Georgia Magazine - April 2020 - 15

SHORTTakes

Right place,
right time

Green incentive: Tri-County Electric Membership Corp. (EMC) in Gray is offering members who buy a new electric vehicle this year
a $30 bill credit each month for a year. The
program, called EV365, also offers a credit of
$250 for those who install Level 2 chargers at
their homes or businesses.

Young recruits: Fifth graders from Bascomb,
Boston, Davis and Rocky Mount elementary
schools shadowed employees at Cobb EMC
in Marietta on Jan. 17 to learn about the
various roles of co-op employees.

COURTESY COASTAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE

Get out and play: The Jefferson-based
Jackson EMC Foundation donated $12,000 to
the Sandy Creek Nature Center in Athens for
construction of a new outdoor play area for
children.

COURTESY COBB EMC

Cabin fever: Georgia 4-H held a ribboncutting ceremony on Dec. 14 to dedicate
a new cabin, which was sponsored by
Palmetto-based Coweta-Fayette EMC, at its
Rock Eagle 4-H Center near Eatonton. The
cabin, No. 39, is part of Georgia 4-H's program
to replace aging cabins at the facility.

STAR quality: Blue Ridge Mountain EMC
in Young Harris was the presenting sponsor of An Evening with the STARS 2020, an
event on Feb. 11 to honor high-achieving
students and teachers from Woody Gap
School in Suches and Union County High
School in Blairsville. The STAR (Student
Teacher Achievement Recognition) program
recognizes top students-based on their SAT
scores and other factors-and the teachers
whom they feel have had the most impact
on them academically.
Touring the circuit: Terry Cook and James
Platt of Coastal Electric Cooperative taught
students at Joseph Martin Elementary
School in Hinesville about circuits during

Brushing up skills: Linemen at Blue Ridge
Mountain EMC spent time practicing their
rescue skills on Nov. 21. The linemen worked
in the co-op's "pole yard" to conduct simulated rescues of mannequins at the top of
electrical poles. Such rescues are perilous
because the linemen must ensure they do
not put themselves in danger while assisting
injured colleagues.

COURTESY BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAIN EMC

LEIGHANNE BURGESS

Pleasant surprises: Coastal Electric Cooperative in Midway surprised 23 schools in Bryan,
Liberty and McIntosh counties with $1,000
checks in January. The money, donated
through the co-op's foundation, will go to the
schools' principal's funds to support students
and faculty members throughout the school
year. The funds came from Operation Round
Up, in which members opt to round up their
monthly bills, with the difference going into a
fund for charitable causes in the community.

Randy Nixon, left, and Dustin Johnson helped
a woman and her small child get out of a car
that was flooding in Covington in February.

wo employees of Snapping Shoals
Electric Membership Corp. (EMC)
in Covington came to the rescue of
a woman and her child who were trapped
in a flooding car on Feb. 7.
During the heavy rains, residents of
the Riverside Estates RV Park were told to
evacuate because the nearby Yellow River
was expected to overflow its banks.
Randy Nixon and Dustin Johnson,
linemen for Snapping Shoals EMC, were
on their way to turn off the electricity at
the park because of the flooding when
they encountered the woman and her
child, who were trapped in a car that was
out of gas.
When they arrived, the water was at
the bottom of the car door. It was nearing
the windows by the time Nixon and Johnson got the family out.
"No one called us to go over to the
park," said Don Ritchey, Snapping Shoals
EMC's senior vice president of operations. "We were out and decided to go by
to take a look at the river, since it floods
often, so God must have known we were
needed at that time."

the school's STEM (science, technology,
engineering and mathematics) night on Jan.
28. Participants were all smiles as they used
graphite pencils, 9-volt batteries and LED
lights to create circuits.

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Georgia Magazine - April 2020

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