NEW CITIZENS: A total of 47 participants took the Oath of Allegiance, completing the process of becoming a U.S. citizen, and received a Certificate of Naturalization as official proof of U.S. citizenship Wednesday morning at the Hamilton Mill Branch Library. Of the new citizens, 24 registered to vote following the ceremony. The Naturalization Ceremony is part of an ongoing partnership between Gwinnett County Public Library and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to provide workshops assisting with the naturalization process in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Korean. Ben Mann, the library’s adult programming associate, says: “We’re very excited to work with the USCIS to bring these important programs to the Gwinnett community.” Dacula Mayor Jimmy Wilbanks opened the ceremony with welcoming remarks.
IN THIS EDITIONForum offers additional ways to stay in touch with Gwinnett
IT’S A NEW DAY: We’re now offering readers a new way to get some of the best of GwinnettForum. Yes, we now have a Facebook page that will be updated with our top features every Tuesday and Friday. We encourage you to “like” us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/gwinnettforum.
And if you want to share any of our commentaries (Focus, Elliott Brack’s Perspective, Another View) or our Mystery Photo, you can use special links that are on our full website at: www.GwinnettForum.com
As always, we’ll continue to send each full issue to you by email … but now know that you can read many of our stories through Facebook and our website. — eeb
TODAY’S FOCUS: Medical Center, YMCA Join in Program To Benefit Cancer Survivors
EEB PERSPECTIVE: As of Monday, Gwinnett Population Hits 900,000 Residents
ANOTHER VIEW: Who Named Snellville? Research at National Archives Clears It Up
SPOTLIGHT: Brand Banking Company
FEEDBACK: Assistance After Closing Brings Plaudits from Potential Customer
UPCOMING: Tuesday, April 26, Is Final Date To Register for May 24 Primary Election
NOTABLE: Finalists Told for United Way’s Spark Prize Event of April 28
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Dr. Samuel Nunes of Portugal among Jews Landing in Early Savannah
TODAY’S QUOTE: No Way Mason Brothers Could Lose in Early Business Dealings
MYSTERY PHOTO: Mountain Scene Begs for Identification
TODAY’S FOCUSMedical Center, YMCA join in program to benefit cancer survivors
By Johanna Baidya
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga., April 15, 2016 | Gwinnett Medical Center and the YMCA of Metro Atlanta are teaming up to offer a special exercise program for cancer survivors to help maintain and improve their overall state of wellness during and after treatment. Called GMC at the Y, the program also aims to help survivors lower their risk of recurrence, a key concern for those who have had cancer. The program also aims to improve the strength, stamina, and health of those with active cancer.
Through a program developed by the YMCA, cancer survivors who are treated at the Cancer Institute at GMC will now have access to special exercise assistance tailored for cancer survivors. This program will be in place at all metro Atlanta YMCAs.
GMC-affiliated oncologist Kevin Peacock, MD says: “There are varying phases of cancer treatment and recovery that have physical and emotional implications. Exercise helps with the prevention of some forms of cancer and helps cancer patients cope. Exercise effectively addresses anxiety, fatigue and weight gain – all of which are common side effects of cancer recovery. Research shows exercise plays a vital role in helping cancer survivors feel better and more in control of their health,” he said.
Survivors also will have free access, as do all YMCA members, to the metro YMCA’s unique Coach Approach®, an exercise support process in which a wellness coach helps a person stay on track with an individualized physical activity program. The Coach Approach was developed by James Annesi, Ph.D., director of wellness advancement for the YMCA of Metro Atlanta.
Kristin McEwen, senior vice president for the YMCA of Metro Atlanta, says: “Partnering with the Cancer Institute at Gwinnett Medical Center on this program is such a natural fit for us. With the YMCA’s accessible, community-based support centers throughout metro Atlanta and programs like The Coach Approach, we can help so many cancer survivors improve their quality of life through exercise and restore hope to them and their families.”
In 2012, the American Cancer Society issued guidelines about the importance of exercise during and after treatment. The cancer agency said that exercise has been shown to reduce risk of recurrence and may even reduce mortality in some cancers, such as breast, ovarian, prostate and colorectal cancers. These guidelines also suggest that exercise during treatment helps combat fatigue and may even be linked to a better completion rate for chemotherapy.
In years past, cancer survivors were happy to simply live. Now, however, as decades of research has indicated that they may face a multitude of health problems as a result of their cancer and its treatments, survivors and those who treat them have come to understand that their medical needs are different from the general population of the same age. They are often at heightened risk for secondary cancers and recurrence of their original cancer.
For its part, the YMCA leadership knew that cancer survivors were working out at their facilities, but that members were not necessarily telling the staff that they are survivors and might have certain needs.
Thus, Gwinnett Medical Center and YMCA leadership saw a natural alliance and moved to collaborate.
EEB PERSPECTIVEOn Monday, Gwinnett County’s population will hit 900,000 residents
By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher
APRIL 15, 2016 | On Monday, April 18, 2016, Gwinnett County will welcome its 900,000th resident. Becoming the second most populated county in Georgia, it’s closing in on Fulton County, with 1,010,562 persons (2015). Experts say that eventually Gwinnett should be the most populated county in the state about 2030.
The 900,000th person in Gwinnett may be someone moving in from anywhere in the world. Or it may be one of 14 new babies born each day at Gwinnett Medical Center.
How did we reach that conclusion, and find that it will occur on Tax Day, 2016? We just interpolated the figures.
The official population estimate shows that in Gwinnett County in 2015, we had 894,928 people. We used that as the population at the end of 2015. (You must start somewhere.)
In 2014, Gwinnett County had 877,922 people. Subtracting, that meant that 17,006 people moved into Gwinnett in 2015. That was an average of 1,417 new residents a month, or 47.238 per day.
Start counting off from January 1, and it falls that the 900,000th person will arrive April 18.
(By the way, Gwinnett’s recent growth by 17,006 a year means that its growth alone each year is larger than 57 Georgia counties. And Gwinnett’s population is larger than five states: Wyoming Vermont, Alaska, South Dakota and North Dakota, and is aiming at passing Delaware by 2020.)
Gwinnett’s population growth has been fascinating to watch. Look at its recent growth:
Year Population
1960 43,561
1970 72,349
1980 166,903
1990 352,910
2000 588,448
2010 805,321
2015 894,328 (official estimate)
The greatest period of growth was between 1990-2000, when 235,538 more people moved into our county. The next 10 years saw 216,873 newcomers to Gwinnett. If the county continues growing in the next 4.5 years as it has during the first half of this decade, Gwinnett will then have a population of 983,335 by 2020.
We remember the time when Gwinnett was growing so quickly that it was the fastest-growing county in the United States. We learned it from the publisher of the Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Sun-News. Mike Pate is now retired from the newspaper racket in Tallahassee, Fla.
Mike called one day about 1978, telling me “Congratulations!”
“For what?” I asked.
He said: “Yours was the fastest-growing county in the United States last year.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Because we in Horry County, S.C., were second-fastest,” he said.
So when with the Gwinnett Daily News then, we started ballyhooing that Gwinnett was the fastest-growing county in the nation.
Then something happened. What was measured in that pronouncement was “percent of growth” of the county. So when Gwinnett went to 166,903 people in 1980, we were no longer, percentage-wise, the fastest growing. The higher numbers lowered our percentage.
But if you took all counties in the USA above 100,000 population, Gwinnett was fastest growing in that particular category. That’s what we based our continued ballyhooing on that Gwinnett was the fastest growing.
And it’s still continuing.
NEW SUBJECT: We have just recognized that Jonathan Norcross, the namesake for the City of Norcross, was born on April 18. A reader asks: “Why doesn’t the city start having a party in the Lillian Webb Park with blue and white icing on cupcakes? Kids need to learn how the city got its name!”
What a wonderful idea! Are you listening, city fathers?
ANOTHER VIEWWho named Snellville? Research at National Archives clears it up
(Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in the March issue of the Snellville Historical Society newsletter. What we like about it is that, through research, the author has cleared up a misconception of how the city got its name. Attaboy Jim!—eeb)
By Jim Cofer, president, Snellville Historical Society
APRIL 15, 2016 | How did Snellville get its name? This is a question that has been asked and debated many times over the past century or so.
Click on the image to see detail.
Local folklore offers several possibilities, such as:
- Tom Snell won naming rights in a coin flip with James Sawyer.
- Snell and Sawyer had considered calling it “New London,” though there is no documentary evidence of this. However, Snell’s mother insisted from London that it bear the family name.
- The most popular tale is that Sawyer was out of town the day the postal inspector came to view the proposed site, so Snell took the opportunity to choose the name. (The city itself was not incorporated until 1923.)
A recent visit to the National Archives Center (in Morrow) turned up numerous postal records in southern Gwinnett, along with a copy of the original application shown here to establish a post office at “The Crossroads” we call Snellville.
Additionally, the “Tom Snell Letters” presented by David and Chris Snell at the April, 2015 meeting of the Snellville Historical Society showed that one of these letters was written on April 24, 1881 on Snell and Sawyer store letterhead with the address of Snellville, Ga. clearly engraved on it, which is some three years before the post office site was requested.
So, who named Snellville? It appears almost surely that it was a joint and amicable decision by Tom Snell and James Sawyer.
IN THE SPOTLIGHTBrand Banking Company
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s sponsor is Brand Banking Company, headquartered in Lawrenceville, where it has three offices, with additional branches in Snellville, Grayson and Flowery Branch. It is the largest privately held bank in Gwinnett, with assets of $2.2 billion. The bank’s main office is in Lawrenceville on the Historic Courthouse Square, plus there is another branch on Hurricane Shoals Road. Other locations are in Grayson, Snellville, Flowery Branch, Buford, Duluth, Suwanee, Winder and Buckhead. Member, FDIC and Federal Reserve System.
- For more information, go to https://www.thebrandbank.com/home/home.
- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, go to: Our sponsors.
Assistance after closing brings plaudits from potential customer
(Editor’s note: A letter from a citizen showed something about the good citizenship of a business. We thought you would enjoy.—eeb
Dear Sirs at Kauffman Tires in Norcross:
As I left my office late April 5 near downtown Norcross, I heard a thumping in one of my tires as I headed home. After arriving home, I checked out the back left tire to find a bolt of some sort which appeared to be the culprit.
I immediately took my car to Kauffman Tires on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard to see what damage had been done. I arrived at Kauffman’s at 6:05 p.m. to see on the front door that the store closed at 6 p.m. The door was open and I could see someone sitting inside so I went in to see if someone was willing to help.
Andre came in from the garage area and I told him what had happened. He said with a smile, “Let’s go take a look at it.” No hesitation, no mention that they were technically closed. After using a bottle with liquid in it to see if the tire was leaking he said “Give me 10-15 minutes and we will fix you up!”
Approximately 15 minutes later, Andre came over and said I was ready to go with no charge. He still had on the same big smile and told me that when I was ready for tires, they’d be ready for me.
This was a WOW experience! I want to be sure that Andre is complimented for his professionalism and more so for his great attitude! I have already told several folks about what happened. Andre told me that he is the new General Manager of this Kauffman location and I wish him the VERY BEST because that is what he showed me. What a GREAT representative for your company!!
— Chuck Paul, president, A Closer Look, Norcross
- Send Feedback and Letters to: elliott@brack.net
April 26 is final date to register for May 24 primary
The General Primary/Nonpartisan election will take place on Tuesday, May 24. The deadline to register to vote and be eligible to cast a ballot in the election is Tuesday, April 26.
To register to vote in Georgia, you must be a citizen of the United States, a legal resident of Georgia and of the county in which you wish to vote, and at least 18 years old by Election Day. You may not register to vote if you are currently serving any sentence imposed by the conviction of a felony or judicially determined to be mentally incompetent.
Big Cheesy returns to Suwanee Town Center Park on Saturday
Suwanee’s Big Cheesy is returning to Town Center Park on Saturday, April 16 from 4 until 10 p.m.
The winner of not one but TWO Kaleidoscope Awards from the Southeast Festivals and Events Association, Big Cheesy will feature cooking demos as well as cheese and beverage pairings, on-site cheese sculpting, food trucks and other vendors offering cheese-related products (including grilled cheese doughnuts), an artisan market, and live musical performances, including cheesy Journey tribute band Departure.
Big Cheesy is a free event featuring select artisans selling unique cheeses and complimentary products. Confirmed vendors include Tom + Chee and their famous grilled cheese doughnuts, and Freckled & Blue food truck with their delightful pimento cheese. The artisan market will feature fresh local cheeses, breads, olive oils, local honey, and other delights from Mussengang goat cheeses, Caly Road Creamery, Cheeses & Mary, Crave Pie, Java Genesis coffee, Savage Jerky, and many more!
Sarah Kaufmann, aka the Cheese Lady, will be on hand creating an oversized cheese carving. Kaufmann earned a Guinness World Record for creating the world’s largest cheese carving at the 2011 Wisconsin State Fair – a 925-pound cheese roller coaster.
Journey tribute band Departure will headline the entertainment, which will begin with opening bands starting at 8 p.m.
Forum featuring Gwinnett judicial candidates scheduled May 5
A public forum of Gwinnett judicial candidates is scheduled for Thursday, May 5, at the Norcross Cultural Arts and Community Center starting at 6:30 p.m. A candidate Meet and Greet starts at 6:30 p.m. followed by the forum at 7 p.m.
The event is co-sponsored by the Upsilon Alpha Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. and Community Action Network Initiatives, Inc. The Judicial Forum will feature candidates in three contested races for Gwinnett County judgeships.
Three incumbent judges face challengers. For Superior Court, Incumbent Ronnie Batchelor, faces challenger Gregory McKeithen. For State Court, Incumbent Shawn Bratton faces challenger Latawsha Little-Hill; and Incumbent Carla E. Brown faces challenger Ronda Colvin-Leary.
Panelists representing the diversity of Gwinnett will pose questions on philosophy, legal experience, views on judicial accountability, commitment to community service, and orientation to judicial service. The framework is in adherence with Georgia’s code of judicial standards.
City of Duluth planning 8-day art week from May 7-14
The City of Duluth will host an eight-day art week designed to bring out the artist in people. From May 7-14, citizens can expect to see different forms of art throughout the city.
Similar to last year, wrapping will adorn poles and trees on Duluth Town Green. Residents will also get to keep art pieces found throughout Duluth City limits.
The only catch is participants must post a picture with the item on social media. Citizens can also learn about dance, music and more.
New to the Art Week lineup, citizens get to take part in the “Art of Food,” by visiting various restaurants on the “Eat Like a Local” list who are offering specials in honor of Art week. They can also participate in a geocaching scavenger hunt and digital art classes. On May 7, artists will kick off the week by showcasing different art mediums on Duluth Town Green from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Throughout the week there will be plenty of activities to choose from www.duluthga.net/artweek.
Paint Duluth, a plein air event from May 5-8, is also included in Art Week. Artists from all over the Southeast will come together to capture Duluth through paintings and compete for a cash award of $1,500. Paintings from this event will go on sale for the public on May 8 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Duluth Festival Center.
The weeklong event will wrap up with an award winning theatrical performance by Aurora Theatre. The musical play Memphis will hit the Duluth stage.
The show is free to the public however VIP tables are available for purchase. To find the breakdown of Duluth’s Art Week activities, click on the link http://www.duluthga.net/community/duluth_art_week.php.
NOTABLEFinalists announced for United Way’s Spark Prize event of April 28
Finalists have been named for the United Way of Greater Atlanta’s Spark Prize, which has a top prize of $25,000. The six finalists are among non-profits, with the winner announced at the Primerica Corporate office on April 28 from 6 to 8 p.m.
Spark prize finalists recognized community innovators who are creating new ways to make Gwinnett County even greater. United Way works in partnership with The Primerica Foundation, The Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia, Partnership Gwinnett, the Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services and the Atlanta Community Food Bank to host the finalist competition.
The six finalists are:
- Care Closet, Lauren Seroyer (student at Peachtree Ridge High School);
- CULTIVANDO!: Youth Program, Gardens4Growing Community;
- MHS Community Garden, Meadowcreek High School;
- Path Project: FCA Soccer, The Path Project;
- Ready By Five, Interlocking Communities; and
- Transaction Intercept, Street Grace.
County to build Centerville Senior Center; Awards $2.24 million bid
A new Centerville Senior Center will soon be under construction adjacent to the Centerville Community Center and the Centerville Branch Library on Bethany Church Road near Snellville. County commissioners awarded the $2.24 million contract to low bidder Hogan Construction Group LLC on Tuesday. Funding comes from the 2014 SPLOST program. It will be a LEED-certified building. The project is expected to be completed in May of 2017.
Conceptual drawing of the senior center.
The 8,500-square-foot single-story facility will include a dining room, warming kitchen with serving line, multi-purpose room, billiards area, staff offices, and support space. It will serve as a nutrition site offering healthy meals that meet one-third of the daily recommended intake. Programming will promote healthy lifestyles and celebrate the diversity of Gwinnett residents 60 and older with activities that promote socialization and health and wellness.
The Gwinnett County Health and Human Services Division operates similar senior centers in Buford, Lawrenceville and Norcross, with a satellite center operating at the Centerville Community Center since 2013. Parks and Recreation also runs senior centers at Bethesda Park and George Pierce Park.
Lilburn DDA buys 2 Main Street tracts for future development
To further development efforts in the Lilburn downtown area, the Lilburn Downtown Development Authority (DDA) has a contract to purchase properties at 147 and 157 Main Street. The properties are located on the south side of Main Street near First Avenue. The 147 parcel is vacant, and a house occupies the adjacent 157 parcel.
Both properties are strategic, as the City of Lilburn and DDA market desirable developments in Old Town. Council approval, which was unanimous, was necessary, because the city is advancing the DDA 25 percent of the purchase price of $380,000. The city will be repaid when the property is developed.
RECOMMENDEDAn 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 TIDBITPortugal’s Nunes among Jews landing in early Savannah
Samuel Nunes (or Nunez), a physician, was one of the first Jewish immigrants to the Georgia colony in 1733. He provided vital medical aid, which helped the settlement survive its first year of existence.
Born Diogo Nunes Ribeiro in Portugal, in 1667 or 1668, into a respected medical family, he married Gracia Caetana da Veiga in June, 1699. They had several children, and their youngest daughter, Sipra (also spelled “Zipra” or “Zipporah”), lived to be 86 years old; she recalled many events affecting the life of her father and family in Portugal, England, and America.
In Lisbon, Nunes was a well-known physician who served the prominent Dominican monastery there and, according to his daughter, the Portuguese Grand Inquisitor. Nunes and his family were considered crypto-Jews—individuals who complied with the Spanish and Portuguese orders to convert to Christianity but who maintained Jewish traditions in secret.
The Portuguese Inquisition sought to root out such people. It arrested Nunes during the summer of 1703 on an accusation of ascribing to Judaism and encouraging associates to reject Christianity. His reputation as a physician prompted several Dominicans to testify in his defense, but the prosecution and torture of Nunes took their toll. He confessed to the charges and implicated his wife and several family members as well. Sipra’s recollections suggested that Nunes managed to regain some of his medical influence and maintained a type of city parole. Yet the family probably lost most of its wealth through confiscation.
Between 1700 and 1735 at least 1,500 Portuguese Jews fled to Britain and the Netherlands. Sea captains transported immigrants to London, England, in exchange for payment, which was frequently provided by London’s Bevis Marks Synagogue. Nunes participated in this underground network and smuggled Jews out of Lisbon. In the mid-1720s Nunes and his wife, children, and other family members fled as well. Once in London, Nunes and his family took different names that reflected their Jewish heritage. Nunes assumed the name Samuel, and his wife became known as Rebecca. Life in London was difficult; the family spoke little English and faced economic hardship. Nunes briefly served as physician to the poor of the Bevis Marks congregation to provide extra money for his family.
The flood of Iberian and German Jews during the early 1700s caused prominent Jews of London to worry that such a large influx of new arrivals would reduce funds available to care for them and cause repercussions from the Christian population. In 1732 three leading men of the Bevis Marks congregation, Francis Salvador, Alvaro Lopes Suasso, and Antonio da Costa, helped raise money to transport about 40 Jews aboard a ship named the William and Sarah to the new colony of Georgia. A hazardous journey followed, during which the ship nearly wrecked off the coast of North Carolina. When the exhausted immigrants arrived in Georgia in July 1733, they found a colony barely five months old with settlers suffering from an intestinal ailment and fever. William Cox, the colony’s physician, had died from the disease, as had more than 20 settlers.
(To be continued)
- To access the Georgia Encyclopedia online, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Big hill may be the main clue in this Mystery Photo
There’s a looming mountain in the background, plus a bridge to walk over. Can you recognize where this is? If so, send your answer to elliott@brack.net, and be sure to include your home town.
A native of the Florida Gulf coast, Tom Merkel of Berkeley Lakes, was first in with last week’s correct identification of the Mystery Photo. He wrote: “I believe your mystery photo is that of the Cass Street Drawbridge near the University of Tampa in Tampa Florida. I grew up in that part of Florida and spent may days on the Hillsborough River. which the bridge spans.” The photo was submitted by Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill. Today this is part of the Tampa Riverwalk” in front of the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts
Another identifying the photo was Bob Foreman, Grayson. George Graf of Palmyra, Va. gave us more background on the bridge, writing: “The Cass Street Bridge is 500 feet in length and built in 1926 at a cost of $400,000. The adjacent railroad bridge, constructed in 1915, replaced a turning span railroad bridge constructed in the 1880s by James McKay for H. B. Plant, providing access to Port Tampa. Cass Street and the bridge were named after General Lewis Cass, who served as Secretary of War under President Andrew Jackson from 1831-36.
“The 1891 Tampa Bay Hotel (background with minaret looking towers), now a National Historic Landmark, is home to The University of Tampa and the Henry B. Plant Museum. During the 1880s, Henry Bradley Plant was building an empire of railroads, steamships and hotels. He wanted that empire to have a palace and that palace was the Tampa Bay Hotel – now referred to as Florida’s ‘first Magic Kingdom.’ Confederacy President Jefferson Davis’s cabinet made Plant’s company the agent for the Confederacy in collecting tariffs and transferring funds.
“In 1863, claiming a serious illness, he left his home in Augusta with a safe passage document signed by Jefferson Davis and sailed to Bermuda. After spending a month there, he traveled to Canada, Connecticut, and then to England. When in France, he was informed that his Confederate passport was not valid. After some discussion with French authorities, an unusual resolution was reached as he was issued a French passport declaring him a U.S. citizen residing in Georgia which allowed him to travel extensively across Europe and later re-enter the states when he returned to New York by way of Canada.”
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