EMC employee comes home a hero

COMPILED BY VICTORIA SCHARF DECASTRO

Platoon Sgt. Kenneth Bain, a North Georgia EMC employee, returned home to Dalton on May 15 following a year-long stint while serving in Iraq during Operation Enduring Freedom.

A winch-derrick operator for the Dalton-based electric cooperative, Bain is a member of the Georgia National Guard’s Charlie Company.

Bain will return to active duty for three months at Fort Stewart and plans to retire from the military in April 2007. This fall, he will resume to his position at North Georgia EMC.

EMC linemen bring electricity to rural families in Costa Rica

“It’s a good feeling knowing that building power lines for people who have never had electricity will change their lives for the better,” says Keith Bailey with Douglasville-based GreyStone Power.

Bailey was one of six Georgia electric co-op linemen who recently traveled to Central America to help bring electricity to rural Costa Rica. The other five linemen include Doug Worley and Richard Davis, Coweta-Fayette EMC in Palmetto; Mark Hardin and Josh Allen, Clarkesville-based Habersham EMC; and Keith “Skip” Grantham, Flint Energies in Reynolds.

The Georgia linemen worked alongside workers from Coopeguanacaste, an electric cooperative in Costa Rica, and although, they didn’t speak the same language, they all understood the work and communicated through their actions. One thing that stood out was how antiquated the tools were that the linemen had to use, explains Hardin and Allen. Progress was very slow without bucket or line trucks, which meant the linemen had to climb each pole.

But, the sacrifices they made were worth it. The new lines now provide electricity to 43 families and three schools. One school was almost excluded due to lack of funds. Thanks to Michael Whiteside, president and CEO of Coweta-Fayette EMC, the electric cooperative came up with the money needed to pay for the wiring, and today this one-room schoolhouse also has lights. “I was impressed with the difficulty experienced by our volunteers in constructing the line to serve this remote area of Costa Rica,” says Whiteside. “They did a fantastic job, and what an experience to provide power to all of those families and connect their schools.”

Now in its second year of sending EMC linemen to Costa Rica, the trips are made possible through “Take Aim at Progress,” a charity sporting clay shoot for Georgia EMCs and vendors to raise money for the NRECA International Foundation. The NRECA (National Rural Electric Cooperative Association) is the national organization dedicated to representing the interests of electric cooperatives and the consumers they serve.

For more information, visit www.takeaimatprogress.com.

It’s a wrap

Georgia’s electric co-ops recently wrapped up their seventh year of sponsoring the Georgia High School Association’s (GHSA) state championships. Thirty-two Georgia EMCs participated in the sponsorship. The GHSA is a voluntary organization comprised of 385 public and private high schools that promotes athletic competition and good sportsmanship among its member schools. Georgia’s EMCs were on hand again this season to provide nine Coaches’ Corners hospitality tents, areas where coaches can relax, refresh and learn about electric cooperatives. This year, more than 1,800 complimentary T-shirts were given away at Coaches’ Corners.

Throughout the season, EMC television spots were shown on Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB). The spots appeared during the GHSA state basketball finals, football semifinals and finals, as well as each week on “Prep Sports+,” a TV show that airs on GPB Thursday through Saturday during the school year. “This was our most successful year, and we look forward to another great season in the 2006-2007 school year,” says Marty Myers of Georgia EMC, the statewide association for Georgia’s electric cooperatives.