By Elliott Brack | It is one of the darkest moments in Gwinnett history. Three Gwinnett County policemen were gunned down with their own weapons and left handcuffed together and found the morning of April 17, 1964, just off Beaver Ruin Road. As a result, Gwinnett got the reputation as an unsafe, lawless and backward county.
By Elliott Brack | Back in the early days of development in Gwinnett, finally out of frustration I took to hauling around a shovel in the trunk of a 1974 green wide-track Pontiac. Why? Well, in that early era of development in Gwinnett, there were few groundbreakings and ribbon-cuttings, and on two occasions, when going to a groundbreaking, of all things, no one thought to bring a shovel.
By Elliott Brack | The state of Georgia and the City of Dahlonega, in particular, dodged a bullet last weekend, when a highly-publicized protest rally fizzled into nothing. Georgians were for the most part smart enough to stay away from the rally, while the presence of an amazing volunteer army of 600 Georgia peace officers ensured the city remained calm.
By Elliott Brack | You may know that there are discussions going on between the National Football League and its professional athletes about a new collective bargaining agreement. These are tough talks. The National Football League Players Association and the owners are now in negotiations before the current agreement is to expire, after the 2020 season.
By Elliott Brack | Ribbon cutting will never be the same again after Wednesday’s official opening of Curiosity Lab’s new activities in Peachtree Corners. Four students from Paul Duke STEM High School changed the way ribbons cuttings are held, as they guided two drones through the skies, holdings ends of a red ribbon, as city and Curiosity Lab officials snipped the ribbon signaling the start of the nation’s first 5G-powered smart city technology proving ground on Technology Parkway.
By Elliott Brack | In our family, it was those children in China that my parents mentioned.
“Eat your peas. Do you know that there are poor, starving children in China that would be so thankful if they had your food, like your peas, to eat? Don’t waste food. Eat up. You are so lucky that you don’t live like the poor starving people in China.”
By Elliott Brack | Some stories are worth remembering. Maron Buice of Sugar Hill was instrumental in making sure funds were secured to build the Georgia Highway 20 bridge over the Norfolk-Southern rail tracks in Sugar Hill. That came after five teenage girls from Forsyth County were killed in 1971 in a car-train accident at the intersection, known as Magnum Crossing.
By Elliott Brack | Those of us living in Gwinnett recognize the diverse changes all around us. Just like in some parts of the United States, the white share of the population is declining as Hispanic, Asian and black populations grow. We can look around us and see that.
A new study from the Pew Research Center shows that 109 counties have become majority non-white since 2000.
By Elliott Brack | The political world in Georgia got thrown topsy-turvy for the coming year’s election, when Sen. Johnny Isakson announced that he would resign from the Senate at the end of the year. The senior senator has served with distinction for 14 years, and has been re-elected rather easily two times. He was not so much the Republican party man, as he was more moderate in his decisions, reflecting many Georgian’s views.
“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).
Gwinnett Forum publisher Elliott Brack suggests that Gwinnett County needs a long-range list of continuing objectives for improving the county. His list:
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