The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • J1

Filename: J1-GWINNE-GWNS0221-GWNEWS created: Feb 20 2006 Username: SPEED7 GWNS0221 Tuesday, Feb 21, 2006 GWINNETT 1 GWNS 1 Cyan Magenta Yellow Black 1 Cyan Magenta Yellow Black GWNS GWINNETT Filename: J1-GWINNE-GWNS0221-GWNEWS created: Feb 20 2006 Username: SPEED7 CHECK FOR BREAKING NEWS UPDATES AT AJC.COM ajc.com gwinnett Atlanta Botanical Gardens is planning another blockbuster exhibit. Living, E1 Whimsy among the Gwinnett News The Atlanta Journal-Constitution TODAY IN THE AJC EDITION TUESDAY, FEB. 21, 2006 Sasha Cohen carries best hope for gold in skating. Sports, D1 Her time to shine Red-light runners, your warning By JOHN GHIRARDINI The cameras are rolling this morning in Suwanee, but you have a month to decide which is your best side. The north Gwinnett red- light cameras, at the intersection of McGinnis Ferry Road and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, are on line and snapping away.

A 30-day grace period expires March 23, after which red-light runners will be mailed three damning photographs taken by the cameras along with a $70 ticket. During the grace period, the pictures will be sent with a warning. The camera systems are being leased from Norcross-based Laser Craft which also supplies systems to Gwinnett County, Duluth, Lilburn and Snellville. Those systems are up and running, producing citations at 11 intersections. The Suwanee City Council voted unanimously in November to install cameras at McGinnis Ferry and Peachtree Industrial and other intersections that top the list of crashes and injuries.

The city will pay LaserCraft $4,140 a month per system to lease and help manage the cameras. The other intersections are: Ga. 317 and I-85; Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and Suwanee Dam Road; McGinnis Ferry Road and Buford Highway; Ga. 317 and Satellite The red-light camera at the Peachtree Ferry intersection is the of six planned. After 30-day grace period, Suwanee will issue tickets to those camera catches Please see RED, 6 A little bit country, a little bit uh, not sure By KEN SUGIURA This lineup at the Gwinnett Arena offers a 1-2 punch that is hard to describe.

Friday, the arena hosts George Strait, the cowboy-hatted Texan who has recorded a record 52 songs that have reached No. 1 on the Billboard country charts. Saturday night, Kid Rock. The genre-defying Rock is likely among the few to have played with Sheryl Crow, Hank Williams Jr. and Eminem.

(Not at the same time, mind you.) Strait, whose most recognized song may be the syrupy Just Want to Dance With And then Rock, whose canon includes the less-than-romantic of the Strait, who married his high school sweetheart. And Rock, who was once engaged to Pamela Anderson. But in an increasingly crossover world, they have a duet with Crow, is pure country. In Sheets to the Rock, who calls Detroit home, even refers to himself as funky country Rock once performed with Kenny Chesney in a concert in Knoxville. Chesney lists Strait as one of his heroes.

Both Rock and Strait have songs that reference country legend George Jones. Both are Republican. Strait, named the Country Music Male Vocalist of the Year times, sold out his show in under 30 minutes. his third appearance at the Gwinnett Center, including the concert in February 2003. Tickets to see the Kid, whose album is being released next Tuesday, are still available.

Go to ticketmaster.com or call 404-249-6400. WILLIAM BERRY Staff George Strait has recorded a record 52 songs that have reached No. 1 on the Billboard country charts. LOUIE FAVORITE Staff Kid Rock biggest claim to fame is probably that he once was engaged to Pamela Anderson. GWINNETT ARENA Asian village could sprout in Gwinnett By BRIAN FEAGANS Developer Yong Pan get Charles Bannister to go to his native China.

So Pan took the County Commission chairman to Disney World instead. Bannister and County Administrator Jock Connell to Epcot Center in Orlando earlier this month for a taste of the Asian-themed village that Pan wants to build near Norcross. Japanese and Chinese villages contain the kind of pagodas, cultural exhibits and traditional Asian architecture that Pan wants to bring to 106 acres at Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and Lake Parkway. Pan has yet to submit plans for the project called Asian Village Atlanta but says it would be a major tourist attraction and generate 3,300 jobs. unusual for Gwinnett to travel so far to research potential development.

But Bannister and Connell said the magnitude of the project and the lack of a local model led them to Orlando. were able to see some small amount of what Yong has in his Bannister said. be NICK ARROYO Staff Developer Yong Pan wants to turn 106 acres of land into Asian Village Atlanta. Please see VILLAGE, 2 Time to dig in By BEN SMITH A $147 million project to upgrade the oft-snarled 316 interchange starts next week with the closing of northbound and southbound lanes between that intersection and Pleasant Hill Road. And the headaches will only get worse, state and local said.

local motorists will probably be annoyed at the inevitable slowdowns over the next three or four said Gwinnett County Commission Chairman Charles Bannister. in the end, we will have achieved our goal: a stunning success, a benchmark for safety and a living demonstration of the effectiveness of a good Under drizzly conditions and in bone- chilling temperatures, Bannister, Gov. Sonny Perdue, U.S. Rep. John Linder (R- Ga.) and other elected gathered on a wooded stretch of Boggs Road overlooking I-85 to break ground on one of the most expensive road projects in the history.

By the end of 2008, the state DOT hopes to have completed 31 miles of new lanes and 13 bridges to ease jams at the intersection. The designers also hope to make safer the now scary task of merging from Ga. 316 to I-85. Instead of dumping motorists from the state highway onto the fast lane of the interstate, a new bridge will allow them to merge into the right-hand lanes of I-85. State transportation had hoped to begin work today but postponed the launch because of expected bad VINO WONG Staff Gov.

Sonny Perdue and a host of federal, state and local broke ground Monday on the largest single project in state history. 316 INTERCHANGE UPGRADE Necessary lane closures will make it worse before better Please see DOT, J6 INSIDE GWINNETT NEWS INDEX PLANNER J2 OBITUARIES J5 CLASSIFIED J7 SPORTS Devils in hunt The talent of Gani Lawal (left) and Jodie Meeks make Norcross a favorite going into the second round of the state basketball playoffs. J4.