June 28, 2020 — Gwinnett Daily Post

gwinnettdailypost.com ♦ sunday, June 28, 2020 ♦ A3

WORLD

Russian intelligence offered cash rewards to Taliban to kill US, UK troops in Afghanistan Russian intelligence officers for the military intelligence GRU recently offered money to Taliban militants in Afghanistan as rewards if they killed U.S. or UK troops there, a European intelligence official told CNN. The official was unclear as to the precise Russian motivation, but said the incentives had, in their assessment, led to coalition casualties. The official did not specify as to the date of the casualties, their number or nationality, or whether these were fatalities or injuries.

This story was first reported by the New York Times.

U.S. intelligence concluded months ago that Russian military intelligence offered the bounties, amid peace talks, the New York Times reported Friday.

US travelers ‘unlikely’ to be allowed into EU as bloc reopens, diplomats say Travelers from the U.S. are “unlikely” to be allowed into the European Union, as ambassadors of the 27 members states have agreed “in principle” to criteria as the bloc begins to open up to international travel, several EU diplomats told CNN on Friday.

The agreement is not final, as the ambassadors will need to consult with their respective governments.

Under the current criteria — which, among other parameters, takes into account the number of coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in the past 14 days — U.S. travelers would likely be excluded. The development was first reported by The New York Times.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus deaths and infections in the world.

As of Friday afternoon, at least 2.4 million had been infected and 124,891 people had died, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

Activists in Italy want stay of execution for bear sentenced to death Animal rights groups in Italy are calling on authorities to lift a death sentence on a brown bear that attacked a father and son last week on a hiking trail in the northern region of Trentino.

Fabio Misseroni, 59, and his son Christian Misseroni, 28, were hiking Monday on a path on Mount Peller when they say the bear attacked.

The bear bit Misseroni’s leg before his father jumped on the animal’s back so he could escape, the son told CNN. The bear then bit and swiped at the older man, breaking his leg in three places. Misseroni jumped up and down and clapped his hands to distract the bear from his father before the animal ran off into the woods, he recalled.

Italy’s National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research regulations call for bears that attack humans to be euthanized.

But calls are growing for the bear in this latest attack to be left alone — at least until the circumstances of the case become clearer.

— From wire reports

WORLD & NATION Trump administration finalizing its plan to withdraw 4,000 troops from Afghanistan

By Kylie Atwood and Ryan Browne CNN

The Trump administration is close to finalizing a decision to withdraw more than 4,000 troops from Afghanistan by the fall, according to two administration officials.

The move would reduce the number of troops from 8,600 to 4,500 and would be the lowest number since the very earliest days of the war in Afghanistan, which began in 2001.

It would pave the way for a U.S. exit, which President Donald Trump remains determined to achieve.

Yet the discussions are taking place against the backdrop of an uptick in violence from the Taliban against the Afghan government, despite the insurgent group signing an historic agreement with the U.S. in February and as the Trump administration has appeared to hold back on its criticism of the Taliban.

While the decision is not final, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper discussed the plan with NATO allies last week and the topic was revisited in his meetings with NATO officials in Brussels Friday.

“We will also follow up on our discussion on Afghanistan. NATO will continue to adjust our presence in sup-

NATION

12 states are pausing reopening over the surge in COVID cases Washington is the latest state to pause its reopening plans after a spike in the number of new cases of coronavirus across the country.

“We all want to get back to doing all the things we love in Washington during the summer, and fully open our economy, but we aren’t there yet,” Gov. Jay Inslee said Saturday. “This is an evolving situation and we will continue to make decisions based on the data.”

At least a dozen other states, including some of the most populous in the country, have taken similar measures in the past few days.

More than half of the states are facing a surge of coronavirus cases and it’s threatening to overwhelm hospitals.

“The community’s infection rate is three times higher today than it was three months ago,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner told reporters.

Texas and at least five other states — Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Tennessee and Utah — reported the highest single-day totals of new COVID-19 cases, according to the state’s health departments. Florida, seen possibly as the next U.S. epicenter, reported its highest one-day total of new cases on Saturday with 9,585 cases.

Fauci says task force ‘seriously considering’ new testing strategy Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said Friday that the White House coronavirus task force is “seriously considering” pool testing for COVID-19 and acknowledged to The Washington Post that

PEOPLE

Alex Trebek and his wife give $500K to help fight homelessness

“Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek and his wife, Jean, just donated $500,000 to Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission to help fight the homeless crisis in the Los Angeles area.

The money will be used to help fund the construction of a new central facility that will include a shelter for homeless seniors, a medical facility, a commissary and administrative space for the group, founder and CEO Ken Craft told CNN. “I cannot say enough good things about just who they are as, you know, forget the donation, just who they are as human beings, and as individuals,” Craft said. “So it was, it’s really been a joy special photo: thomas watkins/aFp/getty images just to get to know them on The Trump administration is close to finalizing a decision to withdraw more than 4,000 that level.”

troops from Afghanistan by the fall, according to two administration officials. port of the peace process,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday alongside Esper before their meeting. “This will be done in close coordination with Allies and partners.”

Under the agreement signed with the Taliban in February, the U.S. committed to pulling all of its troops out of Afghanistan by next April — within 14 months of its signing — if the Taliban upheld certain commitments in the agreement. The Taliban committed to preventing terrorist

groups using Afghan territory to threaten the U.S. and its allies, breaking ties with groups which threaten the U.S., and pursuing intra-Afghan negotiations.

As part of that deal, the U.S. also agreed to reduce the number of troops from about 13,000 to 8,600 by early July. The U.S. has already hit that 8,600 figure, ahead of schedule, two U.S. officials told CNN. It is unclear when the withdrawal of the 4,000 additional U.S. troops, a policy decision in its final stages,

will begin. U.S. officials at the State Department and the Pentagon have reiterated that any reduction below the 8,600 mark would be “conditions based.”

“U.S. force levels in Afghanistan remain in the mid8,000s. Additional drawdowns beyond this number remain conditions-based according to the U.S. Government’s assessment of the overall security environment and Taliban compliance with the U.S.-Taliban agreement,” Pentagon spokesman Major Rob Lodewick, told CNN.

Sir Ian McKellen is planning to play Hamlet — at age 81 At an age when most classical actors are honing their King Lear, 81-year-old Ian McKellen is set to grab a skull and throw himself into what is probably Shakespeare’s most famous role: Hamlet.

McKellen, who first played the confused young Dane 50 years ago, revealed the news on his website.

“I feel lucky to be working again, thanks to Bill Kenwright’s inspiring optimism and Sean Mathias’s invitation to re-examine Hamlet, 50 years on from my first go. So now we will meet again. Don’t know when but do know where — Theatre Royal Windsor!” the actor wrote on Twitter on Friday.

Trump on Friday.

“The president said very clearly to these state and local leaders, some of whom have made a determination to let these things happen, that it is not a free lunch,” Bernhardt said in an interSherlock Holmes is view on Fox News. “We are too nice in upcoming going to examine all of our Netflix adaptation, funding mechanisms to these communities and to the exlawsuit argues tent that we have the authorArthur Conan Doyle’s esspecial photo: wilfredo lee/ap ity, we will take into account Lines of cars wait at a coronavirus testing site outside of Hard their failure to protect these tate is suing Netflix, among others, over its upcoming Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Friday. Florida, monuments.” film “Enola Holmes” — arGeorgia, Idaho, Tennessee and Utah all reported record daily guing that the show’s depicTrump can’t divert coronavirus cases, according to their state’s health departments. tion of Sherlock Holmes as military funds for the Trump administration’s tigated following a social kind, caring and respectful border wall, federal of women is a violation of current testing strategy has media outcry after the fatal August incident while he was proven inadequate. the author’s copyright. appeals court says The proposal is still in the in police custody.

The film, based on a series Aurora officers Nathan discussion stage, Fauci told The Trump administration of novels by Nancy Springer CNN, and it was not announced Woodyard and Jason Rosen- doesn’t have the authority and set for release on Netat a task force press briefing blatt were reassigned on to divert Pentagon funds to flix in September, follows June 13, and officer Randy construct additional barriers the legendary detective’s on Friday afternoon.

“Something’s not work- Roedema a week later, a po- on the U.S.-Mexico border, younger sister, a character ing,” Fauci said of the na- lice spokeswoman said. The a federal appeals court ruled created by Springer. tion’s current approach in reassignment means admin- Friday, days after President But the late author’s esan interview with The Post. istrative duties, CNN affili- Donald Trump’s visit to a sec- tate has objected to the way “I mean, you can do all the ate KDVR reported. tion of the wall in Arizona. Holmes is portrayed in the The officers’ safety was a diagramming you want, but In a 2-1 ruling, the 9th U.S. series, arguing that the sleuth something is not working.” primary reason for the move Circuit Court of Appeals said was only ever kind and emoAsked about what’s not as various police and city that the transfer of $2.5 bil- tional in books that are still working, Fauci said Friday employees have received lion circumvented Congress, under the author’s copyright. the U.S. is having trouble complaints and threats re- which holds the authority to In earlier works, now in the identifying spread among cently, said Faith Goodrich, appropriate money. public domain, his aloofThe legal fight over Defense ness and lack of empathy asymptomatic individuals spokeswoman for the Aurora Department funds stems from are crucial aspects of his and young people, and sub- Police Department.

McClain’s case received Trump’s national emergency character and must be resequently, having trouble isolating those individuals. renewed scrutiny following declaration on the U.S.-Mex- spected in any adaptation, Additionally, he said, the the police killings of George ico border last year. Trump the estate claims. contact tracers are having Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and extended the declaration this Many later Sherlock issues getting into contact others that led to massive past February, even as bor- Holmes titles are still prowith communities seeing po- protests across the country. der arrests began to decline. tected under U.S. copyright “The Executive Branch lacked protection law. tential asymptomatic spread.

Interior Sec. threatens independent constitution- The estate has filed a case Officers involved in the to withhold state, local al authority to authorize the against Netflix, the U.S.transfer of funds,” wrote Chief based producers, Springdeath of Elijah McClain funds on condition of Circuit Judge Sidney Thomas er, her publisher Penguin reassigned for safety protecting monuments for the majority. “The panel Random House, and others noted that the Appropriations in the US District Court for Three Colorado police ofInterior Secretary David Clause of the U.S. Constitution the District of New Mexico, ficers involved in a confron- Bernhardt threatened Satur- exclusively grants the power just three months before the tation that left a Black man day to withhold funding from of the purse to Congress. The movie — starring Henry Cavill dead last year have been reas- any state or local government panel held that the transfer of as Sherlock and Millie Bobsigned to “nonenforcement” that does not adequately funds violated the Appropria- by Brown as title character, protect its monuments, in tions Clause, and, therefore, Enola — is set to premiere duties, authorities said.

The death of Elijah Mc- line with an executive order was unlawful.” on the video platform.

— From wire reports — From wire reports Clain is now being inves- signed by President Donald

NASA astronauts conduct spacewalk for space station power upgrades

By Ashley Strickland CNN

Early Friday, NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Robert Behnken began a spacewalk outside of the International Space Station to replace lithium ion batteries for one of the station’s power channels. It lasted for six hours and seven minutes.

Friday’s spacewalk began at 7:32 a.m. and ended at 1:39 p.m.

The astronauts remained ahead of the schedule throughout the walk and completed several tasks originally scheduled for next Wednes-

MUST READ

walkers. This was the seventh venture outside for both Cassidy and Behnken, according to NASA. They will conduct a second similar spacewalk on July 1.

Behnken, along with NASA astronaut Doug Hurley, launched from the United States and joined Cassidy on the space station on May 31.

They were aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon during the Demo-2 mission.

day’s spacewalk.

Early during the spacewalk as Cassidy exited the space station’s hatch, his left wrist mirror detached and flew away, but it poses no risk to the crew and the walk continued as planned, according to NASA. The mirrors allow them to see aspects of their suits, like labels, switches and actuators, that are otherwise special photo: nasa out of view. Cassidy used the mirror on his right wrist for the dura- NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy is pictured in July 2013 during a sixtion of the spacewalk.

Both astronauts are veteran space- hour, seven-minute spacewalk.

A4 ♦ Sunday, June 28, 2020 ♦ gwinnettdailypoSt.com COLUMNIST I KEITH ROACH

WEATHER WATCH

We all benefit from vaccines, whether we take them or not

TODAY

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EAR DR. ROACH: A recent column on vaccines left me unable to complete all the dots.

An 80-yearold who has been sick only once (from a vaccination) stated that he/ she will never Roach willingly accept another vaccination. You conclude your column by suggesting that by being 80, this person should look forward to a vaccine for coronavirus. If I were that writer, my immediate question to you would be, “Why?” It would seem the writer’s immune system has proven successful for an 80-year journey. Is there greater risk beyond 80?

— J.R. ANSWER: A healthy immune system is a large part of why a person has had good health until their 80s, but the writer, like everyone in a modern society, has benefitted from vaccines, even if he didn’t take any.

When the vast majority of a population is vaccinated against an infectious disease, even those who are not medically protected are unlikely to get the disease since it doesn’t have ongoing transmission.

This is called “herd immunity.” Although herd immunity can happen through vaccination or natural infection, it may only be maintained through ongoing vaccination. Intermittent outbreaks will occur once the number of unprotected people becomes high enough.

In the case of a new infection, never seen before in the population, there is no herd immunity and the infection can spread rapidly. When, like COVID-19, the infection is both highly infectious and can cause severe disease and death, it is exceptionally dangerous. People over 80 are particularly at risk. That’s why a vaccine is so urgently needed: to protect our most vulnerable, especially those who cannot get vaccinated (due to medical conditions), choose not to (which is unwise) or in whom the vaccine does not work (since no vaccine is perfect).

DEAR DR. ROACH: I was started on lisinopril and developed both a cough and hair loss. My doctor finally changed me to losartan and amlodipine. If the medication caused these side effects, how long will it take to go away?

— E.H. ANSWER: If the medication was indeed the cause of the cough, it usually goes away within a few days. It may take up to four weeks.

More than 10% of people on an ACE inhibitor like lisinopril will develop a dry cough.

Hair loss from drugs often takes three to six months to reverse itself noticeably, but as long as 18 months before the hair is back to normal.

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am on Xarelto after a blood clot in the lung. I am scheduled for a colonoscopy. The colon doctor said I need to be off Xarelto for seven to 10 days before the procedure, but it must be OK’d by my primary doctor. Is this safe?

— D.D. ANSWER: Some people can continue anticoagulants such as apixaban (Xarelto) for GI procedures, but if the gastroenterologist feels anticoagulation needs to be stopped, Xarelto is usually held two days before the procedure, as opposed to warfarin (Coumadin), which requires stopping a week or so before the procedure.

People at very high risk for clot (recent clotting, mechanical valve, active cancer) may need anticoagulation continued as long as possible, so are usually given shortacting anticoagulants, such as heparin. I don’t think you are at high enough risk to require that, but your primary doctor (or hematologist) will determine that.

MONDAY

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WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

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HOROSCOPES

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LAKE LEVELS

SOLUNAR TABLES the gwinnett daily post (upSp 921-980, iSSn 1086-0096) is published wednesday, Friday and Sunday by Scni, 725 old norcross Road, lawrenceville, ga 30045. periodical postage paid at lawrenceville, ga 30044. poStmaSteR: Send address changes to gwinnett daily post, p.o. Box 603, lawrenceville, ga 30046-0603.

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the solunar tables for lakes are based on studies that show fish and game are more active at certain times during the lunar period.

MAJOR 7:48-9:48 a.m. ............8:13-10:13 p.m.

MINOR 1:42-2:42 a.m...............2:01-3:01 p.m.

POLLEN COUNTS trees: none weeds: none grass: High

LOTTERY

Lake

Full

Yesterday

allatoona .............(840.0) ..... 840.65 Blackshear .......... (237.0) ..... 236.93 Blue Ridge.........(1690.0) .... 1687.01 Burton...............(1865.0) ... 1864.98 carters..............(1072.0) ....1073.24 chatuge ............ (1927.0) ....1925.51 Harding ............... (521.0) ......520.71 Hartwell ..............(660.0) ..... 660.68 Jackson...............(530.0) ..... 528.88

Lake

Full

Yesterday

lanier.................(1071.0) ....1071.38 nottely...............(1779.0) ....1776.70 oconee ...............(435.0) ..... 434.88 Seminole................(77.5) ........ 77.18 Sinclair ................(339.8) ..... 338.65 thurmond ...........(330.0) ..... 330.03 tugalo ................. (891.5) ..... 889.23 walter F. george...(188.0) ......189.20 west point...........(635.0) ......635.47

TODAY IN HISTORY

Saturday cash 3 midday: 6-2-6 cash 4 midday: 7-5-4-0 ga. 5 midday: 4-4-4-2-2 Friday cash 3 midday: 2-1-1 cash 3 evening: 6-9-4 cash 3 night: 1-5-5 cash 4 midday: 5-5-3-6 cash 4 evening: 2-6-0-6 cash 4 night: 0-3-1-0 ga. 5 midday: 9-1-7-1-6 ga. 5 evening: 9-4-3-1-3 Fantasy 5: 28-32-35-37-38 mega millions: 19-33-37-56-57, mega Ball: 06 cash 4 life: 13-14-15-35-42, cash Ball: 04

TODAY’S HISTORY: in 1914, Franz Ferdinand, archduke of austria, was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist, sparking world war i. in 1919, the treaty of Versailles was signed, ending world war i. in 1950, north Korean troops captured Seoul. in 1965, the united States launched its first major military offensive in Vietnam. in 2004, the u.S.-led coalition in iraq transferred sovereignty to an interim iraqi government.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: peter paul Rubens (1577-1640), painter; JeanJacques Rousseau (1712-1778), philosopher; Joseph Joachim (1831-1907), violinist; Richard Rodgers (1902-1979), composer; mel Brooks (1926- ), actor/ filmmaker; Kathy Bates (1948- ), actress;

John elway (1960- ), football player/ executive; John cusack (1966- ), actor; mary Stuart masterson (1966- ), actress; mike white (1970- ), filmmaker; elon musk (1971- ), business magnate/inventor; Rob dyrdek (1974- ), skateboarder/actor.

TODAY’S FACT: president woodrow wilson was the first of the leaders at Versailles to sign the treaty ending world war i.

TODAY’S SPORTS: in 1997, mike tyson was disqualified from a heavyweight title fight when the former champion twice bit titleholder evander Holyfield’s ears in the third round.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “i have never thought, for my part, that man’s freedom consists in his being able to do whatever he wills, but that he should not, by any human power, be forced to do what is against his will.” — Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “Reveries of the Solitary walker”

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Honored as a newspaper of General Excellence

2018

COLUMNIST I AMY DICKINSON

Teacher should take her parents to school

D

EAR AMY: I am a married, 50-year-old, elementary school teacher.

Socially and politically I lean firmly left and my family is very aware of it.

My parents and my in-laws are VERY conservative and quite religious.

At gatherings they are very vocal about their disdain for liberals and Democrats, calling them names, saying they’re going to hell, etc.

They also voice their dislike of other races, religions, and sexual orientation, using bigoted language.

I don’t enjoy spending time with any of them. I do not voice my opinions, as I have no interest in being part of their hostile conversations.

When the assault begins, I pick up my phone and scroll through and ignore them.

I have limited my time with them as much as possible, but I can’t cut them out of my life completely, as that is just not my character.

My husband lets it go and is mostly politically neutral. He says it’s not worth arguing with 80-year-olds.

I find his answer irritating. Any suggestions?

— Teacher DEAR TEACHER: You seem to point your irritation toward your husband, whom you claim stays neutral, but you are doing the exact same thing, by ignoring comments from both your parents and his that you say are bigoted and offensive.

So, “Teacher,” I think it’s time to take these 80-year-olds to school.

I can imagine not wanting to waste your breath on your in-laws, but your parents raised you. Surely you can spend some energy in order to engage them in some thoughtful conversation about their own hate speech.

There is absolutely nothing about

Christianity that gives believers license to express hatred toward other human beings. But aside from the religious aspects of this, I think it might be time for you to locate your backbone. If Dickinson you consider yourself a true ally of people who are discriminated against and consigned to hell by ignorant people — then you must use your own voice to push back.

This book is currently flying off the shelves (I’m reading it now): “How to Be an Antiracist,” by Ibram X. Kendi (2019, One World). Here’s a quote: “Denial is the heartbeat of racism.”

DEAR AMY: About two months ago, my boyfriend potentially had COVID-19.

The week he started to work from home, he got very sick.

Taking care of him was scary and stressful for me.

He was able to get a virtual doctor’s appointment. He tested negative for the virus, but still believes he had it, due to the high rate of false negative test results.

He recovered in two weeks and is good, now.

He brings this up whenever we have Zoom calls with family or friends; he even brings this up with his clients. When it initially happened — and the month following — bringing it up made sense.

I realize that sharing with friends and family can help to process a scary event.

It has now been two months (it feels like six), and he’s OK. I’m confused as to why he still feels the need to talk about it now, however.

— Healthy and Wondering DEAR HEALTHY: You went through this with your boyfriend, and so you have been exposed to this story many times from many differ-

ent angles. You can have whatever interior reaction you want, but your boyfriend should continue to talk about this experience if he finds it helpful. His brush with serious illness might have deepened his empathy toward others. He may also be tacitly inviting you to share in this drama, and to confirm to others how challenging this was. There are fears about people developing the illness again — after they believe they have recovered — and he might be worried about that possibility.

Some people are genuinely traumatized by an experience with serious illness. If he is ruminating excessively or seems to be stuck in an anxious loop, you should encourage him to set up another appointment with his doctor.

DEAR AMY: I smoked three packs of cigarettes a day and loved it for more than 35 years.

On Nov. 1, 1992 I stopped smoking and went on the nicotine patch for six months. I still have three cigarettes in my freezer.

I still feel guilty for my children (none of them smoke) when they had to put up with both parents smoking in the station wagon.

I’ve saved enough cigarette money to take four trips to Europe and numerous cruises.

— Recovered Smoker DEAR RECOVERED: What a testimony! (I may need to learn more about those cigarettes in your freezer...)

You can contact Amy Dickinson via email: ASKAMY@amydickinson.com.

Readers may send postal mail to Ask Amy, P.O. Box 194, Freeville, NY 13068.

You can also follow her on Twitter @ askingamy or “like” her on Facebook.

l o o k b eyo n d p e t t y differences this year. a positive attitude will get you far, both personally and professionally. a selfcritique will lead to personal growth and a triumphant makeover that encourages you to be your best and will bring out the best in others. the possibilities are endless, and the results will be outstanding.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) — Spend time getting rid of unnecessary stuff that you’ve accumulated. making room for new projects will give you greater freedom to do something you enjoy. your happiness begins with you.

LEO (July 23-aug. 22) — do something that makes you feel good about yourself. a physical challenge will prove to be entertaining and rewarding. Romance is featured.

VIRGO (aug. 23-Sept.

22) — a change of scenery will lift your spirits. take a hike or plan an outing, if possible. Keep your distance and protect your health.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-oct. 23) — Stay focused on your needs. exercising, spending quality time with a loved one or updating your appearance is favored. choose moderation and simplicity over excess or indulgent behavior.

SCORPIO (oct. 24-nov.

22) — approach a new project with a keen imagination, and you will surpass your expectations. put a strategy in place that encourages learning, expressing your thoughts and sharing with like-minded people.

SAGITTARIUS (nov. 23dec. 21) — Fixing up your surroundings will make you feel better about your living arrangements. channel your energy into personal conquests that will boost your ego. Romance will tighten a special relationship.

CAPRICORN (dec.

22-Jan. 19) — a different approach to the way you run your home will pay off. giving the people you live with greater freedom will encourage them to contribute more to the household.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — it’s oK to be selfish once in a while. take time to catch up and to ease stress. let someone close to you know how much you care. live life your way.

PISCES (Feb. 20-march 20) — mental stimulation will help you clearly see situations you are facing. implement changes that allow you to use the skills that bring you the most joy.

Follow your intuition.

ARIES (march 21-april 19) — arguments will be a waste of time. if you work in conjunction with others, you will prosper. Being able to compromise and adapt will put you in a favorable position.

TAURUS (april 20-may 20) — take a virtual tour of a place you hope to visit someday, and it will give you the incentive to start planning and saving for your excursion.

GEMINI (may 21-June 20) — Honesty begins at home. tell it like it is if you want to get on with your life. Be brave, take hold of whatever situation you face and move forward.

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gwinnettdailypost.com ♦ sunday, June 28, 2020 ♦ A5

Gwinnett County Public Schools is not planning to cut or furlough staff

By Curt Yeomans

curt.yeomans @gwinnettdailypost.com

Gwinnett County Public Schools is not planning to furlough or let any employees go because of cuts to education funding coming from the state level, district Chief Financial Officer Joe Heffron told the Gwinnett County Board of Education Thursday night.

Heffron told the school board that the state budget is expected to include cuts across all state agencies because of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic’s impact on state revenues, and that negotiations in the legislature had reduced the cut to 11%.

“We will be receiving less state funding next (fiscal) year (and) that is primarily due to (or) created by the health pandemic,” Heffron said. “The state will have less revenue next year to allocate across state agencies.

They have passed along a cut to state agencies. QBE is included in that and the Department of Education is passing on somewhere around 10 or 11% for us.”

The cuts included in the state’s fiscal year 2021 budget means any agency, including local school systems, that rely on funding in-

TESTING From A1 two days. We’re going to continue doing that the rest of the week to make sure we’re staying up-to-speed on what’s happening in the real world like we’re doing today at (this) testing location.”

Kemp is not looking at rolling back any of loosening of restrictions on businesses that he’s allowed to happen since he let a stay-at-home order for most Georgians expire at the end of April.

He also said mandating the state’s residents wear face masks in public, a move some other states have been taking with their residents, is not something he’s looking at doing right now.

“Look, I have said, (and) I’m trying to demonstrate myself, that it is a good idea if you’re going to be going out to public places where you’re going to be around people for an extended period of time, or be around people in a close environment, it’s a good idea to wear a mask,” Kemp said.

“Mandating that is a bridge too far for me right now. We have to have the public buy-in.

Over the last several months, the public has done that.”

Meanwhile, Gwinnett County has seen the largest number of COVID-19 cases in the state, even though it is only the second most populous county in Georgia.

Dr. Audrey Arona, the district health director for Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale counties, said the district has the ability to conduct as many as 5,000 COVID-19 tests per week, but it is conducting nearly 4,000 tests a week at this time.

Zip codes in the Lilburn, Norcross and Lawrenceville areas have had the highest incidence rates although health officials continue to assert that the disease is everywhere in the county, and that residents need to take

cluded in that budget will have to tighten their belts to adjust for the next year.

In the case of education, that’s expected to be a reduction of about $1.05 billion to the state’s Quality Basic Education formula which is used to determine how money local school systems get from the state.

Gwinnett is expecting to see its state funding reduced by $118 million because of the austerity cuts state legislators are including in the budget.

Gwinnett County Public Schools is planning a nearly $2.35 billion budget for fiscal year 2021.

The district anticipates serving about 181,250 students during the 2020-2021 school year.

Heffron said the school system plans to use money from federal CARES Act funds and the school system’s “rainy day” reserve fund to cover the shortfall created by the reduction in state funding. The reserve fund has been built up gradually over the last half decade to help the district get through an emergency.

That will allow the district to not only keep its employees, but also offer a step increase in salaries for employees who have not already reached the maximum step on the district’s pay scale.

precautions such as washing hands regularly, wearing face masks and practicing social distancing.

But the data is also why a testing site was opened in Lilburn in late May. It is the second testing site to be opened in Gwinnett, joining one that opened early on during the pandemic in Lawrenceville. “(The disease) has been here actually, which is why, looking at the zip code data, we knew we had to be in this location,” Arona said. “We’re grateful that the community has embraced this and has actually scheduled (testing appointments), but we have people from all over coming here to this location to get tested. It’s not just (people from) Lilburn and Norcross.”

Kemp said he was impressed by what he saw at the test site in terms of the ability to work with people who speak a variety of languages as well as the speed in which people were able to get tested and move through the site.

He also pointed out the Lilburn site was established after local health officials saw a concentration of cases in the southwest Gwinnett area.

“This is exactly what needs to be happening, when we see a situation like this, much like we had in Hall County,” Kemp said.

The governor said Georgia is continuing to “jump on” hot spots that officials see emerging. He pointed to a situation with a nursing home in Troup County and a hot spot in the Dalton area that he said appeared to be tied to workers in the flooring industry as examples of issues his office and state public health officials have been keeping an eye on.

“The severity, the acuity, of patients is not nearly what it was early in the pandemic, but that being said we’re not letting our guard down,” Kemp said. “We’ve got to continue to fight the fight hard every day (and) continue to jump on the hot spots.”

But, there will be no other bells or whistles in the district’s proposed budget. “(There are) no cuts to our services or positions,” Heffron said. “It’s a continuation budget (and) it shows no furlough days. However, (there will be) no improvements this year, but we did include a step increase for those eligible employees.

“And, if you look at our fund balance, we are not using our operating fund balance to balance our budget, which weighs very heavily with the rating agencies.”

Since CARES Act funding is a one-time funding allocation from the federal government, the $32.3 million in CARES Act funding that the district will be using to cover the shortfall in the fiscal year 2021 budget will have to be replaced elsewhere in the fiscal year 2022 budget if funding from the state doesn’t return closer to normal next year.

Heffron said additional money from the “rainy day” reserve funds may have to be used if that happens.

The district’s plan is to keep its millage rate the same for fiscal year 2021, but that doesn’t mean property owners won’t see changes in how much they pay in school taxes on their property tax bill. If the value

of their property has increased, they could still end up paying more in taxes even though the millage rate stays the same.

The proposed millage rate for Gwinnett County Public Schools is 21.6 mills.

The proposed budget and millage rate were adopted Thursday night, but the public will have an opportunity to weigh in before final adoption takes place.

Two public hearings will be held in July. One will be held at 7 p.m. on July 9, and the other will be held at 6p.m. on July 16, at the J. Alvin Wilbanks Instruction Support Center.

A final vote on the budget is expected to take place July 16, and a final vote on the millage rate is expected to take place in August, although the exact date was not specified.

“I prefer to refer to the fiscal year budget as our investment for the citizens of Gwinnett County in our 181,268 students that will attend Gwinnett County Public Schools during the 2020-21 school year,” Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks told the school board. “This budget will provide the needed funds to provide a quality and effective education for our students.”

By Chamian Cruz chamian.cruz@gwinnettdailypost.com

Gwinnett County Public Schools will take a weeklong break from its Summer Meals Program, June 29 to July 3, and will resume the first Monday of July.

The program, which launched June 8, provides breakfast and lunch offerings to children. During a three-week period in June, the Sum mer Meals moRe online Program ♦ For more information about served nearmeal pickup locations, Visit us ly 122,000 online at gwinnettdailypost.com meals.

Once it resumes on July 6, it will run through July 16 at its 25 sites, as well as at two new locations — Duluth High School and AndersonLivsey Elementary School.

Meals will be available for pickup by anyone 18 years old and younger Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

On Thursday, meals for both Thursday and Friday will be included.

A child does not have to be a student at the school site to receive a meal; however, the student or child must be present to receive a meal.

staff photo: chamian cruz

PARACHUTE From A1 the front line working like that you don’t necessarily realize the impact that you’re making, but when you have your counterparts come out to recognize you I think it means a lot,” Jones said. “Hopefully we captured that.”

Giller said the Army and health care workers sacrifice every day in their respective ways to protect the communities they serve.

“We’ve got signs out in front of our building that say ‘Heroes Work Here’ and these were heroes who were skydiving in today, but there’s heroes in that building too.”

Abigail Mulhern, a registered nurse, said Friday was her first time witnessing a parachute demonstration. She described it as “awesome” and said she appreciated what the Army did for the staff at Kaiser Per-

SCHOOL instructing students in the fall had more than 50% support from families in the school district.

The survey, which ended last week, showed only 43% of families preferred in-class-only instruction

MONUMENT From A1 A Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale Health Departments volunteer instructs a visitor on how to conduct a nasal self swab test at a COVID-19 testing site at Lilburn First Baptist Church.

Two new pickup sites added to the existing 25 schools

The Black Daggers, the official U.S. Army Special Operations Command parachute demonstration team, visited the facility in Duluth to send a special thank you to health care workers for their efforts to combat COVID-19.

From A1

staff photo: curt yeomans

GCPS continues Summer Meals Program in July

of Representatives.

The argument that the Confederate monument on the Lawrenceville Square should be removed because it has become the target of vandal-

manente in Gwinnett.

One of the things that made the event unique was that Kaiser Permanente has been working with Tricare all year, which is the health care benefit for the armed services.

Giller said no one else in Atlanta is a participant in Tricare.

“So this was really even extra special for us, because we’ve been giving back to Tricare all year by delivering health care to them and to have the Army come in today and recognize us we are so grateful,” he said.

The Black Daggers travel all over the U.S., but were in Atlanta all week. Friday morning they performed a parachute demonstration at the Kaiser Permanente location in Kennesaw.

Brown, who has been skydiving since 2014, said he and the other members of the Black Daggers look down to make sure they can see their target landing from about 2,000 feet, which is from where they

drop streamers to gage the wind.

Then, they jump from the airplane at 3,500 feet and deploy their parachute at about 2,500 feet.

“For us, it’s humbling,” Brown said about participating in the demonstration. “It’s absolutely amazing. Over the last couple months, of course with the COVID pandemic, they’ve been the only ones who have worked tirelessly through it all. Through thick and thin, they’re still here at the hospitals across the U.S. We wanted to come out and say a personal thank you to them.”

In a message directed specifically to health care workers, Giller told them to keep their heads high because no one else can do the work they’re doing.

“We’ve never been in a worldwide pandemic like this in any of our lifetimes,” he said. “This is unprecedented at every level and the work that is done by them every day to not only treat the sick, but to keep the healthy healthy is invaluable.”

while another 34% of families preferred digital learning-only instruction. The district said 23% of families preferred a mixture of inperson and digital learning.

“Gwinnett County Public Schools considered this feedback and other relevant information available at the time,” district officials said in a statement. “Leaders thoroughly studied combining in-person and

digital learning. The many challenges related to this option make it one the school system cannot effectively manage with existing resources.

“Therefore, it was determined that the most prudent course of action is to open the school year with in-person instruction, along with an option for digital learning, for students in grades K-12.”

ism is similar to grounds used to remove a Confederate monument in Decatur earlier this month. A judge declared the Decatur monument a public nuisance because of repeated acts of vandalism.

That appears to be the strategy Whiteside is taking, although he’s going through the Board of Commissioners at this point, instead of the courts.

“Safeguarding the safety and security of Gwinnett County residents and law enforcement officers and personnel is a priority for Solicitor General Whiteside,” the solicitor’s office said.

“Moving the Confederate monument to the Gwinnett History Museum will potentially stop additional property damage and criminal activity from taking place within the community.”

A6 ♦ Sunday, June 28, 2020 ♦ gwinnettdailypoSt.com

Buford City Schools to distribute Chromebooks to all its students

By Curt Yeomans curt.yeomans@gwinnettdailypost.com

photo: gwinnett county

The Gwinnett County Summer Meals Program will resume Monday, June 29.

Summer Meals Program to resume this Monday

By Chamian Cruz chamian.cruz@ gwinnettdailypost.com

The Gwinnett County Summer Meals Program at parks and other county sites will resume operations Monday.

It was suspended for the remainder of the week due to unforeseen circumstances with the vendor, the county said.

Gwinnett Parks and Recreation staff will be at each summer meals site on those days to share information with parents and children who may show up.

Emergency meal kits and information will still be made available for residents age 60 and older who need assistance with hunger, health or mobility issues.

When the Summer Meals Program starts again, it will expand to 11 more park sites, bringing the total number of locations to 31.

Meals will now be available for pickup between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. while supplies last at: ♦ Alexander Park, 800 Old Snellville Highway, Lawrenceville ♦ Bogan Park, 2723 North

Bogan Road, Buford ♦ Collins Hill Park, 2225 Collins Hill Road, Lawrenceville ♦ Dacula Park Activity Building, 2735 Auburn Avenue, Dacula ♦ E.E. Robinson Park, 885 Level Creek Road, Sugar Hill ♦ George Pierce Park, 55 Buford Highway, Suwanee ♦ Harbins Park, 2995 Luke Edwards Road, Dacula ♦ Mountain Park Activity Building, 1063 Rockbridge Road, Stone Mountain ♦ OneStop Buford, 2755 Sawnee Avenue, Buford ♦ Peachtree Ridge Park, 3170 Suwanee Creek Road, Suwanee ♦ South Gwinnett Park, 2115 McGee Road, Snellville In addition, the Five Forks Branch Library at 2780 Five Forks-Trickum Road in Lawrenceville will serve meals as part of the program starting Monday, July 6.

The program allows parents, caregivers or community groups to pick up free nutritious meals for children to take home, or children can pick up their own meals.

For more information, visit GwinnettSummerMeals. com or call 770-822-8840.

OBITUARIES LAWRENCEVILLE , GA

LILBURN , GA

Martha M. Henck

J. Todd Henderson

Martha McCollum Henck, 96, of Lawrenceville, Georgia, died on June 16, 2020.

She was born in 1923 to Charles A. and Elsie McCollum in Hartford, Connecticut, moving at the age of six weeks to Houston, Texas, where she grew up. She was married for over 57 years to F. Seymour Henck, who died in 2001. She is survived by her sister, Joanne, her three sons (Charles, and his wife Christine, Fred, and his partner Patsy, and Doug and his wife, Suzanne), seven grandchildren, and four great grandchildren.

From 1968 until 1994 she worked as a law firm administrator for major firms in New York and Atlanta, and was active in the Association of Legal Administrators, serving as Regional Vice President of its Southeast Region, and as President of its Atlanta Chapter. Following her retirement in 1994 she was active for over 20 years as a volunteer with the Gwinnett Medical Center (now Northside Hospital Gwinnett) Auxiliary, serving at various times between 1991 and 2013 on its Board of Directors and as its President and Treasurer, and accumulating over 12,500 volunteer hours.

Her ashes will be interred in a memorial garden at The Cathedral of St. Phillip in Atlanta, Georgia at a future date.

J. Todd Henderson, 51, of Gwinnett County, Georgia, passed away suddenly at home on June 14, 2020. He is survived by his son Jarrod Henderson (mother Bobbie Ann); his mother Cheryl Henderson; his father Jim Henderson (wife Donna), and his sister Dana Horne (husband Wayne and daughter Kristin) as well as a host of other loving family and friends. An honors graduate of Twin Lakes High School, Todd grew up in Loxahatchee and Palm Beach Gardens, FL, where he obtained the rank of Eagle Scout and was elected a Vigil Member of the Order of the Arrow. He loved the outdoors and frequently camped, canoed and hiked with the Boy Scouts and with his family.

Todd later graduated with a B.S. and M.S. in Agricultural Operations Management from the University of Florida where he was a member of the service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega. Todd was a friend to all and was passionate about helping others. Due to pandemic concerns and regulations, there will be memorial service by invitation at Snellville United Methodist Church on June 27, 2020 at 2:00 pm. The family asks that anyone who would like to offer condolences or share fond memories, please do so by sending them to jim. henderson.bsa@gmail. com. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Jarrod’s GoFundMe https://gf.me/u/yak98q

Every student in Buford City Schools will get their own Chomebook when the 2020-2021 school year begins to help them with digital learning, the school system announced Wednesday.

Buford Superintendent Robert Downs announced the plan, called the “1:1 Initiative.” It is a response to feedback from the community about the digital learning that was done in the second half of the spring 2020 semester because of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic.

“In March, when our schools had to abruptly close, we became keenly aware of the digital divide within our district,” Downs said. “In response to this need, our Curriculum and Technology Departments quickly expedited a plan to provide devices for each K-12 student in the fall. With the next several months being so uncertain, this helps

ensure all students have equitable access for their education.”

The Chromebooks are expected to be distributed to students at the beginning of the school year. School system ofRobert ficials saying that the Downs chances of spreading viruses to each will be reduced because they will not be sharing computers.

Not all Buford City Schools students will be able to take their Chromebooks home with them under those rules, however.

While the rules school systems are putting in place will allow middle and high school students to carry their computers between school and their homes, elementary school students will have to leave their Chromebooks in their classrooms, according to the district.

“A 1:1 device initiative along with the implementation of a new learning management system will provide unique, engaging, and interactive learning opportunities for Buford City Schools’ teachers and students,” school system Director of Curriculum and Instruction Amy Chafin said.

School system officials said the “1:1 initiative” is being partially funded with money from the CARES Act Relief Fund to ensure it’s feasible before the school year begins.

“Our technology team is working diligently to provide a seamless rollout for the 1:1 initiative,” Buford City Schools Director of Technology Jason Downs said. We are ensuring that the schools have the infrastructure in place to support over 5,000 devices. There will be onsite technical support in each school to expedite any issues so that students can quickly return to their digital learning.”

Gwinnett Medical Reserve Corps is seeking Spanish-speaking volunteers

By Chamian Cruz chamian.cruz@ gwinnettdailypost.com

Gwinnett County’s Medical Reserve Corps needs volunteers to help translate and to support Spanish speaking patients with paperwork and questions at COVID-19 testing sites.

The volunteer organization helps out in community health operations during large-scale emergencies, like COVID-19, aids in responses to pressing health care needs

and helps improve the community’s emergency preparedness.

Volunteers do not need to be a medical professional to join. Free training is provided.

If interested, sign up at https://mrcgem.com/signups/ MRCGEM_signupform.php.

For more information about the Gwinnett Medical Reserve Corps, visit https://mrcgem.com/?fb File photo clid=IwAR3SpPgAMGMX Gwinnett County’s Medical Reserve Corps needs volunteers eGhWFuCrdyOy1Bz8kzT2 3J4duWl3juRTiva_itAKs- to help translate and to support Spanish speaking patients with paperwork and questions at COVID-19 testing sites.

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Maurice Fayne, star of ‘Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta,’ indicted on bank fraud charges

By Chamian Cruz chamian.cruz@ gwinnettdailypost.com

Maurice Fayne, who stars in “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta,” has been indicted by a federal grand jury for charges of bank fraud, making a false statement to a federally-insured financial institution, money laundering, as well as wire fraud.

Fayne, also known as Arkansas Mo, lives in Dacula.

The 37-year-old was indicted on June 24. The first three charges he’s facing are all in connection with a Paycheck Protection Program loan, and the charge for wire fraud is in connection with a Ponzi scheme.

According to U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak, the emergency lending provisions of the Paycheck Protection Program were intended to help small businesses survive the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Fayne allegedly used PPP loan proceeds to live a luxurious lifestyle that included leasing a Rolls Royce and purchasing expensive jewelry, as well as making payments to individuals involved in a Ponzi scheme,” Pak said. “We intend to investigate and charge anyone who inappropriately diverts these critical funds for personal gain.”

From approximately August 2014 through approximately May 2020, Fayne posed as the owner of a profitable trucking business. However, in truth, Fayne’s trucking business never generated enough revenue to cover its expenses, according to Pak, the indictment and other information presented in court.

Nevertheless, Fayne caused approximately 20 individuals to invest over $5 million in his trucking business by promising that he would use their money to purchase and operate trucks. Instead, Fayne used the investors’ money to pay his personal debts and expenses, and to fund an extravagant lifestyle for himself, according to information on the case.

During the wire fraud scheme, Fayne transferred more than $5 million to a casino to cover his personal gambling and entertainment expenses.

On April 15, information on the case states, Fayne signed and submitted to United Community Bank a PPP loan application in the name of his trucking business, Flame Trucking, stating that the business had 107 employees and an average monthly payroll of $1,490,200.

Fayne sought a $3,725,500 loan and certified that the loan proceeds would be used to “retain workers and maintain payroll or make mortgage interest payments, lease payments and utility payments, as specified under the Paycheck Protection Program Rule.”

Information on the case shows that as soon as Fayne received the PPP loan proceeds, he began using the proceeds for other things, including $40,000 for past-due child support and $50,000 for restitution owed in a previous fraud case.

He also used $65,000 in cash withdrawals, $85,000 for custom-made jewelry, $136,000 to lease a 2019 Rolls-Royce, $230,000 to associates who helped him run a Ponzi scheme and $907,000 to help an associate start a new business.

Fayne allegedly structured those financial transactions to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership and control of the proceeds, which raised red flags at United Community Bank.

When the bank asked Fayne to provide additional information about Flame Trucking’s finances, he responded by sending what he represented to be October, November and December 2019 bank statements for Flame Trucking’s account at Arvest Bank.

However, Fayne knew those bank statements were fraudulent, because Arvest Bank had shut down Flame Trucking’s account in Sep-

tember 2019, according to information on the case.

When federal agents interviewed Fayne, he claimed that he used all of the PPP loan proceeds to pay payroll and other business expenses incurred by Flame Trucking. He expressly denied using any of the PPP loan proceeds for personal purposes.

During the investigation, federal agents seized thousands of dollars of proceeds of Fayne’s bank fraud scheme, including $617,000 from seven bank accounts, $136,000 used as a down payment on the 2019 RollsRoyce, $79,482 in cash seized at Fayne’s residence, eight Kenworth T-680 trucks and six Great Dane refrigerated trailers.

The proceeds seized continue with a $3,750 diamond ring, a $24,500 diamond bracelet and a $52,000 Rolex watch.

“The Paycheck Protection Program is intended to keep the nation’s small businesses afloat during these unprecedented times,” Inspector General Hannibal “Mike” Ware of the Small Business Association Office of Inspector General said.

“It is unconscionable to fraudulently attempt to gain access to PPP funds at the expense of those who need it most. Our office and its law enforcement partners will aggressively investigate false statements made in attempt to receive funds from SBA’s programs. I want to thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners for their dedication and pursuit of justice.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation in conjunction with the Atlanta Complex Financial Crimes Task Force supported by the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office, and the Small Business Administration-Office of the Inspector General are investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Russell Phillips, Bernita Malloy, and Michael J. Brown are prosecuting the case.

“Despite the difficult times

the recent coronavirus pandemic has caused, the FBI and our federal partners continue to be vigilant in making sure funds provided by programs like PPP are used as intended,” Chris Hacker, special agent in charge of FBI Atlanta said. “We won’t allow anyone’s personal greed to misdirect federal emergency assistance to their own pockets, rather than go to the businesses who need it to stay afloat.”

The case is part of Georgia’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) Fraud Task Force, aimed at better protecting the citizens of Georgia from criminal fraud arising from the pandemic.

Formed by Georgia’s leading state and federal prosecutors, the task force serves to open channels of communication between partner agencies and more rapidly share information about COVID-19 fraud, while ensuring each fraud complaint is reported to the appropriate prosecuting agency.

The task force member agencies include the Office of the Governor of Georgia, the Office of the Attorney General of Georgia, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia.

Georgia’s three U.S. Attorneys, the Attorney General of Georgia and the Executive Counsel for the Governor’s Office serve on the task force.

If you think you are a victim of a scam or attempted fraud involving COVID-19, contact the National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via email at www.justice.gov/DisasterComplaintForm.

For further information, contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj. gov or (404) 581-6016. For the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, visit http://www. justice.gov/usao-ndga.

sports

gwinnettdailypost.com

SECTION B ♦ SuNday, JuNE 28, 2020

GHSA approves use of shot clock

By Will Hammock

will.hammock@gwinnettdailypost.com

A push by the coaching community has succeeded in bringing the shot clock to Georgia high school basketball.

The Georgia High School Association’s Executive Committee approved the use of a 30-second shot clock during a Tuesday afternoon meeting in Thomaston.

High school coaches backed a shot clock addition and their pitch picked up momentum on social media in recent months.

College head coaches Tom Crean of Georgia and Rob Lanier were among the speakers Tuesday who supported the measure.

The GHSA’s basketball subcommittee voted 6-0 to send the proposal to the full Executive Committee, which overwhelmingly approved the measure.

“We had a really big push the last week or so, just to make sure that coaches were communicating with their region reps because that’s how it work at the GHSA level, it’s not a state-wide vote, it’s a committee vote,” said Norcross boys head coach Jesse McMillan, one of the shot clock proponents. “We wanted to get as many talking points and communication as we could so we could get an accurate vote, whether they were for it or not.”

A three-year process will phase the shot clock into GHSA competition, beginning with use in holiday tournaments and showcase games for the 2020-21 season. Those matchups will give a high number of teams exposure to the clock.

In 2021-22, the shot clock will be used in non-region play and in region games — but only if its use is approved unanimously by the region. The full use of the shot clock will happen in 202223, when it will be used for all games, including the state playoffs.

Photo: Dale Zanine

Greater Atlanta Christian’s Jasmine Jones sprints during a high school meet.

TOP HONORS GAC’s Jones named state’s best in track and field

From staff reports Jasmine Jones, a 2020 Greater Atlanta Christian graduate, was named Thursday as the 2019-20 Gatorade Georgia Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

Jones is the first Gatorade Georgia Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year to be chosen from GAC. “Without reservation, I believe Jasmine should be the winner,” said Isiah Hill, the sprint and jumps coach at Wesleyan School. “I’ve coached athletes

across different sports over the years and she is, hands down, not only the best athlete I’ve been associated with, but one of the best human beings I’ve ever met.”

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Jones as Georgia’s best high school girls track and field athlete. She is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National

Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year award.

The state’s returning Athlete of the Year, the 5-foot-10 senior broke the tape in the 60-meter hurdles at the South Carolina Invitational with a time of 8.12 seconds, which ranked as the nation’s No. 1 time among prep indoors competitors in 2020. She outraced 33 collegians in the process, and the clocking ranks No. 7 in U.S. prep history in the event.

See HONORS, B2

Daily Post wins 8 GSWA awards

See CLOCK, B2

From staff reports

Cory Hancock

Dacula’s Christopher Scott sprints to the finish in the 200-meter dash at the 2019 GHSA Track and Field Championships.

Major changes for track, XC

By Will Hammock

will.hammock@gwinnettdailypost.com

Dale Zanine

Norcross boys basketball coach Jesse McMillan talks to his team during a 2019 state playoff game.

While the addition of a shot clock in basketball was big news from the Georgia High School Association’s Executive Committee meeting Tuesday, it also was a big day for changes in cross country and track and field.

Cross country saw one major adjustment — eliminating area meets and instead holding

region competitions for Class AAAAAAA to A — while track and field was approved for widespread changes that had been suggested by coaches statewide.

Those track and field changes are as follows: ♦ Schools may enter three athletes in each of the 14 events at area and region qualifying track meets. ♦ The GHSA will adopt NFHS Rule 4-2-1 that individual ath-

letes may compete in any four events, and also may be listed as one of eight participants on relays in track and field meets. ♦ Area and region schools are allowed only one track relay entry per relay with eight names listed at area and region qualifying track meets. ♦ Added the 3,200-meter relay to the list of track events. ♦ Phase in the 800-meter relay by the spring of 2022.

GaC hires California coach to lead softball program

By Will Hammock

will.hammock@gwinnettdailypost.com

Greater Atlanta Christian School announced Dave Martin as its new head softball coach earlier this week.

Martin comes to the Norcross private school from Saddleback Valley Christian (Calif.), where he was assistant athletic director the past 12 years. As a softball coach, he won four San Joaquin League championships and was a threetime San Joaquin League Coach of the Year.

“Coach Martin is a great a number of seasons. fit for GAC and our campus “He is an experienced and culture,” GAC athletic direchighly recommended program tor Tim Hardy said. “He is leader who has a passion for coming from Saddleback Valskill development and seeley Christian School in San ing his athletes grow through Juan Capistrano, California, the game of softball. We bewhere he spent over 20 years lieve the Lord has led Coach in Christian education as a Dave Martin Martin to GAC to guide our teacher, coach and administrator. program for the coming years.”

He has a passion for the game of Martin replaces former Spartan softball with 18 seasons of softball softball coach Jessica Coan Crawcoaching experience. In addition to ford, who accepted a coaching pocoaching his high school teams, he sition at Jackson County. She was has also coached club softball for a record-breaking pitcher at GAC

before playing college softball at Georgia Tech and North Georgia.

“I am beyond blessed and excited to join the GAC family,” Martin said. “I am a firm believer in the value of Christian education, which is why all three of our children attended SVC preschool through high school. I love softball. The pace of the game, the competition, along with the passion with which the athletes play, fuel my desire to get on the dirt each and every day.

See GAC COACH, B2

The Gwinnett Daily Post won eight awards in voting conducted by the Georgia Sports Writers Association for its best of 2019. The awards were released Friday morning.

The Daily Post’s honors included second place for Best Sports Section, second place for Best Special Section for its annual high school football preview and third place for Best Sunday Sports Section.

Sports editor Will Hammock earned a first-place award for Best High School Event Story on Deadline for his piece on tennis player Thomas Montroy leading Brookwood to the state championship the day after his mother’s death. He also had a third-place finish for his Amateur Non-Scholastic Sports story celebrating the life of beloved Gwinnett County Swim League coach Carole Cripe.

Staff writer Christine Troyke placed second in two categories, including Best High School Event Story on Deadline for Holy Innocents’ girls basketball win over Wesleyan in the state finals. She also earned second for Best High School Feature or Series, Non-Deadline for her piece on the miraculous comeback from injury by Archer lacrosse player Mikaela Carlsen.

Staff writer Taylor Denman took second in Best Pro/College Sports Event Story on Deadline for his story from the Super Bowl on University of Georgia players on the Patriots savoring the victory.

B2 ♦ Sunday, June 28, 2020 ♦ gwinnettdailypoSt.com

IN BRIEF Ervin chooses Nebraska Buford running back Gabe Ervin committed Tuesday afternoon to the Nebraska Cornhuskers football program.

The 6-foot, 205-pound Erwin is ranked as a threestar recruit in the 247Sports. com Composite Rankings, which have him as the No. 66 rising senior in Georgia.

He had offers from close to 20 Power Five programs.

Ervin rushed for 1,210 yards and 13 touchdowns as a junior while splitting time in the backfield for the Wolves’ Class AAAAA state championship team.

don College (Ala.) men’s nett’s Frank Zhou was the selection in boys tennis. basketball program.

Lewis is a 6-foot-4 wing. Myers also recently earned the Northside Hospital Leadership Scholarship Wooden signs with Award — the first GwinYoung Harris nett student to receive the Keyara Wooden, a 2020 honor.

Every Georgia high school Discovery grad, has signed sport had one overall state with the Young Harris College women’s basketball winner honored by Positive Athlete Georgia, which recprogram. ognizes young athletes who The 5-foot-5 guard averhave overcome difficult ciraged 12.2 points and 3.1 recumstances, given back to bounds as a senior for the their schools and commuTitans, who set a school renities in a significant way, cord for wins in a season. or just have an infectious positive attitude that makes Denaga commits to everyone around them a better person.

Brevard College

Mountain View junior EmMill Creek launches ily Denaga has committed to youth XC Schulz picks Davidson the Brevard College women’s lacrosse program.

The Mill Creek Athletic Jackson Schulz, a rising The midfielder also is a two- Association has opened regsenior at Brookwood, com- year member of the Bears’ istration for its new youth mitted Thursday to the Da- flag football program. cross country team. vidson College (N.C.) footThe first-year program, ball program.

Myers, Zhou earn open to fifth- through eighthSchulz is a 6-foot-2, graders, offers young runstatewide honors 240-pound prospect at tight ners a unique opportunity end and defensive end.

Two Gwinnett County stu- in the sport before moving dents were selected as Positive Athlete Georgia statewide award-winners for the 2019-20 school year.

David Lewis, a 2020 Mill Duluth’s Rex Myers was Creek grad, committed Georgia’s honoree for boys Wednesday to the Hunting- lacrosse, and North Gwin-

Lewis commits to Huntingdon

“

onto the high school level.

Registration is open through July 6.

For more information, go to https://www.millcreekaa. net/page/show/5795495mill-creek-cross-country.

Staff photo: christine troyke

Greater Atlanta Christian senior Jasmine Jones poses for a photo at the school.

HONORS From B1 Jones also ranked No. 33 in the long jump and No. 58 in the 60-meter dash this past indoor season. She capped her 2019 outdoor campaign by winning the 100-meter hurdles at the USATF U20 Championships in a personalbest 13.19, which ranked as the nation’s No. 1 time among prep competitors in 2019 as well as No. 29 in high school history. Jones followed that up by winning the event at the Pan-American Championships in Costa Rica. At the 2019 Class AAA State Championships, she swept the 200-meter dash, the 100 hurdles and the long jump — the latter the nation’s No. 7 leap among prep competitors in 2019 — leading the Spartans to the team title.

An 11-time state champion

and the No. 5 recruit in the Class of 2020 as rated by MileSplit, she also ran the lead leg for last year’s winning 1,600-meter relay quartet and the third leg for a 400 foursome that broke the tape as well.

A gifted dancer who has performed at the highest levels of competitive dance on private and school teams, Jones also participates in musical theater, having played primary roles in “My Fair Lady” and “The Sound of Music.” She has participated in a service-mission trip to Nicaragua and also donates her time as a tutor for lower-school students in addition to teaching dance and theater to young students.

Jones has maintained a weighted 4.4 weighted GPA in the classroom. She has signed a national letter of intent to compete in track and field at the University of Southern California.

GAC COACH From B1 “Likewise, I am a huge proponent and fan of women’s sports. The lifelong benefits are amazing. I have experienced this firsthand as I’ve had the joy of coaching

“

without reservation, i believe Jasmine should be the winner. i’ve coached athletes across different sports over the years and she is, hands down, not only the best athlete i’ve been associated with, but one of the best human beings i’ve ever met.”

Isiah Hill, the sprint and jumps coach at Wesleyan School

my daughter in high school and following her athletic career through college. Too many girls quit playing sports in middle school due to a lack of validation through their experiences. I hope to foster a culture at GAC that draws girls to the game of softball, developing a passion and love that will keep them playing as long as possible.”

i think some of the loudest voices against (the shot clock) are coaches and administrators who aren’t in the game anymore. that doesn’t mean their opinion isn’t valid. But the majority of coaches currently coaching and coming up through the ranks are for it.”

Norcross boys head coach Jesse McMillan

CLOCK From B1 “It was a good day,” McMillan said of the approval.

“I think some of the loudest voices against (the shot clock) are coaches and administrators who aren’t in the game anymore. That doesn’t mean their opinion

isn’t valid. But the majority of coaches currently coaching and coming up through the ranks are for it.”

The main concern of the anti-shot clock crowd is the potential cost of installation.

McMillan said most newer gyms, those with scoreboards from the last decade, already are outfitted for use with a digital shot clock. A wireless shot clock will be available at most

high schools. The shot clocks retail for roughly $2,500, but the company’s price is expected to drop because of bulk purchases from Georgia schools.

As for shot clock operation, officials associations have suggested an extra referee at the scorer’s table to work the clock. Those schools who don’t want to use an official can get training for school personnel to be an operator.

Staff photo: curt yeomans

COVID-19 testing kit supplies can be seen at one of the two testing sites in Gwinnett County in May. Gwinnett County Public Schools confirmed four individuals participating in athletic conditioning programs at four different schools have tested positive for COVID-19.

4 tied to 4 GCPS athletic programs test positive

By Curt Yeomans

curt.yeomans@gwinnettdailypost.com

Four people tied to athletic programs at four different schools in Gwinnett County have tested positive for COVID-19, school system officials have confirmed.

District spokesman Sloan Roach said the four individuals were participating in athletic conditioning at Discovery, Mill Creek, North Gwinnett and Parkview high schools.

It was not clear if they were coaches or student-athletes, or whether they were involved in football or another sport. Roach said she did not have information about who the individuals were.

Students and staff members, including the four people who tested positive for COVID-19 and anyone who had direct contact with them, will not be allowed to participate in activities on their respective campuses again until they have been cleared by a doctor, however.

“Our Return to Conditioning Plan follows the guidance from the Department of Health,” Roach said. “These guidelines call for those who had direct contact with the ill person to be notified. Those individuals are sent home to self-isolate per DPH guidelines and to seek medical attention, if appropriate.”

The fact that the four schools where someone participating in athletic conditions programs are spread across the county underscores a point that Dr. Audrey Arona, the district health director for Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale counties, has repeatedly made: that it is not just one single area of Gwinnett that is suffering from the pandemic.

“This virus is all over the county, it’s all over the state, and you know there are concentrated areas where we do see an increase, but we believe that’s related to the density of the population,” Arona said.

“Again, we try to reach into those areas to provide more messaging, but we provide the same message for our entire community and that is that it really is important that everybody take personal responsibility to wear a mask and social distance.”

Two of the four schools, Parkview and Discovery, are in two of the five Gwinnett zip codes that have been the hardest hit in the county by the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic.

Data released by the Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale Health Departments showed the 30047 zip code, where Parkview is located, had a COVID-19 incidence rate of 10.19 cases for every 1,000 residents, with a total of 608 cases seen so far. That is the fourth highest incidence rate in the county.

Meanwhile, Discovery is located in the 30046 zip code, which has been the fifth hardest hit zip code in the county. The local health department data released this week showed that zip code had an incidence rate of 10.02 cases for every 1,000 residents, or a total of 346 cases.

Mill Creek, on the other hand, is in the 30548 zip code, where cases have been much rarer. That zip code has only had 20 cases during the pandemic and an incidence rate of 1.26 cases for every 1,000 residents.

And North Gwinnett is in the 30024 zip code, which has had the 19th highest incidence rate among Gwinnett’s 29 zip codes.

Its incidence rate has been 3.002 cases for every 1,000 residents, for a total of 194 cases during the pandemic.

Arona said officials from the health department had been regular communication with officials in the school systems across Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale counties to talk to them about precautions for keeping students safe as they return to campus this summer and in the fall.

“We anticipate we’re going to have many more conference calls with the schools as we get closer and closer to school openings,” Arona said. “We’re playing our part in that whole role because it really involves the complete community to make sure we’re addressing the needs of the community, education needs, public health, prevention messages, what we need to do to keep our community safe.

“The more that we collaborate the better, and that’s what we’re doing right now pretty heavily.”

gwinnettdailypost.com ♦ sunday, June 28, 2020 ♦ B3

PERSPECTIVES

Gwinnett Daily Post www.gwinnettdailypost.com

Todd Cline,

Editor and SCNI Vice President of Content todd.cline@gwinnettdailypost.com

LOCAL COLUMNIST|DARRELL HUCKABY

Keep the faith that better days are ahead

COLUMNIST|DICK YARBROUGH

H

ere we all are on the cusp of the pression, World War II and Jimmy Carter strangest summer in my memory, being president of the United States, but which is, of course, following the we know a lot more about communicable strangest spring in my memory. Winter diseases than we did in 1918 and the risk was pretty normal. We didn’t get is just too great, and we still know any snow in Atlanta, and my Geortoo little about the coronavirus, so gia Bulldogs finished next to last Salem Camp Meeting, and every in the SEC. Remember normalcy? other one I know anything about, Remember when it was sumwill not take place. mertime and the living was easy?

We’ll have some virtual stuff online, Actually, I don’t either. But I rebut if there’s no wood shavings bemember when it was fun. As a kid tween your toes, it’s just not the same. summers were endless. Easy disapHere’s hoping that by next sumHuckaby peared on my 16th birthday when I mer everything will be back bigger went to work in the cotton mill. And then and stronger than ever. Here’s hoping that after six years of that I entered my camp everyone will have such a deep thirst for staff phase. The summers I spent as wa- life the way we remember it that we will terfront director at Camp Jamison on the fill our tabernacle every night and that the Bert Adams Scout Reservation were the Holy Spirit will wash over the masses like most idyllic of my life. it was the day of Pentecost all over again.

Then marriage and eventually kids of Here’s hoping. Maybe we can throw a my own came along, and summer meant little praying in there, too. long family trips and days at the pool and Meanwhile, COVID-19 continues to prove outings to baseball games and their own that it is no respecter of anyone or anysummer camps and . . . Well, you remem- thing. Numbers continue to increase, and ber what summers used to be. people continue to argue over whether it This summer, however, is the summer is as serious, as deadly or as contagious as of COVID-19, and none of us really knows “they” would have you believe — whoever how much we should be able to enjoy our- “they” are. selves. No ballgames, of course. No long I don’t know. I am not a smart enough days at the swimming pool. I snuck away man to know. But I know that I got word for a few days at the beach and was wor- Thursday morning that a good friend and ried the whole time that I was doing the great person, Officer Steven Minor, had wrong thing. I felt pretty safe on the golf succumbed to the virus. Steve served with course and in the middle of the Atlantic the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office for Ocean, but honesty compels me to admit 16 years. I knew him best during the three that I felt funny in the restaurants and years he served as Heritage High School there were no all-you-can-eat-including- resource officer. crab-leg-buffets open.

He was as good as they come. Many have The central event of summers in my referred to him as a “gentle giant.” He was family, especially for the past 40 years, a large man, but there was always a smile has been camp meeting. It’s a Southern playing around the corners of his mouth. thing, primarily, and you might or might He did his job and you didn’t want to cross not understand. Camp meeting is part reli- him, but he loved the students at Heritage, gious revival, part family reunion and part and the staff, and they loved him back. social gathering. There is preaching and His death has made COVID very real to singing and homemade ice cream eating, a great number of us and has made this aland young people get to be out and about ready strange summer even sadder than it without checking in until suppertime— just already was. like all of us used to.

Stay safe, y’all. And keep the faith. Things The first one was in Cane Ridge, Ky., are going to get better soon. I believe that. in 1801. The one I attend is Salem Camp Well, UGA’a basketball team, I’m not so Meeting, near Covington. It has taken place sure about — but everything else will get every summer since 1828, except for two better soon. years during the recent unpleasantness between the North and South. We survived Darrell Huckaby is an author in Rockdale World War I, the Spanish flu, the Great De- County. Email him at dhuck008@gmail.com.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS: EmAil: letters@gwinnettdailypost.com mAil: 725 Old Norcross Road Lawrenceville, Georgia, 30046

COLUMNIST|KATHLEEN PARKER

A

s beauty exists in the eye of the beholder, so does the ugliness of a statue.

Latest to the list of soon-to-be fallen monuments is one of President Theodore Roosevelt, who has presided over the entrance to New York’s American Museum of Natural History for the past eight decades. Set high on his steed and bookended by a Native American and an African warrior, both below on foot, the sculpture is supposed to represent Roosevelt’s love of hunting and his dedication to conservation, both facets of his successful presidential mission to create our national park system.

But in the midst of today’s era of outrage, his legacy is being viewed in a different, more-modern light. With passions fully engaged after the death of George Floyd in police custody everything is in question and some, it would seem, want to delete history altogether.

At whose expense did Roosevelt collect all those trophies on his hunting expeditions, is the question of the moment. And, by whose disenfranchisement and suffering were our beautiful parks created?

I

Some random thoughts on some unsettling times

f you are still watching television news have called for the defunding of the police (I rarely do these days), you will notice department and putting the money toward that the protests across the country seem “public programs that will support workto be as much generational as racial. There ing-class and poor Chicagoans.” Then on are a lot of young white kids marching with Memorial Day weekend, 18 people were Blacks. That tells me these protests killed in a 24-hour period, making are going to be with us awhile. What that 245 murders since the first of youngsters lack in perspective, they the year in Chicago. The Chicago make up for in passion. ...

Sun-Times reports most homiProtesters seem intent on erascide victims in Chicago are young ing any vestiges of Southern history. black men and that the suspects That includes tearing down statues are, too. No comment from Black and changing the names of anything Lives Matter. ... associated with the past. But how do I saw a young white female flouncthey propose to handle the issue of Yarbrough ing around the governor’s mansion the 14 counties in Georgia named with a “Defund the Police” sign. I for Confederate soldiers and politicians? wonder how she would feel if she got dragged And what about the Democratic Party? If into an alley on the mean streets of Atlanta. protesters are going to tarnish the image Who would she call? Colick Kaperdoodle? of famed journalist Henry W. Grady, why Her mommy? ... give a pass to the party of Gene Talmadge Speaking of Malfunction Junction, aka, and Marvin Griffin and Roy Harris? (Look the City Too Busy to Hate, and home to them up, kiddies.) ... a demoralized police force, records show I must admit I look on the Confederate that arrests over a recent two-week period statue issue with some ambivalence. In all in Atlanta were down 72% from the same my years of dealing with special interest period last year. Narcotics arrests were groups, the meanest and surliest was the down 95%, while shooting incidents tripled old Georgia state flag crowd for whom the and the number of shooting victims almost War Between the States still rages. The flag quadrupled. Serious domestic crimes rose that featured the Confederate battle stan- by 57%. The sad thing is the areas most dard was adopted in 1956 in defiance to the impacted by these crimes are the poor beginnings of the civil rights struggles. Dur- neighborhoods. Let’s ask them how they ing the planning for the 1996 Centennial feel about defunding the police. Or maybe Olympic Games, flaggers demanded the the armed thugs guarding the burned-out flag be flown at the state-owned venues, Wendy’s restaurant in southeast Atlanta despite Olympic rules saying only the flag will deign to help out. ... of the host country and the Olympic flag Finally, the University of Georgia Redcoat could be flown. That wasn’t good enough Band has announced it will no longer play for them and we endured all kinds of nas- Tara’s Theme from Gone with the Wind at ty threats corporately and me personally. football games. No problem here. I never When Gov. Roy Barnes changed the flag liked the movie anyway. Instead, they will in 2001 and lost reelection to Sonny Per- play “Georgia on my Mind,” the greatest due, the flaggers took credit, only to have song in the history of mankind and made Perdue change it anyway. I have no sym- famous by Ray Charles Robinson, of Albapathy for that bunch. They lost my good ny, Georgia. Warning to all you do-gooders, will years ago. ... the ACLU, eager-beaver kids and Colick I’m still trying to figure out why a bunch Kaperdoodle admirers: Don’t even think of protesters in Madison, Wisconsin, tore about messing with “Georgia on my Mind.” down a statue of Col. Christian Heg, an an- And if you choose to kneel while that sacred ti-slavery activist who fought for the Union paean is being performed, it had better be and died during the Civil War. The nearly out of profound and reverential respect.

100-year-old sculpture was decapitated We aren’t having this conversation again. and thrown into a nearby lake. I am guessing it snows so much in Wisconsin that it You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@ dickyarbrough.com; at P.O. Box 725373, produces brain freeze or maybe there is Atlanta GA 31139; or on Facebook at www. nothing else to do there but milk cows. ...

Six members of the Chicago City Council facebook.com/dickyarb.

Farewell, Teddy Real people lived in some of those digenous peoples and robbed them spots before ticket takers deployed of their homelands. The headline at the garden gates. But so have on a recent Smithsonian Magazine real people lived in every place and story about the statue seals the deal time throughout history. Should we for resistant minds: “The racist pretend otherwise? Or, should we statue of Theodore Roosevelt will review the past through a filtered no longer loom over the American lens of today’s woke-fullness? It’s Museum of Natural History.”

Parker one thing to be informed and mindHurrah, I guess. I’ve walked past ful; quite another to be perpetually that statue dozens of times and nevwounded and vengeful. er much liked it. Too much testosterone Had the two other men accompanying for my druthers. And, frankly, I’m not a Roosevelt also been on horseback, would fan of great white hunters off on safari to the statue have been more acceptable? I exploit the life and native species of lands wonder. As it stands, activists as well as not their own, assisted by local talent who the museum itself, have decided that the are treated as servants. trio’s hierarchical construction implies By that standard, of course, there would superiority and servitude. In fact, the be no male statues anywhere on the planet, standing men were supposed to repre- given women’s inferior status throughout sent guides in the places Roosevelt liked the bulk of history. For every Cleopatra, to hunt and survey. They were helpers, in ruling from her barge, there have been other words, not slaves, but never mind. millions of women beaten or stoned to Historical accuracy is no obstacle to self- death by men, often guided by dogma creabsorbed nihilism. ated by men in the first place. Just sayin’.

Thus, the consensus among the chosen The world hardly needs to concern itfew is that Roosevelt was a white suprem- self with my personal preferences, a conacist, racist-colonialist, who exploited in- cept I wish others would embrace. I’m

constitutionally averse to depictions of suffering, human or animal. And, yet, I’ve learned much more from art books and museums about life and history than from all my years in public-school classrooms. Some art deeply offends me, is hard for me to look at, and is nothing I’d ever want to hang on a wall. But I don’t feel compelled to destroy it. Civilization, at least as practiced here, provides lawful means to change what we don’t like.

While vandalizing or destroying objectionable property may provide a momentary release, nothing good comes from letting loose the dogs of anarchy.

The protests, by focusing their attention on destroying monuments, have moved past the death of George Floyd. There is value in purging the landscape of a past that continues to sow division. As a nation, we may be ready to let go of monuments to our past divisions; I know I am.

But there’s no erasing history if we hope not to repeat it.

Kathleen Parker is a columnist for the Washington Post.

B4 ♦ Sunday, June 28, 2020 ♦ gwinnettdailypoSt.com CLOSE TO HOME

John McPherson

FAMILY CIRCUS

Bill Keane

Today’s Solution

BEETLE BAILEY Mort & Greg Walker

BLONDIE Dean Young & John Marshall

DILBERT®

Scott Adams

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE Chris Browne

Zits Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

PEANUTS

GARFIELD Jim Davis

POOCH CAFE Paul Gilligan

Charles M. Schulz

PICKLES Brian Crane

Sudoku is a number-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same numSolution to today's Sudoku ber only once.

WHATZIT SOLUTION:

Today’s Answer: Oatmeal

gwinnettdailypost.com ♦ sunday, June 28, 2020 ♦ B5

Fairy Tales

M E A T

W I N C E

P A E C Z A D L E A M D Y M E L D

O A S I S

L I S T E N S T O H I S B E A N S T A L K

I D L E S P E N N S

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S A E N E D R J U M A S I L T L L A E L C O A T C R O L E F A S H S O H G T W D O A E R S U C H T H

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27. Highest clubs 28. Extreme 30. Half of a dance?

31. Eccentric oldster 32. 1& 2 & 3 & 4 33. Baby carriers 35. Elected official: abbr.

36. 12/24 or 12/31 37. Combines, as funds 38. Like some milk 40. Silk or satin 42. Ironic 43. Part of the knee 45. More modern 46. Beast of burden 48. Common contraction 51. City in Switzerland 52. Eye lustfully 54. Explosives, for short 55. Org. that backs the Second Amendment 56. TV s Paula 57. Carry; bring 58. Sign of malaria 59. Dirt + water 60. Prefix for taste or temper 61. One __ time 62. CD followers 64. Hogan or Vereen 65. Derek & Diddley 66. French article 67. Floridian reptile, for short 68. Mechanical men 70. Mustang or Pinto 72. Foreign envoy s title: abbr.

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13. Grimace in pain 14. Genuine 15. Speedy jet, for short 16. Why does Snow White sleep in the salad dressing?

17. Register 18. Protein source 21. Approx. totals 23. What did the Three Pigs take to the laundry?

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DOWN 1. What does Jack do in his garden?

2. Does nothing 3. Prophet 4. Linking word 2

N E E N V A C T M R N O O O E L D

A S E G H T S T E E S R S T R A E N E F A B R E W E R R A T E Y E F G R O B F O R Y A M I E A T E H S T E T H B B R O A F E A L L A S L O T

by Calvin R. & Jackie Mathews

Certain batteries Fancy Made a choice March, for example Wet sticky stuff Presidential initials Dander Nauseous Alleviate Deuce __ Barrymore Kyrgyzstan s location WWII nav. transport __ double take; look twice Subside Stream of light Words of agreement Items often changed Lazybones Design anew Slovenly posture Most-watched TV series of 83- 84 In poor taste Friends and relatives Job opening Top rating

1

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© Puzzle Features Syndicate

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Health Choice offering COVID-19, antibody testing

By Chamian Cruz chamian.cruz@gwinnettdailypost.com

and CEO of the Northside Hospital Gwinnett campuses, said.

Health Choice’s three locations in Gwinnett County are in Hamilton Mill, Sugar Hill and Grayson. All centers are open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The centers offer walk-in urgent care and occupational health services, accept all major insurance and have affordable self-pay options. Additionally, all Health Choice centers are Veterans Affairs authorized urgent care providers.

For more information about services and locations, visit www.healthchoiceuc.com. For more information about COVID-19 and antibody testing, visit www.healthchoiceuc.com or visit your nearest Health Choice center.

Northside Hospital has completed the launch of a new brand, Health Choice Urgent Care, and is now offering COVID-19 and antibody testing.

Health Choice, formerly ChoiceOne Urgent Care, celebrated the new name with a ribbon cutting ceremony last week in Sugar Hill, representing a reintroduction of the Gwinnett County centers to the community in conjunction with new ownership and management.

In March, Northside Hospital Inc. acquired ChoiceOne Urgent Care of Gwinnett and partnered with the Nashville-based Urgent Care Group to manage and operate three locations in the Gwinnett County area.

“We are pleased to continue to serve File photo the Gwinnett County community by offering convenient, affordable and Health Choice, formerly ChoiceOne efficient on-demand care at Health Urgent Care, in Grayson is shown Choice,” Debbie Mitcham, president in this file photo.

Peachtree Corners announces 2020 event schedule

By Chamian Cruz chamian.cruz@ gwinnettdailypost.com

After Peachtree Corners kicked off its inaugural event season in April 2019, the anticipated 2020 season was delayed due to the state’s mandatory shelterin-place order that began in March.

However, with the state’s new directives that lifts many of its previous restrictions and following Gwinnett County’s lead, the city has announced it will begin its 2020 event schedule in July.

The events include a new event, a Night Market on Friday, July 10, followed

by Flicks on the Green on July 11, Classic Sports on the Screen July 18 and a live concert featuring Electric Avenue, a 1980’s pop tribute band, on July 25.

Some of the April, May and June events have been rescheduled for later in the year. And several of last year’s favorite events will also be offered, including the city’s big concert series that features Electric Avenue; Texas Flood, Aug. 29; Drivin N Cryin, Sept.

26 and Marcy Playground on Oct 17.

This year’s list of special events include: ♦ Derby Party: Sept. 5, 6 – 9 p.m.

♦ Bark in the Park: Sept.

14, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. ♦ Harvest Fest: Oct. 24, 4 – 7 p.m. ♦ Veterans Day: Nov. 11, 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. ♦ Holiday Glow on the Green: Dec. 4, 6 – 9 p.m.

To ensure everyone’s safety, the city has incorporated some modifications: 6-foot social distancing and face masks will be required.

The Night Market, held 6:30 – 9:30 p.m., features local farmers with fruits, vegetables, gardeners with fresh flowers and herbs, and edible home goods from desserts and breads to homemade sauces, jellies and soaps for sale.

The booths will be spaced to ensure all attendees are able to maintain social distancing while they shop.

Attendees will also enjoy live music provided by 42 Coldplay Tribute band.

For lawn events, such as those that feature watching movies and concerts, large white circles will be painted on the Town Green’s grass for use by families and groups so all may enjoy their time together while maintaining social distancing.

The circles will accommodate family and groups and will be spaced 6 feet apart.

For concerts, the city is incorporating a no-cost reservation system in order to

NGMC now tracking coronavirus in new mothers and infants

By Chamian Cruz chamian.cruz@ gwinnettdailypost.com

Northeast Georgia Medical Center’s Women and Children’s Services has joined a national registry to track COVID-19 in mothers and infants to help improve the counseling of pregnant women with COVID-19.

Information gathered through the registry will also improve infection control practices and aid neonatal care teams in predicting infant risks and how the virus impacts both mother and baby.

“Because COVID-19 is new, we know very little about the risk of transmission and the severity of this virus in pregnant moms and new babies,” Bridgette Schulman, clinical practice specialist for North Georgia’s Women and Children’s Services, said. “We do know the mother-infant connection is a special bond which leads to very close contact, increasing the likelihood of transmission.”

The national registry, which is an initiative of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Section on Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, is a non-interventional study focused on gathering data from hospi-

tals across the country.

There are currently 176 facilities in the registry that represent 39 states and the District of Columbia. It provides data on the relationship between mothers who deliver — and test positive for COVID-19 — and their infants.

“Our hope in participating in this registry is to learn more about the transmission of COVID-19 here at NGMC,” Schulman said. “The knowledge gained from this research will help us protect this vulnerable population and the staff that care for them.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, mothers have to make a myriad of decisions such as whether or not to breastfeed. These decisions, hospital officials said, are not taken lightly, and the data collected through the national registry will help inform hospitals on how to handle them.

“At the end of the day, we simply hope this research will help us provide the best care possible for mothers and babies who may be dealing with this virus,” Schulman said.

For more information about Women and Children’s Services, visit nghs.com/womenchildren or call 770-219-1495.

maintain safety and crowd control. Space will be limited, and reservations will be taken on a “first comefirst served” basis. The nocost reservation system for concerts will be activated in mid-July.

The city’s revised 2020 Calendar of Events is available at www.peachtreecornersga.gov/home/ showdocument?id=8352.

It is also accessible on the city’s website under the “Town Center Events” tab.

Check the city calendar regularly for updated event information.

Peachtree Corners will begin its 2020 event schedule in July.

Shown are two kids at Holiday Glow on the Green in this file photo. ♦

File photo

gwinnettdailypost.com ♦ sunday, June 28, 2020 ♦ C5

LIFESTYLE

ART BEAT|HOLLEY CALMES

North Gwinnett Arts Association honors Sheridan with scholarship

W

hen sports and the arts come together with a desire to help others, the results can be as surprising as they are unique.

Recent North Gwinnett High School graduate Katelyn Sheridan embodies this unusual concept. As the recipient of NGAA’s 2020 Art Scholarship, Sheridan will use it to further her dream of becoming an artist/industrial engineer, designing prosthetics for disabled individuals.

The photography Sheridan submitted along with her scholarship application got the attention of NGAA President Cherie Heringer.

“We were impressed with her overall talent, ambition and academic performance,” Heringer said. “She also received a glowing recommendation from Dallas Gellespie, her teacher and mentor.”

While many NGAA Art Scholarship recipients move on to attend such schools as SCAD, Sheridan will enroll at Georgia Tech in Atlanta this fall, attending the School of Industrial Design.

There, Sheridan is eager to take part in the school’s “Invention Studio.”

“The Invention Studio is a wonderland for creative people,” Sheridan said. “They have countless tools including laser cutters and 3D printers, so it is a perfect place to develop prototypes. In the

special photo

Katelyn Sheridan is the recipient of the North Gwinnett Arts Association’s 2020 Art Scholarship award. Pictured L-R are NGAA President Cherie Heringer, Tracy Sheridan, Katelyn Sheridan, Steve Sheridan, Aggie Nivilinszky, director of the newly named Suwanee Arts Center, and Ife Williams NGAA Secretary.

Industrial Design building, they have a Body Scan Lab that uses high-resolution scanning to create custom products for people. I can use this technology to create custom fits for people who have lost limbs.”

Sheridan was artistic as a toddler.

“If I wasn’t playing in the backyard, I was creating art,” she said. “My mom supplied me with paint and paper from the age of 2. From then until high school, I filled

coloring books and sketchbooks, built tiny rooms for my toys, and finished tons of Lego creations. I got into photography in high school, but I still love sketching and painting.”

Playing lacrosse and flag football throughout high school led Sheridan to realize how important physical activities are, and how lifechanging it is for someone to lose the use of a part of their body.

“Because I am so active, I

want everyone to have the opportunity to be active without physical limitations holding them back,” she said.

Designing prosthetics blends all of Sheridan’s interests. Above all, she says, “I have a heart for helping people. Designing prosthetics immediately made sense to me because it combined my eye for design and love for engineering with my heart to help others.”

The implications for helping those disabled in combat

was another consideration.

Sheridan’s father is a former Marine.

“I didn’t want to actually enlist,” she said, “so I think I found a happy medium because most of the people needing prosthetics are veterans.”

Her “dream job” would be to research materials and design to improve how prosthetics are made as well as custom fitting them for individuals.

“I can also see myself with

a two or three-legged dog in the future,” Sheridan said.

“Creating the wheels and other artificial limbs for animals interests me too. I want to give every living thing a chance!”

Visit https://www.ngaa4arts. com/ for more information about the Arts Scholarship Program.

Holley Calmes is a freelance writer and public relations consultant specializing in the arts. Email her at hcalmes@ mindspring.com.

COLUMNIST|ROB JENKINS

Time to pull the plug on big-time college sports O

f all the fraught topics selves at a disadvantage beI’ve tackled over the cause so many other coaches years, this is and programs cheat. the one most likely to Athletes contribmake enemies. People ute to the scummyin the South don’t get ness, too, as many as upset about politics have their hands out as they do when they from day one. And who think you’re criticizcan blame them? “The ing their college footother guy offered me ball team. a bunch of stuff,” they So let me say up essentially say. “Why Jenkins front that I’m not aren’t you offering me trashing any particular team. stuff, too?”

I’m trashing all of them.

I’m not arguing, by the Just kidding. As any long- way, that we should do away time reader of this column with athletics. I believe sports knows very well, I’m as big have great value for individa sports fan as you’ll find — uals and communities. I’m especially college football and just suggesting that we conbasketball. I actually made sider some common-sense my living as a college bas- reforms, starting with banketball coach for 13 years, ning recruiting and abolishalbeit at a lower level. ing athletic scholarships.

So please understand that Instead, let’s spread that it pains me to say this. It’s money across the student not a conclusion I wanted body, making 80 percent of to reach. And yet I’m con- all scholarships needs-based vinced that it may be time and the other 20 percent to say goodbye to big-time based on merit — academic college athletics. merit, since that’s supposThe whole business has edly what college is about. simply gotten out of hand.

Let’s pay coaches like facIt’s too big, not to mention ulty members — and give too big for its britches. them tenure just like faculI’m pro-free market enough ty members. Then let’s put not to begrudge anybody together teams by holding making a buck. But when open tryouts for all students the football coach is paid in good academic standing, more than the president of the way high schools do. the university, the governor That way, our college sports of the state, and every mem- programs really will be repber of the history depart- resentative of our states and ment combined, I think we communities. The onus will might have a problem with be on coaches to organize, priorities. teach, and develop.

And then there’s the corBest of all, athletics will ruption. Seriously, has there no longer overshadow the ever been an ostensibly legal academic mission of the unienterprise that is as corrupt as versity. They will be an imbig-time college sports? Has portant but subordinate part a year ever gone by without of that mission, as they were multiple scandals involving always meant to be. major universities?

I can tell you first-hand Rob Jenkins is a college that recruiting is a cesspool, professor. The views expressed here are his own. You can even at the level I coached. email Rob at rob.jenkins@ Honest coaches trying to run outlook.com. clean programs find them-

YOUR CARE FROM ANYWHERE.

Whether you’re stuck at home or constantly on the go, you can still get the expert health care you count on. Northeast Georgia Physicians Group and The Heart Center of NGMC now offer video visits. That means you can interact directly with your care team from anywhere, so you get the help you need to feel your best.

To learn more or to request an appointment, visit nghs.com/video-visits.