Silver Streak, March 2023

Pickleball Fever

The fast-growing sport has dedicated players, clubs, and communities

Pages 4 - 7

“We’re honored that both Sterling Estates Communities have been recognized as ‘Best of Cobb’ for Retirement Living, Assisted Living and Memory Care again in 2022. I’m proud to say that it’s the 4th year in a row we’ve won these awards and an awesome tribute to our staff members. We’ve been serving seniors in greater Atlanta for over 25+ years now...we invite you to come and experience what sets us apart.”

Marshall

COO & Partner, Sterling Estates Senior Living Communities

Come

Gill,

See What Sets us Apart

“What I’ve learned is that all communities talk about wellness and socialization... but they don't have the that Sterling Estates has. No one can match what Sterling provides for their residents. My parents are thriving at Sterling Estates... Bet yours will too."

~ Susan S.

UGA tennis champion Angela Simon finds success on pro pickleball circuit

And Simon quickly leveled up. She started playing seriously, and then professionally. After turning 50 and becoming eligible for professional mixed doubles competition for the 2022 year, she began traveling outside of the state for the first time for tournaments while continuing to make a name for herself in the sport and winning tournaments along the way.

"I didn't start at the top and I'm still not at the top, but I go to Hammond and I mix with everyone and have fun," she said.

Simon, then Lettiere, led the Lady Bulldogs to the program's first-ever women's tennis title as a senior — on the team's home court in Athens, as UGA was hosting the tournament for the first time. Simon played tennis for four years professionally after college, eventually competing in all four Grand Slam events and climbing to No. 25 in the world in doubles and inside the top 150 in singles.

Those tennis credentials rank up there with just about anyone in professional pickleball circles. And while her lifetime of experience in tennis translates well to the pickleball game, the smaller court and differences in the racket and balls make for notable differences.

Later in 2020, Simon connected with one of the top male tennis-turnedpickleball senior players in Atlanta, Dan Granot, who also played tennis at UGA and then the University of Arkansas in the 80s. Granot, now 57, recruited Simon to join him as his partner on the pro senior mixed doubles tour the moment she was eligible.

“He invited me to play with a group one day and he said, ‘When you turn 50, you're going to be my partner. Remember that. In a year and a half, you will be my partner playing with me.’”

Granot, who lives in Buckhead and is owner of Joel and Granot Real Estate, held to his word. They started winning in the pro ranks in 2022, hoisting trophies at high-profile pickleball tourneys such as the South Carolina Open, the Hilton Head Open and the Boca Raton Masters, finishing no lower than fourth in any they entered. Simon has also won and placed highly in women’s doubles with other top senior players, including a win at South Carolina with top player Anna Shirley for a double gold at the event.

“I have an 11-year-old and 16-yearold at home and most senior-level players are empty-nesters, but I compete when I can,” Simon said.

By Alex Ewalt

Angela Simon's first encounter with pickleball in May 2020 came about through a bit of happenstance. Simon, the 1994 NCAA women's singles champion who also won a team title that year at the University of Georgia, was looking for ways to kill time while waiting for her daughter's softball practice to finish at Shaw Park in Marietta.

"My oldest had a softball practice that was, like, four hours long, and we happened to be at Shaw Park," Simon said. "I remember walking around with my youngest and saying to her, 'Why are all these people out here and what are they doing?'"

So, Simon decided to walk over to the tennis courts, where a crowd

of people was playing and practicing pickleball, the racket sport that exploded in popularity once the Covid-19 pandemic hit. She jumped in with a small practice group, who asked her if she had ever played before. She said no. But someone handed her a paddle to use for the day, and before she knew it, she was partnered up with one of the top male players at the park and started winning matches the same day she picked up the sport.

"It's the most fun I've had in so long," said Simon, a Brookhaven resident whose home court is now Hammond Park. "People have been so nice, it's been such a great change and I've met so many great people. I've started teaching it. It's so refreshing because there are so many different levels."

"I think the hardest part is that I never had very good touch in tennis, and pickle is all about touch," Simon said. "There's a power element, but to be better, you really do have to have touch. Sometimes it can be so fast, but sometimes you have to play really soft.

“But I think the most fun is just to be able to hit people as hard as you can and you know you're not going to hurt them,” Simon joked. “It's a great frustration release."

She runs a tennis instruction company, Up4Tennis, but has started teaching pickleball and intends to continue in the sport for the long haul. “I would love to slowly transition from tennis to pickleball in some way in my next job,” Simon said. “Not necessarily just teaching, but just being a part of it, I'm not sure how. I just think it's a really unique sport and it's such a family sport. We can go out with our 11-year-old and still have fun, whereas with tennis we can't really do that. The ball is different and the court is so large. But it's such a family sport.

“You can see 15-year-olds playing with 60-year-olds. Where else do you see that? I think it's so unique.”

Angela Simon with Don Granott with the trophy after their win at the Hilton Head Open.

‘Friendly’ pickleball mushrooms at Hammond Park

By Joe Earle

Back in the summer of 2018, Henry Dan just wanted to find a place he could play pickleball regularly. He’d been introduced to the up-and-coming game with the funny name when visiting his brother in Florida. He liked it, so he started looking for other pickleball fans to play with when he was home in Sandy Springs.

He checked out an established private pickleball club that met regularly at Hammond Park. They’d been around for a while and played in the mornings. But Dan didn’t feel altogether at home with the group.

So, in 2019, he and a few friends established a new group, which arranged pickleball games on the Hammond courts in the afternoons and would let anybody play. They called their group the Friendly Hammond Players. Anybody from rank newbies to grizzled vets would be welcome to join them for a game a pickleball, which is regularly touted as the fastest-growing sport in the country. “It just started mushrooming,” said Wayne Bernstein, a 77-year-old retired stockbroker who was part of that early group.

‘Mushroom’ may be an understatement. As of mid-February, more than 725 players had signed up to use the app the Friendly Hammond Players employ to coordinate games, Dan said. He said about 70 “hardcore” players take part in games regularly. He plays four to five days a week himself, both with the morning and afternoon groups, he said.

To keep up with that growth, the city of Sandy Springs claims 10 pickleball courts in tennis and basketball areas at Hammond Park, eight dedicated pickleball courts at the Sandy Springs Tennis Center and is joining Fulton County schools to add six more at Ridgeview Middle School, a spokesman said. Dan said Friendly Hammond Players are working with the city to get more dedicated pickleball courts at Hammond Park.

Part of the appeal, pickleball’s promoters say, is that while the game takes only a few minutes to learn, it is difficult to master and remains challenging to play. Besides, the equipment a player needs to get started is relatively cheap, and the game encourages

players to get to know one another. “You can talk and socialize while playing,” Dan said.

Melissa Lowry, an elementary school principal, said he and her husband have been playing pickleball at Hammond Park for about 18 months. She regularly plays tennis, too, she said, but finds pickleball a more social sport. Playing pickleball in the park is like playing basketball in pickup games, she said. “I like pickleball because it’s accessible to a lot of different people,” she said.

That’s part of why the Friendly Hammond Players got started in the first place, after all. “It’s a real strong social group that happens to play pickleball,” Dan, a 66-year-old consultant, said during a break from games at Hammond one recent Saturday. “We don’t have any [jerks] in our group. ‘Friendly’ is the first word in our name.”

Top, Henry Dan and Wayne Bernstein play doubles at Hammond Park. Center, Melissa Lowry enjoys a match at Hammond Park. Bottom, Henry Dan

Online communities The Kitchen and Pickleheads fuel pickleball’s rise

was no unification, there was no place to understand what the rules were, there was no go-to home for pickleball, and we tried to provide that.”

The two are early-90s graduates of Riverwood High School in Sandy Springs and have ample experience in the fields of advertising and social media. Aspes, who lives in Brookhaven, has been a competitive basketball player, and Paul, who is still in Austin, came up wrestling. Both say that pickleball has brought out people from any and all athletic backgrounds and has rekindled the desire to compete for many.

“I wrestled in high school, and I think that's one of the reasons why I'm so addicted to pickleball, because it's been a while since I've been able to compete in a sport at a relatively high level,” Paul said.

“We see athletes from all different backgrounds,” Aspes said. “Obviously all the paddle and racket sports are huge. Ping pong, badminton, squash, racquetball, tennis, that's where we're seeing tons of people coming in now, but also basketball, baseball, golfers who are looking for more exercise and something a little bit more social and quicker, and less expensive. There's a lot of positives to the game.”

Fans can expect a little bit of everything at The Kitchen’s website, as well is its social media channels on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, with a dedicated Atlanta group on Facebook with thousands of followers. Across all platforms, The Kitchen has nearly 300,000 followers, the largest online pickleball fan community cumulatively, according to Paul.

such as the Lifetime Fitness in Sandy Springs, which recently repurposed its basketball courts as three permanent pickleball courts. Even a fixture like Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association, or ALTA, is jumping into pickleball competition, Aspes said.

“There are a lot of options coming down the pike, but we're seeing tennis courts, tennis clubs, tennis communities convert their tennis courts, not necessarily into full-time pickleball, but to at least give people the option to play pickleball or tennis,” Aspes said. “It's just booming. Every day we're seeing new clubs opened up around the country.”

Another online community, Atlantabased Pickleheads, is also riding the wave of momentum. With offices in the Berkeley Park neighborhood of West Midtown, Pickleheads CEO Max Ade, an Atlanta resident, founded the service in February 2022 with his team in order to connect the growing number of players to court and game options nationwide. Brandon Mackie, a co-founder of the company and a Georgia Tech graduate who played tennis at Jenkins High School in Savannah, says that at this stage of pickleball’s rise, accessibility is key.

By Alex Ewalt

When longtime friends Jason Aspes and Jared Paul started The Kitchen in 2020, it was the result of a professional detour.

Paul had recently moved to Austin, Texas, to work on a startup focusing on the music and concert space, and Aspes had been advising him in the endeavor. Of course, the Covid-19 pandemic had other plans for the concert industry, which subsequently shut down and stopped the startup in its tracks.

Like many other Americans in the first months of the pandemic, the two took to pickleball, a racket sport that incorporates elements of tennis, ping pong and badminton and is played as either singles or doubles on a surface smaller than a tennis court. The sport, which has evolved quickly in the past three years, can feature fierce “firefights” or impressive displays of touch at the net with a ball that resembles a smaller wiffle ball.

“During the pandemic, it was an opportunity to get outside, get some

exercise and do something different,” Aspes said. “And we both just really fell in love with the game and recognized there was an opportunity here.”

“One thing led to another and pickleball just absolutely boomed,” Aspes added. “We were right there at the ground level of that groundswell.”

Enter The Kitchen, an online community with a website, TheKitchenPickle.com, that is chock full of content, as well as its various social media accounts featuring news, views, videos and, of course, memes.

“I was working on the music startup and raised the round, and we built a similar community to what The Kitchen is in the concert space,” Paul said. “And then when things got shut down after we raised the round, I discovered pickleball and started leveraging some of the same growth strategies to build an audience, and it just took off super quickly.”

“It's an incredibly social sport, but there was nothing online tying people together,” Aspes said. “It was all disparate, there

“I think it's a bit of a mish mash and it's all about what you're looking for,” Aspes said. “So if you're looking for instructional and you're trying to improve your game, that's there. If you're looking for conversations with like-minded fans, that's an option. If you're looking to interact with the pros, we have tons of pros who pop into the platform. There's no real barrier between spending time with the professionals.”

From the tennis world, Paul cites big professional names like Atlanta native Donald Young and former UGA star John Isner who have jumped into pickleball. And the game has attracted big celebrities such as Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio as well as investing interest from stars in other sports, such as Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Rob Gronkowski. In 2022, The Kitchen hosted an event in Miami with 11 Vodka and two events in California, with Cutwater Spirits and comedy studio Funny or Die.

For metro Atlanta, Aspes and Paul say that there is more and more choice for courts and venues, even at indoor gyms

“The goal of Pickleheads is to be the digital home for pickleball players,” Mackie said. “So you can imagine anything from finding a court to organizing your own games, to finding local players near you, all that happens on our site. So really what we’re seeing in the space right now is a big supply-and-demand challenge. There are just way more people that want to play than there are courts available. And what our site means to do is make the game more accessible to people and help people get out to the right courts at the right time so they can go and enjoy the sport.”

Mackie said Pickleheads has a nationwide court directory of nearly 11,000 entries and is constantly being updated with more.

“We have what we believe to be the largest database of pickleball courts in the country,” Mackie said. “No matter where in the country you live, you can use our site to find a facility close to you and get information on how many courts there are, what are the popular times people play, do you need to bring your own net, what sorts of amenities are provided.”

Pickleheads features such hotspots as Hammond Park in Sandy Springs, the Marcus Jewish Community Center in Dunwoody, McClatchey Park in the Ansley Park neighborhood of Atlanta and many more. Mackie also cited the trend of tennis centers adding or converting courts, such as Sandy Springs Tennis Center, which now

Jared Paul, Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx, and Jason Aspes.

has eight courts.

“There’s an estimated 5 million players in the US playing right now, and a lot of industry insiders and experts estimate we’ll see 40 million players by 2030,” Mackie said. “And if that happens, it will be almost twice the size of tennis in terms of participation.”

More options will be coming to Pickleheads in early 2023, Mackie said, including features that will allow organizers to reach more potential players and

communicate more efficiently with entrants to big events.

For The Kitchen in 2023, Aspes and Paul are excited to add retail options for the growing number of pickleball products, launching in February, as well as a six-city, moneyball-style amateur tour. But the goal, Paul said, is always to act as ambassadors for the sport while encouraging positivity among its growing following.

“We really try to be not only champions of the sport, but we also spend a ton of time curating the content and the conversation, so we can keep the sentiment positive,” Paul said. “We definitely are not fans of online trolling or keyboard warriors, and we just don't allow that in our communities.

“We're relatively new to the sport still, and we have a ton to learn. We're always just trying to remain humble and work as hard as we can to grow the sport.”

Better Sight, Better Life

Mole removal is a fairly standard procedure, and it is generally done on an outpatient basis. Depending on several factors, such as whether the mole is being removed for cosmetic reasons only, we use different methods of removal.

If you’re considering mole removal, winter just might be a perfect time. Here are three reasons why.

If a mole is potentially cancerous, we will conduct tests This can be done before or after removal Schedule an appointment with us to assess any moles that concern you Together, we can develop a treatment plan that works for your schedule and your health.

Medical

Surgical

Cosmetic

NFL player Ron Gronkowski and Jason Aspes.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

practice.

Her best friend, Lorraine, was Italian. They’d trek to the neighborhood library after school and read books in the backyard. The girls were around nine years old when they were allowed to walk down E. 14th Street to the Sheepshead branch. The children’s floor was upstairs.

“I loved the smell of those books. The clear covering on top? You know, the jacket protection on top, was just so beautiful,” Brereton recollected.

By Logan C. Ritchie

Loren E. Brereton sat down to discuss her children’s book, “Other Famous African Americans,” on a drizzly, winter day. It was the kind of rainy day that Brereton, a retired elementary school teacher, would tell her students, “Okay, we’re going to forget about social studies today. Let’s just get on the floor and read this fabulous book I found for you.”

Although she now lives in Brookhaven, Brereton’s New York accent is thick. She lists her favorite childhood books as “Aesop’s

Fables” illustrated by Jerry Pinkney and “Dorrie the Witch” by Patricia Coombs.

“I used to tell my students, ‘When you open a book, your mind just wanders.’ I get totally immersed in a book, and I would always try to get my children to do that,” Brereton said.

Born in Sheepshead Bay, N.Y., Brereton was the only child of a nurse and a chauffeur. She grew up near E. 14th Street and Avenue X, surrounded by family and friends. Block parties and visiting with her cousins on the front porch were standard

Her Aunt Cynthia would take her to the library all the time, Brereton said, instilling a love of books. Once she started a lending library out of her home’s big bay window with a box of extra books.

Brereton went on to graduate from New York Institute of Technology, pledge Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, marry her husband, Michael. They raised their two children on Long Island. She taught Kindergarten and first grade for 22 years before retiring and moving to metro Atlanta.

Black History Month at Clara H. Carlson School in Elmont, N.Y. is a big deal. Students gather for an assembly to hear speeches and a reading of “The

Brookhaven author brings attention to ‘Other Famous African Americans’ Charlie Williams’ musical journey from Hendrix to Hampton to Reinhardt

By Joe Earle

Here’s one way to look at it: Charlie Williams’ winding road to writing and playing music in the style of Django Reinhardt started with a car wreck.

Williams picked up the guitar in high school. He’s 67 now. He grew up in metro Atlanta, a self-described “preacher’s kid” whose family had lived in Georgia for generations. As a teenager, he was consumed by the music of Jimi Hendrix, one of the great rock guitarists. Williams learned to sing Hendrix solos and then to transfer them note-for-note to guitar. “Jimi Hendrix or nothing,” he said recently. “That’s all I was into. … I fell in love with Hendrix because of the freedom in his playing. ”

Still, like many of us at that age, Williams had to figure out what to do with the rest of his life. He went to college, expecting to embark on some kind of career. Guitar seemed at best a sideline. But things change. During a geology

class trip to the coast, the car Williams was riding in crashed.

The driver lost control and the car ran off a bridge and into a creek. Williams felt he should have died that day. Instead, he walked away.

He remembers grabbing his guitar, climbing the hill, sagging to the ground, and starting to play. “I realized I had a free life,” he said.

He decided that since he should be dead, but wasn’t, he was free to pursue whatever path he wanted for the rest of his life. He didn’t have to listen to anyone.

“I didn’t have to worry about the expectations of society. I thought, ‘If I had a free life, what would I do? All I do now is play guitar.” And that was exactly what he wanted to do. So, he transferred to Georgia State University and signed up to major in music and guitar.

During and after classes, he made friends with lots of musicians in and around metro Atlanta. That led eventually

to an introduction to local music guru Col. Bruce Hampton. Hampton was and is a legend on the Atlanta music scene. He often is described simply as an “avant garde” musician. He played rock, jazz, fusion, and various other styles of music and led a number of bands with names such as the Hampton Grease Band, the Fiji Mariners, the Aquarium Rescue Unit. Hampton’s groups played in local bars,

Drinking Gourd” by F.N. Monjo. They sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson, a hymn about enslaved African Americans’ fight for freedom.

In preparation for the 2008 annual presentation of Black History Month, Brereton came up with a song. She set it to the tune of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” – a catchy tune her first graders could remember.

“We were doing a Black History Month presentation and just couldn’t figure out what we were going to do,” said Brereton. “I went home, and I was just sitting there. And it just came out of me. That’s it.”

The song – now Brereton’s book –features people like Alfred Cralle, who invented the ice cream scoop in Pittsburgh, Penn., in 1897 and John Lee Love, the Massachusetts inventor of the hand-cranked pencil sharpener in 1894.

“You know Martin and Harriet and Booker and Mary/ Georgette, Sojourner and Daniel and Harry/ but can you imagine/ other famous African Americans?” the song begins.

The song became her book, “Other Famous African Americans.” It’s on sale at Tall Tales bookshop and on Amazon and was recently featured on The Drew Barrymore Show. Brereton has an Instagram account, @what_loren_shares. It’s named for a book, of course.

at neighborhood festivals, and on national tours.

Hampton performed regularly around Atlanta until his death onstage during a 2017 concert at the Fox Theatre that was organized to play tribute to him for his 70th birthday. “What can you say about Bruce Hampton?” Williams asked, eyes widening slightly. “Sometimes he can affect the magnetic fields around you.”

After several years making music with Hampton, Williams decided he needed to move on to something new. “I wasn’t sure what to do next,” he said. “I left Bruce’s band. I wrote a whole lot of music.” He played in various groups. He decided to go back and listen to some early jazz guitar, especially recordings by the Belgian-Romani guitarist Django Reinhardt. Williams had first heard the music years before, but at the time “I was scared of jazz,” he said. “Still am.” This time, though, something about the music,

Loren E. Brereton

Charlie Williams

often called simply “gypsy jazz,” grabbed him. He heard in Reinhardt’s recordings the same freedom he’d heard in Hendrix’s.

Reinhardt died in 1953. In the late 1990s, Williams started writing songs in Reinhardt’s style. “I didn‘t know what to do with this,” he said. “All my musician friends, I’d say, ‘I’m into Django,’ and they didn’t know what to say.’”

In 2000, he gathered a few like-minded musicians and called his new group The Bonaventure Quartet after the street in Atlanta where he lives. “I did my first Django gig at the Echo Lounge for my 45th birthday,” he said.

The Quartet caught on. The increasingly misnamed group – which can muster anywhere from three to eight players (the “double quartet”), depending on the show – performs around metro Atlanta and across several southeastern states. They had a record 50 shows booked before the

COVID pandemic shut down touring, he said, and have recorded a handful of CDs, including “The Secret Seduction of the Grand Pompadour” and “Lost and Found at the Clermont Lounge,” named for the landmark bar near Williams’ home.

In order to better recreate the sound of music originally composed and recorded before he was born, Williams bought a couple of antique guitars similar to the ones Reinhardt played. They stand in his dining room alongside a 78-rpm record player that can play Django’s mid-20th century recordings.

Williams makes ends meet by teaching guitar (find out more at guitarlessonatlanta. com). Coming full circle, he shows some students how to play songs by Jimi Hendrix. “I haven’t had a real job since I was, like 23,” he said with a grin. That’s another way to look at it.

Free Alzheimer’s educational conference set for March 15

The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA) will host a free Alzheimer’s & Caregiving Educational Conference for Georgia residents on Wednesday, March 15 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. as part of its 2023 national Educating America Tour.

The event will be held at Emory University, Miller-Ward Alumni House, 815 Houston Mill Road NE. The free conference is open to everyone and will allow participants to learn from experts in the field of Alzheimer’s disease, brain health, and caregiving. To register, go to www.alzfdn.org/tour. Advanced registration is highly recommended.

Free, confidential memory screenings will be conducted throughout the day.

“Knowledge is a useful and powerful tool that can help make any situation easier to navigate, especially something as challenging as caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease,” said Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr., AFA’s President & CEO. “Connecting families with useful, practical information and support that can help them now and be better prepared for the

future is what this conference is all about. Whether Alzheimer’s is affecting your family, you are a caregiver or just want to learn more about brain health, we invite you to join us on March 15.”

Sessions during the AFA conference will include:

■ Memory Loss, Dementia and Alzheimer’s: What You Need to Know –

When their loved ones are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, many caregivers do not know much about the disease or what steps to take next. Monica W. Parker, MD, will provide a general overview of

Alzheimer’s disease. She will describe signs and symptoms as well as the difference between Alzheimer’s and dementia. She will provide tips on how to reduce your risk for memory loss and where to seek a proper diagnosis. Dr. Parker is a Geriatric Medicine Specialist with Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. .

■ Planning for Incapacity – It is important for families impacted by Alzheimer’s disease to make sure that they have the right legal documents in place. Estate planning is not just something that you do to protect your loved ones after you die. Certified Elder Law Attorney, Heather Nadler, Esq., will explain that a major part of estate planning is incapacity planning. She will describe this with an overview of living trusts, powers of attorney, guardianships and conservatorships. She will advise on how to protect individuals who have lost the ability to manage their personal and financial affairs. Nadler is a Partner at the firm of Nadler Biernath Special Needs and Elder Law in Atlanta.

■ Reimagining Alzheimer’s Disease Education, Diagnosis, and Support: A Town and Gown Partnership to Serve Persons in Medically Underserved Communities – Access to healthcare and services is essential for the more than 6 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease, however, not everyone has the same resources available to them. For example, individuals in rural communities may have a harder time visiting a doctor, clinic, or pharmacy than people in larger communities because there may not be any in close proximity. Lisa Renzi-Hammond, PhD and Eve Anthony will talk about the need to bridge the gap in services and how to best connect providers and patients. They will talk about how getting local doctors, nurses and pharmacists on board will help foster communication about cognitive health and disease prevention. They will also discuss the need for early diagnosis and intervention.

For more information or to register, go to www.alzfdn.org/tour. Those who cannot participate in the conference or have immediate questions about Alzheimer’s disease can connect with licensed social workers seven days a week through AFA’s National Toll-Free Helpline by calling 866-232-8484 or web chatting at www. alzfdn.org by clicking the blue and white chat icon in the right-hand corner of the page. The web chat feature is available in more than 90 languages.

— Rough Draft

SUSTAINABILITY

Green lobbying under the Gold Dome

natural resources. The largely antienvironmental stance on the part of the Republican majority has made lobbying for a healthy environment more difficult. Despite the formidable challenges, the Georgia Water Coalition (gawater. org), which celebrated its twentiethanniversary last year, continues to deliver results, even if some of them are years in the making.

The GWC was established to stop the attempted transformation of Georgia’s water into a marketable commodity— allocated not according to need or plan but to the agreements between willing buyers and sellers seeking profits. That horribly misguided idea was defeated by the coalition and its allies, notably local government officials. Today, GWC members adopt legislative priorities each year to address critical threats to state waters—in addition to opposing attempts to roll back environmental protections.

During the current 40-day legislative session, scheduled to end on March 29, the GWC is actively supporting two initiatives: a bill to protect the Okefenokee Swamp from mining, and anticipated legislation to strengthen the regulation of “soil amendments” (read: animal waste and sewage sludge) applied to farmland.

Protecting Georgia’s ‘Wild Heart’

Twin Pines to oppose the bill. The motivating factor for the Okefenokee Protection Act is a pending, highly flawed application by Alabamabased Twin Pines Minerals LLC (a proven bad actor in other projects) to mine heavy mineral sands (epd.georgia. gov/twin-pines) near the Okefenokee; this specific application would not be affected by HB 71. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (read the governor) will decide this year whether or not the risky Twin Pines project will be approved. It must be stopped.

Streams of Chicken Waste

Last summer, gray, bubbling water was discovered in a tributary to the Little River in northeast Georgia, upstream of a massive fish kill. The pollution was traced back to a farm that had, in just six weeks, accepted more than two hundred loads of “soil amendments” – waste from a pet food plant and a milk facility – and dumped the liquid gunk onto hay fields and into a pond.

ABOVE THE WATER LINE

the environment, healthcare, families, education, and other progressive causes can be found on the north side of the third floor. Business lobbyists dominate the south side of the building with its shoe-shine stand—a deep, philosophical (and relative compensation) chasm between them.

Sally Bethea

The Georgia State Capitol is not a comfortable or easy place to advocate on behalf of nature—be it rivers, mountains, swamps or the coast. I know this from often painful and frustrating personal experience. Every winter, for more than two decades until retirement, I put on my business suit, pearls, and heels and joined the legislative circus in the cavernous capitol hallways, where seating is limited and the floors are cold, hard marble.

Lobbyists hang out on the third floor of the building, watching televisions that show the activity in each legislative chamber (House and Senate). This makes them easily accessible to legislators, who periodically dash out of their chamber doors to ask for advice or meet with constituents. Public interest lobbyists who advocate for

Political Landscape

On behalf of Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, I worked with conservation colleagues to pass good environmental bills and kill bad ones; the latter often took up more of our time than the former. In the 1990s and early 2000s, it was possible to find bipartisan support from leading Democrats and Republicans for some of our legislative proposals. Sadly, this bipartisan alignment is less common today.

For the past twenty years, the political landscape has been dominated by one party in the governor’s office, both legislative chambers, and key committee chairs, importantly including

On Feb. 8, Governor Kemp and legislators proclaimed Okefenokee Swamp Day in Georgia before an enthusiastic crowd of swampers, including mayors, country commissioners, farmers, and businesspeople interested in eco-tourism. Two people-size alligators waved from capitol balconies, while several real swamp critters (and their handlers) tolerated the attention of legislators and lobbyists.

If it passes, the HB 71 Okefenokee Protection Act (legis.ga.gov/ legislation/63631) will help safeguard the world-renowned, 438,000-acre wetland from industrial mining proposals that threaten irreversible, negative impacts. The legislation would prohibit the state from issuing future permits to conduct surface mining operations on the highest elevations of Trail Ridge: the prehistoric barrier island that helped create the swamp by holding back its waters. HB 71 has been assigned to the House Natural Resource Committee, chaired by Rep. Lynn Smith (R-Newnan). For nearly two decades, she has regularly stifled pro-environment legislation. More worrisome are the highly-paid, corporate lobbyists hired by

In Georgia, soil amendment is the term state officials use, euphemistically, to describe animal waste (mostly chicken blood and guts) and industrial sewage sludge; they also like to call it “repurposed material.” Applied to dry soils and in limited quantities, this liquid waste can improve soil condition; however, that is rarely the outcome in Georgia. Most of the material is being dumped in massive quantities on farm fields. Neighbors must contend with unbearable odors and swarms of flies. When it rains, and often even when it doesn’t rain, the waste flows into nearby streams.

Although it’s responsible for managing how these materials are used as soil additives, Georgia’s Department of Agriculture is not doing enough to ensure the sludge is kept out of nearby waterways. Local officials, citizens, and the GWC are pushing lawmakers to give local governments more authority in managing the waste disposal; greater transparency is also needed. Not surprisingly, Big Chicken – a dominant player at the Gold Dome – is not keen on any additional regulation or oversight.

Let your state legislators know what you think about these issues using this link georgia.gov/contact-state-legislators. Provide comments to the Georgia EPD about the Twin Pines mining proposal at twinpines.comment@dnr.ga.gov.

Okefenokee Swamp Day at the Gold Dome.

Dunwoody becoming a new dining destination

By Cathy Cobbs

From the list of restaurants launching in the next six months, that answer is “yes.” And it’s not just chain establishments – many of Dunwoody’s newcomers are non-franchise owners migrating from inside and outside the perimeter.

Leading the way is David Abes’ Dash Hospitality Group with its restaurant complex in the heart of Dunwoody Village that features both indoor and open-air seating. Two venues, Bar(n) Booze and Bites and Morty’s Meat & Supply, have already opened in the complex called The Village, with three more scheduled later this year.

This is Abes’ first solo foray into the Dunwoody area, coming from Buckhead Life Restaurant Group where he served as COO, overseeing nine restaurants in Georgia and four in Florida.

The Hall at Ashford Lane, a food hall with a similar multi-dining indoor and outdoor option configuration, is scheduled to open soon in a renovated development that includes Super Target. It’s located near The Lawn at Ashford Lane, which is a park at the center of the development that will be bordered by additional new restaurants. The lineup at The Lawn will include Grana, which has another location in Buckhead, Hawkers, an Asian street food concept bistro that has another restaurant on the Beltline and Superica, which is adding a sixth venue in the Atlanta area.

Representatives from Superica confirmed that the restaurant is now hiring and training employees at the new location and expects to open within the next 30 days.

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream, next door to Superica, has already opened its doors, its ninth Atlanta location.

HOBNOB Neighborhood Tavern and Taco Mac, longtime tenants at the center, are adjacent to the new outdoor space at the Hall.

Other restaurants joining the migration to Dunwoody include North Italia Eatery, Louisiana Bakery, 26 Thai Kitchen, Valor Coffee and Paris Baguette. More dining venues will enter the market after the completion of High Street, a 36-acre complex that will contain 400,000 square feet of retail space, a 400-bed hotel,3,000 residential units and 672,000 square feet of office

space in the heart of the Perimeter Business District.

Puttshack, a tech-infused mini-golf experience, featuring food and drink options, has already committed to High Street and is expected to launch in the complex’s first phase.

Dunwoody Economic Development

Director Michael Starling attributes the migration of local restaurants to the Dunwoody area to the area’s demographics and Dunwoody residents’ desire to “live locally.”

“We have an affluent base of residents in Dunwoody and a large daytime population of office workers who are returning after the pandemic,” Starling said.

In addition, Starling said, Dunwoody diners increasingly want to have a unique experience, not just a quick meal at a national chain restaurant.

“It’s not a new trend, but it has certainly accelerated after Covid,” he said. “We are finally getting destination dining in Dunwoody that feels cool, a place where you want to spend time.”

The food hall concept is also appealing to those who like the opportunity to choose from a variety of dining options in the same area.

“An entire family can go to one location, eat where they want, and everyone can go home happy,” Starling said.

Superica

Puttshack

Jeni’s Ice Cream

Krispy Kreme on Ponce rebuild gets underway

By Collin Kelley

Work to rebuild the Krispy Kreme at 295 Ponce de Leon Ave. is well underway and now the company has released a rendering of the new building.

The original building, a landmark for more than 50 years in Midtown, was heavily damaged by arson in early 2021. A few months later, another fire broke out inside the building, and it was eventually demolished.

The iconic Krispy Kreme sign at the corner of Ponce and Argonne will remain.

“We’re bouncing back better than I even imagined,” franchise owner – and basketball icon – Shaquille

O’Neal said in a media statement.

“I can’t wait to turn on the Hot Light. It’s gonna light up the whole neighborhood.

Get ready, Ponce!”

The new Krispy Kreme is expected to open this summer.

A rendering of the new Krispy Kreme on Ponce.

From Georgia birdwatching to African safari

TRAVELS WITH CHARLIE

I’ve been a bird and wildlife lover for as long as I can remember.

At age 11, with the money I had saved up, I made what was my first major purchase in life – “The Birds of America” by John James Audubon. I still have it, and occasionally browse through its 435 gorgeous paintings of America’s feathered creatures.

It was in later life, however, that I became a serious bird watcher and wildlife observer. Then, at some point, I evolved to become an all-around nature lover, an unabashed tree hugger, a naturalist. I’ve traveled all over Georgia and the United States and in several other countries to get at least a glimpse – and perhaps photographs – of beautiful birds, wildflowers, butterflies, mushrooms, reptiles, amphibians, and other denizens of the natural world.

Health experts and researchers now say this kind of enthusiasm for nature is

a good investment for anyone wanting to live as long as they can and enjoy life. If true, millions of people stand to benefit: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates, for instance, that more than 46 million Americans consider themselves bird watchers. I suspect that a huge portion of them are, like me, also nature

lovers in general. In essence, seeing and hearing birds and other wildlife make us happy by reducing stress, calming our minds, and reinvigorating our energy. For instance, a January 2021 news item from the National Audubon Society suggests that listening to birdsong alone “uplifts us

largely because it restores our faith in the natural order of the world and in the health of ecosystems.” The article by Julia Zarankin notes that a recent new study by the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research linked greater bird diversity to increased life-satisfaction for more than 26,000 people in 26 European countries. “It turns out the people who live near natural areas with a greater diversity of bird species were demonstrably happier. In fact, the study found that seeing 10 percent more bird species generates satisfaction on par with a comparable increase in income,” the article noted.

Wildlife watching also can lure one off the beaten path and into exploring new landscapes. Case in point: For seven of us Georgia Audubon members – four of us over age 60 – our great love of birds and other wildlife last month drew us some 8,400 miles from Georgia to South Africa. There, we embarked on a 13-day birdwatching and wildlifeobserving trek around South Africa’s veld. Four of those days were spent in the 7,570-square-mile Kruger National Park, one of the world’s great wildlife preserves

Charles Seabrook

An African Buffalo says hello.

A dazzle of Zebras in South Africa's Kruger National Park.

A majestic African Bald Eagle.

An African Elephant crosses the road.

where lions, leopards, elephants, giraffes, zebras, warthogs, wildebeest, antelopes, crocodiles and a host of other wild creatures roam free. Kruger also is home to some 500 bird species, many of which are some of the most brilliantly colored creatures in the world. Some of the birds are found nowhere else in the world. For an avid wildlife lover like me, it was a trip of a lifetime.

I hope you’ll enjoy some of my photos from that adventure.

See more of Charlie's photos by scanning this QR code.

Velvet Monkeys in Kruger National Park.

A Rufouscrowned Roller enjoys lunch.

Woodland Flycatcher