Newspaper Page Text
Energy secretary
impressed with SRS
®Nuclear plant is
world-class facility,
Pena says.
By Jesse J. Holiand
ASSOCIATED PRESS Writer
- AIKEN, S.C.
. All along U.S. Energy Secretary
Federico Pena’s route through the
Savannah River Site were signs
proclaiming the nuclear complex
as the future home of a $2.6 billion
tritium production facility.
While the government has not
yet selected a site, the confidence
did not seem to hurt SRS’ cause. “I
have been very impressed by what
1 have seen here,” Pena said after
touring the site Tuesday. “It is
world-class.”
Pena will decide late in 1998
whether SRS will get the new mis
sion to produce tritium, a form of
hydrogen that boosts the power of
atomic weapons.
The proposed linear accelerator
would restock the nation’s tritium
supply and bring 2,000 construc
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tion jobs, 500 permanent jobs and
gl Rgmch as S2OO million a year to
Area lawmakers have said SRS
is the best choice because its old K
Reactor was designed for making
tritium. SRS last produced tritium
in 1988, before the reactor was
shut down for safety reasons.
Pena also will decide whether to
have SRS convert weapons-grade
plutonium into fuel for commer
cial nuclear reactors. That mis
sion is worth S4OO million in con
struction and 300 permanent jobs.
SRS needs the two projects to
stave off massive job cuts at the
310-square-mile complex near
Aiken. The site has languished
since the end of the Cold War and
has lost more than 10,000 jobs.
If the only new mission is to
cleanupits own pollution —a $2.3
billion job expected to take more
than 30 years — SRS could lose
half its employees in the next five
years, said Westinghouse Savan
nah River President Ambrose
Schwallie.
Place
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AUGUSTA FOCUS
P. 0. Box 1282
Augusta, Ga. 30903
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Demographics changinng in area
From page one .
Selig Center for Economic Growth,
the more affluent white suburbs
are magnets for white workers mi
grating from other states along
with their families to take advan
tage of the state’s relatively healthy
economic climate. On the other
end of the employment spectrum,
retirees also are drawn to mostly
affluent white enclaves.
The trend has not escaped the
notice of politicians who are sensi
tive to their voting constituency.
While the number of registered
white voters in Richmond County
increased from 46,952 to 53,933
(14.9 percent) from 1990 to 1997,
the number of African-American
registered voters leap frogged from
27,949 to 43,426 (35.63 percent)
B PR A .
" el * !’. ! e
'% o - =
"” , Y ; "
T} y e
ass” B
L h!
R — ot A IR T 2% -fi’
THIS YEAR WE'LL GIVE MILLIONS
TO. CHARITY. BUT WE'RE NOT THE ONLY ONES
WHO’'LL SLEEP BETTER AT NIGHT.
over the same time period.
Nonblack minority registered vot
ers increased from 598 to
2,244(275.3 percent) during the
same period.
The percentage of white regis
tered voters in Richmond County
slipped from 62.18 percent in
1990 to 54.14 percent in 1997,
Blacks rose from 37 percent to
44 percent during the same pe
riod. The other minority groups
grew from less than a percent
age point in 1990 in Richmond
County to 2.25 percent in 1997,
The change is in large part
responsible for the county re
maining a Democratic party
stronghold while much of the
state has shifted to the political
right. Columbia County, with its
minuscule nonwhite voting
population, is a bastion of con-
§ : T
w B ey e o~ Py L] ‘
i .‘.'.-*fimt\ - _»ffifi'w.”’e. ,\;H: h'{,-‘ “H . ‘ ‘r L |
servative Republicans.
Recently Columbia and Rich
mond counties have been in a
quiet competition for increased
industrial development. Despite
a chamber of commerce that is
obliged to pitch the region as a
whole, each county discretely
looks for the upper hand in the
battle for new industry.
Columbia County has an up
hill climb in its attempt to over
take Richmond County economi
cally, however. Richmond
County remains the CSRA’s
dominant economic engine, al-
AUGUSTA FOCUS is a Walker
Group Publication
DR. ROSE TRINCHER
is the Medical Director of Walton Rehabilitation Hospital, in
addition to the Stroke Program and Spinal Cord Injury Services.
She is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, and completed an
Infectious Disease Fellowship. Dr. Trincher treats a wide range of
patients, and specializes in treating spinal cord, stroke and ventilator
dependent patients. When she is not expressing the needs of her
patients through numerous advocacy organizations, Dr. Trincher is
likely to be found enjoying an afternoon at the lake with her children.
el @/ 9 e
At Walton Rehabilitation Hospital, our doctors are more than highly
qualified physicians. They're real people. And when you're recovering from
injury, or learning to overcome pain, real people make a real difference.
i
A\ WALTON ReHABILITATION HOSPITAL
A health system for people with physical disabilities
We believe in helping the homeless
as much as we can. That's why, in
the last three years, Publix Super
Markets Charities gave $6.5 mil
lion to address important issues in
our communities through a part
nership with the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference. We'll invest
sll million in education and the
arts in minority communities by
the year 2000. We think everyone
should have an opportunity at life,
no matter how hard it's been so far.
[
PUBLIRSURRR MARKETS
CHARITIES
AUGUSTAEOCUS DECEMBER 25, 1997
though many of its workers liv‘p
in Columbia County. '
The growth of the county’s mi
nority population has fortifi
the economic foundation of
mond County. According to t
Selig Center’s most recent
port on black buying power i
the Augusta r etropolitan s
tistical area (MSA), the incr
in the number of minorities, p
marily African Americans, hap
boosted the area to the seconfl
largest African-American cont
sumer market in the state. The
economic impact of minoriti
exceed $1 billion locally. T
3A