Newspaper Page Text
Page 14 AUGUST 7, 2011
Commentary
Star News www.starnewsga.com
StarNews / StarNews Online
www.starnewsga.com
“Not just what happened, blit what matters”
Susan m. horn
EDITOR/PUBLISHER
Sam gentry Susan l. j. duncan
ONLINE EDITOR ADVERTISING
REPORTERS:
PRISSI SULLIVAN CAROLE SCOTT
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Suehorn@bellsouth.net 961 Maple Street, Westover Square
770-214-9900 Carrollton, Georgia 30117 P.O. Box 680 30112
FAX 770-214-9600 ® 2010 Georgia Rail & Press, Inc. dba Star News / Star News Online
Network
www.Geor0laWeather.net
Why you should be concerned that
^ the Georgia Automated
wrroivr Environmental
hhh Monoitoring Network is
publisher almost out of money
While some of you in Carroll County gasped when you read the above
headline and some of you were already aware, there are also so many more
- too many - who asked “the what”?
The Georgia Automated Environmental Monitoring Network (AEMN)
is an extensive network of 81 physical weather stations around the state of
Georgia that operate 24/7 and employs traveling staff. It has operated for
the 19 years of its existence (the first station was installed in 1992) out of
the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University
of Georgia. Each station records local rainfall, air and soil tempearture,
relative humidity, wind speed and direction, solar radiation, soil moisture,
barometric pressure, evaporation, water temperature and leaf wetness. Let
me repeat: this is local information for every area in Georgia. Carroll
County has one of these stations in Roopville. All of this information is
read every second; averaged and recorded every 15 minutes at each
station; and files are updated every hour at each station. This valuable
information is available online at no cost. Traveling scientists/technicians
study and maintain the stations.
The online website, http://www.grifTm.uga.edu/aemn/, averaged 565,000
hits by about 60,400 unique visitors during the month of September 2010
(considered an average month). This is a strong show of interest and need.
Besides the obvious value of recorded history, this information has been
used by and is of vital importance to:
• County agents who use it as their main source of current weather
information, as it is for many of the farmers they support
• Peanut growers who use a calculator at the AEMN site to determine
risk of tomato spotted wilt, and fruit producers utilize a chilling degree-day
calculator to determine if their peaches, blueberries, etc. have met
dormancy requirements for bloom in spring.
• Dozens of scientific journal articles, presentations, and posters have
been based on archived data from the Georgia Weather Network since its
inception.
• Blueberry growers estimated that during a hard freeze last winter,
AEMN frost protection information in three counties saved them between
$40,000 and $60,000.
• The value of the weather information from the single station in
Camilla, on optimal planting date and irrigation regimes for com, cotton,
peanut, and soybean, was determined to be $847,502 per year
The network costs about $300,000 each year (averaging $3,703 to ran
each station) to operate the entire network. It was to shut down in June, but
a few donations came through - enough to keep it running a few more
months. Carroll County has just begun the winery/vineyard initiative. We
won’t be very successful in growing grapes and blueberries if we have to
rely on licking a finger and sticking it up in the air. Contact AEMN
manager Ian Flitcroft at: iflitcro@uga.edu
Our strong vineyard and winery association
I have long believed that job
growth in Carroll County is a
preeminent necessity for the
future of all our citizens. I also
believe that in this economic
environment, job growth will
come from our existing busi
nesses and industries already in
the county.
Sure, we continue to try to
woo new businesses whenever
we have a chance. We expend
considerable effort
and energy on recruit
ing new ventures and
will continue to so.
But our biggest suc
cesses are home
grown successes of
local companies.
Two Carroll
County enterprises
(that I know of) have already
expanded by two hundred
employees in each enterprise.
Those new jobs have not been
publicized because the compa
nies want to be quiet about their
expansion for competitive and
other reasons. We are also see
ing another firm on the verge of
a very major expansion, one
that will have a huge impact on
the area economy.
Bill
CHAPPELL
CARROLL COUNTY
COMMISSION
CHAIRMAN
Tanner Health System con
tinues to grow here in the
county as well as in other
neighboring areas. Every
expansion brings more jobs and
good ones, too.
We encourage small business
development, as is evidenced
by the Burson Center. New,
start-up ventures are helped
through the business incubator
at the center. If you have not
visited that center, you need to
visit to gain awareness of the
work that is happening.
Another venture, the vine
yard and winery initiative has
multiple goals. One major goal
is to enhance a property
owner’s ability to profit on
his/her land through grape,
blueberry, and blackberry
production.
Another goal is to make it the
economic decision factor that
will help preserve the rural
parts of Carroll County.
Another goal is to increase
the value of agricultural
property, which always
happens in areas where
vineyards and wineries
exist.
Another major goal
of the vineyard/winery
initiative is developing
a viable agri-tourism
attraction to our county.
The best people in the world are
those who live elsewhere, come
here for a visit, spend some
money, and then go back home.
The more, the merrier!
Truthfully, Carroll County
has not done a very good job
promoting our attractions over
the years. We are working to
correct that deficiency. We have
a whole lot of positives and
See CHAPPELL page 25
Truthfully, Carroll County has
not done a very good job promoting
our attractions over the years.
We are working to correct that
deficiency. We have a whole lot of
positives and positive attractions
I was de-hatted
WELL, there I was sitting in
my dining room enjoying a
perfectly delectable and
satisfying lunch of cucumber
and watercresss sandwiches
accompanied by a tall, cool
glass of freshly minted
swee’tea, when the mail
arrived. With a certified letter
from the Queen of the Villa
Rica Red Haute Mamas. For
me. From our Queen. MY
Queen. Now, for those who
may haved missed the press
release years ago, I am
one of the founding
members of this club,
the Villa Rica chapter of
the National Red Hat
Society. This is a club
for ladies whose sole
purpose is to have fun.
While wearing pink and
purple. And pink and
purple hats. Well, I
thought, as I munched
delicately and quietly on
cucumber. What could
the purpose be of this legally
postally mailed letter of
certification? Perhaps, I
pondered, they have found
themselves in a bind, and need
my ready assistance to help out
with more fun! And insofar as
having fun - who could be
more fun than moi?
BUT, ijo-o-o. The letter
seemed to imply that I had
publicly expressed displeasure
with the group and they were
Prissi
SULLIVAN
not happy. “Hmmm,” I said to
myself since no one else was
home, “has Queen Donna
decided to stifle free speech in
the group?”
I was aghast. (I know big
double syllable words like
“aghast” because I am a news
reporter.) Being a news
reporter, I’m pretty much used
to expressing myself and didn’t
realize that it was a rule - in this
organization that I helped set up
with NO rules, mind you - that
I couldn’t disagree with the
Queen and her Mother, our
former Queen.
I read and munched
cucumber on.
A majority vote of the queen
and her team leaders (a group
of 12 or so, who had
volunteered or been hand
picked out of an organization
numbering 90+) had decided I
should be de-hatted!!
Disenfranchised, if you will! I
paused between sips of
swee’tea imagining
Queen Donna raising a
cheerleader pom-pom,
screeching, “Off with her
hat! Off with her hat!” I
cautiously touched the
top of my head and
inhaled ever so discreetly.
And to think, I gave the
best years of my
menopause to this club.
Wh-ell. You can bet I
won’t let THAT happen
agam.
How could they do this? I
wondered. WE HAVE NO
RULES! (I know, because I
was there in the beginining
when someone said “Rules?”
and I said heck no and
everyone nodded politely in
agreement.)
Furthermore, this group is
open to the public. Last time I
looked, I was public.
See PRISSI page 28
... imagining Queen Donna
raising a cheerleader pom-pom,
screeching, “Off with her hat!
Off with her hat!” I cautiously
touched the top of my head and
inhaled ever so discreetly. And
to think, I gave the best years of
my menopause to this club.
