Florida governor, Jeb Bush, exiting last week. From 17 candidates at the start, only five remain in the field: Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Marco Rubio and Donald Trump. Even the Democrats have trimmed their field from six down to only Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
GwinnettForum will make no endorsements in the presidential primary field. However, in the Georgia primary on May 24 and in the General Election next November, GwinnettForum will endorse in all stateside races, and in all contested races in Gwinnett County. We’ll ask the candidates to spend 30 minutes in our offices, to get to know them, and also allow them to state their written views in GwinnettForum on six questions for our readers to examine.
The states voting on March 1 include Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia. Note that seven of these 11 states are in the South, giving our area of the country an early impact on the national scene. By March 2, a few more candidates may no longer be running for the top office.
So far, the major surprises this year have been the “outsider” campaigns of both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. Neither was given much of a chance against veteran politicians seeking office. Both have mounted intensive campaigns, which have captured the imagination of an astounding number of people.
Whether Donald Trump can maintain this momentum until the convention is the question. We have thought previously that the mainline GOP forces would control the campaign enough to deny Trump the nomination. That may still be what happens, but Trump has a front-runner position right now. However, though winning handily, it appears from the South Carolina voting that his strength is in the 30-40 percent, appealing to the minority of the Republican party. His attraction of new voters, and his possible pull from potential Democratic voters (in states where voting in either party primary is allowed), give him even more of a possibility.
As for Bernie Sanders, he certainly has the Hillary Clinton campaign concerned. Who would have thought he could hang in tough against the heavy favorite? Even more surprising is how close he has come in both Iowa and Nevada. Iowa was 51-49 for Hillary, and Nevada was 53-47. Not whopping Clinton victories, showing Bernie’s appeal.
In the Republican delegate count, Georgia ranks second among states voting March 1, with 75 delegates at stake on March 1. Only Texas, with 155, ranks higher. (Learn more by seeing this table.) Georgia is also important in the Democratic voting, tied for second with 116 delegates, outranked only by Texas (252), and tied for second with Massachusetts.
So there’s lot at stake in both parties in next Tuesday’s balloting for who will win their party’s nomination for president.
Remember you can vote early through Friday. Or come and enjoy the hoopla at your poll on March 1.
ANOTHER VIEWAnti-abortion measures before legislature are deceptive
By George Wilson
FEB. 23, 2016 | Georgia has 70 crisis pregnancy centers operated by religious organizations and others who oppose abortion and birth control. They lure women in without revealing their bias, then providing false accounts of medical and emotional risks of abortion. They slant information given out to their patients, such as on birth control methods. Senate Bill 308 recently passed by the Georgia Senate would allow a form of state funding for these centers. They try to get around the separation of church and issue by creating them as non -profits to receive grants from the state.
This legislation was fostered by Gwinnett Senator Renee Unterman (R-Buford). It’s bad for the women of Georgia that she is also the chairwoman of the Senate committee on Health and Human Services. In her 17 years she has actively pushed bills that curtail the freedom of women.
If this law is approved, these centers should be required to post a prominent notice that free or low-cost abortion, contraception and prenatal care are available to low-income women through public programs, and to provide the phone numbers to call. Hopefully, an amendment to this effect will remedy the harmfulness of this bill to women.
Moreover, the deception that goes on in these centers is in my view harmful to women who want objective options to their pregnancy. Here are some comments by other women senators that opposed this law. State Senator Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, says she worries that the centers may provide “false or misleading information.” Senator Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta, calls “those biased organizations” and that they may not employ doctors or anyone with medical experience. Women would be better served by seeking out Planned Parenthood locations.
Finally, if Senator Unterman wants to aid Georgians, she should seek to have Georgia expand Medicaid. The lack of health care expansion is causing death among our citizens and the closing of rural hospitals.
IN THE SPOTLIGHTMTI Baths Inc.
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s featured sponsor is MTI Baths Inc. of Sugar Hill. MTI Baths is a manufacturer of high-quality acrylic and engineered solid surface bath products, including whirlpools, air and soaking baths; lavatories; shower bases; and kitchen sinks; the Jentle Jet® laundry sink for delicates; and the Jentle Ped® foot spa. MTI’s patented Fill-Flush® and Simple Touch® whirlpool cleaning systems are the best on the market. Every product is custom-made to order and shipped within seven business days. Opening soon will be MTI’s new 38,000 square foot manufacturing plant. CEO of the firm is Kathy Adams, while Russell Adams is president.
- Visit their web site at http://www.mtibaths.com/.
- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, go to: Our sponsors..
More thoughts on tunnel, not a bridge, in Peachtree Corners
Editor, the Forum:
I appreciate the kind words of support from Hoyt Tuggle on my thoughts on a tunnel rather than a bridge across Peachtree Parkway in Peachtree Corners.
Would people actually use it for what it is proposed? We assumed it is for getting people to shop on both sides and allowing those who might live on one side to easily get to the other. The state will require it to be a certain height. We have wind, rain, and ice to contend with on a bridge.
A tunnel eliminates the height and inclination problem and offers protection from the weather. The bridge offers another potential of vandals throwing things onto passing cars. A tunnel would also have less impact on the skyline, which has always been a consideration in planning in this area.
So it seems to make sense that a tunnel is much more likely to be used as intended with the least cost and the greatest number of people being able to use it. Imagine if the bridge is built and is rarely used. That would be a waste and terribly embarrassing. It might end up as a classic White Elephant.
— Bryan Gilbert, Peachtree Corners
Remembering phrases from childhood; Mystery Photo leaning
Editor, the Forum:
Here are some admonitions I remember my parents instructing me:
- Don’t put your elbows on the table when eating.
- Don’t talk when your mouth is full.
- Cover your mouth when you cough.
- Mind your own business.
In another vein: The mystery photo caught my attention. Notice that it has heart rot, and is LEANING toward the house! Uh Oh!! Better get the tree surgeon out there. Being a retired forester, wouldn’t you know I’d catch that?
— David Earl Tyre, Jesup
What one guy remembers what his mother said
Editor, the Forum:
My Mother Anna did not say a lot but I remember what she did say. She said things that taught me.
If I would try to say, “Mama, I hate _ _ _ _”, she would say to me, “Alex, Don’t hate!” She allowed me not to like, to disapprove, to be upset, but not to hate.
She said things that made you laugh: “Mama, can I have a nickel?” Her reply: “Alex, if I had a nickel, I’d sit up and watch it all night.”
If I asked, “Mama, where are you going?” She would say, “I’m going to see a man about a dog.”
She woke me up in the morning with: “Time to get up, my little babusta.” I’m not sure I am spelling it right but she liked me so I’m sure babutsa is a nice thing to be.
She gave me nutritional advice: “Never eat a banana after 9 at night.” Her words stuck with me. I ate my first banana after 9 o’clock at night at age 62. She was in Pennsylvania at the time & I was in Georgia. I looked around as I began to peel it. I ate it slowly. I chewed it carefully. I will probably never do it again.
One thing she never said was an unkind word about anyone.
When she would call me when I still working, the message on my answering machine went like this: “Alex? Mama. Okay?” My Father preceded my Mother into death by 40 years and 54 days. I feel fairly certain that this is what occurred when they met again: “Russell? Anna. Okay?”
— Alex J. Ortolano, Duluth
- Send Feedback and Letters to: elliott@brack.net
Aurora plans annual gala marking 20th anniversary on March 4
Commemorating the landmark occasion of its 20th anniversary season, Aurora Theatre is preparing for a festive evening as it presents its Sixth Annual Aurora Gala on Friday, March 4 at 6:30 p.m. Local artists, community members and Aurora staff will be honored for their contributions to the cultural community arts of metro-Atlanta and surrounding areas. Proceeds will go toward continued funding for the theatre’s productions, workshops and events. Tickets are $75 per person and can be purchased online at www.auroratheatre.com.
Anthony Rodriguez, Producing Artistic Director says: “This milestone is a testament of a lot of hard work. Ann-Carol and I have been surrounded by great corporate leaders, a hard working staff and nationally talented artists who happen to call Atlanta home.”
In addition to the presentation of its Barbara Awards and the highly anticipated 2016-17 season announcement, this year’s gala will include exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the theatre, as well as an auction for people to bid on one-of-a-kind experiences. Heavy hors d’oeuvres will be served, accompanied by a cash bar. Attire is cocktail or black-tie optional.
Audience favorites will be recognized for individual performances and productions based on online voting, which will be open through February 26.
- To cast a vote, please visit http://bit.ly/auroragala.
The event will also recognize the outstanding contributions of local businessman Marshall Boutwell, president/CEO of Peach State Federal Credit Union. He has been an unwavering supporter of the Aurora Theatre, stepping in during times of great need and being a leader of growth and expansion. The event is hosted by Anthony Rodriguez, Brandon O’Dell and Mabel Tyler with Honorary Gala Chairs Bartow and Leslie Morgan.
New VP and chief physician exec at Gwinnett Medical Group
Dr. Bedri Yusuf has been named to the newly created position of Vice President and Chief Physician Executive for Gwinnett Medical Group (GMG), an affiliate of Gwinnett Medical Center (GMC).
Yusef
Dr. Yusuf’s appointment to the new position continues GMC’s commitment to combining medical and management competencies at leadership levels throughout the health system. Dr. Yusuf has previously served as vice president of the GMC medical staff and as co-director of the hospitalist program, which he joined in 2006.
Rubin said Dr. Yusuf will have primary responsibility for “quality, safety, standards of care, clinical resource utilization, provider behaviors, provider performance management, clinical transformation and provider alignment, among other duties.”
Dr. Yusuf earned his medical degree from Addis Ababa University in Gondor, Ethiopia. He has also graduated with an MBA from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts and had previously been awarded his Lean Six Sigma Black Belt from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has served as chairman of GMC’s Medical Performance Improvement and Patient Safety Committee since 2013. He will also continue to serve as a hospitalist on a limited basis.
Guess who’s coming to Suwanee event on March 5?
Reserve your tickets now for the Suwanee social event of 2016: Guess Who’s Coming to Cocktails, hosted at Town Center March 5 from 6:30 until 10 p.m.. Join the swankiest, hippest, and best dressed of Suwanee at this black-and-white, black-tie optional event in support of the Suwanee public art initiative.
Public Arts Commission member Cherie Heringer says: “Public art has become such a part of the fabric of our community. We wanted to create an annual event to celebrate the arts and to encourage residents to continue to support public art, not just financially but through involvement as well.”
Party-goers can look forward to cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, music, and dancing, plus an opportunity to brush elbows with mystery guests, including prominent artists, actors, chefs, musicians, and athletes.
The City of Suwanee launched its public art initiative in 2008 with the creation of the Public Arts Commission, adopting a policy of encouraging developers to include public art in their projects and pledging the city to do the same. Since then, the city has commissioned and acquired numerous artworks for its City Hall and major parks, welcomed more than a half-dozen artworks placed by developers on their properties, and organized several rounds of SculpTour: a walkable outdoor exhibit of more than 25 temporary and permanent art pieces displayed throughout downtown. Tickets for this event can be purchased prior to February 26 at SuwaneeGuessWhosComing.com.
Intersection improvements coming to Grayson Parkway
The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners recently approved a construction contract made possible by a partnership between the county government and the city of Grayson. The intersection improvement will reduce congestion while improving safety for motorists traveling to nearby Grayson Elementary.
This joint venture allowed the agencies to share the costs of all phases of the project at the intersection of Georgia Highway 84 (Grayson Parkway) and Rosebud Road. Both agencies worked together to develop the project with the city adding several features including traffic signal and fencing enhancements.
The project will add turn lanes from Rosebud Road onto Grayson Parkway and will include an upgrade to the traffic signal and pedestrian facilities. Curb and gutter and other drainage improvements will also be constructed.
This project was awarded to Ohmshiv Construction, the lowest of four responsive bidders at $1,929,660. Gwinnett will be responsible for oversight and completion of the construction. Both entities are using 2014 SPLOST funds for their share of the project.
NOTABLENorth Gwinnett teacher is Winn DAR Outstanding History Teacher
A North Gwinnett High teacher of history has been named the Philadelphia Winn chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution Outstanding Teacher of American History for 2016.
Mullis
She is Michelle Radcliffe Mullis, who teaches United States History at North Gwinnett in Suwanee. She serves as Department Chair, and is a member of the Gwinnett County Social Studies Leadership Team.
A native of Charleston, S.C., Mrs. Mullis was steeped in American history from an early age, attending Historic Preservation Society meetings with her mother, who was a member of the DAR. She graduated from Summerville High School in Summerville, S.C., with honors, receiving a four-year scholarship to Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in History and Secondary Education.
It was the good fortune of Gwinnett County that in 2006, along with her husband and four children, Mrs. Mullis moved to Cumming, and began teaching at North Gwinnett High School. Mrs. Mullis became Department Chair in Social Studies in 2010. She went on to earn a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Walden University in 2010 and an Education Specialist Degree from Liberty University in 2011.
Mrs. Mullis believes that each individual child should be given the opportunity to be as successful as possible in their educational experience. Mrs. Mullis makes learning history relevant in the 21st Century as she incorporates technology in her daily instruction with power points that are embedded with music, video clips, maps, graphs, charts, works of art, primary source documents, and other multi-media tools.
Mrs. Mullis is active inside and outside of her classroom; she has taken field trips to the National Archives and the Federal Reserve. Much of her time, though, is spent in her own backyard. She has been instrumental in establishing “Little Free Libraries” and has promoted literacy in less affluent communities throughout Gwinnett County, a project near and dear to the Daughters of the American Revolution!
This outstanding teacher will be honored at the Chapter’s Awards Program on Sunday, February 21, in Lawrenceville. A “George Washington Tea” is being planned for the event.
- For more information regarding the Philadelphia Winn Chapter of the NSDAR, please visit our website at: philadelphiawinn.georgiastatedar.org/.
Hospital announces $30 million fund goal, biggest ever in Gwinnett
Shumate
Gwinnett Medical Center Foundation has announced a $30 million capital campaign, the Next Generation of Healthcare, to be raised by 2020, which marks the 30th anniversary of the foundation. Foundation officials unveiled the campaign at their annual Cornerstone Society Gala last weekend. This fundraising campaign is the largest goal in the history of Gwinnett County. According to Gwinnett Medical Center Foundation Board Chairperson Tammy Shumate, the campaign is designed to “accelerate the transformation of healthcare in the north metro community.” The monies raised in the community will solely benefit the health system’s acute-care hospitals in Lawrenceville and Duluth, the Gwinnett Women’s Pavilion, the Gwinnett Extended Care Center and Glancy Rehabilitation Center.
Snellville VFW post honors Sgt. Zach Spahr with public safety award
Spahr and Varone
Snellville Police Sgt. Zach Spahr has been honored by Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4180 during the Post’s annual Public Safety Awards ceremony for his outstanding service providing public safety for the city. Spahr has been a member of the Snellville Police Department since 2006.
Prior to joining the SPD, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps for four years and in the Georgia Army National Guard from for six years. While Spahr has been serving the Snellville Police Department,, he has been assigned to both the Uniform Patrol Division as well as the Criminal Investigations Division. He is a department Training Officer, member of the Honor Guard, Team Leader for the department’s Special Response Team and was named Supervisor of the Year in 2014. He is shown with Post Junior Vice Commander Bob Varone.
ARC awards $124,114 grant for Gwinnett’s “Get in Gear” program
For the fifth straight year, the Atlanta Regional Commission awarded federal grant funds to help support Gwinnett’s successful Get in Gear program. The $124,114 grant lets Gwinnett Senior Services help about four dozen transportation-challenged dialysis clients get to medical appointments, therapies and treatments.
The program requires clients to pay 25 percent of the total cost of a book of vouchers. They can then choose and negotiate costs with one of two dozen pre-approved vendors. About 93 percent of the clients are over 60 and together they average 1,242 one-way passenger trips of about 15 miles per trip each month.
Friends of Gwinnett County Senior Services contributed $31,500 toward the required local match of $84,001. The volunteer, non-profit organization raises money to support senior services in Gwinnett, especially food insecurity and transportation. More about Friends is online at www.fogcss.com.
RECOMMENDEDThe Nightingale
A novel by Kristin Hannah
Few books immediately pull you into the story. This one does, as I read the 400-plus pages in three days. The focus is life in countryside France and Paris during the often brutal German occupation of World War II, showing the enforced shortages while the German Army was fed well. It certainly shows that no matter who, you don’t want another nation occupying your land. Meanwhile, the Resistance operates effectively under the German’s noses. A family is pulled-apart in many ways, yet perseveres. Their tenacity overwhelms you, learning in tragic detail what they went through, and how brave the people were. This will be one of the best novels of the year, delving into an aspect of this war we often don’t want to hear about. The ending will surprise many, as it ties elements of the story into a nice knot. — eeb
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 TIDBITSoutheastern ring shout one of oldest surviving African traditions
The southeastern ring shout is probably the oldest surviving African American performance tradition on the North American continent. It continues to be performed in a black community in McIntosh County on Georgia’s coast. This compelling fusion of counterclockwise dancelike movement, call-and-response singing, and percussion of hand clapping and a stick beating a drumlike rhythm on a wooden floor is clearly African in its origins and most salient features. The ring shout affirms oneness with the Spirit and ancestors as well as community cohesiveness.
As the tradition developed in slavery times, strong elements of Christian belief were grafted onto it. The ring shout was first described in detail during the Civil War (1861-65) by outside observers in coastal regions of South Carolina and Georgia. Its practice continued in those areas well into the 20th century, even as its influence was resounding in later forms like spiritual, jubilee, and gospel music, and elements of jazz. By the last quarter of the 20th century, however, the ring shout itself was presumed to have died out until its rediscovery in 1980 in McIntosh County.
To this day, the shouters of Bolden or “Briar Patch,” a community near Eulonia, perform the ring shout at the Mt. Calvary Baptist Church on Watch Night, or New Year’s Eve, to welcome in the New Year. In earlier times the shout, often criticized by white missionaries and some black clergy, occurred in the church after the formal worship, or in “praise houses” in the woods, or even in homes or barns. Today it continues to be separate from formal worship, though it takes place in the church’s annex, a building with a wooden floor that permits movement in the ring and the resonance of the stick.
A “songster” will “set” or begin a song, slowly at first, then accelerating to an appropriate tempo. These lines will be answered by a group of singers called “basers” in call-and-response pattern. The stick-man, sitting next to the leader, will beat a simple rhythm with a broom or other wood stick, and the basers will add rhythm with hand clapping and foot patting. The songs are special shout songs, at one time called “running spirituals.” For the most part they form a separate repertoire from spirituals, jubilees, and later gospel songs. Ranging from light-spirited to apocalyptic, at times they carry coded references to slavery. Sometimes participants pantomime the meaning of the verses being sung—for example, extending their arms in the “eagle wing” gesture to evoke friends urging a slave, Daniel, to fly from the master’s whip.
(To be continued)
- To access the Georgia Encyclopedia online, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Lots of water to consider when looking at this mystery
Tell us where you think this photograph was made. Send you idea to elliott@brack.net and be sure to include your hometown.
Several people recognized a coastal Mississippi home which was the Mystery Photo in the last edition. Michael Green of Milton came in first, saying that the photo was “The Beauvoir, the home of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America. It is located in Biloxi, Mississippi. Beauvoir, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina is operated as a house museum.” The photo came from Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill.
Dependable George Graf of Palmyra, Va. also recognized it, telling us: “The construction of ‘Beauvoir’ was begun in 1848 and purchased in 1873 by the planter Samuel Dorsey and his wife, Sarah Dorsey. After her husband’s death in 1875, the widow, Sarah Ellis Dorsey learned of former Confederate President Jefferson Davis’ difficulties. She offered him a cottage near the main house, where he could live and work at his memoirs (“Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government”). In 1878 Sarah Ellis Dorsey remade her will, bequeathing ‘Beauvoir’ to Jefferson Davis, where he lived the remainder of his life, until 1889. The main house was badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina but was restored.”
Lee Klaer of Duluth also scored, saying: “I am almost certain that the photo is Jefferson Davis’s home in Biloxi. Mississippi.”
LAGNIAPPEFirst goldfinch of the season Arrives at Lawrenceville park
The first goldfinch of the season has arrived at Rhodes Jordan Park in Lawrenceville. Roving Photographer Frank Sharp reports: “This is a wonderful time to bird watch since there are hardly any leaves on the trees. The birds are difficult to see and identify in other seasons. This is a female American Goldfinch. The male is bright yellow and is often called a ‘wild canary.’ These birds have a very pointed beak which is an identifying standout mark.”
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