Articles by: Elliott Brack
BRACK: Even when searching for a dog, be careful; Scams abound
By Elliott Brack | Somehow, I think was on the way to getting scammed. Over all things, a dog. Ever since our 16-year-old rescue dog, Hercules, died about three months ago, we’ve been thinking about getting another dog. We’ve always had dogs, four main ones, living with us for 9, 15, 18 and (for Herk) 16 years.
BRACK: Dacula, Harbins lose cherished member in Winford Lindsay
By Elliott Brack | Dacula and the Harbins community lost a cherished member when Winford Vernon Lindsay Sr. died on November 1. He lived a half a year beyond age 100. Winford was a giant of a gentleman, the son of a farming family, and Bible scholar. He may have been the last surviving Gwinnett County resident who had been a member of the Civilian Conservation Corps, prior to enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1940.
BRACK: Random thoughts about the negative transit vote and election results
By Elliott Brack | Random thoughts concerning the General Election are on our mind today.
Gwinnett voters in 2020 easily approved the continuation of a one cent sales tax to help fund school infrastructure (76.6 percent), yet were almost equally divided in turning down a one cent sales tax for improved transit. The difference was 1,013 votes out of the 398,000 votes cast! Talk about a closely-split 50.1 percent difference!
BRACK: Memorial for Bill Barks Sr. of Norcross to be held Nov. 21
By Elliott Brack | What a full life Bill Barks Sr. of Norcross lived! He died recently at age 83.
Bill retired from his many business ventures in 2010. He still remained active. As one of the founding members of the PDC Club (Progressive Development Club), which still meets each Wednesday morning in Norcross at 45 South Café (now “people driving coffee), he became publisher of the Norcross Times, which he edited for 15 years, up until recently.
BRACK: We’ll look back on 2020 as one of most distinctive years ever
By Elliott Brack | What a year 2020 has been! Let’s address saner subjects today. With a presidential political year on top of a worldwide COVID crisis, 2020 will go down in history as one of the most distinctive ever. Having Donald Trump around already provided the year a different perspective out of Washington, but the COVID situation overwhelmed and affected us all.
BRACK: Gwinnett GOP comes out against local transit referendum
By Elliott Brack | What? The Gwinnett Republican Party, the group that could not even field candidates in all of the Gwinnett races, finally rears its head, coming down against the transit issue in Gwinnett. We would never have thought that they would be so bold to speak out on this issue, when they have been so timid this political season.
BRACK: Pay-for-play fake news sites popping up in USA, Gwinnett
By Elliott Brack | Fake news websites are now riding on the credibility that standard newspapers have built over the years to get their false messages out. Insidiously, they are creating what looks like everyday newspapers and web sites, making the reader think their sites are from old, established media. These sites are really newly-created propaganda machines, wanting to convince you that their stories are real.
BRACK: Readers suggest why so many people are voting early
By Elliott Brack | It puzzles me why people are standing in line for hours in record numbers to vote on the first two days of early voting. After all, they have all of three weeks to vote early. “Why was it?” I asked some people, just to try to figure this out. We were also trying to determine who would benefit from heavy voting.
Gwinnett Forum | Jan. 10, 2025
“Nothing makes us feel more connected than when we are engaged in a healthy balance of thoughtful speaking and hardcore listening.”
— Belgian-American psychotherapist and relationship expert Eshter Perel (1958- ) via John Titus, Peachtree Corners.
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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.
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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