Today’s Focus
FOCUS: Does our nation want a leader who is a bully and a con artist?
By Alvin Leaphart, Jesup, Ga. | My grandmother, Florence Gibbs, a former United States Congressman, taught me “Noblesse oblige,” a French phrase meaning “nobility obliges.” It is the concept that nobility extends beyond mere entitlements and requires the person who holds such status to fulfill social responsibilities, particularly in leadership roles. She fervently believed that this applied to everyone in government, from the bottom to the top.
FOCUS: Reliving the past and enjoying the beauty of Yellowstone park
By Susan Shenefield, Yellowstone National Park | How does one spend six months living in a caldera, a large volcanic crater of the mouth of the volcano? We’ve been working and relaxing in Yellowstone National Park for a season!
The back story is I met my husband, Jordan, 45 years ago working summer jobs in Yellowstone as college kids. We’ve been married 43 years and our goal has been retiring and returning to give back to this Park we love so much.
So year 2016 the stars aligned for us to do that…and more, since this is also the Centennial Celebration of the National Park Service. We are ambassadors for Yellowstone.
FOCUS: Competition opens soon for $50,000 Hudgens Prize for 2016-17
By David Bell, Duluth, Ga. | Since 2010, the Jacqueline Casey Hudgens Center for the Arts has bi-annually offered a $50,000 art prize to a talented Georgian. The Center is now accepting entries for the fourth cycle of our prestigious visual arts prize. With a stunning cash award of $50,000 and a solo exhibition for one talented Georgia Artist, the Hudgens Prize is one of the largest awards given to an individual artist in the entire nation. The purpose of the competition is to elevate and promote the arts and artists of Georgia, while providing a transformational opportunity for the winning artist.
FOCUS: PCOM unveils plans for Primary Care Innovation Fund for healthcare
By Barbara Myers, Suwanee, Ga. | Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) has committed through its Foundation the allocation of $5 million to a new venture capital fund designed to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship in the healthcare field, with a specific focus on primary care. Investments from across the country are being considered, with a focus on the Philadelphia and Atlanta metro areas, as PCOM’s branch campus (GA-PCOM) is located in Suwanee.
FOCUS: Grieving father ponders problems of addiction to drugs
By Derby Waters, Jesup, Ga. | On August 7 a young woman lay down to sleep and never woke up. She was a mother of two children, beautiful, highly-educated person, and my daughter.
She was also a drug addict. A great part of my heart is empty.
What I can feel of it is sorrow so profound there are no words to describe it. Almost 600,000 people in the United States will die this year, just as my daughter did. Death from drug use is among the top killers in this nation. More than 1,600 will die every day this year. That’s 1,600 more grieving families, 1,600 funerals every day, 365 days each year.
FOCUS: Friends of the disabled help with distribution of medical equipment
By Lisbeth Dison, Stone Mountain | Friends of Disabled Adults and Children (FODAC) is a non-profit organization providing over $10 million annually in durable medical equipment (DME) and supplies to people with injuries and disabilities. It recently announced that Healthcare Quality Association on Accreditation (HQAA) has fully accredited the organization as a durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies (DMEPOS) provider. DMEPOS accreditation is required when working as a vendor with Medicare/Medicaid and many insurance carriers and their clients. The organization is headquartered in Stone Mountain at 4900 Lewis Road.
FOCUS: Georgia nature photographers meet monthly in Lawrenceville
By John Criminger | The Georgia Nature Photographers Association (GNPA) is dedicated to helping nature photographers of all skill levels improve their photography, learn and grow, meet other outdoor photographers, participate in great trips and events, help others understand the value of the natural world, and give focus to a special area of interest in photography.
FOCUS: Founder looks back on 34 years of Duluth Fall Festival
By Kathryn Willis | The year 2016 marks the 34th anniversary of the Duluth Fall Festival. It’s coming September 24-25 this year.
Let’s look back over those years. The first festival was in October of 1983, in the rain, and it produced only $300 in proceeds. However, despite this inauspicious beginning, the decision was made to make it an annual event, and have all future proceeds go to improving Downtown Duluth.
Gwinnett Forum | Nov. 22, 2024
“We are born charming, fresh and spontaneous and must be civilized before we are fit to participate in society.”
– Etiquette Authority Judith Martin (1938 – ), also known as Miss Manners.
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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