Elliott Brack’s Perspective
BRACK: Hurrah! We’re leaving Afghanistan; we should have done it years ago
By Elliott Brack | It’s beyond me why some in our country are so concerned about what’s happening in Afghanistan. Not only should our country leave Afghanistan as fast as we can, for the real problem is that we should never have sent American troops to that country halfway around the world in the first place. Fighting against the natives there is a zealous guerilla war. There was no way a visitor could “win.”
BRACK: 2020 Census shows Gwinnett grows 14,813 people each year
Exclusive in GwinnettForum | The 2020 Census results show that Gwinnett County continues to grow, now with a population of 957,062, an increase of 148,138 people or 19 per cent since the 2010 census. Gwinnett continues to be Georgia’s second most populated county, trailing Fulton County, which has 1,066,970 people.
BRACK: Warnock and Cruz get together to propose Interstate 14
By Elliott Brack | Ever heard of Interstate 14? You may not have. It doesn’t exist…..yet. But it could. It would be a route across the Deep South covering 1,300 miles, after a bipartisan amendment passed through the U.S. Senate, through an unusual partnership of Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Ted Cruz of Texas, who got together behind the measure.
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.
Gwinnett Forum | Nov. 26, 2024
“Bureaucrats write memoranda both because they appear to be busy when they are writing and because the memos, once written, immediately become proof that they were busy.”
— Editor-in-chief of the Washington Monthly Charles Peters (1926-2023).
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.
Our underwriters
Recent Full Issues
Award
Follow Us