MLK Day Approved in Lawrenceville

The vote came more than 20 years after the federal government first observed the holiday.
“Probably a lot of people didn't realize it hadn't been adopted here,” said
Lawrenceville resident Inez Yarbrough. (read more)

I know I hadn't. I am glad it was.

Gwinnett to Vote on King Holiday

I didn't realize this was an issue. Being raised in the north where King day always was, I just had no idea that it wasn't universal. Our city is still undecided. I really don't know how I feel about it.

The last three holdouts in Gwinnett County will decide this month whether to recognize the King Day holiday in January and close their city halls.

The city of Lawrenceville will vote Monday night on whether to recognize the holiday. Lilburn and Grayson officials have said they will discuss the idea at meetings this month.

more here

I would love to know the reasons people would vote against a King Holiday.

Living Among Illegal Aliens

I just read an AJC study that says 1 in 8 Georgia residents are immigrants and 53% of the foriegn born population are illegal.

This is a subject I tend to stay away from... for personal reasons.

I live in a mixed race, gated community. I got to a multi ethnic church. Needless to say, I have friends and acquaintences of many races. When I meet a new person, I don't stop to consider if they are illegal, just that they are my neighbors. I get to know them. I visit thier home. I invite them into mine. My friends are of many nationalities and I like it like that. But that is just me.

Then the subject of illegal aliens comes up and I am forced to think about how many of these wonderful, moral people that I know could easily get deported and I would never see them again. It breaks my heart.

My biggest problem with the word illegal is the word illegal. I wonder what can be done to change that?

Gwinnett Place Mall High Rise Plan is canned

Reluctant financiers unwilling to hand over money to build the first $50 million tower killed the deal, said Walter Rekuc, vice president of Eastern Development.

more here

I can't blame them in this soft housing market.

What troubles me is that Developer Kelly Hong plans to focus on Commercial aspects. Don't we have enough empty commercial spaces around here... what are they trying to build???? a Ghost town?

Prayin Fer Water

It seems our little state made it into mainstream news today. The ladies of the View spent 5 minutes discussing the prayer meeting our Governor facilitated yesterday at the capital.

Apparently some people think that it is senseless and useless to pray for rain, and violates the separation of church and state.

Ummm does anyone know of a better way to make it rain?

Oh, ok then.

County Redistricting plan has residents up in arms

There are not enough public schools in Gwinnett. That is a fact. The last school my children went to (before homeschooling) had 25% as many trailers as classrooms. (1 classroom trailer for every 4 classrooms) After adding a second floor to a portion of the school, the amount of trailers has not decreased. This is not unique to this school. It is rampant in Metro Atlanta.

The solution... build new schools. But after the new schools are built who will go to them. This is why a redistricting plan is needed. Parents are not happy.

Perhaps new students can go to the new schools, and existing students can stay in their current schools if they wish.. But this would be a complicated approach to leveling out the number of students enrolled in each school.

Meanwhile here are the important dates you should be aware of
Here's a look at key dates in the redistricting process:

•Nov. 1: Deadline for people to weigh in on the plan by completing a comment form for the school system to review.

•Nov. 13: Public meeting to discuss proposed attendance boundaries — 7 to 9 p.m. in the board room at the Instructional Support Center at 437 Old Peachtree Road in Suwanee.

•Nov. 15: A second public meeting — 7 to 9 p.m. in the board room at the Instructional Support Center at 437 Old Peachtree Road in Suwanee.

• Dec. 5: Revised redistricting maps released.

•Dec. 13: School board votes on redistricting plan.

more info here

Fight against library porn continues...

A Lawrenceville mother called for the resignation of a Gwinnett County library board member Monday, saying he dismissed her concerns regarding easy access to pornography on the system's computers.

Ruth Hardy said that she complained to the board in September that she had witnessed a patron at the Collins Hill branch viewing a naked woman gyrating on a bed.
Story and discussions continued here

Library Board Meeting Re: computer Porn

I got the following in an email:

Sat Nov 10, 2007 6:14 am (PST)

Please help us protect Gwinnett's children- your children.

Please come and support those who will be speaking to the Library Board. We will be asking them to:
1. Change their policies to further filter known sites that are sexually explicit /pornographic,
2. Intervene and stop patrons who are veiwing sexually explicit material especially if it is being done by minors or in the presence of minors, (required by House Bill 1055 -prevention of minors to harmful material) Gwinnett County is the ony one of 54 library systems surveyed that has a policy preventing intervention- Other libraries intervene, suspend library privledges and prosecute if appropriate.
3. Inform parents of the risks of exposure to sexually explicit/pornographic material while visiting the library. Require parents to give written consent for their minor to use the internet in addition to the other areas a parent has to give permission for the minor child currently when requesting a library card. (Almost 70% of the libraries in Ga. require written consent and many require the parent to sit with their minor child when they use the internet)

Monday, Nov.12
6pm
5 Forks Trickum Library

Breakdowns of statewide library policies are available as an attachment. If you would like to see them email me and let me know.

Ruth Hardy

There is another issue at Gwinnett's Libraries that bothers me.
My daughter wanted to read the Parent Trap, so she reserved it. We knew there were several versions of this book, but we thought they were all kids books.
What my 11 year old received was a Silhouette Romance book. I brought it back and the librarian said it was up to me to monitor what she got as they did not have a teen or below category If I wanted to restrict what she could reserve, would have to restrict her to children's books only.... she reads way above this level. There is a parent advisory category, but it is very small and does not include romance books.