DAR LEADERS: State Regent Elect Joyce Ball Patton installed the 2016-2018 Philadelphia Winn chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution board officers recently. From left are Mary Kathleen “Kitty” Worrell Watters, regent; Martha Ann Story, first vice regent; Constance “Connie” Sasser Rifkind, second vice regent; Linda Jane Carlson Olson, chaplain; Valerie Renee Craft, recording secretary; Alycia “Lee” Wendorf Schermerhorn, corresponding secretary; Emily Susan Howze Ford, treasurer; Elizabeth “Lizzie” Lewis Jaeger, registrar; Randi Michelle Davis Minor, historian; and Rebecca “Becky” West Davenport, librarian. (Photo Frank Marchese.)
IN THIS EDITION
TODAY’S FOCUS: Metro North Georgia Water District Marks 15 Years of Progress
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Senator Unterman Now Supports Medicaid Expansion Program
ANOTHER VIEW: Considerations of the Idea of Having a Perpetual War
SPOTLIGHT: Georgia Gwinnett College
FEEDBACK: More on Ty Cobb
UPCOMING: Gwinnett Senior Leadership Program Accepting New Applications
NOTABLE: GA-PCOM Begins First Classes in Physician Assistant Studies
RECOMMENDED: The Lake House by Kate Morton
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Gov. Ellis Arnall Gives Help To Pardon “Chain Gang” Author
CALENDAR: Peachtree Corners Sixth Annual Festival Is This Weekend
TODAY’S QUOTE: What Muhammad Ali Thought of Boxing Training
MYSTERY PHOTO: Layers of red
LAGNIAPPE: Time to Head For Summer Fun at Gwinnett Swimming Pools
TODAY’S FOCUSMetro North Georgia Water District marks 15 years of progress
By Paul Donsky
ATLANTA, Ga., June 7, 2016 | Community leaders and water experts gathered this past week to mark the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District (Metro Water District) 15 years of stewardship of the area’s water resources.
Boyd Austin, mayor of Dallas, Ga., and chair of the Metro Water District, says: “Water is the lifeblood of metro Atlanta. We are proud that the Metro Water District and the region’s local governments, utilities and authorities have worked together over the last 15 years to ensure that we use our regional water resources efficiently. Through cooperation, scientific rigor and hard work, we have created a culture of conservation and successfully reduced the amount of water used in our region.”
A resolution recognizing the Metro Water District’s accomplishments, including helping to make metropolitan Atlanta one of the most water efficient regions in the nation, was delivered by state Rep. Lynn Smith, chair of the Georgia State House Natural Resources and Environment Committee, and State Sen. Frank Ginn, chair of the Georgia State Senate Natural Resources and Environment Committee.
U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, who is retiring from Congress after years of service, delivered the keynote address.
Over the past 15 years, the 15 counties, 92 cities, and 55 water systems in the Metro Water District have adopted and updated plans for water supply and water conservation, watershed protection and wastewater management. Significant achievements include:
- Ten percent reduction in total water use since 2000, even as the population has grown by more than one
- Decrease in per capita water use of more than 30 percent since 2000.
- Fifty percent reduction in the number of sewer spills since 2001.
- A toilet rebate program that has helped replace over 110,000 old and inefficient toilets in metro Atlanta.
The anniversary celebration also recognized impactful and innovative water resource management projects and programs through the STREAM awards. These awards honor projects completed by the Metro Water District’s member local governments, utilities and authorities that are sustainable, thoughtful, regional, engaging, applicable and measured.
The award winners include the following programs and projects of excellence:
- Water Supply and Water Conservation: Cobb County Water System for their Green Cities Program, a budget-neutral, direct install loan program enables multi-family and lodging facilities to completely retrofit their properties with high-efficiency fixtures. Currently, more than 800 full sets of fixtures have been replaced with high-efficiency fixtures, saving Cobb Water more than 600,000 gallons per month.
- Wastewater/Septic: Clayton County Water Authority for constructed wetlands. Clayton County uses constructed wetlands for indirect potable reuse, treating more than 20 million gallons per day. Together, the wetlands and existing reuse program have reduced dependence on water supplied by the Flint and Ocmulgee watersheds.
- Watershed/Stormwater (tied): The City of Alpharetta for Rock Mill Park, an environmental education and outreach center. The park incorporates green infrastructure and highlights the natural beauty of Big Creek. The park includes engineered wetlands, enhanced swales, bioretention, a greenroof facility and native planting materials. The city also preserved many large stands of trees and wildlife habitat.
- Watershed/Stormwater (tied): The City of Atlanta for Post Development Stormwater Management Ordinance, which requires green infrastructure. Atlanta passed one of the most far-reaching post-development stormwater management ordinances in the country. The city has embraced the use of green infrastructure to relieve sewers, restore ecosystems, stimulate the economy, and improve water quality.
- Education/Outreach: Henry County Water Authority for Cubihatcha Kids, an outdoor education program for all third grade students in Henry County Schools. Cubihatcha Kids was developed to provide opportunities for hands-on learning. Each fall, every third grader in Henry County elementary schools participates in these field trips. To date, more than 36,000 children and participating adults have been reached.
Senator Unterman now supports Medicaid expansion program
By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher, GwinnettForum
JUNE 7, 2016 | State Sen. Renee Unterman of Buford, who heads the Georgia Senate Health and Human Services Committee, may soon be writing legislation which could help hospitals, especially smaller hospitals within Georgia. She has changed her views on the subject, and now supports Medicaid expansion because of hospital closings in the state and because of problems that residents are having getting to see a doctor. She first stated these views in Modern Healthcare, a national magazine out of Washington, D.C.
In an effort to provide better healthcare to Georgia’s exploding population and as a way to balance the state’s budget, conservative lawmakers are renewing temporary Medicaid payment increases and looking at expanding the program, Sen. Unterman says. She says that while she’s been critical of Medicaid expansion, she’s seeing hospitals close and people waiting to see providers.
Unterman told GwinnettForum that she is not alone, and that she believes there is enough support in the Senate for a conservative expansion model, similar to the one in place in Arkansas.
She says that she is working with the Georgia Chamber of Commerce on how the state could create a different kind of waiver to help the hospitals, though not necessarily a full Medicaid expansion. “Now working with the Chamber, we are seeking to form a middle ground, and we’re looking at options. During the last two years, we have lost many primary care physicians. It is costing hundred of millions of dollars to prop up the system.”
Unterman
Senator Unterman also cites reports of hospitals cutting back on their employment levels. In recent weeks, two hospitals in Columbus cut their staffing. Columbus Regional Health Systems eliminated 219 positions in November. The hospital has reported operational losses in two recent years. Also in Columbus, St. Francis Hospital eliminated 65 positions, while Newton County Medical Center in Covington had staff cuts. Candler County Hospital in Metter last November eliminated 27 positions. Other reports, out of Georgia Southern University, show that more than half the hospitals in Georgia are operating at a deficit.
The Buford senator says that for the last two years, “When you look at the budget, for education and healthcare, we’ve have only dribs and drabs to run Georgia. How long can that continue? Why not receive the full reimbursement that other states are receiving? After all, something is better than nothing. Right now we are in a long black hole, while we don’t have enough family doctors and do have a restrictive practice of medicine.
“Other states are more lenient. We must do something.”
Sen. Unterman continues: “We also have problems in health care by not allowing physician’s assistants nor nurse practitioners to do much they can do. Doctors in Georgia have restrained these other professions. So, all this make the problems even worse.”
The senator says that there are a couple of pilot programs now underway including tele-medicine, and sending ambulances into the community, to take care of simple matters, such as checking high blood pressure, checking patient’s medicines, and seeing if patients need to be referred on for more care. “But pilot programs are not over and we have not instituted them around the state.”
She adds: “Many people don’t understand health care economics, and may be saying no-no-no. However, those who understand are realizing that something must be done!” She hopes to have hearings on her committee this fall prior to writing the budget to include wider services, to help the hospitals and health care in general in Georgia.
Ms. Lillian Webb, former Norcross mayor and for eight years chair of the Gwinnett County Commission, is recuperating at Gwinnett Extended Care in Lawrenceville after a fall in her home. She called the Fire Department, she says, “And they must have been waiting in my front yard, for they got here so quickly.” She anticipates coming home within about a week.
ANOTHER VIEWConsiderations of the idea of having a perpetual war
By George Wilson
“We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex” — Dwight D. Eisenhower
JUNE 7, 2016 | We accept that war used to be fought for outcomes like treasure, resources, territory, and or “save Democracy.” Today the war-making itself is the treasure.
Ask FedEx, which has a no-bid multi-million dollar contract to fly pallet loads of bottled water from Seattle to Baghdad. Or Lockheed-Martin, which constructs incredibly complex multi-million dollar robots (Hellfire missiles)….destroyed the first time they were used. This is not von Clausewitz territory, well, somewhat it is, and the strategy makes 100 percent sense given the desired outcomes.
The collapse of the existential Soviet enemy, and the supposed upcoming “peace dividend,” put the Military Industrial Complex sector in a complete panic. For the Military Industrial Complex, with the end of the cold war, came the alarming possibility of rolling back the importance of the military, a drastic drop in defense spending for the military and corporate profits, as well as campaign financing from lobbyists.
Subsequently, a new enemy was needed to justify spending on the military. Therefore, around the end of 1990s, the new target was chosen: the Middle East and Islam. A war of civilizations was on the menu, which could likely drag on indefinitely, until something better came along. Any discussion of “strategy” and “objectives” outside of this raison d’être is just rationalization for perpetual war.
However, if you examine the totality of military actions as well as actions of U.S. allies, think of Saudi Arabia funding of extreme Islamic ideology. In addition, the unleashing of religious wars and other sectarian violence means we haven’t seen the establishment of western style democracies across the Middle East. You only see actions which fan the flames of war, extremism and desperation.
Finally, if you just look at what our military and political leaders say, it’s insanity. If you examine the money, and the control of “the earth’s energy heartland,” perhaps the actions start to make some sense in a Machiavellian way.
IN THE SPOTLIGHTGeorgia Gwinnett College
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Georgia Gwinnett College is a four-year, accredited liberal arts college that provides access to targeted baccalaureate level degrees that meet the economic development needs of the growing and diverse population of Gwinnett County and the northeast Atlanta metropolitan region. GGC opened its doors in August 2006 as the nation’s first four-year public college founded in the 21st century, and the first four-year public college founded in Georgia in more than 100 years. Georgia Gwinnett produces contributing citizens and future leaders for Georgia and the nation. Its graduates are inspired to contribute to their local, state, national and international communities and are prepared to anticipate and respond effectively to an uncertain and changing world. GGC currently serves almost 12,000 students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in 15 majors and more than 40 concentrations.
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Ty Cobb’s abilities were off the charts
Editor, GwinnettForum:
I heard the author Charles Leerhsen, who wrote the Cobb book, speak at the Decatur library last year. It is fascinating at what we thought we knew about this man (Cobb) with so many myths…his baseball abilities were off the charts.
— Howard Hoffman, Peachtree Corners
- Send us your thoughts: We encourage you to send us your letters and thoughts on issues raised in GwinnettForum. Please limit comments to 200 words. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Send feedback and letters to: elliott@brack.net
Gwinnett Senior Leadership program accepting new applications
Applications are now being accepted for the 2016-2017 Gwinnett Senior Leadership class that begins in August. Those interested should contact Marilyn Meacham.
The Gwinnett Senior Leadership program is designed to bring together seniors in our communities who have an interest in leading, learning, and supporting the Gwinnett community and its citizens. Working together we can make our community stronger and can provide support for our seniors, future generations, and those in need.
Bill Atkinson is chairman of the Board of Trustees. He says: “Gwinnett Senior Leadership offers people age 50 and older an opportunity to interact with others across the county, recognize what is happening in Gwinnett County, and apply what they learn in finding ways to make the county a better place to live. Classes are limited to 30 members each year.”
The program meets for a day-long session once a month from September through May. Topics present an overall view of key elements of the community. One of the benefits of the program is that it allows people from all corners of the county to know key people from other parts of the county.
The goal of Gwinnett Senior Leadership is to make seniors aware of what´s going in Gwinnett, so that they can help contribute to the county’s success with their unique backgrounds and experiences.
Senior Leadership Gwinnett began in 1998 and since then more than 300 Gwinnett Seniors have participated in and graduated from its program. Participants may be working or retired. Applicants may nominate themselves for the program or be nominated by another party.
Artists Dice and Brady on view in Snellville City Art Gallery to Aug. 4
The work of artists Diana Pratt Dice and Lucy Brady is now on display in Snellvllle City Hall Art Gallery through August 4.
Brady
Dice
Dice says: “I gave myself permission from creating traditional paintings to more daring and provocative work. The brighter, the bolder … the better! This choice would change my life forever. People enter my Norcross studio and tell me I am every bit as colorful as my paintings. Oh, I hope so!”
Brady has had work shown in juried exhibits in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland and here in Georgia. A member of the Georgia Watercolor Society, Southern Colours and North Gwinnett Artist’s Association, her paintings are in acrylic, watercolor or pen and ink. Brady has taught adult and children drawing classes. A current project is a series of paintings of Georgia state and national parks.
The gallery, made possible by the Snellville Arts Commission, is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday at City Hall, 2342 Oak Road.
NOTABLEGA-PCOM begins first classes in Physician Assistant Studies
While some students are enjoying a carefree summer, others are just beginning a new academic journey. For the 20 students who were accepted into the Georgia Campus – Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (GA-PCOM) inaugural Physician Assistant (PA) Studies class, school was in session starting June 6.
The newest additions to GA-PCOM are participating in events such as, white coat fittings, an anatomy introduction, a library presentation and campus safety instructions to acclimate them to the campus community. Housed in the Suwanee campus’ Northlake building, the PA Studies program consists of an intense 26-month curriculum that will end with graduation in July of 2018.
The students have academic credentials from institutions across the state, such as the Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, LaGrange College, the University of Georgia, the University of North Georgia and Valdosta State University. With backgrounds in biology and exercise science and many with master’s degrees and intercollegiate sports experience, the students have worked as EMTs, paramedics and medical assistants. Some have participated as teachers on Georgia State University’s Bio-Bus, and all have completed their hands on patient care experience.
These 20 talented and experienced classmates will go down in the books as the first Physician Assistants to graduate from GA-PCOM. Applications for the Class of 2019 are now being accepted. Visit Physician Assistant Studies to learn more and apply.
Fleming is new director of Gwinnett Department of Community Services
Tina Fleming is the new director of the Gwinnett Department of Community Services. Commissioners will consider ratification of Fleming’s employment agreement during this week’s commission meeting. She was appointed by Gwinnett County Administrator Glenn Stephens.
Fleming
Fleming’s 15-year career with Gwinnett County has been marked by a steady progression through increasingly responsible roles in parks and recreation operations, the Department of Community Services’ largest division. She has served as recreation facility programmer, athletic/specialized facilities coordinator, recreation manager, and deputy director of parks and recreation operations. She was named to lead the division in 2009. Fleming previously directed the parks and recreation program in Oglethorpe County, Ga.
A member of the National Recreation and Park Association, the Georgia Recreation and Park Association, the Afterschool Alliance, and the National Alliance of Youth Sports, Fleming has served on boards and shared her knowledge and expertise as a presenter at state and national conferences for these organizations. In 2014, the American Academy for Parks and Recreation and the National Recreation and Park Association named Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation as a finalist for the National Gold Medal for Excellence in Parks and Recreation Management.
Fleming replaces Phil Hoskins, who was named Deputy County Administrator in 2014 and continued to oversee community services during the search for his successor.
Retirement group recognizes Rep. Clark for legislation
Clark
State Representative Valerie Clark of Lawrenceville has been named the Johnson and Johnson Georgia Retirees Association 2016 Legislator of the Year. Rep. Clark was honored during the 21st Annual Meeting of the Johnson & Johnson Georgia Retirees Association in Gainesville. She was honored for her efforts in passing legislation that will allow physicians to write prescriptions for life saving medications directly to schools, youth camps, and other organizations. Rep. Clark was also recognized for her work with her colleagues in the General Assembly to restore insurance coverage for bariatric procedures.
National DAR organization to help the Elisha Winn Site
The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution will become a donor to the Gwinnett Historical Society for helping keep up the Elisha Winn site. The national office of the DAR is donating $766 to seal the exterior of two outbuildings of the historical plantation where Gwinnett County was founded.
The project for this grant is for two out-buildings to receive exterior wood sealer applications. These buildings are located at the Elisha Winn Plantation site (ca. 1812) in Dacula, and are in urgent need of exterior preservation. The buildings are a one-room school house and historic barn. The Gwinnett Historical Society, Lawrenceville, Georgia, manages and maintains the buildings on the Plantation site. This grant is a joint planned project between the Gwinnett Historical Society and the Philadelphia Winn Chapter NSDAR.
RECOMMENDEDThe Lake House
A novel by Kate Morton
Yes, I know. The Lake House sounds like a bland, lame kind of book. (Several books have the same title.) And you might confuse it with the movie from a few years ago with the same name. But nope. This is a saga-type story that takes place in Cornwall, England, with the narrative jumping back and forth from 1933, when a baby from a dysfunctional family goes missing, to 2003. This is not a traditional mystery. It’s not a who-done-it but more of a what-happened kind of story. There are some surprising twists and turns, and things all come together in the end. Is it great? No. The ending is too tidy and nice, and the story can get a bit long and rambling. But it IS the first book selection every single person in my book club has enjoyed, so I am recommending it as an easy, summer read.
— Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill
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 TIDBITGov. Ellis Arnall gives help to pardon “Chain Gang” author
(Continued from previous edition)
Some critics and scholars believe Robert Elliott Burns‘s brother ghostwrote I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang! Vincent Burns, who was known mostly for his patriotic and religious poetry, served as the poet laureate for the state of Maryland from 1962 until his death in 1970. He also wrote Out of These Chains (1942), a sequel to I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang!, and The Man Who Broke a Thousand Chains: The Story of Social Reformation of the Prisons of the South (1968), a memoir of Robert Burns. Vincent Burns later sued his brother for a greater share of the profits received from the book and the film.
A motion picture version was put into production shortly after the book’s publication, directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring one of Hollywood’s finest actors, Paul Muni, in the title role. Burns himself went incognito to serve as a consultant on the film.
As indignant as Georgia officials were over the book’s publication, they were even more upset over the movie, and they insisted that Warner Brothers drop “Georgia” from the film’s title. Upon the movie’s release in late 1932—during one of the darkest periods of the Great Depression and days after the election of U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt—the theaters could not screen it often enough. A telegram to Warner Brothers in Hollywood told the tale: “fugitive biggest Broadway sensation in last three years stop thousands turned away from box office tonight with lobby delay held four hours stop.”
In spite of its rather stilted script, the film was one of the major achievements of 1930s Hollywood. LeRoy had just completed Little Caesar, the first great work in a new genre, the gangster film, while Muni himself had just completed another classic gangster picture, Scarface. Thus, both star and director were moving from the founding of one genre toward establishing a second, the southern prison adventure.
Fugitive was named Best Picture of the Year by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures. Muni and the film received three Oscar nominations. It was re-made in 1987 under the title The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains (HBOFilms, directed by Daniel Mann). Scenes, themes, and motifs from the 1932 LeRoy picture also abound in Cool Hand Luke (1967, Warner Brothers, directed by Stuart Rosenberg).
Burns was apprehended yet again in December 1932 in Newark, but the state of New Jersey refused to extradite him, despite the insistence of Georgia officials. After two other failed attempts to bring him back to Georgia, Burns met newly elected Georgia Governor Ellis Arnall in New York in 1943 and requested a pardon. Arnall arranged to have Burns return to Georgia in November 1945 to face the parole board, where he stood by Burns’s side as his counsel. The board commuted Burns’s sentence to time served. Governor Arnall’s gesture capped an administration devoted to prison reform, including the abolition of chain gangs. Burns died on June 5, 1955, at his home in Union, N.J., where he had worked as a tax consultant.
- For more information at the Georgia Encyclopedia, go online to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
(NEW) Photography Exhibit on India and the Taj Mahal is open through July 27 at the Collins Hill Library, 455 Camp Perrin Road in Lawrenceville. The work is by GwinnettForum Roving Photographer Frank Sharp. The library standard hours are now Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m., on Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., and on Sunday from noon until 5 p.m.
(NEW) Sixth Annual Peachtree Corners Festival is this weekend (June 10-12) at Corners Parkway at Woodhill Drive. Activities begin at 7 p.m. Friday with a pre-festival concert. On Saturday the day begins at 10 a.m. through 6 p.m., with all arts, crafts, entertainment, food and even a car show, all of which continues on Sunday, when activities are from noon to 5 p.m.
Fifth Annual Flag Day in Snellville, Tuesday, June 14, will be celebrated at 10 a.m. on the steps of Snellville City Hall. The theme is “United We Stand.” Refreshments will be served in the Community Room following the program.
(NEW) Groundbreaking at the new Centerville Senior Center, will be Tuesday, June 14, at 1 p.m. The center is located at 3025 Bethany Church Road in Snellville, and is presently connected to the Library. The new Center will be built by Hogan Construction Group LLC at a cost of $2.24 million. Funding came from the 2014 SPLOST program. The building will consist of 8,500 square feet. It is anticipated to be completed by mid 2017.
MYSTERY PHOTOMYSTERY: Layers of red
Today’s Mystery Photo appears to be something of a geometric design, with its horizontal slats, among layers of red. This might be an easier mystery than some before. Send in your thoughts to elliott@gwinnettforum.com and be sure to include your hometown.
Last edition’s Mystery Photo didn’t fool a few people. Lou Camerio of Lilburn was in first, identifying it as “the State Capitol Building of Hawaii in Honolulu. We had several opportunities to photograph dignitaries there during the two years I was stationed at Pearl Harbor. I believe that is a statue of Father Damien in the center.” The photo came from Sandy and Rick Krause, who vacationed there recently.
Ruthy Lachman Paul, Norcross tells us more about the building: “The capitol of Hawaii was built in 1969 and designed by Architect John Carl Warnecke, based in San Francisco, Calif., who designed numerous notable monuments and structures in the ‘Modernist-Bauhaus’ style.”
George Graf of Palmyra, Va. says that the statue prominently displayed in front of the Capitol building is of Father/Saint Damien: “He was born Jozef De Veuster, and was a Roman Catholic missionary priest from Belgium. He won recognition for his ministry from 1873 to 1889 in the Kingdom of Hawaii to people with leprosy, who were required to live under a government-sanctioned medical quarantine on the island of Molokai. After 16 years’ caring for the physical, spiritual, and emotional needs of those in the leper colony, Father Damien died of leprosy. He has been described as a “martyr of charity.” He was the tenth person in what is now the United States to be recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church.”
LAGNIAPPETime to head for summer fun at Gwinnett swimming pools
Pools within Gwinnett are now drawing kids and other water lovers. Roving Photographer Frank Sharp clicked his image at the new Rhodes Jordan Pool in Lawrenceville last week.
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