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.”
Click here to read the latest issue. Inside:
TODAY’S FOCUS: It’s Never Too Late To Learn To Play A Musical Instrument
EEB PERSPECTIVE: An Instinctive Thought on the Governorship; Remembering Zell Miller
SPOTLIGHT: Gwinnett Medical Center
FEEDBACK: Atlanta Didn’t Show Best Face for Sweet Sixteen at Philips Arena
McLEMORE’S WORLD: Brass Polish
UPCOMING: Snellville Adopts “Aggressive” Solicitation Ordinance for Parking Lots
NOTABLE: City Announces Snap Suwanee Photo Contest Winners
RECOMMENDED: The Cuban Affair by Nelson DeMille
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Prolific Author Harry Crews Often Wrote of Outlandish Characters
MYSTERY PHOTO: Today’s Mystery Photo Shows a Busy City; Now Where Is It?
LAGNIAPPE: Roving Photographer’s Scenes from the Coastal City of Charleston, S.C.
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?
By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher | All too often we find it difficult for most of us to bust through our own boundaries.
Most of us don’t reach out to others, or try to look at a different viewpoint. We also see this in the political boundaries that hem us in. There are so many boundaries which limit us.
For instance, though Greenville, S.C. is said to be a snazzy place to visit, there’s that state boundary line that separates that city from Georgians. We’ve been meaning to visit that area for some time, but never seem to get there.
By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher | If you moved to Gwinnett after 1984, you may not realize the significance of that year politically for the county. You would not be alone. The county’s population in 1984 was 226,100, while today it’s estimated to be 960,000. So a great majority of residents, 733,100, have moved here since 1984. You are in good company.
Back in 1984, the county was still composed of mainly white residents, more than 95 percent. Today that’s no longer the case, with the white population in 2018 in a minority, and with African-Americans, Hispanic and Asians being together a majority of the county.
“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.
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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