Snellville Library Hours Have Changed

As of October 23, the service hours for the Elizabeth H. Williams (Snellville) branch of the Gwinnett Public Library System have changed. The new hours are:

Monday       10 am - 6 pm
Tuesday      12 pm - 8 pm
Wednesday 10 am - 3 pm
Thursday     12 pm - 8 pm
Friday          10 am - 3 pm
Saturday      12 pm - 5 pm
Sunday        12 pm - 5 pm

For more information on new branch hours, see this page of the library system's website.

Open Letter To Marietta and Columnist Dick Yarbrough

Originally, this post was going to be titled "An Open Letter of Apology to Marietta," but when I woke up this morning, my first thoughts stirred me to change it. Part of this post will be an apology, but the second part will be a "You've Got A Lot of Nerve" message. This is what happens when what someone has written grates on my nerves so that it gets me out of my nice toasty bed at 7:30 on a Sunday.

You may be wondering why I care so much, and why you should care. The reason you should care is that Mike Sabbagh is a city council member and one of mayoral candidate Kelly Kautz's staunchest supporters. You can expect more negative press like this for the city as a return on your "investment" if you vote for Kelly Kautz.

Here is what Dick Yarbrough wrote in his Marietta Daily Journal column:

"If it wasn’t bad enough that outsiders are trying to talk us into paying for a rail system to Malfunction Junction where the sewers don’t work and neither do a number of its citizens, now we have a city council member from Snellville (insert joke here) threatening the Marietta City Council that if they don’t allow Waleed “Lee” Jaraysi to finish his wedding hall on South Marietta Parkway near Interstate 75, he is just liable to sic al-Jazeera, the Arabic network, on the city."

"Fact: The Snellville council member, Michael Sabbagh, who recently appeared before the Marietta City Council and tossed around al-Jazeera’s name like a beach ball claimed to be a Southern Poly professor. Fact: SPSU says he hasn’t been associated with the institution for five years.

Fact: Sabbagh told the council that Jaraysi had the money to finish the building but Councilman Jim King said Sabbagh had promised to put the money in an escrow account for him to look at, but had failed to live up to that promise. Sabbagh seems not to have put up much of an argument over King’s comments."

Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal - Dick Yarbrough It’s a fact We don’t need any more lectures

Dear Mr. Yarbrough:

Please accept a heartfelt apology from numerous Snellvillians, who, like myself, were aghast that a Snellville City Council Member would go to another city during a council meeting, identify himself as our council member (official namebadge included) and throw his weight around with what your reporter (and many of us here) interpreted as threats. It may be codependent of me to say that this action embarrassed me. I don't think any of our citizens voted for Mike Sabbagh to do this.[VIDEO]

I like your city, even admire it. Recently, I've made two lovely trips to Marietta's downtown area. We like to go to the Earl Smith Strand Theater and enjoy silent films. Sitting in the theater an reading the donation plaques on the backs of seats there, I realized what people could do to support a non-profit entity like that if they put their hearts and minds to the job. The theater and the park on the downtown square are beautiful, and as we enjoyed the park on a recent Sunday, I realized that we could have something as lovely in Snellville someday, if people here will believe in the possibilities of the Towne Center plan. We also have a non-profit theatre here called the New London Theatre, that is under threat of closure because of financial woes caused by lack of community support.

I know nothing of Marietta politics. I just think you have a beautiful city. It's not our style to go to other cities and tell them what to do. From what I can see, Marietta is doing just fine. Marietta is an inspiration. So we're sorry that this happened. Mr. Sabbagh in retrospect, is probably also sorry it happened. I think he kind of got carried away. You know how every family has that one "interesting" relative?

Anyway, sorry about that. Really, really sorry about that. We know it wasn't cool.

Now for Part 2:

"Maybe promises mean something differently in Snellville than they do in Marietta."

"....now we have a city council member from Snellville (insert joke here)"

Excuse me? Just what joke were you going to insert? Go ahead and have the chutzpah to put it there. I would have more respect for you if you did. The part about promises is just outright insulting.

"Let me suggest that Mr. Jaraysi get a U-Haul and move his eyesore from Marietta to Snellville, preferably smack dab in the middle of Mr. Sabbagh’s district. That would undoubtedly improve the quality of life in both cities."

Now you're just being hateful, Dick.

Video of Snellville Mayoral Debate Kelly Kautz vs Barbara Bender

October 20, 2011 Mayoral Debate held at South Gwinnett High School.
From my experience and knowledge about Snellville gleaned from publishing this blog for nearly 6 years, I can vouch that everything Barbara Bender says is true. It's unfortunate that Barbara Bender had to spend her time deflecting and correcting "misstatements" made by Kelly Kautz. Ms. Kautz gave me a shout-out of sorts (thanks!) and it was a real thrill for me to view this and see how Kelly Kautz successfully combines going on attack while simultaneously playing victim. That takes manipulation training that only experience as a defense attorney defending the bad guys can provide. It made for a lively debate, though. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Out of the mouths of babes...

My daughter goes to school at South Gwinnett High School. She sometimes sends me texts during her lunch time.

She sent these to me today after her Political Systems class. Keep in mind she's in high school, so there are going to be a lot of "lol's" :)

• "lol, In political systems, we got this letter from Kelly Kautz. lolol."

• "Basically, she's saying she's been with us for years, and Snellville needs a leader. She actually said 'I am that leader.' lolol"

• "lol. She needs an editor or something to peer read it before she sends it out...a lot of it looked wrong."

Yes indeed, we have a lot of sharp students at South Gwinnett. At least my daughter knows that Snellville deserves a mayor who can send out a letter without typos in it. But I will give Kautz credit for trying to get young people to vote.

Kelly Kautz visited my other daughter's class and according to my daughter encouraged all those aged 18 to register to vote and even brought the registration forms with her. A bit concerned over what was said in class to impressionable young people, I asked my daughter - "Did she openly ask the students to vote for her?" And my daughter said, "No not quite, but she kind of tried to make it sound like she was the only candidate running."

Now it's MY turn to "lol!"

The mayoral debate is tonight at 7 p.m. in South Gwinnett High School's theater. The questions have been writing by the Advanced Placement Government students, and as I understand it there will be 16 questions. The debate is expected to run about 2 hours.

More election-related links:
Why hasn't the Sabbagh story gotten coverage from local media?
VIDEO of Council Member Sabbagh speaking at Marietta City Council meeting shocks many
Marietta news article says Snellville council member issued Al-Jazeera threat
VIDEO of Kelly Kautz and Barbara Bender in Mayoral Debate

Why hasn't the Sabbagh story gotten coverage by local media?

I am cheesed off that something doesn't smell right here...

I realize many readers of My Snellville Blog aren't really interested in politics. I'm not thrilled with it either. I'd like to avoid it.

I'd like for everyone to get along I'd rather blog about the Snellville Fall Festival. However, there are things I feel you need to know before an election. Things you won't find anywhere else, apparently.

I think it's important Snellville residents know that one of our city council members went to another city's council meeting, identified himself as a Snellville City Council member twice and also misstated facts about where he worked in an attempt to add more weight to his message. Then, he just happened to raise fears - some considered it a threat - among those present, that Al-Jazeera could be hearing about the issue.

I would like for us to get better "investigative reporting" from Snellville Patch, which is what we were promised it would be. I had high hopes recently, but they haven't covered the Sabbagh story at all so far. As a Twitter follower aptly told me, "Patch seems to have drunk the Kautz Kool Aid." Nor has the story been covered by the Gwinnett Daily Post or the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. I first found the story in the website of a Marietta newspaper. So nice to find bad press about Snellville in a Marietta newspaper. (That last bit was sarcasm, if you missed it)

Why it matters even more is that Mike Sabbagh is a major contributor to Kelly Kautz's mayoral campaign. See below.   I wonder if it's because people aren't making the connection between Sabbagh and Kautz. The connection matters to me. Or, maybe I am just getting old and honesty and integrity isn't considered important anymore? 

Kelly Kautz's Campaign Disclosure Form (harder to find than Obama's birth certificate lol)

I'm open that I am voting for Barbara Bender. I'm not attempting to bash the other team, I'm only trying to say, "Hey, these things that seem minor are actually huge warning sirens that are screaming for us to pay attention!"  

We've all heard the saying "Like attracts like" and, "Birds of a feather flock together." These sayings have been around a long time for a reason. I'll be voting for Bender, and everything I find tells me that I am making the best choice. 

More election-related links:

VIDEO of Council Member Sabbagh speaking at Marietta City Council meeting shocks many
Marietta news article says Snellville council member issued Al-Jazeera threat
VIDEO of Kelly Kautz and Barbara Bender in Mayoral Debate

Video of Snellville council member Sabbagh speaking at Marietta council meeting

I have been able to locate video of the Marietta city council meeting in which Snellville city council member Mike Sabbagh took to the podium in support of his friend. This goes along with yesterday's My Snellville Blog post in which I shared that the Marietta newspaper felt that Mr. Sabbagh issued a threat.

So now you can judge for yourself. Mr. Sabbagh can be seen and heard well in this Marietta video. When the video loads, you can glide the video to 37:20 to hear Mr. Sabbagh speak. He is also wearing his City of Snellville Council name badge.

"If this goes on, Al-Jazeera is going to hear about it." Sabbagh says in the video.

I think that he went a little overboard in defending his friend. He's passionate. It's admirable to defend your friend, but I don't care for someone using their position as a Snellville City Council member to give more weight to your words. It has also come out that although Mr. Sabbagh says in the video that he is a professor at Southern Polytechnic University, the university says it has not had any connection with Mr. Sabbagh for at least 5 years.

He should have left Snellville out of it.

But, in Mike Sabbagh's words, "Let's not rush to justice."  Hear it and see it for yourself and let me know what you think. 

Watch the video
Move the slider to the time 37:20


More election-related links:
Why hasn't the Sabbagh story gotten coverage from local media?
Marietta news article says Snellville council member issued Al-Jazeera threat