CITIZEN Est. 1988 Covering Dacula, Buford, Sugar Hill, Braselton, Suwanee, Lawrenceville
Vol. 31 No. 5
Citizens take on MARTA page 4
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gwinnett FREE
MARCH 2019
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DRAKE conquers the South, goes Global “I never would have been able to do any of this without the support of my mam,” ~ Karl Drake By Julie Thompson GwinnettCitizen.com
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Before Riverdance, Feet of Flames, Celtic Women and other performance groups rose to popularity in the late 90s and early 2000s, a 16-year-old immigrant arrived in New York. He carried only his dance shoes and a goal to start his very own Irish Dance studio. More than thirty years later, Karl Drake, ADCRG, still has the distinctive Dublin accent, but he has acquired a new goal — going global with his trademark schools. The first goal took him less than five years to achieve. At first, Karl taught workshops in the homes of immigrant Irish families. And as the demand for classes grew, he relocated to Atlanta to
See DRAKE on Page 18
Trailblazers
Photo By Julie Thompson
Students skip during a warmup routine at DRAKE School of Irish Dance in Berkeley Lake
A Role Model and a Lesson The Freeze Queen page 7
Today is the day! page 17 Photo by Auveed Bagheri Cawthon
Lilburn Resident, Joette Segars volunteering at Lilburn Daze in 2017.
INSIDE Citizen Connection 4 Gwinnett Pulse 6 Health & Wellness 12 Classifieds 15
PRESORT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID ABC DIRECT ECR-WSS POSTAL CUSTOMER
By Julie Thompson GwinnettCitizen.com It’s been two years since she retired from her position as Bookkeeper at Arcado Elementary, but Joette Segars has been as active as ever volunteering with Lilburn Woman’s Club and her church and serving on the City of Lilburn Boards. Most people who know her say she’s the kind of person you see everywhere — volunteering at events and engaging those she meets with a smile. For someone so active in the community, those who haven’t met
her would never guess that she was diagnosed with Cerebral palsy when she was just six months old. But even this, Joette embraced with a smile. “In life, we can do one of two things — we can focus on the positive, or on the negative. My son also has Cerebral palsy which is unusual, [and] we both choose to take the positive route.” In 1994, Barrier Free Gwinnett awarded her the person of the year Award in honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month. “Joette always strived to be a
See JOETTE on Page 16
Special photo
The Freeze Queen, Jane Beaver Circa 1954
By Elizabeth Jane Franklin, In Memory of my Great-Aunt Everyone called her little, but number four was anything but. Jane Franklin Beaver was the biggest player on the basketball court. The “Freeze Queen” could out-play even the tallest girls with her expert dribbling moves and perfect shots. Beaver led her Dacula High Girls Basketball team to the State Semifinals in 1953, but they were
Special photo
Jane Beaver, Number 23 for Dacula High School, (Circa 1954)
defeated. However, in 1954, she was determined to claim the title of Class “C” state champions, so that’s what she did. Beaver’s time-wasting dribbling act in the final quarter of the 1954 semifinal game against Willacoochee led to a 48-40 win, sending Dacula High to the championship game against Bogart. Once again, Beaver worked her magic on the court, win-
See FREEZE on Page 14