Articles by: Elliott Brack
BRACK: Two aloof artists create one of the finest Christmas carols
By Elliott Brack | One of the beauties of the holiday season is to hear Christmas carols (and sing-along occasionally). They can lift your heart (Joy! To the World and Hark! the Herald Angels Sing), or cause you to pause (Silent Night or O Little Town of Bethlehem).
Then there’s a song usually sung during the season that is unlike most, in that it has a non-traditional cadence, and is one of our favorites for that reason.
BRACK: Delegation: Bring commission chairman’s salary up-to-date
By Elliott Brack | There is one key subject the Gwinnett delegation to the General Assembly should address come January 1. They need to agree on a significant upgrade of pay for the chairman of the Gwinnett County Commission.
The current salary of the chairman, Charlotte Nash, is $58,342. That salary should have been changed ages ago. It is inadequate for a person who heads a government with 5,000 employees.
BRACK: Visiting Greenville’s Museum of Art was an easy one-day trip
By Elliott Brack | 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.
BRACK: Major Georgia railroad history penned by Loganville’s Hanson
By Elliott Brack | In the mail recently I got a new book by a local author. The author is Robert (Bob) Hanson of Loganville. His new book is a handsome 8.5×11 inches, 156 page “The Railroads of Georgia, 1833-2000.” It’s from Garbely Publishing of Branchville, New Jersey. You can order it from the publisher at $40.
BRACK: Some thinkers are getting concerned about a right to privacy
By Elliott Brack | Times were far different in the age of the Founding Fathers. They thought long and hard, and recognized that mankind wanted certain guarantees from government. What they came up with was to recognize “certain unalienable rights, such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
BRACK: Time to eat crow, apologize for error on Loganville election
By Elliott Brack | Every so often in the news business, you find it’s time to eat crow. Today is such a day for me.
Last Friday we fouled on reporting the results of the Loganville election. Going to the Internet, we posted the results of the 2017 election, thinking we had the 2019 election. We simply did not read the small print correctly, and gave the wrong information.
Gwinnett Forum | July 26, 2024
“I do not have a psychiatrist and I do not want one, for the simple reason that if he listened to me long enough, he might become disturbed.”
— American Humorist James Thurber (1894 – 1961)
Continuing objectives
Gwinnett Forum publisher Elliott Brack suggests that Gwinnett County needs a long-range list of continuing objectives for improving the county. His list:
- Move statewide non-partisan judge and school board elections to the General Election.
- Adoption of the 2023 Transit Plan for Gwinnett.
- 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.
- 21st century salary for the Gwinnett County Commission members.
- Remove chewing gum on sidewalks at entrances of post offices and other governmental buildings.
- Eliminate single-use plastic packaging and straws in Gwinnett and require instead the use of paper products.
- Condos instead of apartments for Gwinnett.
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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