3/31: More on rural buildings; More diverse boards; Orange bubble coat

SMOKE ABOUNDS from a demonstration at the The Let Freedom Ring! Festival at the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center last weekend. The festival was hosted by the Button Gwinnett Chapter SAR (Sons of the American Revolution), Philadelphia Winn Chapter, NSDAR (National Society Daughters of the American Revolution), and the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center. Volunteers, dressed in period attire, made for an authentic glimpse into Colonial life. The SAR with its musket demonstration is always a big hit. For more on this event, read in Notable below.

TODAY’S FOCUS: South Georgia Native Addresses Why Abandoned Buildings Still Standing

EEB PERSPECTIVE: Coming Soon: A Much More Diverse Board Structure in Gwinnett

ANOTHER VIEW: Remembering That Old Orange Bubble Coat in the Closet

SPOTLIGHT: The Piedmont Bank

FEEDBACK: Climate Change and Two Letters Concerning Possible Baseball Rule Changes

UPCOMING: Sixth Art Market To Be Held at Pinckneyville Park on April 15

NOTABLE: DAR Member Giving Class to Fourth Graders on U.S. History

RECOMMENDED:  It’s Good Weather for Fudge: Conversing with Carson McCullers by Sue Brannan Walker

GEORGIA TIDBIT: Fannin County Namesake Fought against Mexico, But Executed There

TODAY’S QUOTE: Some People Just Seem To Want To Go Back Again

MYSTERY PHOTO: Give us Two Parts of Your Answer for This Mystery Photo

LAGNIAPPE: Sonesta Gwinnett Place Hotel Now Showcasing Kudzu Art Zone Artists

CALENDAR: Chipper Jones Coming to Coolray Field in April

South Georgia native addresses why abandoned buildings are standing

By Brett Cochran, Sylvester, Ga.  |  In a recent GwinnettForum perspective, I read about your “Crumbling Buildings” in South Georgia.  I read with mixed emotion. I am a South Georgia native and work as a substation engineer for an electric utility. That job has me driving all over Southwest Georgia. Every day I live and work amongst the rural decay you speak of. These old buildings and dead towns scattered along abandoned railroad rights of way often cause me to reflect.

Cochran

The simplest explanation as to why many of these rural abandoned buildings have been allowed to stand, despite collapsing roofs and long-missing windows, is that they have always been there, like a tree or other part of the natural landscape. No one has seen the need to bulldoze them.

Some of these buildings might have sentimental value to the owner. That old shed might be where someone’s father or grandfather taught them to repair a tractor or build a birdhouse. That old barn might be where someone milked a cow every morning in their childhood. The highest and best use of the space these buildings occupy simply isn’t more valuable than the memories made there.

I can tell you about one of these buildings on my farm. My family farm has one old tenant farm house left. It looks similar to Brian Brown’s picture included in your article. It is in bad shape; it needs some minor work to stabilize it. I’m sure passersby like yourself wonder why I don’t tear it down and get it out of the way. I’ll tell you why.

Rural tenant house. Photo by Brian Brown.

Our farm was once covered with little houses like this one. They were built with a minimal amount of materials. They all had the same wood plank floor, cardboard walls, and minimal creature comforts. None of these houses had indoor plumbing, they all had an outhouse. If they had electricity, it was limited to a single naked light bulb hanging in the center of each room.

Life in these homes was hard, but not nearly as hard as life in the fields in which these families toiled. These sharecroppers and tenant farm families worked very hard, for very little. Despite their hard work, they kept their families together, attended church, and made the time and put forth the effort to keep their home places tidy, and well ornamented. This is evident by the Easter Lilies and Gladiolus that can still be seen growing around these home sites today, even after all these years.

When I think I have it hard, I look at that old house, and think about how hard the last family that lived there had it, and how they still remained proud enough to plant flowers in their yard. That has always inspired me.

That old house has served as a point of perspective my whole life. It lets me know just how good I have it. It is very important that my future children see that old house, and learn how hard its former occupants worked, and how little they had to show for it, and how proud they were despite it all.

This is just my old abandoned house. I’m sure many more have their own unique reasons for persisting. Every old building has a story.

• Have a comment?  Send to:  elliott@brack.net

Coming soon: A much more diverse board structure in Gwinnett

By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher |  For years now, there has been debate on how many county and school board districts Gwinnett needs to best govern ourselves.

Currently there are five school board districts, and four county commission districts. Each board has five members. However, there are only four county commission districts since the chairman is elected on a county-wide basis, and makes up the fifth board member.

Some citizens think we need to expand both these to seven member boards. They feel this saying serving 900,000 people with only five members is difficult.

For simplicity, let’s just focus on the county commission. The four district members each now represent approximately 225,000 people.  If there were six commission members, that means each would represent 150,000 residents.

That’s a lot of citizens. However, it’s not so daunting, in that there is little difference between representing 150,000 or 225,000. We’ve always maintained there’s little difference for the individual commissioner when representing big districts, since there are only 24 hours in the day.

Not only that, but there seems to me to be a more important consideration: it is a whole lot easier to govern when you are working with four district commissioners (and a chairman), than it is to work with seven people.  In other words, the smaller the group, the easier it is to get consensus and govern speedily and more efficiently.

Marin

This year a proposal is being advanced by Rep. Pedro Marin, a Democrat, to re-draw the lines to add more people to the county commission. It got little traction this year in the Legislature.

The main reason for adding districts, Rep. Marin maintains, is to get more diversity on the board. We suggest another approach, which will be better.

If Gwinnett had districts redrawn to gerrymander at least one minority representative on the commission, what impact would one diverse member have?  There would still be a majority of districts primarily white in nature, virtually isolating the diverse member.

In the last General Election, Commissioner Tommy Hunter barely beat Challenger Jasper Watkins.  After the election, many suggested that in the 2018 election, and certainly by 2020, perhaps several diverse commissioners would gain victory to serve this growing county. That’s what happened in DeKalb County over the last few years, as its population make-up changed.  And that’s why we see these changes happening in Gwinnett within two or four years, too.

After all in Gwinnett, if the county’s current 900,000 residents are now roughly 40 percent white, it stands to reason that this make-up will soon be lower, what with the current trend of population. Before long, there will be more diverse candidates on the Gwinnett boards, as a matter of sheer numbers, if the diverse communities get their members registered and voting.

We see the day, with four district commissioners, where there could possibly be one or two black, one Asian and one or two white commissioners…..and no telling what community the chairman would represent.  There could be a diverse-majority commission in a few years in Gwinnett.

It would be awfully easier, and far better, to have a diverse-majority commission with five members rather than seven. And that would be preferable to having seven members, but still have a white-majority commission.

Be patient. A more diverse Gwinnett is surely coming real soon. We predict this for the county commission and for the school board.

• Have a comment?  Send to:  elliott@brack.net

Remembering that old orange bubble coat in the closet

By Debra Houston, contributing columnist  |  Something about spring motivates us to clean the house and get rid of junk. It’s called “spring cleaning,” and there’s more to discard than ever. Turns out we baby boomers are hoarders.

Look at the covers of women’s magazines that shout, “Tame your Clutter!” Those magazines feature charming storage bins and boxes patterned in chevron or polka dots or topped with pink ribbons for your little girl’s stuff. In the old days, shoeboxes stored things. But, no, magazines insist we coordinate the fancy bins and boxes with the color of the room, the personality of the reader, and, oh— don’t forget Fido.

I fell for the container craze years ago, and my house is as cluttered as ever. I have towers of empty storage bins in the basement waiting for a purpose. What those magazines can’t fathom is I don’t have space to showcase their precious containers.

Here’s an idea:  don’t buy junk! It’s like crack cocaine. You get high whipping out your Visa for a mug with your name emblazoned in gold. But when the bill arrives, you experience buyer’s remorse because you’ve already shoved the mug under the sink next to the other useless mugs you bought on impulse.

Another idea: have a garage sale. Or sell on E-Bay. One person’s junk is another’s treasure. Or fill your extra bins with clothes and donate the whole kit and caboodle to charity. In Gwinnett we have refugees arriving with nothing but the clothes on their back, the homeless looking for a break, and the working poor that can’t afford to shop at Neiman Marcus.

I had a 20-year old orange bubble coat that made me look like the Michelin Man. I couldn’t part with it, thinking it’d come in handy someday. And it did, kind of. My husband and I drove to Clarksville, Tenn. (yes, the Clarksville the Monkees sang about), to search for his Confederate great-great uncle’s grave. That dreary cemetery is bigger than Times Square and possibly the coldest place on earth in January. I wore my bubble coat should Private Laughren’s grave be hard to find. Lucky me, I found the grave within minutes of leaving the car.

When I finally sent my bubble coat to Goodwill, I felt guilty for keeping it on a hanger for all those years. Someone could’ve stayed warm for many winters had I let it go. The funny thing is, since giving it away, I’ve not missed that coat one bit.  That tells me something!                           

• Have a comment?  Send to:  elliott@brack.net

The Piedmont Bank

The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. The Piedmont Bank, which opened its doors on June 30, 2009, is a full-service bank. It recently announced a merger with Mountain Valley Community Bank in Cleveland. It now has offices in eight locations, with its home offices at 5100 Peachtree Parkway in Norcross; and other locations at 185 Gwinnett Drive in Lawrenceville; east of Interstate 85 near Suwanee at Old Peachtree and Brown Roads; and in Dunwoody at 1725 Mount Vernon Road, in Cumming at 2450 Atlanta Hwy. Suite 1801 and in Cleveland, Gainesville and Jefferson. It has a capitalization of $208 million, and more than $761 million in assets now. The bank is making substantial business and personal loans. Its directors include Paul Donaldson, Robert D. Cheeley, John J. Howard, Monty G. Watson (who is chairman), Robert J. Ratliff and T. Michael Tennant, while James E. Stephenson is an advisory director. Deposits in The Piedmont Bank are insured by the FDIC.

• For more information, call 770-246-0011 or visit http://www.piedmontbankonline.com.
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Wilson’s view regarding climate change is spot-on

Editor, the Forum:

George Wilson is spot-on regarding climate change. Global warming is real, and President Trump’s budget proposal and Tuesday’s Executive Order reversing existing greenhouse gas regulations willfully ignore science and are designed to increase, rather than reduce, greenhouse gas emissions.

What this country and the world need is cleaner power plants, more efficient cars and trucks, fewer methane emissions, and better energy-efficiency standards. The predictable results of reversing course—increasing droughts, storms, flooding, environmental problems, and deleterious health effects-=-are unacceptable. If you agree, contact your congressman and senators.

— Bert Schuster, Buford

Innovative ideas on baseball’s rules are welcomed

Editor, the Forum:

George Graf has great suggestions about baseball rules. Of course these changes would skew the old game’s statistics and make comparisons of player records hard to figure. Yet his ideas are innovative and needed.

Basketball has been willing to enact rule changes. Baseball should respond to needed time-saving moves. I never thought of some of his ideas, but they sound great. They should be tried out in spring training to see how they can help. I’d rather watch good high school baseball than the pros.

— Marshall Miller, Lilburn

(Dear Marshall: Agree with you that one or two of his ideas would raise hackles with Major League Baseball that fans would no longer be able to compare statistics from before and after the rule changes. But as you say, some of these ideas are needed. –eeb)

Raises question about proposed changes in baseball rules

Editor, the Forum:

If the length of the baseball game bothers George Graf so much, why not just don’t watch the game?

— Nancy Livingston, Duluth

Dear Nancy: It’s more than that. It’s because of the love of the game that many are complaining about the length of modern games. So much wasted time that is not so much part of the game as it is in the surroundings.–eeb

• Send us your thoughts:  We encourage you to send us your letters and thoughts on issues raised in GwinnettForum.  Please limit comments to 300 words.  We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length.  Send feedback and letters to:    elliott@brack.net

Sixth art market to be held at Pinckneyville Park on April 15

Now on its sixth year, Art on Chattahoochee Art Market is moving to a new location at the Medlock Pavilion at Pinckneyville Park, 4758 South Old Peachtree Road, Norcross. On Saturday, April 15 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. there will be artist demonstrations, live entertainment, and food trucks.

With thousands of visitors since 2012, the event hosts some of the most diverse artists and crafters of Metro Atlanta to showcase and sell their works. The Kids Chalk Art contest is returning this year and will begin at 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. Live performances will include Drake Irish Dance, Debbie Ellis Ballet, Jr. Knight Training by Medieval Times, and live music featuring A Common Ground Band, Cherry Cherry Band and solo artist Connor Byers.

While the event has featured more than 100 artists since its inception, it also has a free Budding Artist Kid’s Zone with crafts, face painting, inflatables and more. Attendees will have a chance to visit returning vendors from previous years, as well as, many new art and craft vendors to this year’s Art Market. For more information, call Melissa Day at 678-277-0920 or visit www.gwinnettparks.com.

Snellville to get 5-story, 102-bed Hampton Inn and Suites

A five-story, 102-room Hampton Inn and Suites is to be built in Snellville. The 64,400-square-foot building will be located in Park Place, a development located at the corner of Pharrs Road and Scenic Highway which recently saw the grand opening of Cracker Barrel, Freddie’s, Zaxby’s and Aspen Dental. An Outback Steakhouse is also planned for the development. There had been concerns the hotel would cause traffic issues at the busy intersection, but, according to the developers, daily trips would be reduced by nearly two thirds of what was previously approved for a 12,000-square-foot restaurant.

County studies future ways to improve Gwinnett County Transit

The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners recently awarded a $767,313 contract to identify short, medium and long term plans for Gwinnett County Transit,  including future developments and capital priorities. The contract was approved during the board’s business session on March 21.

Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. was the highest-scoring firm out of the five respondents. In identifying short-term plans, Kimley-Horn will look for ways to improve service using existing equipment and funding. Medium-term plans will cover future service plans and needs for the next two to eight years. The long-term plans will evaluate how the county can address future growth through transit options, including high-capacity options and what financial tools are available to achieve those goals.

This contract is funded by the Local Transit Renewal and Extension Fund.

Gwinnett County Transit began providing Express Service in 2001. The system now also includes Local and Paratransit services. Gwinnett County Transit Express bus service operates Monday through Friday. Local bus service operates five routes Monday through Saturday. Paratransit service for qualifying persons with disabilities operates in conjunction with the local bus service.

DAR member giving class to fourth graders on U.S. history

Ann Story of Bethlehem is reaching out to eight classes of fourth grade American History pupils and to home schooled students visiting the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center. She is giving a Portable Education Program, using a travelling teaching trunk.  The PEP teaching guide and curriculum is supplied by the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum in Washington, D.C. Ann is a member of the Philadelphia Winn Chapter DAR chapter in Lawrenceville.

Story

Ann is getting additional help in this program underway from Catherine Long, program manager of history and culture at the Gwinnett Environmental and History Center, and Beverly Paff, co-president of the Gwinnett Historical Society. Both supplied many of the items used in the program. Ms. Story, who is teaching about colonial money and jobs said, “I taught the classes about crowns, shillings, guineas, six pence, half pence, and farthings.  I had replicas of paper money printed by the colonies.  With British money, and money from Ireland, France, Germany, and Spain, it was very confusing to buy and sell in the colonies.”

First Vice Regent Story talked about jobs in the colonies during the 1700s (18th Century) while students handled reproduction items that were used in colonial times.  As a group, the students were asked to guess what each item was used for and in what profession.

Some of the jobs and items used were:

• Teacher – slate board and slate pencil;
• Blacksmith – horse shoes and metal candle holder;
• Farmer – seeds, rake, basket of eggs, and rope;
• Milliner – thimble, heavy cotton thread on a wooden spool, and beeswax thread conditioner; and
• Apothecary – mortar and pestle and herbs.

These are just a few of the examples Ann used while teaching the eight American History classes at Harbins Elementary in Dacula last week.  There are more lucky kids scheduled to receive this exceptional hands-on teaching of Colonial America.

Lifestyle shop to open its main location in downtown Duluth

Personify, a lifestyle and women’s shop offering a curated selection of modern and whimsical goods, will open their newest and main location in Downtown Duluth Saturday, April 1.

Tammy Lopez and Maddie Morden, mother-daughter team and both Duluth residents, opened their boutique in the North Georgia mountains in Lakemont, near Lake Rabun and Lake Burton, in May 2014. They began their search for a flagship location last year and landed in Parsons’ Alley in Duluth.

The shop specializes in carrying an array of women’s clothing, home goods, jewelry, lifestyle accessories, children’s goods, and gifts. Personify’s focus is to work with artists, small business, and designers to offer a unique selection of quality goods.

Stop by the grand opening April 1-2 to meet Tammy and Maddie and see the newest goods Personify has to offer. They are located at 3550 West Lawrenceville Street, Suite 320, next to Dreamland Barbecue.

Two new upscale housing developments to open in Peachtree Corners

Peachtree Corners is to be home for two new residential communities.

Peachtree Residential Properties, unveiled the model homes for Oglethorpe, a single-family home development and Duke Reserve, a townhome community. Both developments are located on Spalding Drive. Oglethorpe is adjacent to Wesleyan School, while Duke Reserve is across the street from the Peachtree Corners Post Office.

Both communities offer full landscape maintenance for a lock and leave lifestyle. That amenity is designed to attract those looking to downsize and simplify their lifestyles.

Mayor Mike Mason says: “When we developed the city’s comprehensive plan, a housing option that offers smaller lots without sacrificing square footage was in short supply. These two new developments will help fill that need. We are happy to welcome Peachtree Residential Properties to Peachtree Corners.”

Both are gated communities, homes have four-sided brick exteriors. When the development is complete, Oglethorpe will have 19 homes, some with basements and three-car garages. Prices begin in the $700,000s. Duke Reserve will consist of 25 two-story townhomes with two-car garages and floor plans with master bedrooms on the main level. Prices start in the mid $500,000s.

Boutwell wins first place in Lilburn art competition

Elisha Boutwell, a fourth grader from Parkview Christian Academy, has won First Place Overall in the 28th annual Spring into Art elementary school competition presented by the Lilburn Woman’s Club Arts Program. Patty Gabilondo of the Lilburn Woman’s Club makes the presentation to him.

Local artists from the Lilburn Arts Alliance judged over 100 entries from eight local elementary schools. His work will be professionally framed and presented on stage at Lilburn Daze Arts and Crafts Festival this October. His winning work is shown here.

 It’s Good Weather for Fudge: Conversing with Carson McCullers by Sue Brannan Walker

Reviewed by Karen Burnette Garner, Dacula  |  A single book-length poem has to be well-written to maintain the reader’s interest.  This is one of those books.  The writer’s premise is a fictional conversation with Carson McCullers, the extraordinary Southern writer best known for her works, A Member of the Wedding, and The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter. Picture sitting on a Southern grandmother’s screened porch as two older ladies talk of this and that, touching on the trivial and the deeply revealing truth of love, frustration, and lost dreams.  The reader is like a child listening to grown up things, much like Carson herself.  A child of the South growing up in the 1940’s and 1950’s will experience flashbacks through poignant memories of a time now gone. A reader’s treat!”

• 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

Fannin County namesake fought against Mexico, but executed there

(Continued from previous edition)

In August 1835 James Walker Fannin Jr. was appointed by the Committee of Public Safety and Correspondence, an assembly of prominent Texans seeking independence from Mexico, to solicit funds and supplies from sympathizers in Georgia, as well as to influence former colleagues at West Point to join him in Texas and lead volunteer and regular armies. As a member of the Texas volunteer army, Captain Fannin fought alongside the Brazos Guards in the first battle of the revolution against Mexico, held at Gonzales on October 2, 1835. On October 28, he led Texas forces in the Battle of Concepcion. On December 7 he was commissioned a colonel in the Texas regular army.

Fannin

Fannin’s appeal for aid drew strong attention. In Macon about 30 men stepped forward to assist “our fellow countrymen of Texas,” and more than $3,000 was raised to defray the cost of the trip to Texas. On November 18 the Macon volunteers left for Texas, traveling by way of Columbus, where they were joined by another group of volunteers. Fannin welcomed the Georgia Battalion to Texas on December 20, 1835. He was later elected to command a regiment consisting of the Georgia Battalion and the Lafayette Battalion (composed of men from Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Tennessee).

By February 12, 1836, Fannin had marched his regiment to Goliad, an old Spanish fort on the southwest bank of the San Antonio River about thirty miles from where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico.

On March 14, 1836, Fannin was ordered by Texas President Sam Houston to withdraw to Victoria, but he delayed until the 19th. As Fannin’s regiment withdrew, it was surrounded by a Mexican force under General Jose de Urrea. Fannin unsuccessfully engaged the Mexican army at the Battle of Coleto Creek and was forced to surrender his entire command. Wounded, Fannin capitulated on the condition that his men be well treated because they had given up their arms peacefully.

The agreement was countermanded by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, and on Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836, more than 330 Georgians, Texans, and others imprisoned at Goliad were marched out into the woods and shot. While some prisoners escaped the massacre, Fannin was kept inside the fort. He was taken to the courtyard, where he was blindfolded, seated, and shot through the head. His body was burned. During the Battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836, Fannin’s watch was discovered in the possession of a Mexican officer. The officials who found it assumed the Mexican was responsible for Fannin’s murder; he thus met death in a like manner as Fannin.

In 1854 Fannin County in north Georgia was named in his honor.

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

Give us two parts in your answer for this Mystery Photo

For this Mystery Photo, we ask you to identify the overall scene, and also tell us where this photograph was made. Send in your thoughts to elliott@brack.net and be sure to include your hometown.

Last edition’s Mystery Photo of an old wheel near a dam was closer than you think. It was sent in by and is copyrighted by Steward Woodard of Lawrenceville.  Outsider George Graf of Palmyra, Va. recognized it as “The old waterwheel below the dam on Ivy Creek in Gwinnett County. Per a page on rockysmith.net, the official name of the Mall of Georgia is The Mall of Georgia at Mill Creek — so named because a mill once operated at the small dam on Ivy Creek.  Today, Ivy Creek still manages to flow, largely unseen, around the southern end of the mall.  It is there that the dam and the site of the mill are located, inside one of the looping entrance ramps to Interstate 85.  Several years ago, Gwinnett County built a greenway along Ivy Creek that allows access to, among other places, the dam and the site of the old mill. Although the spot is encircled by expressway ramps, the ramps sit atop immense concrete pilings. The greenway goes under them.”

Only two people from Gwinnett recognized the water wheel. They were Rob Keith of Peachtree Corners; and Roz Scmitt of Lawrenceville, who said: “We passed it while walking the trail last weekend.”

Sonesta Gwinnett Place Hotel now showcasing Kudzu Art Zone artists

Sonesta Gwinnett Place Atlanta, the largest full-service hotel in the Gwinnett area, is now showcasing local artwork in its in-house restaurant and bar—ArtBar.  The gastro pub is providing a contemporary Southern restaurant for guests and local residents alike. The artwork displayed and available for purchase in ArtBar. It comes from artists associated with Kudzu Art Zone Gallery and Art Center in Norcross. David Kohlasch, general manager at Sonesta Gwinnett Place Atlanta, says: “Supporting local artists and businesses is important to us and we are happy to partner with Kudzu Art Zone. In keeping with our goal of providing the best customer service possible, we want to give our guests something new and inviting while paying homage to our locals that continue to support us.”

(NEW) Retired Atlanta Braves’ Chipper Jones will be at Coolray Field in Gwinnett on April 8 at 5 p.m. The Gwinnett County Public Library will host his appearance. Tickets to the Gwinnett Braves’ game vs. Durham (at 6:05pm) must be purchased to access the book signing.  To get a signed copy of his book, Ballplayer, attendees must purchase the book from Eagle Eye Book Shop.  You may reserve a copy now, or Ballplayer will be available for purchase at the store or through their website, www.eagleeyebooks.com, on April 4.

11th Annual Supplier Symposium for firms wanting to do business with Gwinnett County. The symposium will be April 11 starting at 8:30 a.m. at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center.  Attendees will meet buyers and contracting officers from the Purchasing Division and other metro Atlanta agencies and take advantage of networking opportunities designed to create relationships.  For more information about the event and to register, visit this site.

(NEW) Literary Summit at 10 a.m. April 12 at the Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) Auditorium in Lawrenceville. Join Gwinnett County Public Library, in partnership with GGC, for a literary summit with bestselling author Thomas Mullen, author Richard Hoard, professor and publishing entrepreneur Dr. Steven Brown, author and CEO and founder of Deeds Publishing Bob Babcock, and Gwinnett Daily Post sports editor Will Hammock. For more information, please visit www.gwinnettpl.org or call 770-978-5154.

(NEW) Ribbon Cutting and grand opening at 4 p.m. April 12 for new Eastside Urgent Care Center, at 3641 Centerville Highway, Snellville. For more information, email Hope.Moeck@hcahealthcare.com.

Exhibition Extended: World Through the Lens Photo Show of Frank Sharp at the Tucker Library, 5234 LaVista Road has been extended until April 28, 2017. The library is open on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. and on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.

HANDYMAN SERVICES: Whatever your home maintenance problem is, Isaias Rodriguez can help. An experienced painter, he is dependable in installing or repairing siding, gutters, ceramic tile, plumbing, garage doors, or any other problem around your home. He’ll even fix your bike! He is originally from Mexico and has been in Georgia since 1996. He is legally allowed to work in the United States and is insured. Give him a call at his home in Norcross at 404-569-8825 or email him at rodriguez_isais@yahoo.com. Visit his Facebook page at Neza construction and home repair to see some of his past work.

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