Trail mix COMPILED BY RACHELE MEADERS Cause for celebration The Rock Ranch, owned by Chick-fil-A founder and Eatonton native Truett Cathy, sets off a spectacular burst of fireworks every year for a Fourth of July celebration. Lamar Electric Membership Corp. (EMC), in Barnesville, and Upson EMC, in Thomaston, are sponsors of the festivities. The Rock Ranch, a working cattle ranch located in The Rock, takes care of foster children, who live on the property. “We are delighted to have the Rock Ranch as a part of our community,” says Upson EMC General Manager John Brodnax. “The Rock Ranch is known for its good works and value to the area including involvement in the school system—teaching character education.” Lamar EMC’s Bobby Ferris, director of marketing/energy service, agrees, calling the ranch “a true asset to the quality of life in our community.” Extending its support, Lamar EMC also sponsors an education appreciation lunch, held at the ranch, for the Lamar County Public School System. This year’s lunch took place June 1. —Erin Chupp
And a nod goes to... Coweta-Fayette Electric Membership Corp. (EMC), Newnan, and Tri-State EMC, McCaysville. Coweta-Fayette EMC donated automated external defibrillators to six Coweta County facilities, including senior centers, fairgrounds and recreation departments. Funds for the defibrillators—devices that help restore normal heartbeat in cases of cardiac arrest—were raised through the EMC’s Operation Round Up program. Tri-State EMC also purchased six defibrillators, equipping their trucks and business office with them to benefit employees and the community; Tri-State EMC employees are trained in CPR and first aid.
 | Ed McBrayer, PATH foundation executive director (center), receives a check for $3,000 from (left to right) Susan Ingall, Georgia Transmission Corp. (GTC) environmental and regulatory specialist; Bubba McCall, GTC project manager; Chip Jakins, Carroll EMC president and CEO; and Gary Miller, GreyStone Power president and CEO. |
These days, a mix of people and activity—cyclists, walkers, joggers, rollerbladers and horseback riders—use Paulding County’s Silver Comet Trail. That’s because the nearby area, served by Carrollton’s Carroll Electric Membership Corp. (EMC) and Douglasville’s GreyStone Power, is growing, and with it, the demand for electricity. This year, Georgia Transmission Corp. (GTC), a Tucker-based nonprofit electric co-op, will build approximately $100 million worth of power lines and transmission facilities statewide. And on May 27, GreyStone, Carroll EMC and GTC donated $3,000 to the PATH Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a network of trails throughout Georgia. The foundation, charged with maintaining the Silver Comet Trail, will use the money to “build more of the Silver Comet Trail near Rockmart,” says Ed McBrayer, PATH Foundation’s executive director. “Each mile costs us around $240,000; every donation enables us to add new footage to the trail. For more information about the PATH Foundation, visit www.pathfoundation.org.
Power to the people! The advent of rural electrification is rightly considered the gateway to modern-day Georgia. Before President Franklin Delano Roosevelt established the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in 1935, which provided funding to bring power to the people of rural communities, farmers manually milked cows, housewives labored over washtubs and families made do without running water. The Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies at the University of Georgia in Athens will recognize that period with a major exhibition, “Power to the People,” beginning in February and running until December 2005. In addition to highlighting the REA, the exhibition will offer a glimpse into the days when electricity was introduced to rural Georgia and the rest of the nation. Power to the People organizers need input from those who remember the days before and after the introduction of electricity—as well as items of historic interest. To share your thoughts about those days, log on to www.libs.uga.edu/russell.
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