One on One with Blake Hawkins

By Our Town Gwinnett Staff

The Our Town Gwinnett staff met up recently with Blake Hawkins, owner of the Grayson Farmacy, and asked him to share a bit about himself to our readers.

Our Town Gwinnett (OTG): Please tell our readers a little about yourself.

Blake Hawkins (BH): I am just a free-spirited entrepreneur and a proud Florida State University and a dog Dad.

OTG: What do you want our readers to know about you?

BH: That I am passionate about the Grayson Farmacy.

OTG: Who were your mentors and role models?

BH: My Father was my mentor and is still my role model.

OTG: Describe some of the struggles you’ve encountered and how you overcame them.

BH: Recently I experienced a non-life-threatening disease which dramatically changed my life choices and allowed me to once again be the entrepreneur I was born to be.

Let the Buck Stop Here Continued from page 14

Those property owners are requesting that the Georgia General Assembly hit the “pause” button on consideration of a Buckhead cityhood referendum. Their collective properties pay roughly $54 million in property taxes annually to the City of Atlanta. If the General Assembly won’t pause the discussions, they are requesting to be drawn OUT of the proposed new city of Buckhead. These properties include major malls and much of the “golden goose” portions of the proposed municipality.

And as a more practical matter, if our State Constitution is of any real concern, if affluent communities in almost any city can, in essence, break away, sub-divide, gate themselves off, and give no concern to financing the broader costs of public schools, existing infrastructure, bonded debt, pension, and retirement obligations, and ownership of commons assets (schools, parks, roads, and bridges), how will the bonding agencies treat Georgia’s highest possible ratings for future bonded debt? Or won’t the bonding ability of major cities across the nation come into question once this precedent is set?

Moreover, Georgia already has a town of Buckhead, 65 miles east of Atlanta, not far off I-20. Now a sleepy hamlet of less than 200, it was once a bustling rail burg between Atlanta and Augusta. Though everything has a price, it does have its own Buckhead Post Office and ZIP Code™; if they later sell those to this small group of rich folks in Atlanta, I hope they extract a pretty penny for them. Furthermore, if you consider yourself an Atlanta native as I do, I doubt a decade from now you want to be thinking about the Atlanta that was and what is left of an Atlanta then. It’s time for this Buck to stop here.

Bill Crane is the owner of CSI Crane. More information at www. CSICrane.com March 2022 Our Town Gwinnett OTG: What are your favorite things to do?

BH: I am a self-taught Chef through my mother’s cooking skills. I like to garden and my German Shorthaired Pointer, Gunter, is my dog-child.

OTG: What excites you?

BH: Food, friends, and family

OTG: What role does community play in your life?

BH: I love my Grayson family and community.

OTG: How do you give back to your community?

BH: For twenty years I managed the Grayson Children’s Fund, providing less fortunate children Christmas gifts anonymously. Today I look forward to offering educational opportunities through classes and workshops at the Farmacy to teach children about entrepreneurship, where food comes from, and “how to” learn many new hobbies such as crochet, art, and cooking and preserving.

More information at https://www.facebook.com/GraysonFarmacy/

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