Home > Gwinnett > Rick Badie / My Opinion > Archives > 2007 > April > 30
Monday, April 30, 2007
Great flood of ‘07 finally capped
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The call came after I’d left work.
Grant Guess, division director for Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation, called Friday to relay some good news. The fountain at Graves Park that had leaked water like the Energizer Bunny had been fixed.
Better yet, all the fountains in the Norcross park got some TLC. Those that needed it (like the one that spewed water non-stop) had their O-rings, or bearings, replaced.
Now the county must find out what’s wrong with equipment installed less than a year ago.
Guess says the fountains were either damaged during construction or damaged during their manufacture. If the latter is true, so much for the brand name — “Most Dependable Water Fountains.”
“I don’t know yet and might never know for sure,” Guess told me in an e-mail. “The fountains have given us some problems.”
Like leakage.
They’re expensive, too — “easily $2,500 retail,” said Guess, noting that it takes a mighty fountain to withstand public abuse. You know how people do stupid stuff like pour sand in the bowls. Real genius.
Guess said county staff had turned off the faulty fountain at a valve box. Park patrons would turn it back on to water their dogs. The back-and-forth apparently went on for some time.
The fountain equipment carries a one-year warranty against defects. Ditto for work performed by Gary’s Grading and Pipeline, the general contractor for phase 1 of the 70-acre complex.
Missed Sunday’s column?
It dealt with a fountain in the small-dog area that park patron Jerry Sherrill said had been running non-stop for some time. Or at least when he happened to be in the dog area with “Ande,” his female Daschund. And that was several times a week.
Sherrill tried to make the county aware of the waste, but hit dead-ends. He suggested I try, so I made a round of calls regarding the matter Thursday afternoon.
I don’t know what made the difference, but somebody lit a fire under someone.
And six-month-old Graves Park is better off for it.
On Sunday, I met the Sherrills in the small-dog area. They’d brought “Ande” and “Mimi,” one of three “granddogs” they are pet-sitting for a few days.
Ande growled at me.
“Temperamental,” explained Jerry Sherrill, a part-time county bailiff.
Besides Ande and Mimi, there were several dogs in the park. Big dogs. Small dogs. Hairy dogs. Weeny dogs. Owners chatted and talked while their canine companions stared, sniffed and sized each other up.
And the thirsty ones enjoyed nice bowls of water.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: Rick Badie
