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January 2007
Judge gets tough on code violators as commissioner watches
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last week, a special guest visited Recorder’s Court.
She was Lorraine Green, Gwinnett’s District 1 commissioner. She took a day off from work to see the outcome of some specific code violation cases. She had another purpose, too: To see how Judge Patricia H. Muise handled cases that deal with junk cars, overgrown lots and other upkeep issues.
See, Muise has a reputation for being super lenient to residents who fail to maintain their property.
I wrote about this tendency late last year after observing two sessions of Recorder’s Court. And AJC Gwinnett News has gotten a slew of letters from residents disgusted at how fines get waived, cleanup deadlines get extended and testimony about code-scoffers falls on tin ears.
So there was Green Thursday, wearing no disguise, observing the proceedings. A woman who looked like Muise presided over more than 100 cases. It must have been a look-alike.
“She was handing out $300 and $400 fines,” Green told me. “One gentleman was given a $2,500 fine! From what I understand, it was very atypical. I had heard that everything was suspended, that it was a joke.
“I was blown away.”
So were code enforcement officers on hand. During a break, they chatted up Green like she was a rock star. They thanked her, too. Muise, they explained, had never ruled so punitively.
“They were giddy,” said Green, the undisputed elected leader when it comes to fighting neighborhood blight. “They’ve been so demoralized. Our officers believe in what they are doing, and they do a good job. But they see all of their work for naught.”
My attempts to interview Muise for this column were unsuccessful. But I’d like to recycle what she’s told me in the past about her well-known practice of suspending fines and extending deadlines:
“It’s in the best interest of our citizens for those defendants to put their funds toward fixing the problem, rather than paying fines. I impose fines which will be partially suspended if they fix the problem within a specified time period. I find that giving the defendants an incentive to come into compliance gets better results than punishing them.”
So why the about-face?
Perhaps Muise has grown tired of homeowners harping about her being too soft on serial code violators. Maybe a come-to-Jesus meeting she had recently with Commissioner Michael Beaudreau, County Administrator Jock Connell and Green struck a chord. Maybe she wants the county’s $3 million expenditure on a 30-officer Quality of Life enforcement unit to be well spent.
Then again, maybe Muise’s performance on Thursday was to placate Green — for a day, at least.
“I can’t say that she saw me,” Green said. “But the [code enforcement] officers felt that she must have. I would really hope that her behavior was not influenced by my being there. I would hope that she’s had a change of heart. We need her help. If we don’t have a big stick. …”
Code compliance cases are heard in Recorder’s Court every Thursday beginning at 8:30 a.m.
Maybe Green can sit in every week.
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Lost and injured, Oreo the dog found a friend
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Callachan spotted the pooch on Dickens Road. He apparently had been hit by a car, and was trying to pull himself to the edge of the road with his front paws.
Callachan stopped.
Neighbors peered from their windows. Callachan asked a man if the male Shih Tzu Maltese was his. No, he said. So Callachan asked for a blanket. He wrapped the dog up, put him in his truck, and continued to work. He’s a kindergarten teacher at Hopkins Elementary in Lilburn.
At school, Callachan photographed the dog and attached it to a campus e-mail. He hoped someone would claim the pet, or possibly know its owner. He didn’t want to contact animal control. If no one claimed the canine at the shelter, it would eventually be put to sleep.
“I didn’t want that to happen,” said Callachan of Atlanta.
When the e-mailed proved fruitless, Lee Mynett, another teacher, stepped in. She offered to take the dog to a vet at Animal Care Hospital in Lilburn. The dog, in shock, with lacerations and a broken left hip, spent the night there Tuesday. (SEE PHOTO OF OREO BELOW.)
Days earlier, Chris Denslow, a math specialist at Hopkins, had seen a “Lost Dog” poster along Ponds Road. It had a phone number, photo of the animal, and listed a $200 reward for his recovery.
On Tuesday, the day Callachan picked up the dog, Denslow noticed the flier again. Maybe the rescued dog was the toy dog in the flier that went missing Jan. 15. It was a long shot, though. The location of the poster and the spot where Callachan found the dog aren’t that close. But Denslow thought it was worth a try. On Wednesday, she brought the poster to school.
On Jan. 15, thieves broke into Ken Mauragas’ home, ransacked it, and stole two plasma TVs and money. But out of all the things that turned up missing, “Oreo,” his dog, mattered the most. He surmised that the sick thieves had snatched the pooch as well as the loot.
“That’s my feeling,” said Mauragas, 57, a service manager at Norman’s Electronics in Chamblee. “He’s a very happy dog. He licks you to death.”
Initially, Mauragas posted xeroxed “Lost Dog” fliers. But the wintry, rainy weather that swept through Gwinnett two weeks ago made hay of them. So he put out some laminated signs. He checked area animal shelters and clinics, too.
On Wednesday, Mauragas’ phone rang. It was Mynett, the Hopkins’ teacher. She described the rescued animal. Mauragas didn’t think it was his Oreo, but he drove to the Animal Care Hospital to take a look. Just in case.
“I went right to my knees,” he told me. “I lost it. I was just crying.”
On Thursday, Oreo had surgery at the Georgia Veterinary Specialists in Roswell to insert pins in his lower torso. His is a long road to recovery.
And Mauragas and Oreo have the good folks at Hopkins to thank. You know what they say, though: What goes around comes around. Which brings me to that $200 reward.
Hopkins Elementary students and faculty have been raising money to install a playground at the school.
Now, thanks to Callachan, Denslow and Mynett, they have some money to add to the project.
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com.
EDITOR’S NOTE: You don’t have to take a poll to find out what’s on people’s minds. Just drop by a barbershop. Rick Badie, your AJC Gwinnett News columnist, will get trimmed and educated Wednesday when he visits Uncle Doug’s Fresh Cuts, 6200 Buford Highway, in Norcross. He’ll be there from noon to 2 p.m. Read all about it online and in print in Thursday’s AJC.
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Can acupuncture help? I gave it a try
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“You look good on the outside. Not as good on the inside.”
Not exactly the words you want to hear from the examination bed, but this was my life Wednesday on the Badie Tour.
I stopped by Dragon Acupuncture & Herb in Duluth at the invitation of Jessica Lee, a licensed acupuncturist. We met a year or so ago at Donnie’s Country Cookin,’ a pretty good restaurant off Steve Reynolds Boulevard. Her brother and sister-in-law run it.
Lee had told me she was a licensed acupuncturist, and that one day, she’d open her own place.
Well, she has. So I paid a visit.
She gave me a cursory look-over as soon as I stepped inside Suite 106 - the way I walked, my posture, my skin tone and eyes. For the physical exam, she checked my pulse, my eyes, and squeezed my extremities.
By applying pressure to acupuncture points in my left leg, she correctly diagnosed that my right shoulder is a recurring source of pain. For that, three fine needles were inserted in my told her I got headaches every now and then, so she put a needle in my right leg, too.
Then she felt my stomach. “Stagnation,” she said, suggesting a poor digestive system. And for that, she inserted a needle in my right leg. She also took a chunk of moxa punk, a dried herb, put it on paper, placed it on my stomach, and set it afire.
She warned me that the burning herb would smell like weed. Whew. She was right.
The process of burning herbs on or above the skin at acupuncture points is called moxibustion. It’s typically used in conjunction with acupuncture. After that first treatment, I got a second one that lasted about 50 minutes.
She took five moxa punk cones, lit them and put them in a burner. She taped the burner to my upper belly. The heat from the combustion penetrated my body, which is supposed to unblock or redirect my Chi (energy).
“This is for your stomach, kidneys and all the (weak areas) in your system,” said Lee, a naturalized citizen who studied at the Tai Hsuan Foundation College of Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine in Honolulu.
“It can help you avoid bad Chi, defend against disease, make stronger the immune system.”
Some people believe in this Chinese medicinal practice. Other don’t. It’s up to you.
But I interviewed some of Lee’s patients who swear by it, say that it helped them and can treat anything from attention deficit disorder to hemorrhoids. That at $40 per treatment, it’s worth it. (The hour- and-a-half treatment I had costs $50.)
For 14 years, Marius Gavrila of Buford had suffered from acid reflux. Eventually, the medication he took daily stopped working. His sister suggested he try acupuncture. He made an appointment with Lee.
After several treatments, his bowel problem has vanished.
“I’m back in the gym,” he told me. “I got my strength back. I feel really good.”
Before I left the clinic, Lee let me poke my head into an examining room where a Korean man lay. Needles pierced the inside of his mouth. A stroke had left the left side of his face off-center. Thanks to acupuncture, his face is almost back to normal.
Am I healed?
It’s too early to say. Lee said I’d need a few more treatments to say definitively. I left Dragon Acupuncture & Herb feeling lighter and livelier, happier, though.
And Lee promised that (on Wednesday night) I would have a sound night’s sleep.
If that happens, I’ll be a walking testimonial.
Dragon Acupuncture & Herb is located at 3365 Steve Reynolds Blvd., Suite 106 in Duluth. Jessica Lee and Long He Jiang are the doctors. Your first consultation and treatment is free. Hours: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 1 to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Details: 678-417-7877.
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or email: rbadie@ajc.com.
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Once a scout, always a scout
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Franklyn C. Robinson’s no jock. He doesn’t play football, basketball or run track for Valdosta State University.
The 2006 graduate of Central Gwinnett High has done something that carries just as much cache as being the campus athlete, though.
He’s an Eagle Scout.
And among friends he’s made as a freshman at Valdosta State, that’s pretty cool. “They congratulate me,” Robinson, 18, wrote in an e-mail. “And they think it’s great that I am still involved in Scouts.”
We met three years ago when I wrote a story about attempts by the Scout’s Northeast Georgia Council to grow scouting in the burbs, especially among minorities. Robinson, then 15, was really rooted in the program. At the time, he’d just been designated an Eagle Scout. It’s a rank, that, on average, only about two out of every 100 Scouts earn.
Gwinnett, which is served by the Scouts’ Atlanta and Northeast Georgia councils, has 158 Eagle Scouts; the county has about 23,000 Scouts.
Robinson’s Eagle project was done in conjunction with the Gwinnett Adopt-A-Stream program. He attached labels to 252 storm drains to warn Lawrenceville-area residents about the dangers of pollution. He also passed out educational streamers in neighborhoods.
This young man has been involved in scouting since he was 6. His father, Jonathan Robinson, an adult Scout leader for Troop 573 in Lawrenceville, introduced him to it.
The family epitomizes what Scouting is all about. For them, it’s a family affair, a way to learn about leadership, community service, personal responsibility, ethics — all those things that fall under the big umbrella of values.
The Atlanta Area Council of Boy Scouts authorized a December study to weigh the program’s effectiveness. It involved 953 Boy Scouts and their parents from a 13-county area that takes in a slice of Gwinnett.
Where it concerns program efficiency, the study found that: 84 percent of Boy Scouts parents felt that Scouting helped their son become a better leader. 78 percent of parents agreed that Scouting helped their son value family activities. 83 percent of parents agreed or agreed strongly that Scouting helped their son better serve the community.
My son, Miles, tried Scouting a few years back. It never really took, and we didn’t force the issue. The experience gave me insight into the worthy goals of the program, though. The lessons and exercises on self-esteem, service, preparedness, discipline and manly virtues were moral blueprints. Ideals to live by.
So it’s easy to see why the parents and the Scouts who took part in the Atlanta Area Council’s survey responded so positively. They see their sons grow up to be well-rounded young men with skills and values that we don’t see enough of, that too often are written off as “square.”
They grow up to be like Franklyn, a finance accounting major. He serves as assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 573 in Lawrenceville, his old group. He’s active in The Order of the Arrow, the Scouts national honor society.
“I’ll probably be involved all my life,” he told me. “It’s fun and it’s a chance to meet people from all over. Most of my guy friends who were involved in Scouts at one time wish they’d never quit.”
THE BADIE TOUR His “chi” is unbalanced. And Rick Badie, your AJC columnist, plans to do something about it. The Badie Tour pulls up to Dragon Acupuncture & Herb at 10 a.m. Wednesday. It’s at 3365 Steve Reynolds Blvd., Suite 106, in Duluth. Jessica Lee, a licensed acupuncturist, will see what she can do about Rick’s insomnia, headaches, shoulder pain and whatever else ails him. Read about his needling adventure in print and online Thursday.
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Once a homeless drug addict, man now has hope
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He had $6 in quarters and a list of agencies that might help someone like him — a homeless man with a drug habit who’d just gotten out of jail.
Gus Voelkel got nothing but taped recordings when he called the organizations from a pay phone. He didn’t want to waste his quarters, so he decided to give one more agency a try.
He dialed the number for Meet the Need Ministry Inc., a husband-wife outfit in Lawrenceville that feeds the hungry and provides transitional housing for men in need.
An answering machine clicked on. Voelkel, who’d been released from the Gwinnett jail three days earlier, was about to walk away. The pay phone rang. He picked up.
Jane Alvarez of Meet the Need was on the line. Stay put, she told him. The Alvarezes picked him up from a phone booth off Rockbridge Road, and took him to Wal-Mart.
“They bought me socks, tennis shoes, a toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, everything,” said Voelkel, 48, who had been incarcerated for 15 months on a theft by taking charge.
Voelkel has told me this story twice. Both times he cried. Tears of gratitude, maybe. He knows the life he’d lived landed him at that phone booth last summer, that it was his own doing. Now he’s working to make the ministry’s return call his turn-around, a switch to a less destructive course.
He was released from jail on Aug. 8. He called acquaintances for a ride, but struck out. So he hit the road. He left the jail near Ga. 316 and headed toward Lawrenceville. He had three prescriptions that needed filling, so he headed to the Gwinnett Medical Center.
Or so he thought.
He walked in vain for two days and slept at night wherever he could. On the third day, he came across a church somewhere in the Lawrenceville/Snellville area. He doesn’t recall the name of the church, but he’ll never forget what the secretary gave him — $6 in quarters and a list of area agencies that help indigents. Voelkel called Meet the Need at 6 o’clock in the morning.
“I wish you could have seen him,’’ Jane Alvarez told me. “He had blisters on his feet. He was exhausted.”
The Alvarezes put Voelkel up in a house that they use for their ministry. The men who live there must work, attend a church of their choice, participate in Bible study and avoid vices.
Some buy into the program; others don’t.
Voelkel thrived in it.
“Gus wants to make a change in his life,” Rene’ Alvarez said. “You can see that.” So did executives at Hercules Inc., a Tucker-based aviation company that supplies airline parts and aviation services. They hired him to work as a traffic manager for their warehouse off Mountain Industrial Boulevard.
“He’s had some rough patches these past few years,” said Mac M. McCuen, the company vice president. “He’s somebody you want to see succeed.”
Step by step, he’s rising. He helps out at Rene’s Upholstery, the Alvarezes’ car refinishing business, in Stone Mountain. He’s drug-free. Two weeks ago, he moved out of the ministry house and into a Duluth apartment that he shares with a roommate.
And on Feb. 15 he starts work at Hercules.
“It’s going to be awesome,” he told me.
It already is.
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Badie Tour seeks ‘balance’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
His “chi” is unbalanced. And Rick Badie, your AJC columnist, wants to do something about it. The Badie Tour pulls up to Dragon Acupuncture & Herb at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
It’s located at 3365 Steve Reynolds Blvd., Suite 106, in Duluth. Jessica Lee, a licensed acupuncurist, will see what she can do about Rick’s insomia, headaches, shoulder pain and whatever else ails him.
Read about his needling adventure in print and online in Thursday’s AJC.
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The secret is out in ‘Gwinnett’s best kept secret’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Grayson, at least within its city limits, resembles one big construction site. Dirt’s being turned nearly everywhere you look.
“Everything looks like a mess,” said Mayor Jim Hinkle as we drove in and around the two-mile radius of a town that claims to be “Gwinnett’s best kept secret.” Me thinks the secret is out.
Subdivisions are sprouting and houses are being advertised at sky-high prices. “Starting in the low $400s,” stated one sign. The lowest figure I saw for a new housing development was $300,000. In this town, affordable housing may be a true oxymoron.
On Wednesday, the Badie Tour rolled through Grayson because, frankly, I’d never been to this part of the county. What an eye-opener.
Traffic on Ga. 20, which is being widened to a four-lane artery with a median, is horrendous. Shopping centers along the snarly road appear to be relatively new, but look rustic, thanks to architectural standards that have been put in place. Town leaders want to keep and re-create the Victorian style that graced buildings in the town’s early days. Think Madison, Ga.
And because of that, the Taco Bell/Long John Silver’s storefront looks nothing like those on Jimmy Carter Boulevard. And if the developer can’t or refuses to meet standards, tough. Waffle House didn’t come to town because businesses within the city limits (deemed a special overlay district) can’t operate past midnight. A Kroger, which is located outside that area, was granted a special-use permit to stay open 24/7.
For critics, the difference in the treatment of the two businesses and other issues point to under-handedness. Town leaders have been accused of operating a good ole boys network with strong developer ties. A reader raised that possibility to me this week in an e-mail after the AJC Gwinnett News publicized Wednesday’s tour.
Hinkle, a ringer for former Gov. Zell Miller , denies the accusation.
“Of course, all of us know developers from all over the county,” he said. “They are putting up their money to do something, but you should see the pages of conditions that they have to meet.”
For example, houses can’t be constructed of vinyl siding. That and other standards haven’t chased builders away, though. Housing projects dot the landscape. Some are next to pastures with cows and horses.
“One, two, three, four ….” That’s Hinkle counting the number of subdivisions that are in various stages of construction. He stops at nine.
“You can never stop growth,” said the retired attorney who works as a magistrate judge. “But you sure can control it if you do it right.”
Of course, growth poses issues. New houses mean there’s a need for schools, and several will have to be built in Grayson in the coming years. The Gwinnett County Police Department’s southside precinct patrols the area, and Hinkle say they’re great at it.
But their presence is not enough. So the city hires off-duty Gwinnett County police officers to buffer regular patrols.
“Nobody likes change,” Hinkle said. “But our desire is to make the changes that are happening reflect the flavor of Grayson.”
4Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com.
Things to know about Grayson: Grayson was initially called “Trip,” a named suggested by local merchant J.D. Spence. The name was changed to Grayson in 1902.
The town’s centerpiece is Grayson Park, an eight-acre complex off Grayson Parkway located next to City Hall, the senior center and the Arts and History Center.
Grayson is served by the southside precinct of the Gwinnett County police department. In addition, off-duty Gwinnett officers also are hired to patrol the city.
On Nov. 7, voters approved two referendums to allow weekday mixed-drink sales in restaurants.
Grayson schools: Grayson Elementary, Pharr Elementary, W.J. Cooper Elementary, J.P. McConnell Elementary School and Grayson High.
The $6 million Grayson branch library opened in 2006.
Volunteers are needed for Grayson Day, an annual festival that takes place on the last Saturday of April. Details: 770-963-8017.
To find out more about Grayson, visit www.cityofgrayson.org or call City Hall at 770-963-8017 .
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Tour hits Grayson today
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mayor Jim Hinkle calls Grayson the best-kept secret in Gwinnett. Rick Badie, your AJC Gwinett News columnist, plans to see what he’s talking about.
Rick and the mayor will team up at 10 a.m. Wednesday at City Hall, 475 Grayson Highway. From there, Hinkle takes over the wheels. Read all about what they see and do online and in print in Thursday’s AJC.
Book club upholds King legacy a book at a time
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On the eve of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s national holiday, a group of boys met to talk about books — ones they’ve read, some they’d like to read and others they know nothing about.
You may recall that I put out feelers to see if anyone was interested in a boys’ book club. That was in November. An inaugural meeting was held at the Lilburn library off Hillcrest Road. Now, it’s the book club headquarters.
Since that first meeting, the boys have completed their first book: “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.” The condensed version. A week before Christmas, we met at the Duluth Dave & Busters for dinner and discussion. While we ate burgers, ribs, pasta and chicken, we talked about “20,000 Leagues” — the plot, our favorite characters (Captain Nemo), whether the ending was a surprise, a bust or a downer (most chose the latter).
On Sunday, we held our first meeting of 2007. The club’s growing, man. Nine kids attended, and what’s great about that is this: Three of them are new members — from Atlanta, Decatur and Snellville. In all, there are 12 boys. Not bad for a start-up.
Any kid can suggest a title for the group to read, but he must explain the book’s story line. Three suggestions were raised Sunday: “Dracula,” “Frankenstein,” and “Sea of Trolls.”
In Nancy Farmer’s “Sea of Trolls,” an 11-year-old boy and his sister are enslaved on a ship and encounter a sea of characters. It’s classic good vs. evil, with a surprise ending. After Austin Green, 12, explained the story to the gang, the vote on which title to read wasn’t even close: Trolls won hands down. So “Sea of Trolls” it is. Time to read.
Across metro Atlanta, events were held to honor King’s legacy. Gwinnett held its annual King Day celebration; a “Unity Party” was held at an Atlanta hotspot in a symbolic attempt to integrate a segregated club scene in the hometown of the civil rights icon.
Every year, I wonder how King would feel about all the festivities, as well as how he’d respond to those who choose not to recognize the national holiday. Six Gwinnett towns took the latter route. Inexcusable.
I can’t say for sure, but I bet King would have been overjoyed with what he saw Sunday at the Lilburn library. The boys club consists of 10- to 14-year-olds who come in all skin tones, learn at different schools and live in different towns. They have come together on a common accord, for the same purpose — to enrich themselves in the written word.
The power of words, the ability to communicate without fists, played a pivotal role in the civil rights era. In the end, it beat down a systemic, often violent response.
So it’s uplifting to see these boys sharpening their reading skills and building on their vocabulary even if, in some cases, the parents are the impetus for their participation.
And though they may not know it, they’re doing something else, too. They are honoring King’s legacy, fulfilling his dream.
One book at a time.
Loganville Fire Department’s personnel and personality issues
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terry Pilcher can thank his whiny brother for a career as a firefighter.
Years ago, Benny Pilcher complained about the need for volunteers at the Loganville Fire Department. Younger brother Terry listened with sympathetic ears. “I said, ‘OK, I’ll help you out,’” Terry Pilcher said.
“And that was the beginning.”
Today, Terry is Benny’s boss.
He became Loganville’s fire chief in 1988, when the city established a full-time force. He oversees 23 firefighters and three deputy chiefs.
Since June 2005, though, Pilcher has supervised from a distance. He’s had to move his office from the fire station to Loganville City Hall. He has to stay 500 feet from nearly half of the town’s firefighting crew — even at a fire, unless a witness can attest that Pilcher treated the responders with respect.
The conditions are part of a restraining order that stem from a case involving 10 firefighters. They have accused Pilcher of threatening them, cussing them and even picking on one he considered overweight.
Senior Superior Court Judge Marvin Sorrells imposed the protective order, saying the allegations amounted to stalking. The Georgia Supreme Court will decide whether Sorrells erred in his decision. It will be interesting to see what the high court says about this one.
Name any company or business. No matter how well it’s run or efficient it is at doing whatever it does, some in-house discord exists.
By no means are firefighters, who bunk together for many hours over a set number of days, exempt from mistreatment by peers or managers who bully and belittle.
Pilcher may indeed be overly abrasive. He may not. The complaints may or may not be just, though in this case the firefighters have been granted court protection.
Let’s say the firefighters are right on the money, and are due recourse. If so, the courts should order that they be compensated.
If they’ve endured incidents of physical assault (during a game of hoops) and suffered repeated incidents of intimidation, harassment and abuse, the courts ought to force City Manager Bill Jones to nip the abuse in the bud.
And if the chief is this obnoxious, Jones should fire him. Or Pilcher should bow out like other metro Atlanta agency heads (think DeKalb police chief Louis Graham, who resigned last year after he was taped using racially inflammatory language ) have done when mired in controversy.
The Loganville case is steeped in managerial, personnel and personality issues. A restraining order doesn’t resolve any of them, so keeping it active accomplishes little.
Even with it in effect, Pilcher still comes and goes as he pleases. He told me he holds staff meetings every few months, and sees ranking department officers weekly.
When he’s around firefighters, he has an administrative assistant or deputy chief with him, as required by the protective order.
“I’m not having any trouble with [the complainants],” he told me, “and they are not having any trouble with me.”
Pilcher says he can’t say much about the case but has dismissed most of the allegations as overblown. The firefighters’ attorney, Paul Rosenthal, declined to be interviewed by an AJC Gwinnett News reporter last week, citing a gag order issued by Sorrells.
Benny, the brother who persuaded Pilcher to join the agency, still works as a firefighter for the city. He’s not part of the complaint.
“He better not be,” the chief joked.
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com.
Mayor Jim Hinkle calls Grayson the best kept secret in Gwinnett. Rick Badie, your AJC Gwinett News columnist, plans to see what he’s talking about. Rick and the mayor will team up in Grayson for the Badie Tour at 10 a.m. Wednesday at City Hall, 475 Grayson Highway. From there, Hinkle takes over the wheels. Read all about what they see and do online and in print in Thursday’s AJC.
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I gave blood to thank those who gave to my son
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My son needed two blood transfusions in the early days of his life.
Neither Joann nor I could donate because such units must be in stock long before it’s needed. Before you donate, you have to be screened and tested, too, to see if you’re a match.
Fortunately, someone, somewhere - strangers - had already stepped up for Miles, and for that, we’re extremely grateful.
Our medical emergency took place nearly 12 years ago. At that moment, I made a vow to become a blood donor. It was a no-brainer at the time, a way to say thank you, to benefit others.
And there’s always a need. Especially this time of the year when donations are down locally and nationwide and companies, organizations and churches haven’t hosted blood drives because everybody’s focused on the holidays. Folks are on vacation. Schools, which account for about 20 percent of donations, are closed. So throughout the holidays and most of January, the blood supply is much lower. Sometimes critically so.
“We hold fewer blood drives during December and January, which, obviously, results in fewer people donating blood,” said Cammie J. Barnes, spokeswoman for the American Red Cross Blood Services Southern Region.
But hospitals remain filled with patients who need it. Every year, the American Red Cross sends blood to 130 hospitals across Georgia, including Gwinnett Medical Center (about 9,500 units of red blood cells) andastside Medical Center (about 2,600 units of red blood cells).
On Wednesday, as part of the Badie Tour, I chose to be a life-saver. I gave blood. So did Jeff Thrutchley of Lawrenceville.
He told me he donated regularly as a college student but dropped the practice in later years. After the Sept. 11 terrorist strike, though, he took it up again. Now he gives about every 60 days - “consistently,” he said while we waited to donate at the Duluth donor center off Sugarloaf Parkway.
Richard Werblow of Dacula dropped by to stress the daily need for platelet donors. Platelets help form clots to stop bleeding. Cancer and leukemia patients, among others, need lots of them. Most people can give platelets every two weeks, up to 24 times each year; blood can be donated every 56 days.
Werblow was a regular donor of both. Then his veins collapsed. “I started donating blood when I was in my 20s,” said Werblow, 65. “Just wanted to do some goodness.”
Most people assume they are unable to donate because they are on antidepressants, or take medications to curb cholesterol and blood pressure. Often, that’s not the case, Barnes and others told me.
If you have a low threshold for pain, I’m here to tell you: That 18-gauge needle stings initially, but it’s bearable.
And in this case, the pain is well worth the gain.
The Duluth Donor Center is located at 3090 Premiere Parkway, Suite 500. Hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays; 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesdays; and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. For information about blood donations or to find a blood drive near you, call 1-800-448-3543 or visit www.givebloodredcross.org
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com
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After a freak accident, a kind gesture
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wade Jarrett Jr. believes that good things happen to decent people.
And for him, the new year has started off on a better note than the latter half of 2006.
Christmas was a skimpy celebration in the Jarrett house.
“I didn’t even put up a tree,” said Jarrett of Loganville.
Money had grown tight, thanks in part to a freak accident. Jarrett works at Century Cleaners off Rockbridge Road. In April, he slipped on a dry-cleaning bag while walking out of the restroom.
“I just didn’t see it,” the 48-year-old married father of two told me.
On the way to the floor, his head struck a rail. Jarrett suffered a gash, but thought little of it. He felt fine, well enough to keep working. As the day wore on, though, he had trouble with the names of longtime customers.
A CAT scan revealed that he’d suffered a concussion. He had to take off work for a month or so, and went on medication. Already strapped, loss of a full-time paycheck hit hard.
The family car, a 1999 Volkswagen Jetta, was repossessed. And a 1973 El Camino, Jarrett’s commute car, stayed in the shop more than on the road.
But Jarrett, who eventually returned to work part time, didn’t have to worry about transportation for long. And for that, he can thank Karl McCranie Jr.
McCranie runs a Decatur repair shop that specializes in dry-cleaner equipment. Century Cleaners is a customer. Years ago while in the store, he and Jarrett struck up a conversation.
Turns out they knew each other. Decades ago in Decatur, McCranie’s grandparents lived next door to the Jarretts.
“We’d see each other as little kids,” said McCranie, president of Bellamy Machinery Corp. “I never knew him on a personal level, but I know he’s a hard-working man.”
One fall day McCranie paid a service call to the cleaners after this hard-working man had returned to work.
He learned what had happened to Jarrett, about the accident, the Jetta and the raggedy El Camino.
Two weeks before Christmas Day, McCranie dropped by the cleaners again. He called Jarrett to the parking lot and pointed to a white 2001 Dodge Dakota Quad Cab. He gave Jarrett the keys.
“You know what they say, ‘Good things happen to good people,’” Jarrett said Monday while showing me the $7,000 pickup. “It brought tears to my eyes. It’s clean now, but it was cleaner than this when I got it. I haven’t washed it. He’s supposed to bring me the tag and title this week.”
This story makes me proud of the human race. It’s inspiring, too, and makes me want to step up — volunteer, give back.
McCranie, like so many folk who do good, downplayed his philanthropy. He praised others — the man who bought a set of tires for the truck; the gentleman who replaced the crappy radio with a new one.
“When I told them what I was doing, they didn’t bat an eye,” said McCranie of Buford.
“I don’t think this was me. I’ll give the Lord credit for this one.”
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875. Or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com.
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