3/15: New college graduate; Gwinnett politics get hotter; more

THE WEATHER’S PERFECT these days for a trip to Gibbs Garden near Ball Ground to see their sumptuous outcropping of daffodils. Roving Photographer Frank Sharp captured this scene of a tourist enjoying herself in the garden as another person also snapped her picture. Admission to Gibbs Garden is $20 per person (for seniors, $18), plus $5 for tram tickets good for the entire day. Group rates are $16 per person.

TODAY’S FOCUS: Loganville Resident Wins College Diploma 16 Years After Dropping Out
EEB PERSPECTIVE: While National Scene Plays Out, Local Politics Heating Up
SPOTLIGHT: Georgia Gwinnett College
UPCOMING: Fix-A-Leak Workshop Can Save Your Water….and Dollars
NOTABLE: Warbington Leads CID To Become Lawrenceville City Manager
RECOMMENDED: The Long Telegram by George Kennan
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Dr. Pemberton Was Successful Druggist Before Inventing Coca-Cola
TODAY’S QUOTE: Here’s Something To Make You Wonder
MYSTERY PHOTO: Tell Us Where Photographer Shot This Beautiful River Scene

16 years after dropping out, Loganville resident completes college

By Cody Nichelson

LOGANVILLE, Ga., March 15, 2016 | “Amazing and exhausting.” Those are two words that Ruth Colquitt of Loganville uses to describe her journey back to college. Some 16 years after dropping out, she wanted to gain a steady career in an increasingly competitive environment.

Her desire for a degree, however, started much earlier.

Colquitt

At 12 years old, Ruth’s father brought her to the United States fleeing the communist country of Cuba and searching for a better life. Part of that better life was the ability to set personal goals and obtain them through hard work, perseverance and education — regardless of age, gender or race.

To fulfill her father’s wishes and her own hopes and dreams, she went back to school in 2009.

Ruth says: “I cannot say that the path to my success has been easy or smooth. But what I can say is that it’s been totally worth it.”

Ruth originally started college in 1996 at DeKalb College but had to leave because of financial circumstances and family obligations. Although her husband was incredibly hardworking and supportive, they simply did not have money to afford college. Today, she doesn’t focus on how long it has taken to get here; instead, she focuses only on the fact that she got here.

During the years in between Ruth’s college career, she worked as a teacher’s assistant at a private school. Though rewarding, she felt “stuck” in her position — unable to apply for more advanced roles.

Meanwhile, her sons have progressed well, one close to graduating high school and the other about to enroll in middle school.

Ruth recognized the opportunity, and she seized it.

In 2007, she enrolled at Georgia Perimeter College, receiving financial assistance through the federal Pell Grant. She was able to transfer earned credits from her initial years in school. Working a full-time job, Ruth attended night classes, and in 2009, she obtained an associate degree in psychology.

Then Ruth enrolled at Georgia Gwinnett College, working toward bachelor’s degree in psychology.

“The resources available today for students who are struggling in any or all areas are incredibly beneficial and easily obtained,” Ruth says.

Those resources were created as part of the state’s “Go Back. Move Ahead” initiative, a collaborative effort from the University System, Technical College System and Georgia Student Finance Commission, that makes it easier for adults to return to college.

It’s projected that by 2025, more than 60 percent of jobs in Georgia will require a post-secondary credential. Today, less than 45 percent of Georgians are prepared to such a level.

By offering a simpler enrollment process, more ways to transfer earned credits, flexible course schedules and financial aid resources, the state hopes more adults will head back to school.

Ruth graduated with her degree last December. As she begins searching for a full-time job, for the first time Ruth sees a light at the end of the tunnel for her and her family.

“Finally, the future I’ve always wanted is within reach, thanks to the resources in place to help me in completing my college degree.”

Gwinnett politics getting hot as national scene starts to solidify

By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher

MARCH 15, 2016 | Over the weekend, we in Gwinnett learned that not only is it going to be a big year politically on the national scene, but that locally there will be several key political races that could dramatically determine the future of the county.

Each of three sitting county commissioners in Gwinnett have opposition, several judges now face the voters, and only nine of our 24 state senators and representatives got by without opposition. Two of the three U.S. Congress members who represent part of Gwinnett have opposition, and even U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson has both Republican and Democratic contenders—two Republicans and four Democrats.

Interestingly, the three members of the Gwinnett Board of Education up for election this year drew no opponents. That says something significant about the way the Gwinnett schools are guided! Congratulations, Carole Boyce, Mary Kay Murphy and Louise Radloff!

So, yes, it’s going to be a big year politically.

Several office holders with have opponents. They include:

The three Republicans on the County Commission have opponents. Chairman Charlotte Nash faces Democrat Jim Shealey in the General Election, as does Jace Brooks, against Democrat Derek Johnson, and Tommy Hughes, against Jasper Watkins III, a Democrat.

Sheriff Butch Conway, a Republican, drew a Republican opponent: Walter Keith Van Nus.

Neither Tax Commissioner Richard Steele nor clerk of court Richard T. Alexander Jr. found opposition.

In the non-partisan judicial elections, Superior Court Judge Ronnie Batchelor has an opponent, Gregory McKeithen. Five other Superior Court Judges have no opponents: Randy Rich, Kathy Schrader, Karen Beyers, Melodie Snell Conner and Warren Davis.

In State Court, Emily Brantley and John Doran have no opponents, though Incumbent Shawn Bratton will see opposition from Latawsha Little-Hill, and Judge Carla Brown faces Ronda Colvin-Leary.

Probate Judge Christopher Bailer has no opponent, nor does Chief Magistrate Kristina Blum.

The Gwinnett delegation to the statehouse who face no opposing candidates include Senators P.K. Martin, and David Shafer, and Reps. Dar-shun Kendrick, Karen Bennett, David Clark, Dewey McClain, Timothy Barr and Chuck Efstraton.

So watch out during the next few months: here come the candidates courting all of us to serve us.   The date for the Georgia General Primary is May 24.

* * * * *

By the end of today, on the national scene, we may have a reduced field of candidates on the Republican side, while we’ll know if Bernie Sanders still has life after the primaries in Ohio, Florida, Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina. Today’s primaries are crucial at least for Florida’s Marco Rubio and Ohio’s Gov. John Kasich.

We suspect the voters in Florida will tell Senator Rubio that it’s time for him to consider “suspending” his campaign for the presidency. Polls show him significantly trailing Donald Trump in that state. He also has won few states and much fewer delegates than the two top contenders. His own state could be the linchpin in his dropping the idea of the presidency for 2016. Look out for him in coming years!

Ohio, in particular, may make Hillary Clinton a little nervous as she seeks a knock-out punch to discourage Bernie Sanders. However, Mr. Sanders contends that he is in the event up until the end. He certainly continues to sound good in his appearances before the voters.   His Michigan victory, coupled with a big win in any of these five states on Tuesday, could continue to inspire him and his supporters.

So, about the time the national scene starts to congeal, looks like local politics will take on new prominence.

GwinnettForum will continue its dialogue with local candidates on Gwinnett’s ballot to keep you up-to-date and informed on local issues, and later endorse the candidates we think best for the jobs.

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Learn how to save money at tonight’s Fix-A-Leak workshop

Water leaks in the average home can account for more than 10,000 gallons in wasted water.  That means that by fixing easily corrected household leaks, home owners can save up to 10 percent on their water bills.

Join Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources for a free, hands-on workshop to learn how to detect and correct water leaks around your home.  Held in conjunction with EPA’s national “Fix a Leak” week, the workshop will take place on Tuesday, March 15 at 7 p.m. in the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center, Conference Room A.

There will be licensed plumbers and other water experts on hand to answer questions and demonstrate simple repairs.  All attendees will receive a free, low-flow home retrofit kit.

Space is limited, so pre-registration is recommended.  To pre-register, send an email with your name, address and phone number to DWRconserve@gwinnettcounty.com or call 678-673-7126.

Family Fun Day on March 19 is precursor to Relay for Life In May

Think of it as the Relay For Life without the Relay.

On March 19, Relay For Life of Gwinnett County will be having a Family Fun Day. The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., in the parking lot at the Infinite Energy Center (formerly Gwinnett Center), 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway, Duluth. It was created to be an additional opportunity for Gwinnett County Relay For Life teams to raise money and awareness for the American Cancer Society.

The Fun Day is free, but officials encourage attendees to donate to participate in activities such as face painting, bucket truck rides, splatter paint, moonwalks and more. Attendees are also encouraged to bring cash for food.

Gwinnett County’s Relay For Life event will begin at 6 p.m. May 13.

• For more information about Relay For Life, visit relayforlife.org/.

DOT seeks input from residents about county transportation needs

The Department of Transportation invites residents to get involved in the planning process for Gwinnett’s current and future transportation needs.

Gwinnett County is updating its Comprehensive Transportation Plan, which will serve as a roadmap for how transportation will develop in Gwinnett. The updated plan will summarize current and future multimodal transportation needs within the County and will recommend projects for the next 25 years.

Meetings are scheduled at locations around the county on the following dates:

• March 15 at 6 p.m. at Bogan Park Community Recreation Center in Buford.
• March 19 at 10 a.m. at Shorty Howell Park, 2750 Pleasant Hill Road, in Duluth.
• March 21 at 6 p.m. at Lucky Shoals Park Community Center, 4651 Britt Road in Norcross.
• March 29 at 6 p.m. at Snellville City Hall.
• April 18 at 6 p.m. at Dacula Park Activity Building, Dacula.
• April 21 at 6 p.m. at One Justice Square, 446 West Crogan Street in Lawrenceville.

Residents can participate by attending a public meeting, taking a survey and visiting www.Destination2040Gwinnett.com to learn about the Comprehensive Transportation Plan.

Snellville announces program to honor veterans with banners

Already known for honoring veterans through the Veterans Memorial, the City of Snellville is unveiling yet another way to pay tribute to those who served our country. The Snellville American Hero Military Banner Program is a tribute designed to recognize and honor veterans who are currently serving or who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces.

The banners, approximately 18 inches wide and 38 inches long, will be displayed on the lamp posts in the Snellville Towne Center area along Oak Road, Clower Street and Wisteria Drive. The cost to memorialize or honor a veteran is $200 for a banner located on the Towne Green or in front of the Veterans Memorial and $150 for all other lamp posts in the Towne Center area.

Two different banners will be displayed on each lamp post, one on each side. Location of the banner is at the discretion of Snellville Tourism and Trade, however, requests for up to two family members to be displayed on the same pole will be accommodated on a first come first serve basis.

Deadline for Banners to be displayed for Memorial Day is April 15. Deadline for Banners to be displayed for Veterans’ Day is August 20. The banners will be displayed approximately 30 days prior to the Memorial Day holiday and again approximately 30 days prior to the Veterans Day holiday on Nov. 11.

• For more information, contact STAT Executive Director Kelly McAloon.

Warbington leaves CID to become city manager of Lawrenceville

The leader of the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District has resigned to become city manager of Lawrenceville. Chuck Warbington, who was the initial director of the Gwinnett Village CID, will assume his new position in Lawrenceville on April 1.

Warbington

The Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District, the largest CID in the state, now is seeking applications to fill the position of executive director. Information about this position can be found at www.gwinnettvillage.com/jobs.

Bill McCargo has been retained as the search consultant for the Gwinnett Village CID.  Those wanting to apply should email a cover letter, resume, and professional references to Bill.McCargo@gmail.com.  The application period will close March 31.

Until the position of executive director is filled, CID chairman, Shiv Aggarwal will be the public point of contact.

Aurora Theatre announces line-up for 2016-17 series

Aurora Theatre has announced its 2016-2017 Peach State Federal Credit Union Signature Series line-up. Following a landmark 20th anniversary season, Georgia’s second largest professional theater will once again bring Broadway-caliber productions to the downtown Lawrenceville Square.

The line-up for the 2016-17 season includes:

• In the Heights, July 21-August 28, 2016: A co-production with Theatrical Outfit, this acclaimed musical is a universal story of a vibrant Latin community in New York’s Washington Heights.

• Women in Jeopardy, September 29-October 23, 2016: When divorcees Mary and Jo receive suspicious vibes from their friend Liz’s new dentist boyfriend, they set out on a quest to discover the hidden truths of his potential dark past.  This is a fun, flirtatious and laugh-out-loud comedy about the happenings of two middle-aged women when they trade in their wine glasses for a pair of spy glasses!

• Christmas Canteen 2016, November 17-December 23, 2016:  An Aurora Theatre original and Gwinnett’s longest-running theatrical holiday tradition, Christmas Canteen returns to the Aurora for its 21st season run!

• The Mountaintop, January 12 to February 12, 2017: After delivering his memorable I’ve Been to the Mountaintop speech in Memphis, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King orders a cup of coffee. This drama poignantly re-imagines Dr King Jr. as he retires to his room at the Lorraine Hotel. It is King’s final moments on earth, as he confronts his destiny and legacy.

• Split in Three, May 4-28, 2017: It’s 1969, and the Supreme Court is forcing the last segregated school system in rural Mississippi to integrate. Two white sisters, Nola and Nell, are caught in the middle of a national fervor as the deadline draws near. Faced with the difficult new reality of their blended world, nothing is black and white in this southern fried comedy about the bond of sisterhood.

The 2016-2017 series will also offer a new musical, March 9 to April 16, which will be announced soon!

Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful wins top award for 25^th straight time

Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful has been recognized for the 25^th consecutive year with a President’s Circle Award from Keep America Beautiful. It has won this award every year since GC&B’s inaugural year in 1992.

In qualifying for a President’s Circle Award, Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful has met Keep America Beautiful’s standards of merit by conducting an annual Community Appearance Index, calculating the affiliate’s cost/benefit ratio, and administering activities in the areas of litter prevention, recycling and waste reduction, as well as beautification and community greening. Established in 1953, Keep America Beautiful consists of a national network of more than 600 statewide and community-based affiliates whose programs, initiatives and efforts, supported by millions of volunteers, help transform public spaces into beautiful places.

Connie Wiggins, executive director of Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful says: “Regardless of the fact that this was the first of 25th time we’ve received the President’s Circle Award, we are always truly humbled and honored to be recognized at the national level for the hard work we are continuing to do right here at home in Gwinnett County.”

The Long Telegram

History by George Kennan

February 22, 2016, was the 70th anniversary of The Long Telegram, so I decided to reread this book. An 8,000-word telegram from Moscow set in motion a policy of containment of the Soviet Union which remained in place for 44 years and ultimately brought about its downfall. This is the story of 25 years of the diplomatic service of that man (Kennan) who until his death at 101 in 2005, was the most influential person in forming our policies towards both the USSR and post-war Germany. Herein lie the stories behind the Berlin Airlift, why we didn’t give the Soviets our atomic secrets, our policy of containment and other analyses of issues that many have forgotten or of which were never aware. I first read it in 1967 and it remains my favorite and most cherished book on the subject.

— Hoyt Tuggle, Lawrenceville

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

Dr. Pemberton was successful druggist before inventing Coca-Cola

(Continued from previous edition)

A few years before Coca-Cola began its spectacular rise to international acclaim, a drink known as Pemberton’s French Wine Coca was extremely popular in Atlanta. Its fame spread throughout the Southeast, and the demand for the tasty beverage was high.

In 1885 a reporter from the Atlanta Journal approached the creator of French Wine Coca and asked him for a detailed analysis of the new drink. Pemberton replied, “It is composed of an extract from the leaf of Peruvian Coca, the purest wine, and the Kola nut. It is the most excellent of all tonics, assisting digestion, imparting energy to the organs of respiration, and strengthening the muscular and nervous systems.”

He explained that South American Indians considered the coca plant a sacred herb and praised its beneficial effects on the mind and body. With the aid of the coca plant, the Indians had performed “astonishing” feats, he said, “without fatigue.” Pemberton then admitted that his coca and kola beverage was based on Vin Mariani, a French formula perfected by Mariani and Company of Paris, which since 1863 had been the world’s only standard preparation of erythroxylon coca.

In 1886 the city of Atlanta introduced prohibition, which, among other things, forbade the sale of wine. Pemberton decided to make another version of his popular drink. He dropped the reference to wine in the name of the beverage, substituted sugar syrup for the wine, and coined the name “Coca-Cola” to identify his formula. Henceforth, he would call Coca-Cola the ideal temperance drink, both on the label and in advertising.

Realizing that he needed financial backing to market this nonalcoholic version of French Wine Coca on a large scale, Pemberton formed a company for that purpose. He put his son Charles in charge of manufacturing Coca-Cola, and after prohibition ended in 1887, he again produced French Wine Coca. He announced that he would retire from active practice, sell his drugstores in Atlanta and elsewhere in the state, and devote all his time to promoting his beverages. Meanwhile, a group of businessmen responded to Pemberton’s appeal to finance the new Coca-Cola Company. He was to receive a royalty of five cents for each gallon of Coca-Cola sold.

It was Pemberton’s practice to organize a business as a co-partnership and then convert it into a corporation. In March 1888, after being in business for eight months as a co-partner, he filed the petition for incorporation of the first Coca-Cola Company in the Fulton County Superior Court. Five months later, on August 16, 1888, he died at his home in Atlanta.

On the day of Pemberton’s funeral, Atlanta druggists closed their stores and attended the services en masse as a tribute of respect. On that day, not one drop of Coca-Cola was dispensed in the entire city. At sunup the following day, a special train carried his body to Columbus, where a large group of friends, relatives, and admirers laid him to rest. The Atlanta newspapers called him “the oldest druggist of Atlanta and one of her best known citizens.”

• To access the Georgia Encyclopedia online, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org

Night scene along the river needs your identification

Here’s a night scene for readers to identify as this edition’s Mystery Photo. Perhaps the architecture or the setting will give it away. Send you ideas to elliott@brack.net and be sure to include your hometown.

The ceiling of a monastery in Germany was the Mystery Photo in the last edition, and three readers recognized it. Writing from Milton, Ga., Michael Green said: “On this ‘most auspicious day,’ my birthday, I write to identify the mystery photo as the domed ceiling of Ettal Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in the village of Ettal, close to Oberammergau and Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, Germany.  In 1744, the abbey and its church were damaged by fire.  It was rebuilt in the baroque style.”

Ettal Abbey

The photo was sent in by Donny Loeber of Norcross.

Ruthy Lachman Paul, Norcross also identified the monastery, as did George Graf of Palmyra, Va, saying: “This is Ettal Abbey, on the road between Oberammergau (wood carving and Passion Play fame) and Garmisch-Partenkirchen (resort) in Bavaria, Germany.  My wife Diane and I visited here more than a dozen times, each time we were fascinated by the art, architecture and grandeur.  It was on our route from my U.S. Army base in Augsburg to Garmisch then to Austria and Italy.  I’ve attached a winter photo of Ettal Abbey, which was founded in 1330, by Emperor Ludwig, the Bavarian.”

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