Articles by: Elliott Brack
BRACK: Ex-Sen. Don Balfour’s new gig: now he’s a soccer referee
By Elliott Brack | When Don Balfour of Snellville left his state Senate seat after 24 years in office, his wife, Ginny, asked him: “How are you going to fill that third of your time?” By then he was the longest-serving Republican senator, and chaired the powerful Rules Committee. Ginny realized that he was dividing his time between family, work and politics. Now he was out of politics. He told her: “I’m going to referee soccer.”
BRACK: Protect yourself and others; Get a Covid vaccination
By Elliott Brack | With more cases of the Covid virus, now often the Delta version, being reported virtually every day, this could drastically affect us all. The best case is that we will not catch this wave of the virus. This is tremendously enhanced if we will be disciplined and wear masks when in the public.
BRACK: Round of applause for Lawrenceville for its recent action
By Elliott Brack | Gwinnett Forum is pleased with actions in one of our Gwinnett cities. The Lawrenceville City Council has recently taken moves to upgrade properties within its borders by appropriating taxpayer funds to purchase properties on one of its gateways and to buy properties needing re-development for a less dense environment.
BRACK: Beard is longest serving city official in Gwinnett: 46 years
By Elliott Brack | Buford’s Philip Beard feels that he has not one, but two distinctions: he has served consecutively as a city official for 46 years, longer than anyone in Gwinnett. He’ll start his 47th year on September 1, 2021. All this time he has been the chairman of the City Commission, and also chairman of the Buford City Schools Board.
BRACK: Time of the year for local governments to OK budgets
By Elliott Brack | It is somewhat surprising to find that the City of Lawrenceville is raising taxes. This once-staid conservative government is going to raise ad valorem taxes this year by 0.4 mills. Not only that, the city is also going to start charging its first garbage fee, which will be $10 per month for 2022, and in 2023, will be $20 a month. Previously, there was no fee for garbage service.
BRACK: Second doctor named Miles Mason goes into retirement
JULY 6, 2021 | If you were living in the Duluth area in the last 60 years, chances are you knew of the medical practices of Miles Mason. You see, there have been two doctors named Miles Mason practicing medicine out of Duluth. Miles Mason Jr. tended to all sorts of medical needs in the Duluth area until 1994.
Gwinnett Forum | April 11, 2025
“But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.”
– American Astronomer and Science Communicator Carl Sagan (1934-96).
Continuing objectives
Gwinnett Forum publisher Elliott Brack suggests Gwinnett County needs a long-range list of continuing objectives for improving the county. His 2025 list:
- Move statewide non-partisan judicial and school board elections to the date of the General Election.
- More creative efforts to support the arts in Gwinnett.
- Advancement and expansion of city historical societies.
- Require establishments that serve alcoholic beverages to halt sales of such products at 1 a.m., and close by 2 a.m.
- Require the Georgia Legislature to meet only once every two years.
- Eliminate single-use plastic packaging and straws in Gwinnett and require instead the use of paper products.
- Gwinnett planners to encourage condos and townhouses instead of apartments.
- County-wide microtransit services.
Interested in Gwinnett history?
Now re-printed in its third edition, Gwinnett: A Little Above Atlanta, the award-winning history of Gwinnett County, is once again available for purchase. It sold out of its first two printings. The book won the 2010 Award of Excellence in Documenting Georgia History from the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board. The book is available at Old Town Antiques at 93 Main Street in Lilburn.
- The history of Gwinnett is also available as an e-book from Amazon or Barnes and Noble for $9.95.
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