JOHN SHIN (Ji Hoon), a Greater Atlanta Christian School student, and his father traveled to Japan and Thailand this past summer. John went fishing with the local fishermen so he could take photos, including the one above. The bird landed in the photo while he was taking the shot. John has a wonderful eye, great ideas, and takes photos like a professional photographer. Shin also won a national award for writing recently. See Notable below.
IN THIS EDITIONCorrection and update
Correction: Updating the political races locally: Red-faced apology: in listing candidates running for office, we mistakenly listed the wrong candidate for Post 3 on the county commission. It is Tommy Hunter, not Tommy Hughes, a former commissioner.
Another note: A Republican candidate listed as opposing Sen. Renee Unterman of Buford, Todd Tyson, has withdrawn from the race. And the Secretary of State is investigating whether Sen. Curt Thompson’s opponent is a resident of the 5th Senate District.–eeb
TODAY’S FOCUS: Georgia Bankers Found 2015 To Be Very Good Year
EEB PERSPECTIVE: What’s Happening in Wayne County Could Happen Anywhere
ANOTHER VIEW: Levels, Examples, and Types of Government Corruption
SPOTLIGHT: Gwinnett County Public Library
FEEDBACK: Heed the Rules, When Walking along Our Streets
UPCOMING: Gwinnett Library Will Standardize Hours at All Branches on May 16
NOTABLE: Jackson EMC Foundation Awards $28,500 to Gwinnett Agencies
RECOMMENDED: Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Georgians Vote to Move State Capitol to Atlanta from Milledgeville
TODAY’S QUOTE: Here’s a Thought, Just a Day Late
MYSTERY PHOTO: Familiar Looking Scene Might Be Anywhere in Our Area
LAGNIAPPE: GGC and Vietnamese University in Cultural Exchange program
TODAY’S FOCUSBanking community had very good year in Georgia in 2015
By Joe Brannen, president and CEO, Georgia Bankers Association
ATLANTA, Ga., March 18, 2016 | Georgia’s improved economy and long list of business, infrastructure and quality-of-life attributes fueled good banking performance throughout the state in 2015. And, the state’s banking industry in 2016 continues to offer families and companies strong choice and competition for their business.
Brannen. (Beckysteinphotography.com)
During 2015, Georgia’s banks hit several milestones of note. The total earnings of banks based in Georgia were up by 13.1 percent for the year. Total loans and total assets hit their highest levels since 2008, and deposits are at record levels.
The environment for borrowers remains extremely favorable, too. Even with the Federal Reserve’s small rate hike in December, overall interest rates remain extremely low. With high levels of deposits, overall good credit quality from borrowers and capital levels that are also strong, banks in Gwinnett County and around the state are eager for the right to earn your business. Now is a great time to borrow to fund business growth or family needs.
The landscape of banking in Gwinnett County has changed a lot during the past two decades and it remains an attractive place for our banks.
Today in Gwinnett County there are 34 FDIC insured banks doing business with 194 offices and $13.7 billion in deposits. That compares to 20 banks doing business here in 1995 in 100 offices and only $3.4 billion in local deposits. That’s quite a change.
So, locally, there’s an active group of lenders funding growth, and a strong group of community-minded bankers invested in the success of Gwinnett county businesses and families.
One major trend our banks are working with is how technology is changing how you do business with them.
In 2015 for the very first time, more people said they did a mobile banking transaction every week, than going into a bank branch.
We’ve got a lot of technology already embedded in what you use now to interact with your bank – online bill pay, various cash management services for businesses, and an evolving mobile device-based banking presence. And, there’s even more to come.
But with this technology comes a concern and priority for data security. Banks spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year to prevent cybercrime and it pays off.
Fewer than one in 1,000 online banking customers were affected by fraud in 2014. And, it’s likely you’ve gotten a new credit or debit card with a chip in it. That’s a fraud prevention tool. Card fraud is down almost 65 percent for those banks and card issuers that have converted their cards.
As a final thought on technology in banking, I have to say how proud I am of how Georgia has become such a huge hub for the international financial technology sector, including cyber security.
So, there are good things happening. As the economy has improved, I’ve sensed a renewed positive attitude and spirit of optimism from our member bankers and the businesses they support. For all those reasons, and many more, I am bullish on the future of our state, the future of banking in Georgia, and the value our industry provides to businesses and families.
EEB PERSPECTIVEWayne County finds it tough fighting landfill with possible coal ash
By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher
MARCH 18, 2016 | The machinations of government today are more complicated than ever. Sometimes big business and utilities seem to have the upper hand, understanding regulations so well that their action only benefits them with little regard to local communities.
Not only that, but these firms don’t deal in everyday issues like you and I do. They tend to think for the long run, meaning that no matter how big or how trivial, they usually get their own way, even if it takes years.
That’s what’s happening down in my old stomping grounds, in Wayne County, these days. A garbage hauling service, Republic Services, is apparently entrenched in using Wayne County land to unload tons of trash from states along the Eastern seaboard, much to the surprise and consternation of local residents. Now the possibility exists that Republic may use this dumping grounds to bring coal ash to Wayne County from afar.
Some two months ago, the local newspaper, The Press Sentinel, discovered a permit application affecting the already-established Broadhurst Environmental Landfill. The location is 10 miles from the county seat, Jesup, in the Broadhurst community. It’s a broad, flat expanse of land between U.S. Highway 301 South of Jesup and the community of Screven. Republic had bought more than 2,000 acres there.
The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a ruling allowing dumping of coal ash in Wayne County. Republic now seeks a permit to fill in wetlands for a rail yard to haul in the coal ash, which is where the controversy is now centered. (It’s interesting that the plan to mitigate the wetlands encroachment is to create artificial wetlands in the Oconee-Wilkinson Wetlands Mitigation Bank — more than 100 miles from Wayne County.)
Wednesday night (March 16), Wayne County Commissioners hosted an informational meeting with 500 people present for presentations to the Army Corps of Engineers about the situation. Also present were representatives of Republic Services, and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.
Click to enlarge cartoon.
The week before, The Press-Sentinel produced a 20 full page section with current details of the predicament. (The section carried no advertising.)
It all started back in the 1980s, when new rules promulgated on landfills use and operation. Among those provisions were how landfills would be built, including providing thick protective layers to keep liquid material from leaching into the ground. This “garbage juice” would be required to have a sophisticated system from the collection of this leachate.
In the 1990s, a firm began discussion with Wayne County on details of a regional landfill, which came into being in 1994. This original company was purchased by Republic Services in 1996, and first consisted of 902 acres. Later it would add another 1,351 acres, and a total of 2,253 acres.
With coal ash causing problems in other states, Republic saw opportunity, and sought to construct a rail yard for unloading coal ash from other areas at the Wayne location. It was in January 2016 when the newspaper found out about this. (That’s when the newspaper learned that the EPA does not send public notices any more unless someone asks to be on their mailing list.) Local residents are worried that this trash, often with toxic materials, might contaminate its water resources, even including the deep Floridan Aquifer and possibly poison the major waterway in the area, the Altamaha River.
Now the question is if the private company in question, that is Republic Services, is going to get the authority to dump coal ash at the Wayne County site.
As The Press-Sentinel wrote this week: “One thing remains clear. Back in the early 1990s, no one could have dreamt that the solution to Wayne County’s Subtitle D problem might one day be envisioned as a grand destination for a toxic substance from throughout the Southeast and possibly beyond.”
Wow! Watch out! Something like this can happen anywhere!
ANOTHER VIEWLevels, examples and types of government corruption
By George Wilson
MARCH 18, 2016 | It is hard to find an instance of the breakdown of democracy in which corruption did not play a leading or at least prominent role.
These and other foundations of a secure liberal democracy do not get constructed overnight. You must have a strong and capable state; a genuine rule of law, buttressed by a neutral and capable judiciary; effective institutions of horizontal accountability; competent and honest local administration; a pluralistic and resourceful civil society; a culture of tolerance, vigilance, and civic responsibility.
The total amount of corruption may not increase, but as more people get in on the game, and more cash is required to fund the electoral contest for power consequently, corruption then has no natural limiting point. When the norms break down, the grabbing gets going and the competition intensifies, corruption always tends to descend into predation.
Nowhere is this more evident than in DeKalb County and state government.
Furthermore, corruption cuts across political affiliations.
Types of Corruption:
- Bribes for favors on rezoning ,contracts, government jobs;
- Pressuring companies doing business with the government to donate to campaigns;
- Hiring a representative of the General Assembly to work at a company doing business with the government;
- Paid trips, usually to luxury resorts for meetings with special interest groups;
- Questionable use of campaign donations;
- No accountability as to effectiveness of privatized services provided to the government;
- No accountability and transparency of the effectiveness of tax incentives given to various groups; and
- Misuse of government credit cards.
We will explore more of these specific abuses ahead.
IN THE SPOTLIGHTGwinnett County Public Library
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Be careful and heed the rules when walking along our streets
Editor, the Forum:
The additional daylight provided by the time change may encourage even more folks to get their exercise by walking on the roads of our area. Given that—it may be worthwhile for some reminders on how to better ensure your safety as you improve your health and well being.
- If you are not on a sidewalk, but in the street…walk AGAINST the traffic.
- Wear light colored or neon clothing with reflective vests or tops.
- And, walk single file if the roads are heavily traveled by cars.
Why so many don dark pants and tops and decide their busy schedule dictates they walk in the dark…is not for me to judge. I recently encountered two women…walking AGAINST traffic in the neighborhood. Their sneakers had reflective tabs on the back—visible from behind. Yet, their black pants and shirts made them blend into the dark to oncoming traffic. So, they got the walking AGAINST traffic right…but missed on the visibility thing. A dangerous miscue.
And, if you’re walking your dog(s)…it is also suggested you do so on a short leash for obvious reasons.
While we’re at it…please also remember to put your car lights on when it’s raining…again so you can be visible to traffic. I wish the TV weather folks would always remind people of this…rather than to take their umbrellas with them.
— Howard Hoffman, Peachtree Corners
(Thanks, Howard. Yes, indeed, more people need to follow these simple safety rules to cut down on pedestrian traffic accidents, which often are no fault of the driver.—eeb)
- Send Feedback and Letters to: elliott@brack.net
Gwinnett library will standardize hours at all branches on May 16
The Gwinnett County Public Library Board of Trustees voted Monday evening to expand and unify open hours for the county’s 15 branch library system. Branches currently use an alternating schedule with two sets of operating hours. The change will net a weekly gain of seven additional open hours for each branch.
The new hours, which will go into effect on Monday, May 16, are as follows:
- Monday through Thursday: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Friday and Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Sunday: 12 noon to 5 p.m.
Library Executive Director Charles Pace says: “We no longer need to memorize complicated sets of hours. By adjusting staff schedules and our service model, we’re able to increase library access to the community while providing more morning and evening hours for our patrons.”
Gwinnett Tech plans Science WORKS! for middle and high schoolers
Local middle and high school students can participate in a mock surgery, race in a driving simulator, conduct a forensic investigation, make ice cream with liquid nitrogen, paint with light, screen DNA for cancer genes, harness solar power, test their aim in a firearms simulator, or experience virtual realities.
Where? At Gwinnett Tech’s Science WORKS! event. On March 24 from 6 to 9 p.m. on the main campus in Lawrenceville.
Students will get to experience first-hand how science and math can be powerful launching pads for more than 30 different careers via fun, interactive stations. Career paths to be showcased include bioscience, cardiovascular technology, carpentry and construction management, computer gaming, photography, criminal justice, automotive technology, computer networking, culinary arts, drafting, dental assisting, horticulture, HVAC, cosmetology and more.
Kudzu Art Zone’s 4th annual juried exhibit offers $1,000 first prize
Kudzu Art Zone has issued a call for entries for its Fourth Annual Open Juried Exhibition. All Georgia artists working in two-dimensional and three-dimensional media are invited to enter the exhibition by submitting online photos of their work. The exhibition offers a first place prize of $1,000 to the winning artist and the deadline for entries is April 30. The Open Juried Exhibition will run from June 10 through July 16 at Kudzu Art Zone Gallery and Art Center, located at 116 Carlyle Street in Norcross.
The juror for the 2016 Open Juried Exhibition is Whitney Stansell whose body of work ranges from fibers, sculpture, painting and drawing, to single and multi-channel film and video works, and installations. Ms. Stansell’s work is part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art for Georgia, Cornell University, and SCAD-Atlanta and Hong Kong.
Last year’s Open Juried Exhibition had nearly 100 participating artists who submitted over 230 entries. Its first place prize for 2015 went to Herb Krutoy of Tucker.
NOTABLEJackson EMC Foundation awards $28,500 to Gwinnett agencies
The Jackson EMC Foundation board of directors awarded a total $57,000 in grants to organizations during their February meeting, including $28,500 to agencies serving Gwinnett County residents.
$15,000 to the YMCA Piedmont (Brad Akins Branch) for its Summer Day Camp to enable 20 children ages 5-13 from economically disadvantaged families in Barrow, Clarke, Gwinnett, Hall and Jackson counties to attend an 11-week day camp that provides a safe environment and nurturing quality programs for youths that might otherwise be “latchkey” kids during their schools’ summer break.
$6,000 to 100 Black Men of North Metro Atlanta for its “Men of Tomorrow” program in Gwinnett County that provides underserved youth age 12-18 years of age with mentor/role models and education in life skills, healthy living, financial literacy and African American history to help these young men improve academics, attitude, graduation rate and goal setting.
$5,000 to the Athens Regional Foundation to enable 20 uninsured or underinsured patients from an area covering Banks, Barrow, Clarke, Franklin, Gwinnett, Jackson, Madison, and Oglethorpe counties to participate in the “Power to Change”, an individualized educational program for diabetic or pre-diabetic individuals that enables them to adhere to a meal plan, manage foot self-exams and reduce their HbA1c number.
$2,500 to the ALS Association of Georgia for its Equipment Loaner Program, which provides equipment not typically covered by insurance, Medicare or Medicaid at no cost to individuals living with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), a degenerative neurological disease, from all counties served by Jackson EMC.
GACS student wins gold medal from scholastic awards program
Photo by John Shin
A Greater Atlanta Christian School senior, John Shin, is a recipient of a National Gold Medal in the 2016 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. The Scholastic Awards are the nation’s largest, longest running, most prestigious scholarship and recognition program for creative teens. John Shin (Ji Hoon Shin) and his AP Studio Art teacher, Elaine Adams, have been invited to New York City June 1-3 to participate in the National Ceremony at Carnegie Hall, as well as to view the Art.Write.Now exhibit. The exhibition will be on display at Parsons School of Design at The New School and Pratt Institute’s Pratt Manhattan Gallery.
Gwinnett gets $4,000 to develop “Walk With Ease” program
Gwinnett’s Parks and Recreation is one of 10 agencies nationally to receive a $4,000 grant to support a program developed by the Arthritis Foundation called Walk With Ease.
Based on studies at the University of North Carolina, Walk With Ease has been shown to reduce pain and stiffness often associated with arthritis, increase balance and strength, and improve overall health. Parks and Recreation will offer the program through its Live Healthy Gwinnett initiative three times per week for six weeks. The classes will be led by certified and trained instructors and are ideally suited for anyone interested in preventing or managing arthritis as well as for those looking for a regular, low-impact local exercise program.
“Whether someone’s goal is relief from arthritis pain or a desire to be active, Walk With Ease can teach people how to safely make physical activity part of their everyday lives. Dates and times will be announced soon online at www.livehealthygwinnett.com.
RECOMMENDEDHumans of New York
A book by Brandon Stanton
This is a wonderful book of street portrait photography by Brandon Stanton, who attended the University of Georgia before moving to Chicago and becoming a bond salesman. His book has been on the New York Times best seller list and talked about on the Today Show, the BBC and in the Wall Street Journal. This book contains around 400 color photographs, each perfectly exposed with many close-ups with quotes. I delighted in each photograph. There are quotes and captions for each photo. Some quotes are memorable. For instance, a father holding his young son has this caption: “To the world, you may be one person, but to one person, you may be the world!
— Frank Sharp, 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
GEORGIA ENCYCLOPEDIA TIDBITGeorgians vote to move state capitol to Atlanta from Milledgeville
With the end of Reconstruction (1867-76), some Georgia politicians were advocating the return of the state capital to Milledgeville. When a constitutional convention met in Atlanta in 1877, the question arose as to the best location for Georgia’s capital city. Seven days after the convention assembled, Atlanta’s city council brought a resolution before the convention stipulating that:
If Atlanta is selected by the Convention as the permanent Capitol of the State, and if such selection is submitted to and the same is ratified by the people, the City of Atlanta will convey to the State of Georgia any ten acres of land in or near the City of Atlanta, now unoccupied, or the square in the heart of the City, known as the City Hall Lot, containing five acres of land, and bounded by a street on every side, on which to locate and build a Capitol for the state. Second—The City of Atlanta will build for the State of Georgia on the location selected a Capitol Building as good as the old Capitol building in Milledgeville.
The convention adopted an ordinance declaring that, at the next general election, voters of the state would decide between Atlanta and Milledgeville. On December 5, 1877, voters reaffirmed Atlanta as Georgia’s capital city.
Two years later, the legislature accepted Atlanta’s proposal and selected the city hall site for the new capitol. In 1881 it set the value of the old capitol building in Milledgeville at $55,625 and stipulated that if the city of Atlanta would pay this amount plus a $60,000 mortgage on the Kimball Opera House, then the state would assume the cost and responsibility of constructing a new capitol. Atlanta agreed to this condition, though it would be several years before the state was financially able to proceed with construction.
Not until September 1883 did lawmakers appropriate $1 million for the construction of a new capitol. In the same act the legislature stipulated that the cost of construction could not exceed $1 million; that construction should be finished by January 1, 1889; and that the capitol “shall be built of granite rock and marble, as far as practicable, and that all the materials used in the construction of said building shall be those found and procured within the State of Georgia; provided, the same can be procured… as cheaply as other materials of like quality in other localities.”
A board of commissions was appointed to oversee the project. The board advertised nationally for bids and chose the design submitted by the Chicago architectural firm of Edbrooke and Burnham on the grounds that it was more academic than the others, simple yet elegant, and monumental in its appearance. The classic Renaissance style was one of “beauty, strength and harmony.”
The board then selected the Toledo, Ohio, construction firm of Milesand Horn to construct the capitol, on the basis of its $862,756.75 bid. Miles and Horn, however, proposed the use of Indiana oolitic limestone as the chief building material. The board found the use of Indiana limestone to be acceptable, after determining that the use of only Georgia marble and granite was impractical and too expensive. Further, they judged Indiana to have superior facilities for quarrying and dressing the stone.
The cornerstone, all interior floors and steps, and many walls of the capitol, however, were constructed of Georgia marble. Along the sides of the walls on the second floor is Etowah marble, noted for its pink hue. In all, the marble used in the interior covered almost one and a half acres, and, ironically, cost $12,000 more than the Indiana limestone used in constructing the entire capitol.
(To be continued)
- To access the Georgia Encyclopedia online, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Familiar-looking scene might be anywhere in our area
This old weathered building, the giant trees, look like they could be about anywhere in our area. Figure out where this is, and what this building was used for, and you’ll be one recognized for spotting this edition’s Mystery Photo. As always, include your hometown when you send in your idea to elliottt@brack.net.
The bridge across the Danube River in Budapest was easily recognized by several people. The beautiful night photo recently came from Gwinnettian Daniel Forkner, who is on an European jaunt these days. Spotting the bridge correctly were Ruthy Lachman Paul of Norcross; Ross Lenhart, Pawley’s Beach, S.C.; Dick Daneke, Duluth; Margaret Ashley, Lilburn; and Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill.
George Graf of Palmyra, Va. gave more detail: “This is the Elisabeth Bridge in the foreground and the famous Chain Bridge in the background spanning the Danube River. Budapest became a single city occupying both banks of the river Danube with the unification of Buda and Óbuda on the west bank, with Pest on the east bank in 1873.”
LAGNIAPPEGeorgia Gwinnett College, Vietnam University in cultural exchange
Georgia Gwinnett College is hosting a delegation of nine college professors from Thai Nguyen University of Technology (TNUT) of Thai Nguyen City, Vietnam. The visit is part of a memorandum of understanding with TNUT, which provides for mutual academic and cultural exchange. This summer, 12 Georgia Gwinnett students will visit Vietnam to study mathematics and tropical biology, and they will stay at TNUT. TNUT faculty members Thuy Nguyen, who studies atmospheric chemistry, and Tiep Dinh, who studies applied mathematics and engineering, will observe GGC faculty in the School of Science and Technology. This is the second delegation from TNUT to visit Georgia Gwinnett.
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