BAY CREEK PRECINCT: Police Command Staff at the soon-to-open Bay Creek Precinct included Assistant Chief Patrick Cronin, Assistant Chief J.D. McClure, Deputy Chief Kevin Moran, Bay Creek Precinct Commander Major Joel Whitt, Police Chief Tom Doran, Deputy Chief Brett West, Assistant Chief Everett Spellman, Assistant Chief Jesse Jones. See more details in Upcoming.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Mestas Overcomes Obstacles To Earn GGC Degree
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Visiting Greenville’s Museum of Art Was an Easy One-Day Trip
ANOTHER VIEW: Stand Back and Do Some Deep Thinking about These Times
SPOTLIGHT: The Gwinnett Stripers
FEEDBACK: Enjoyed Report on Visit by Dignitaries of Trip to Japan
UPCOMING: New Bay Creek Police Precinct Serves Eastern Area of Gwinnett
NOTABLE: Rebates Totaling $20 Billion Go to Jackson and Walton EMC Members
RECOMMENDED: Outgrowing God: A Beginners Guide by Richard Dawkins
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Jane Fonda Known in Georgia for Work on Pregnancy Prevention
MYSTERY PHOTO: Waterfront Scene Has Clues Which Can Lead to Its Location
LAGNIAPPE: Another Good Mystery Photo Spotter: Lou Camerio.
CALENDAR: Recreation Department Offers Free Pool Lifesaving Courses
Mestas of Chamblee overcomes obstacles to earn GGC degree
By Jacqueline Todd
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. | Georgia Gwinnett College’s (GGC) Kelly Mestas of Chamblee will join more than 460 other students who will graduate at GGC’s commencement ceremony, scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday, December 12 at the Infinite Energy Center, 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway, Duluth.
For her it was a long journey.
Mestas
“You’ll never amount to anything.” “You’re not good enough.” “You can’t do it.”
Those were the messages that the little voice in Kelly Mestas’ head kept repeating to her. Mestas graduated from high school as a single mother with a five-year-old son. Yet even after achieving that milestone, the little voice kept pestering her. Its negative implication was something that she felt defined her.
Until she decided to do something about it.
Mestas, who today will graduate as a business major with a concentration in international business, decided that she didn’t want to become what she called “another statistic.” So after working for a few years, she decided to further her education – and forge a brighter future for her and her son.
When her first foray into higher education did not work out, she did more research and decided that GGC would better fit her needs.
“I remember being nervous about applying,” she explained. “I thought the hardest part was going to be to get in. I soon realized I was wrong.”
Mestas entered GGC as a freshman in 2016. She loved the diversity of the student body and the variety of classes available to her. She rediscovered her roots in her Linguistic Diversity class. She fell in love with the French culture in her French language class. She overcame her fear of public speaking in her Communicating in Business class. And ever so slowly, the little voice that quelled her confidence for most of her life gave way to determination.
These classes were giving me the skills I wanted in life. There were many moments where I was awestruck. My classes became doors that opened to many possibilities, or gave me opportunities to learn outside the classroom.”
One of those opportunities was her participation in a study abroad program, led by GGC’s School of Business. Mestas traveled to France for two weeks where she immersed herself into the French culture using skills she learned in the classroom. During that time, she met new people. She expanded her skill set. She gained new perspectives that will last a lifetime.
Not everything was easy. There were many times when the negative voice gained traction. Mestas suffered through the loss of loved ones. She thought about transferring to another institution. While she was a student, she worked part-time. Both time and money were tight. She thought about quitting school and going back into the workforce.
“It’s true when people say that ‘you’re your own worst enemy.’” But Mestas learned that she could also be her biggest supporter. “I believed that I could, and it got me through the rough spots.”
The voice that used to tell Mestas the she couldn’t, now tells her that she can and she will.
The future looks bright for Mestas, who wants to pursue her master’s degree and someday perhaps a doctorate. “GGC gave me a path and opened possibilities,” she said. “I’m really grateful for the opportunity.”
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Visiting Greenville’s Museum of Art was an easy one-day trip
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
DEC. 10, 2019 | It was a good one-day trip from Gwinnett. Hearing over and over about how exciting Greenville, S.C., and its downtown area had become, we decided to make a one day exploratory visit, to get a glimpse, and to plan for a longer return trip later on.
We focused on visiting the Greenville County Museum of Art. So it was two hours (almost exactly) up Interstate 85, two hours at the museum (that was enough, since it’s small), an hour for lunch and drive-through of the Furman University campus, then two hours to return home, all on a crisp and sunshiny day.
What makes the museum so well thought of is the quality of the exhibits it has, and its size. It has galleries on three floors, making its size easy to explore, and not so big that it tires you out.
When there, much of the art on display was that of Andrew Wyeth, shown on two of three floors. There were several paintings of his father, Jamie Wyeth, and much of one gallery devoted to the work of Phyllis Mills Wyeth, Jamie’s wife. The museum owns many Wyeths.
Andrew Wyeth did much of his work in realist watercolor and tempera paintings of people and landscapes. It is amazing the way he could control the fluid of his watercolors to create amazing splotches of color in watercolor or tempera, much of it in earth tones. This seems much more difficult than producing artwork in oils, which have a stability of themselves, and more-or-less “stay put” when the artists paints or knifes them on. But watercolor? Just to gaze at the Andrew Wyeth art in watercolor is to stand in awe.
How did Greenville get these exhibits? Greenville has a tradition of philanthropy from its very beginning. There an understanding by wealthy Greenvillians they should fund worthy projects. Early settler Vargry McBee gave land to found four early churches, the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian and Episcopal downtown churches! Wow!
McBee also gave land for the Greenville Women’s College (later a seminary) and stipulated that it must always be used for educational purposes. On that downtown land now are several institutions, including the acclaimed museum, library and children’s museum.
Textile money from Holly and Arthur Magill of $750,000 was in a challenge grant to the county to form a museum, which the county matched. And donors have contributed to buy works of famous artists for the museum to own. With few exceptions, most of the art work was purchased with private funding. The museum owns 90 Andrew Wyeth pieces. Some 45 are on display now, with the museum rotating them quarterly in various sized exhibits.
Much of the focus on collecting key artists came from Museum Director Thomas Styron, who had been there 33 years, and wanted to build a live collection, which he bought at auctions, from estates, and artists.
On our visit, the Greenville museum was devoting space in one gallery to four artists of South Carolina. One was David Drake, born in 1801, a slave and a potter who created giant stoneware jugs; the celebrated painter, sculptor and printmaker Jasper Johns, (born in Augusta in 1930, but educated in South Carolina); folk artist William H. Johnson (1901-1970); and the wood sculptor of birds, Grainger McKoy. The museum only shows and collects American art.
If you plan a visit, the museum is normally closed Monday and Tuesday. The museum will soon be doing renovations. Check its web site before going to make sure what you want to see is available. Admission is free.
Thanks, Marcia Bumbalough, of Buford pointing our in a recent edition our mis-identification of birds in a photo. She writes: “Those would be CARDINALS on Frank’s photo, not robins.” We shoulda known.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Stand back and do some deep thinking about these times
By Ashley Herndon
OCEANSIDE, Calif. | In the 1920s, the conflict between “fundamentalists” and “modernists” heated up, as experienced in the infamous Scopes ‘Monkey Trial.’ Things got rough. Families split, (rather like “The War Between the States”.) Changes in American culture were speeding up, again. The Supreme Court had ruled against full equality and Jim Crow was alive and not so well. Glad I am alive in 2019…I think.
Herndon
Some who called themselves “Christian” celebrated these dramatic changes while others claiming the same faith pointed fingers and professed things were getting worse. Sound familiar? Then it was “The Creation Story” vs. Evolution…now it is self-governance vs. foreign interference. Unfortunately, intense conflict continues with a different face 99 years later.
Jump back. In this century’s time of conflict, it appears we need to re-read Twain about “repetition and rhyming in history.” That understanding sure beats trying to have one-party crush another. At least in my tiny mind.
Back to the comparison: evolution has nothing to do with governance. Churches of various faiths still exist in these conflicting times, a century later. Political parties can do the same…if allowed. I say allowed, as many are screaming for the destruction of one or the other party. Hmmm, whatever happened to non-violence? Rosa, send us some help.
The decision for us as individual citizens and as a country is: are you/we going to invite and allow foreign interference or not? If you are for it, uh oh! If you aren’t, that rather fits the Constitution and the Federalist Papers, as written by our Founding Fathers.
Bring it forward to 2019: there remains disagreement about fundamentalist acceptance or revisionist interpretation. Folks like Rep. McCarthy appear to be revisionist. Interesting how the party representing the fundamentalist view has changed. In 1920 the Fundies were Democrats, today they generally represent “the loyal opposition.” The change must be because of the old rule: “It depends on whether you are buying or selling!”
For me, I prefer no foreign interference and expect our leaders to govern accordingly, with dynamic force proving no interference will be tolerated. Remember “give me liberty or give me death?” I don’ t plan on dying but the analogy is important, one party (my way or the highway) leadership, has historically led to violence and death.
How many of us have lost a parent, child, sibling, spouse to demagoguery? 75 years later, I still wonder what it would have been like to have had a father present rather than in the Marietta National Cemetery.
I’m just saying all this is worth deep thinking. We do not need repeat performances.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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Enjoyed report on visit by dignitaries of trip to Japan
Editor, the Forum:
Interesting article on Japan visit! One thing not touched on though, was the Japanese do not have an immigration system. Maybe that is why their crime rate is low.
Children are taught respect for authority and the elders are honored. In respect for cleanliness and their lack of litter; I wish the United States, especially in my home area of Jesup and Wayne County, would key in on this!
Ride any county road here and all you see are fast food wrappers, plastic drink bottles, bagged garbage, old worn out tires, etc. And, this, after the Wayne county prison work detail has cleaned the road shoulders and ditches. I think part of the Japanese way of doing things goes back to having personal pride and respect for others.
— David Earl Tyre, Jesup
Pondering outcome of social contract philosophy thinkers
Editor, the Forum:
Most of us were taught the social contract philosophy of John Locke, John Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Herr Pufendorf, who pounded out a system of government and justice that led the new world into a new place without royalty and ancestral leadership. My goodness, that is worth a pause or a standing ovation. Free from familial secession and choice, the New World could take a stab at merit selected by its populus to pick up the burden of leadership.
Three hundred years later, what new devices are working to crush that contract. The contract has seen challenge by the decade, but the people have prevailed. What worries me today is the complexity and sophistication of challenge. Today, we have amazing and widespread rhetoric. The influence of the ever-shrinking world is with contact and sharing almost infinite.
Simplicity seems to work right now. It worries me that strong people are surfacing around the world whatever system generates them. Our system is not functioning well and started generating strong authority leadership decades ago when the legislature began to fail to function. It’s happening in other countries for assorted reasons.
This makes our beloved contract meaningless. Enter an age of strongman tyrants and anarchy. Go ahead and tell me Obama and Trump accompanied anything that wasn’t an executive order. I sell health insurance, go ahead and sell me on the viability of the affordable healthcare act.
— Byron Gilbert, Duluth
- 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
New Bay Creek police precinct serves eastern Gwinnett
The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners and Gwinnett County Police Department officials on Tuesday celebrated the opening of the new Bay Creek Police Precinct/Alternate 911 Center, located at 185 Ozora Road in unincorporated Loganville. The 12,117 square foot facility will serve the county’s growing southeastern region beginning December 14.
The precinct features offices for command staff, a fitness center and locker rooms and evidence storage space. It will also offer services such as access to reports and a community meeting room. The alternate 911 center will provide reliable communication with officers and other agencies during critical incidents, including weather-related events, where communications might otherwise be compromised.
Cooper and Company General Contractors built the precinct and 911 center as designed by Precision Planning. The $15.9 million project was funded by the 2009, 2014 and 2017 SPLOST programs.
Gwinnett DOT moves to plan bridge for Hwy. 8 at Hwy. 316
The Gwinnett Board of Commissioners recently approved an agreement with the Georgia Department of Transportation to fund the preliminary design of a grade-separated interchange on Georgia Highway 8 over Highway 316.
GDOT will provide nearly $2 million with Gwinnett County providing an equal amount of matching funds towards the preliminary engineering for the project, which includes interchanges at Hurricane Trail and Georgia Highway 8 (Winder Highway.) The County’s portion will come from the 2017 SPLOST program.
Construction is anticipated to begin in 2022. Other related projects include interchanges at Hi-Hope Road and Harbins Road. Construction on the Harbins Road interchange project is expected to be completed in 2022. The Hi-Hope Road interchange is in the preliminary design phase. For more information on Gwinnett County SPLOST projects, visit GwinnettSPLOST.com.
Rebates of $20 million go to Jackson, Walton EMC members
Providing service at cost is one of the bedrock principles of any cooperative. Co-ops are owned by the same people who purchase their goods or services. That being the case, it doesn’t make sense to show a profit.
Both Jackson Electric Membership Corporation and Walton Electric Membership Corporation (EMCs), cooperatives owned by those who receive its electric service, is a real-life example.
This December, Jackson EMC will rebate $12 million to its 239,000 members and former members, while Walton EMC will send refunds totaling $8.4 million to its 130,000 members.
Peggy Hardigree, a long-time Walton EMC customer-owner, says receiving a capital credit refund is just a bonus to the good service she already receives.
“I was five years old when the lights came on. So REA, and then EMC, have always been some of my favorite people – they still are,” says Hardigree. “When there’s a wreck or when there are storms and I call and report it [a power outage], they call me back when it’s fixed. They’re the best service people that I know.”
“The fact that we’re getting a refund is just a plus in addition to the good service we get year ’round,” she adds.
Another rebate: $100 continues by replacing your old toilet
Gwinnett water customers are eligible for a $100 rebate by replacing old toilets with qualifying low-flow, high-efficiency toilets. Gwinnett County participates in the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District’s Toilet Retrofit Program, which helps save 2.4 million gallons of water per day (that’s 900 million gallons a year!).
For an additional conservation bonus, you can recycle your old toilet for free at the Water Resources Central Facility’s unmanned drop-off location. Find out more at the Gwinnett Water Department.
Outgrowing God: A Beginners Guide by Richard Dawkins
From Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill: “Once again, British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins makes his case against religion but, this time, he aims his arguments at young adults. These arguments will be familiar to anyone who has studied biblical history or evolution, but they could be mind blowing to those who have not taken an objective view of the subject. Dawkins discusses the origins of various religions and their holy books and goes into detail (more than I would like) about biology and how a creator is not necessary. He separates myth from reality (as he sees it) and highlights the hypocrisies of religious systems. Dawkins asks questions such as: How do myths start? Can you be good without a God threatening to punish you if you’re not? Are we somehow programmed to be religious? If you’ve never spent much time thinking about these things, this book may jump start your curiosity.
- 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. Send to: elliott@brack.net
Fonda known in Georgia for work on pregnancy prevention
Jane Fonda is an award-winning actor, a political activist, and a former fitness guru who moved to Atlanta in 1991 after marrying Ted Turner, the founder of CNN. The couple divorced in 2001. Fonda continued to live in Atlanta and to raise money for the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (G-CAPP), an organization that she founded in 1995 with a grant from the Turner Foundation. Fonda also promotes southern regional folk art through Tinwood Books, a publishing venture that she co-owns with art collector Bill Arnett.
Jane Seymour Fonda was born on December 21, 1937, in New York City to Henry Fonda, an actor, and Frances Seymour Brokaw. She was 12 years old when her mother committed suicide. Having lived much of her life in California, Fonda maintains that her connection to Atlanta is permanent—regardless of her split with Turner—because of her continuing support of G-CAPP and the proximity of her grandchildren and several other relatives and former family members.
Before her marriage to Turner, Fonda was married twice. In 1965 she married the French film director Roger Vadim, with whom she had a daughter, Vanessa; they divorced in 1970. Three years later she married the activist and politician Tom Hayden, with whom she had a son, Troy; they divorced in 1990. Fonda also has a close relationship with Nathalie Vadim, her stepdaughter, and Mary Williams, her informally adopted daughter.
While there has been much curiosity in the media about her conversion to evangelical Christianity, Fonda has declined to speak publicly about her religious beliefs.
In addition to G-CAPP, another of Fonda’s legacies to the Atlanta region is the Jane Fonda Center at Emory University, created in 2001 with a $2 million donation from Fonda. The center conducts adolescent reproductive health research and provides training and program development for health care professionals. In 2000 Fonda donated $1.3 million to fund a program at Grady Hospital for teaching young people—men as well as women—about reproductive health. She also gave $12.5 million for a study of gender in education to Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, in Cambridge, Mass.
(To be continued)
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia online, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Waterfront scene has clues which can lead to its location
You might be able to locate a couple of clues which can lead you to discover just where today’s Mystery Photo was taken. Today we have an additional mystery, for we have lost the name of the person who sent in this photo. So, identify the photo with an email to elliott@brack.net, and if you sent the photo in, let us know who you are.
The recent Mystery Photo was from Roving Photographer Frank Sharp of Lawrenceville, taken while on a recent tour to Russia. Susan McBayer, Sugar Hill, quickly identified it. “This is the Grand Peterhof Palace Park in St. Petersburg, Russia. The palace was built in the early 1700s as a summer palace and formal garden for Peter the Great. It was his wife, Catherine, who suggested he build a ‘small cottage’ here where they could reside during the summer. The fountains were added later after Peter the Great visited Versailles. But it was his daughter, Empress Elizabeth, who greatly expanded the park and the size of the palace after Peter’s death. This photo was taken from the palace looking out over the long canal that flows to the end of the Gulf of Finland. Peterhof means ‘Peter’s Court’ in German.
Then came several responses, including from George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Tom Merkel of Berkeley, Lake; Bea Grossman of Norcross; Jim Savadelis, Duluth, who said: “The palace has more than 64 different fountains comprise this famous ensemble, which runs from the northern façade of the Grand Palace to the Marine Canal.”
Allan Peel of San Antonio, wrote: “Today’s mystery photo was taken at the Palaces and Gardens of Peterhof, located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, about 19 miles west of St. Petersburg. Peterhof was commissioned by Czar Peter the Great in the early 18th century. It was built and expanded upon from 1705 – 1755, and modeled after the original Louis XIV’s Palace of Versailles, which Peter the Great had visited during his ‘Grand Embassy’ tour to Europe in 1697. Not surprisingly, the Palaces and Gardens of Peterhof is commonly referred to as ‘The Russian Versailles’ and is considered to be a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
“There are 191 fountains in total on the grounds of the Peterhof, 64 of which are located around the Grand Cascade and on either side of the canal. The fountains operate during the day/early evening of the peak tourist season, so it appears that the mystery photo was not taken during these times. Nevertheless, one of the greatest technological achievements at Peterhof is that, unlike the fountains of Versailles, all 191 of the fountains operate without the use of any pumps. Water is supplied from natural springs and collects in reservoirs in the Upper Gardens. The elevation difference between the Upper Gardens and the rest of the property creates the pressure that drives all of the fountains at the Palaces and Gardens of Peterhof.”
Lou Camerio, Lilburn: “Only a Russian Tsar could afford a garden like this.”
Hoyt Tuggle, Buford adds: “Marie and I visited there in 1995, six years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. While the site, on the river is gorgeous, at the time we were there it was obvious that no maintenance had been performed for some time. There were many stories of how walls were removed and hidden ahead of the Germans. Each room contained an old grandmother, babushka in Russian, sitting in a chair. Her job was to scold tourists if they should touch anything. This was seen at the Hermitage. Many artisans died because of the inhalation of cyanide in the gold plating process throughout the Palace and grounds. St. Petersburg, Leningrad during the war, has many wonderful sights but it is a third world city. Moscow gets all the money for development to this day.”
Who are these good guessers who get Mystery Photos?
Over the last few years, several individuals around the country stand out as experts in answering the mystery photo in each issue of GwinnettForum. “Just who are these people?” several readers have asked us.
To shed a little light on that question, we asked consistent spotters who recognize the mysteries to tell us something about themselves, in about 150 words. We’ll run one in each upcoming issue.
Dee and Lou Camieros
Today’s Mystery Spotter is Lou Camerio of Lilburn.
Lou Camerio and his wife, Dee, both are natives of Macon, Ga., though they did not meet until his third year of college. He was in the Navy stationed at Pearl Harbor when they got married. Lou graduated at Southern Tech, and later with a partner founded a homebuilding company. In 1993, when playing in a USTA tennis match, he tripped and fell into a fence, rupturing a disk in his neck and causing spinal cord damage, which paralyzed him from the chest down. Though doctors said he would never walk again, 4.5 months later he walked out the hospital door, truly a miracle. He began to build houses once more. He volunteers in several arenas, was for 22 years on the Gwinnett Children’s Shelter board; has been 30 years on the Gwinnett Zoning Board of Appeals; and is a 25 year member of the Lawrenceville Kiwanis Club.
Free lifeguard training classes are being offered by Gwinnett County to those interested in applying for the many part-time opportunities at the County’s year-round aquatic facilities. Pay starts at $9.27 to $15 per hour. The American Red Cross blended learning course incorporates online learning portions of the course and in-person water, first aid and CPR/AED skills training. December classes will start soon. Register to take advantage of this promotion. To register and find additional classes and other aquatic opportunities, visit www.gwinnettparks.com and browse online registration.
Fall Commencement at Georgia Gwinnett College will be Thursday, December 12, at 10 a.m. at the Infinite Energy Center in Duluth. Some 460 students are expected to graduate. Speaker will be senior nursing major Benjamin Coker.
Author Visit: Dale Cardwell’s debut book, Don’t Get Scammed: Get Smart! endeavors to empower consumers and expose scammers. In this consumer oriented handbook, the author shares his seven-step strategy to becoming a savvy consumer. This event is free and open to the public on December 12 at 7 p.m. at the Suwanee Branch Library, 361 Main Street in Suwanee.
Another author Visit: Children are invited to hear Author Nury Crawford reading from her latest book, Sofia and Vivi: Big Sister. This is a bilingual English/Spanish children’s book about two sisters and their family who are new to the United States. She will be at the Buford Branch of the Gwinnett County Public Library, 2100 Buford Highway in Buford, on Saturday, December 14 at 10:30 a.m. The event is free, and the books will be available for purchase and signing.
Santa in the Garden will be Saturday, December 14, from 1 to 3 p.m. at Discovery Garden Park in Norcross. Join Santa for marshmallow roasting and hot cocoa around the fire pit!
Cookies and Cocoa with Santa will be on Saturday, December 14 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Duluth Festival Center (new location!). Free crafts, homemade cookies and hot cocoa will be available while supplies last. Letters to Santa are welcome. Professional pictures will be taken on site and later posted on the City of Duluth’s Facebook page for free download. Guests are asked to arrive early as Santa will leave promptly after the event to make it back to the North Pole.
New Year’s Eve: Psi Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated and its philanthropic arm, Georgia Pearls of Service Foundation, Inc., will ring out the old and ring in the new with their third annual “A Kaptivating Affair”, on December 31 at the Atlanta Marriott Perimeter Center, from 8 p.m. – 1 a.m. Proceeds will be used to fund community service projects, outreach programs, and college scholarships. Guests can expect an evening of the whimsical sounds of The Magic Dream Band, a traditional New Year’s Day meal, a count down and champagne toast at the stroke of midnight.Tickets are $85 per person and attire is formal. For tickets, click here.
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