One of my earlier recollections came when about age 4-5-6, when going to church with my parents. It was at Walnut Creek Baptist Church, still a vibrant congregation near Allentown, Ga.
For some reason, at that young age, my favorite hymn was No. 70. Now what the name of that song was, I just don’t remember. But it might have been “I Feel Like Traveling On.” You remember the lyrics.
APRIL 10, 2018 | Reports last week that Brand Bank of Lawrenceville would be bought by a Mississippi bank in one way cut the link to old-time banking in Gwinnett County. After all, Brand Bank was the oldest of the locally owned banks in Gwinnett, founded in 1905, and the biggest, with $2.4 billion in assets.
Today’s issue of GwinnettForum marks the beginning of our 18th year in business.
I retired from the Atlanta newspapers on April 1, and opened the next day an office in a friend’s extra space in Business Park in Norcross. A couple of years later, we moved offices to the former headquarters of Technology Park/Atlanta, then in unincorporated Norcross and now in Peachtree Corners. We’ve been here for 15 years.
By Elliott Brack | Years ago, while at the Gwinnett County printing plant of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, when occasionally guiding groups on plant tours in the news print storage area, often people would ask ”How much newsprint do you use?”
We had the answer. In those days, we used a lot of newsprint, as they do today. But after a while, since people could not comprehend and interpret the fine points of usage, I would just say “Big number.”
MARCH 27, 2018 | As you get older, you learn to trust your instincts. You have no reason for thinking the way you are thinking, but you do. After all, it’s instinctive.
Back in 2015 and up until the 2016 election, we felt that Hillary Clinton would not become the 45th president. We didn’t know why we felt that way. All this was before the Trump Movement. We thought that Hillary might get the nomination, but felt that she would not be our next president. We even wrote about this.
By Elliott Brack | Often some of the better ideas are so simple that we think: “Wonder why we did not think of that earlier?”
This came to mind when reading Tim Anderson’s column in the Fitzgerald Herald-Leader recently. Tim was writing about an idea he heard from Jenkins County Middle School in Millen.
Tim wrote: “It’s always refreshing to see common sense break out. I read last week about a program started in Millen at Jenkins County Middle School. School administrators have introduced their students to a nationwide program called No One Eats Alone.
By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher | In Gwinnett’s formative years starting in 1970 and for the next 37 years, if there was someone in Gwinnett who was the “go to” person for about any question you had, it was Patsy Rooks. The Lawrenceville native, 76, died recently and was buried from Chestnut Grove Baptist Church on Sunday.
When she first came to the Chamber, it was located in the Stark Building, right off the courthouse square. Golden Pirkle of Buford, was the first full-time Chamber executive, starting in 1969, and he hired her.
By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher | Those of us born during the Depression and those born soon after World War II have really been lucky. They probably have seen more of the world than any other generation of people.
It’s been possible because of automobiles and ships and more leisure time, but mostly because of the jet airplane.
Americans are a traveling citizenry. Remember when you were growing up? Can you ever have imagined that you would have traveled so extensively?
“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 Ester Perel (1958- ) via John Titus, Peachtree Corners.
Gwinnett Forum publisher Elliott Brack suggests Gwinnett County needs a long-range list of continuing objectives for improving the county. His 2025 list:
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