COOL TIMES CHANGE: The continuing hot weather, with top temperatures in the 90s for days now, is perfect for a cold drink stand, like these children were offering recently. So get out the sugar and lemons, the iced tea, and even just plain cold water, to offer a treat. But note the price of a refreshment these days. When these children’s parents were offering the cooling-off treats, the price was closer to five cents a pop. We bet those enterprising children have no idea what inflation means.
IN THIS EDITIONTODAY’S FOCUS: Summerour Middle School Wildlife Certification Isn’t Just for the Birds
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Chefs Aim for Our Big Mouths When Concocting Thicker Burgers
SPOTLIGHT: Precision Planning
FEEDBACK: Gives Three Reasons for Supporting Bridge in Peachtree Corners
UPCOMING: County Seeks Input on Transportation Projects in Next SPLOST Vote
NOTABLE: PCOM School of Pharmacy Wins Accreditation through 2020
RECOMMENDED: Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with A Remarkable Man by William Shatner
GEORGIA TIDBIT: See Confederate Ships Raised from Chattahoochee at Columbus Museum
CALENDAR: Duluth Seeks Input in Developing New Parks Concept
TODAY’S QUOTE: Well, Everyone Must Be Something
MYSTERY PHOTO: Figure Out Where This Converted Volkswagen Food Truck Is Now
LAGNIAPPE: Quilters Recognize Three Residents of Ashton Senior Living
TODAY’S FOCUSSummerour Middle School wildlife certification isn’t just for the birds
By Tixie Fowler | The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) has recognized Summerour Middle School for creating a “Certified Wildlife Habitat.” The certification is part of NWF’s Garden for Wildlife program, which celebrates the efforts of schools, private residents and public spaces who take the initiative to provide garden space specifically for providing essential elements needed by all wildlife. The certification also makes the school site part of the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge, a national effort to restore critical habitat for pollinators like butterflies, birds, bees and other wildlife.
Summerour Principal Dorothy Parker-Jarrett in the school’s Learning Gardens area, where the NWF Wildlife Habitat Certification sign is proudly displayed.
Summerour Principal Dorothy Parker-Jarrett explains: “Teaching rigorous academics through the lens of environmental stewardship is a vital component of Summerour’s curriculum. It’s a context through which students learn as part of the school’s International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program.
“It’s exciting for our teachers because they see how learning in outdoor classrooms excites and engages the students. This NWF habitat certification also helps students realize they are part of a bigger vision, and instills pride that their school is part of a national effort. Feeling that connection to the larger community is another valuable part of their academic and social development.”
Summerour’s certification process included building a Butterfly Nursery that includes plants especially attractive to butterflies, including the endangered Monarch, as well as planting native flowers that entice pollinators throughout the garden. The habitat was developed by students, with the support of Summerour’s education team and Gardens4GrowingCommunity (G4GC), a locally founded nonprofit that is developing the gardens in Summerour’s Environmental Education Center as a pilot program for supporting outdoor education throughout Gwinnett County.
Summerour’s outdoor classrooms are designed to engage the whole community. The non-profit encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to share the excitement of harvesting their first carrot, or to plant seeds they remember growing in their home country. And being outdoors and connecting with the environment and wildlife helps students understand why they’re studying math, science and all the other academics – it becomes more meaningful, and more fun!
Summerour’s gardens and wildlife habitat center are accessible to the public. The program encourages the community to take part in activities involving the 7,000+ square feet of natural and developed gardening space on the campus. It has grown into a demonstration site that offers ideas and resources for growing food, and explores the roles wildlife plays in sustaining a healthy community.
David Mizejewski, an NWF naturalist, says: “We are so excited to have another wildlife garden. Over the last 40 years, nearly 200,000 wildlife gardeners have joined NWF’s Garden for Wildlife movement and helped restore wildlife habitats right in their own yards and neighborhoods. No matter whether you garden in a suburban yard, an apartment balcony or a 10-acre farm, a schoolyard or a business park, or anything in between, everyone can create a home for local wildlife. Turning your space into a Certified Wildlife Habitat makes a big difference for neighborhood wildlife.”
- For more information about creating a wildlife habitat, visit the NWF at www.nwf.org/news. For more information about Gardens4GrowingCommunity, the outdoor classrooms and environmental programming at Summerour Middle School, visit www.gardens4growingcommunity.com.
Chefs aim for our big mouths when concocting thicker burgers
By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher | You’ve heard of people with “big mouths.” That’s often referring to people who talk too much on numerous subjects, some seeming to go on and on.
We’re thinking of “big mouths” in a different, more literal sense.
It’s what the nation’s fast-food chefs seem to cater to, people who can open their mouths superwide so as to consume the enormous hamburgers that the chefs are cooking up.
These burgers are huge, some four and five inches high. How in the world do they expect us to reasonably eat them? After all, most mouths don’t open that wide or high enough to chomp into a burger that big!
Yet these super-chefs seem to take fatter than usual buns, cook the fatty hamburger itself an inch and a half thick, then pile on a thick slices of tomato and onion plus lettuce. Some top the burger with cheese or bacon or even some local ingredient, and offer it to you sensing that you approve all this cooking engineering.
We don’t approve.
Not only that, but we would like for these chefs to show us how they expect us to eat this monster. It’s difficult in polite society. One way is to go at it sideways, but even then you can’t fit the thickness of the entire bun, hamburger and ingredients sufficiently into your mouth. Better for us, discard at least one half of the bun, and tackle with knife and fork.
When looking at these monster hamburgers, we easily think that the term one chain uses, the “whopper,” is fitting. They are difficult to attack. Chefs of the major changes see benefit in adding not only one, but sometimes two, additional patties to further the appeal (and height) to customers. Ugh!
Some chains adopt other more reasonable tactics in attracting hamburger customers.
There’s Krystal, that small hamburger chain that we remember back to our childhood when their hamburgers sold for a dime. (That was in the days when a quarter would get your two Krystals, plus a Coke, and that was lunch. There was no sales tax back then, either, so it was simply a quarter.) The “Krystal Koncept” is based on the customer ordering multiple sandwiches of a smaller size in order to have a full meal, not ordering one gigantic sandwich. For years, Krystal (and White Castle) have prospered on this philosophy, not changing their formula or design of their burger. Bigger, then seem to say, is not necessarily better.
Back to the chefs cooking up these big burgers.
If anyone needs to be singled out for our girth in American, it’s probably these chefs. Most burger chefs apparently think not once of health issues of Americans when they are planning their menus. They add ingredients that appeal to people’s baser instincts, wanting immediate satisfaction when hungry. And for these chefs, this translates tantalizing customers seeing a larger patty, cooked to a thick dimension, adding on extras that build in height to make customers reading the menu and seeing the picture of this fat burger, say “Oh, that’s what I want!” Meanwhile, the hunger and churning stomach says, “That’s right, boss, send that my way and I’ll be satisfied.”
So we order the big sandwich, forgetting for the moment that it’ll be difficult to eat.
It’s the body outvoting the mind that the chefs understand.
Expect more larger, taller innovative burgers from our chefs of America. They’re aiming for our immediate gratification, our big mouths and growing bellies.
IN THE SPOTLIGHTPrecision Planning Inc.
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s underwriter is Precision Planning, Inc., a multi-disciplined design firm based in Lawrenceville, Georgia with a 33-year history of successful projects. In-house capabilities include Architecture; LEED® Project Management; Civil, Transportation and Structural Engineering; Water Resources Engineering; Landscape Architecture; Interior Design; Land and City Planning; Land Surveying; and Grant Administration. PPI has worked diligently to improve the quality of life for Georgia communities through creative, innovative planned developments, through the design of essential infrastructure and public buildings, and through promoting good planning and development principles. Employees and principals are involved in numerous civic, charitable and community based efforts in and around Gwinnett County.
- For more information, visit our website at www.ppi.us or call 770-338-8103.
- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, go to: Our sponsors.
Gives 3 reasons for supporting bridge in Peachtree Corners
Editor, the Forum:
With all of the news about the negative aspects of a proposed bridge to span Peachtree Parkway/Georgia Highway 141 from The Forum to the city’s new (and yet-to-be-developed) town center, I wanted to share my reasons for supporting the Peachtree Corners bridge project.
First, no plans have been finalized for a bridge. To date, there have only been community discussions involving the mayor’s office and city council, along with a few renderings of potential designs. Town hall discussions are ongoing, and votes have yet to be cast.
Here’s why I support the bridge:
- Safety/Accessibility – There are currently 45,000 cars per day that travel the Peachtree Parkway corridor. Once the new town center is complete, there will be an enormous increase in pedestrian traffic between the Forum shopping center and the new town center.
- Legacy – The city of Peachtree Corners is the largest city in Gwinnett County. With the bridge, we have an opportunity to share our love for the city with an iconic structure that will be the pride of the city for years to come. Marietta has their “Big Chicken;” Atlanta has their “Gold Dome; and Peachtree Corners could have its bridge.
- Connectivity – Over the next several years, the proposed walking trails for Peachtree Corners will connect with the walking trail networks of other nearby cities and counties. The bridge could be the center attraction among these trails, connecting an undisturbed path from the Mall of Georgia to Dunwoody and beyond.
Some have proposed an alternative “tunnel” under Peachtree Parkway. Aside from the obvious obstructions such as countless utilities, pipes, wires and other infrastructure items that would have to be relocated, there is also a nearby creek that passes under the highway near the proposed bridge site. This may result in erosion issues and a dark and damp atmosphere. Nothing compared to the bright, open and stunning view of a bridge crossing.
As far as costs are concerned, we’ll have to wait and see. Whether we go under or over, both projects would have a handsome price tag. Thank goodness that the City of Peachtree Corners receives the lion’s share of the county’s SPLOST revenue for transportation projects such as this.
If you’d like to join me in your support, I have created a website at http://www.SupportTheBridge.com that contains links to bridge articles, renderings of potential bridge designs and an opportunity to indicate your support.
— Jim Spencer, Peachtree Corners
When someone’s in distress, just show up
Photo Credit: By permission of Gwinnett Daily Post.
(Editor’s note: after a devastating fire from a lightening strike gutted the home of Sandra and Otis Jones of Lawrenceville, their daughter’s social media messages were particularly noteworthy. Here they are re-printed with her permission. –eeb)
Editor, the Forum:
These are the good guys right here. Can’t say enough good things about the Gwinnett County Fire Department, especially the Dacula and Old Fountain stations, and also about the Lawrenceville Police Department.
We were treated with so much sensitivity and respect in a highly emotional and stressful situation. These guys went the extra mile to help in any way they could. So hug a firefighter or policeman today. It’s a job I don’t envy, but one I’m so thankful for others to have chosen.
When crisis hits someone close to me, I’m the world’s worst about knowing what to do. And over-thinking it. And second-guessing myself. And thinking it’s better to stay away, or maybe just call. Or text. And while those things are great, the best thing I now know (because of the last few days) is this:
Just show up. You may be able to offer some water, or an a touch on the shoulder.
Just show up. There may not be a thing to do but hug and sit and talk a while.
Just show up. Or you may have to jump in and get soot-covered and soggy dragging out furniture, so it won’t ruin.
Just show up. It could be as simple as bring some snacks or even a meal.
Just show up. It has blessed my soul to see friends (old and new), acquaintances, neighbors, Dad’s fellow board members and even my and my sister’s friends.
Just show up. Spend time with them. It’s a lost art, I’m afraid, and I’m vowing to do better.
— Andrea Jones Jenkins, Auburn
- 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
County seeks input on transportation projects in next SPLOST vote
Gwinnett County is seeking public input on transportation projects that might be funded by the sales tax renewal that will go before voters in a referendum on November 8. Residents who are interested in participating on the Citizens Project Selection Committee are invited to attend an organizational meeting that will take place on August 15 from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the auditorium of the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center, located at 75 Langley Drive in Lawrenceville.
Gwinnett Transportation Director Alan Chapman says: “The meeting is to select members and alternates to represent 11 major interest groups on the committee. Four members will represent homeowners (one from each commission district) and one representative each will represent business leaders, environmental stakeholders, schools, civic organizations/leaders, the freight and manufacturing industry, Gwinnett County’s seniors and young professionals.
To be considered for selection, participants must be a Gwinnett County resident and provide photo documentation.
He adds: “The committee’s immediate role will be to review and prioritize prospective project categories and funding levels. In addition, members will help maintain an open line of communication between county government and the public and help maximize the benefits of the sales tax proceeds.”
Letters are being mailed inviting residents to attend the meeting and help spread the word. The letters are just one part of the plan to receive input, according to Board Chairman Charlotte Nash. “We need representation from all segments of the County, so we’re sending emails, talking to the media and sharing information through all the County’s communications channels, including the website,” says Nash.
If passed, the new program will take effect when the current SPLOST expires on March 31, 2017. The new program would last six years and could raise an estimated $486 million for County transportation projects. For more information about the upcoming meeting, visit www.gwinnettSPLOST.com or call the Gwinnett Department of Transportation at (770) 822-7400.
NOTABLEPCOM School of Pharmacy wins accreditation through 2020
Okamoto
Since 2010, the PCOM School of Pharmacy has been educating pharmacists in response to the nation’s growing need for doctors of pharmacy, particularly in the south. A program of Georgia Campus – Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (GA-PCOM), the School of Pharmacy provides a rigorous curriculum delivered by accomplished educators, practitioners and pharmaceutical scientists.
As a result of a recent update report and on-site evaluation conducted in March 2016, the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) Board of Directors announced that the accreditation of the PCOM Doctor of Pharmacy program is continued until June 30, 2020. The School of Pharmacy first received full accreditation in 2014. PCOM School of Pharmacy is led by Dean and Tenured Professor of Pharmacy, Mark Okamoto, PharmD. Dr. Okamoto also serves as Chief Academic Officer for GA-PCOM.
Lawrenceville employee places in international utility rodeo
Ashley
One of the City of Lawrenceville’s employees won a place in the 2016 International Utility Locate Rodeo in Arlington, Tex. recently. Jessie Ashley represented both the City of Lawrenceville and the State of Georgia among a group of 81 competitors, from 17 different states and 28 different organizations, and placed third in the “Locate from Hell” division among 70 contestants. Ashley is one of three recipients of the Georgia Utility Coordinating Council’s (GUCC) Locate Rodeo Scholarship. This year, potential competitors in Georgia were offered an opportunity by the GUCC to submit an essay and compete for one of the three all-expense-paid scholarships. Ashley also competed in three separate gas utilities events where he placed fourth overall in the division.
RECOMMENDEDLeonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with A Remarkable Man
A biography by William Shatner
When Leonard Nimoy died of congestive pulmonary disease, a part of my childhood died with him. I was a third grader when I first began watching Star Trek on television, and it has been part of my life ever since. This reflective biography of Mr. Nimoy is written by his professional and personal friend, William Shatner. The public image of the two as very close friends is not quite as true as we have been led to believe, but Mr. Shatner tells the dual story of two men, thrown together professionally, finding value and worth in each other. Mr. Nimoy was an incredibly driven and gifted man, who had a heart that embraced his fandom long before Mr. Shatner came to terms with his following. A must read for Trekkers and for those who long to “live long and prosper.”
— Karen Burnette Garner, Dacula
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 TIDBITSee Confederate ships raised from Chattahoochee at Columbus museum
(Continued from previous edition)
After many delays, the long-awaited launch of the CSS Chattahoochee took place in February 1863, but the vessel ran aground on its first day on the river and seriously damaged its hull. By the time the steamer was again ready for service, the Confederate army, feeling impatient and vulnerable to attack, had sunk obstructions into the Apalachicola River, destroying any hopes that the Chattahoochee’s officers held of engaging the Union force at sea.
By the spring of 1863 the Confederate navy had stationed the gunboat, now no more than a glorified floating battery, above the obstructions. On May 27, 1863, the boilers of the Chattahoochee exploded due to the crew’s inexperience, killing several sailors, maiming others, and effectively destroying the ship for the remainder of the war.
During the war, the Columbus Naval Iron Works also supplied engine machinery for many of the Confederacy’s ironclads. On the Chattahoochee River, the Confederacy commissioned the construction of the CSS Jackson in 1862. This ship also faced a series of setbacks and delays that prevented it from ever reaching the Union blockade. Despite a scarcity of resources, the Jackson was completed in less than a year. However, inconsistent river levels prevented its initial launch, and an ordered redesign of the paddle system cost the crew any opportunity to engage the blockaders at the mouth of the Apalachicola River.
As the war’s end approached, the Union command sent a cavalry unit of 13,500 men, under the command of Major General James H. Wilson, to capture and occupy the Chattahoochee River Valley of Alabama and Georgia. Although historians debate the rationale behind this venture, the region had survived the war without any major battles and presumably could have served as the home base of a desperate last stand.
Launching the campaign from Tennessee, Wilson’s raiders swept swiftly through the poorly defended cities of Alabama, and on Easter Sunday, April 16, 1865, the cavalry crossed the Broadnax Street Bridge from Girard, Ala., into Columbus in the dark of night.
By morning, the Union soldiers had captured the city and begun laying waste to its industrial capabilities, including the Columbus Naval Iron Works. Wilson’s men set the Jackson aflame and adrift on the river, where it burned for nearly two weeks before sinking; navy yard workers did the same to the Chattahoochee to prevent it from falling into enemy hands.
In the early 1960s both ships were raised from the riverbed. Today, visitors to the National Civil War Naval Museum at Port Columbus can view what remains of both crafts.
- For more of the Georgia Encyclopedia online, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Converted Volkswagen becomes today’s Mystery Photo
Looks like the Mystery Photo is a converted Volkswagen, now an eatery, with stools and a bench. This food truck could make your mouth water. The diners seem to be enjoying themselves. Now tell us where you think it is located. Send in your thoughts to elliott@gwinnettforum.com and be sure to include your hometown.
That Mystery Photo from the last issue was harder than we thought. Not a person was able to identify the photograph of the giant Adirondack chair, sent in by Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill. We thought it would be obvious, since it is in the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, N.Y.
Quilters recognize three residents of Ashton Senior Living
The national Quilts of Valor Foundation’s Gwinnett QOV Quilters awarded quilts to three family members, a father and his two sons, at a ceremony held at Ashton Senior Living in Lawrenceville. Philadelphia Winn Chapter NSDAR Daughter Janet Perry, a member of the Gwinnett QOV Quilters, was accompanied by two members of the quilters group, Gerry Kraus and Joanne Jones, who assisted in the presentation ceremony by wrapping the honored veterans in their quilts, a part of the QOV ritual. One of those getting a quilt was Homer Allen Prisock, Sr. shown with his daughter, Connie Priscock, and Joanne Jones from QOV. Mr. Priscock is a resident at Ashton Senior Living, is a ten-year veteran of the U. S. Army. During his career from 1954 to 1964, he was stationed at Fort Benning, Fort Hood, Tex., Dexheim, Germany, and Fairbanks, Alaska. The Prisock Family coordinated this time of honor to coincide with Homer Sr.’s 80th birthday, and their family’s reunion.
Seventh annual National Night Out in Lilburn, August 2, beginning at 6 p.m. in downtown Lilburn City Park. Sponsored by the Lilburn Police Department, there will be field-day games with officers, demonstrations, balloon rides, food and other activities. For more information contact Mike Johnson at 770 921-2211 or via email at mjhnson@cityoflilburn.com.
Duluth Parks Design Workshop, Thursday, August 11 at 6 p.m. at the Bunten Road Park Community Building, 3180 Bunten Road. Come and be part of the discussion of the park design concept. Free pizza provided. Contribute ideas on how Rogers Bridge Park can be transformed into a waterfront part, and how Scott Hudgens Park can be more family friendly, or how Church Street Park can best serve the community. Those who cannot join this meeting may see concept drawings between August 11-14 in the park lobby for viewing and comments.
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