Newspaper Page Text
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Cold
THURSDAY. DECEMBER 29. 2022 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 11A
Photo Amicalola EMC.
An Amicalola EMC crew works hard in Big Canoe to
reroute an existing line. The project was slowed by the
frozen ground which had to be dug through.
God,” Sievers said.
Sievers also praised the
Big Canoe community for
coming together during this
time. Sievers said strangers
with power were offering
rooms in their houses and
baking ziti for those without
power. A friend brought a
generator to Sievers’ house,
which she appreciated. The
gated community opened a
warming station as well.
The winter weather af
fected many people all over
Jasper, even churches. The
First Baptist Church of
Jasper cancelled its Christ
mas Day service because of
busted pipes in the bathroom
by the choir room, according
to their email newsletter.
City of Jasper employees
have been working since Fri
day to fix all major water line
breaks from the frigid winter
weather that national fore
casters called a “generational
storm.” Crews were focusing
on breaks at South Main
Street and Clyde Wood
Street. Assistant City Man
ager Kim Goldener said she
hopes repairing these two
breaks will help with pres
sure issues and get the crew
on to other breaks.
The entire water utilities
department, public water as
sistants and contractors
worked diligently to fix these
breaks and leaks. The crew
successfully repaired a num
ber of breaks, including out
side the old Rite Aid,
Chambers St. and Refuge
Rd., but there are many more
to go. Crews worked around
the clock since Friday, doing
“heroic work,” Goldener
said.
“By no means are we out
of the woods... But I could
not be more proud of our
crew. It has not been much of
a holiday for them,” Gold
ener says.
As of Tuesday morning,
city crews were working to
de-ice roads before they
could attend to the leaks and
line breaks. With all of the
breaks and leaks occurring,
the elevated water tanks were
not refilling, which means it
cannot send as much water
out into the system, causing
water outages. In response to
water outages and pressure
issues, the city of Jasper set
up a water fill station on
Monday at the water mainte
nance shop on Pioneer Road.
According to a press re
lease from Amicalola EMC,
high winds and single digit
temperatures, with below
zero wind chills, caused
power outages and fallen
trees that brought down
power lines over the week
end. In addition, icy temper
atures created issues with
equipment, primarily trans
former issues. Outages began
around 1 a.m. on Friday, De
cember 23.
The transformer issues
were unique in that typically
if a transformer becomes
faulty, an outage will occur
only within the group of me
ters served off of that trans
former. In this case, over 50
individual transformers
faulted, resulting in a main
line being taken out of serv
ice. Then each transformer
on the line had to be opened,
inspected and, if a problem
was found, all connections to
the transformer had to be re
moved and a new one had to
be connected. In total, around
13,000 meters under Am
icalola EMC’s service area
were impacted and each one
was very time intensive, ac
cording to a press release
from Amicalola EMC.
Amicalola EMC also
dealt with one persistent out
age in Big Canoe where an
underground line had to be
totally rerouted.
Stacey Fields, director of
public relations at Amicalola
EMC, said the crew was in
Big Canoe “two days and
nights working on a huge
job.” Crews were dispatched
after receiving the first out
age call and worked around
the clock.
“The Amicalola EMC line
crews and inside support per
sonnel, contractor crews and
a crew from North GA EMC
are all to be commended for
an excellent job during brutal
weather conditions,” Fields
said in the press release.
The sheriff’s office set up
a warming shelter, available
to anyone in need, at their ad
ministrative office on Thurs
day afternoon. The shelter
offered a place for people to
get warm, shower and grab a
hot meal.
Sheriff Donnie Craig said
Monday people have been
coming by since it opened.
There were a couple of
homeless people who went to
the shelter, as well as a cou
ple of residents without water
and heat. The shelter will re
main open until everyone is
able to leave. Sheriff Craig
said he hopes to partner with
local churches moving for
ward in establishing warm
ing places.
Craig said that Bub-Ba-Q
and Mary’s Bread Basket
reached out and offered to
supply food for the warming
shelter. He did not need to
take them up on their offers,
but is glad there are local
restaurants willing to help.
County Commission
Chair Kris Stancil told the
Progress that their water sys
tem had come through with
out any serious difficulties.
He said Phillip Dean, who
is in charge of the water de
partment, came in and told
him he was opening certain
key fire hydrants when the
temps dropped. “I said ‘are
you sure we need to do that?’
He said ‘yeah, it’s just like
letting a faucet drip.’ It may
have been what saved us.”
Continued From 1A
Patrols
ity for New Year’s Eve as
well, and he and other law
officials caution people to
use good judgement regard
ing drinking and driving.
“Don’t have too much to
drink then get behind the
wheel,” Dawkins said.
“Please find someone who
can give you a ride.”
He noted that traffic vol
ume on New Year’s Eve is
hit-and-miss every year.
“New Year’s Eve and day
are right under Super Bowl
Sunday for people out party
ing,” he said. “It’s probably
going to depend on the
weather as to how many peo
ple are out and about. I’m
seeing a chance of rain and
higher temps in the forecast,
but we will see.”
Continued From 1A
Etowah
Between 1954 and 1973,
archaeologists working for
the state excavated all of
Mound C, the main burial
mound, and other areas
throughout this sacred site.
Since the early 1960s,
hundreds of ancestral Musco
gee property including arti
facts and funerary belongings
have been on display in the
site's museum. While human
remains were removed from
display decades ago, the an
cestors have yet to be repatri
ated and reburied and are
currently housed in an ar
chaeological curation facility.
Etowah is one of the most
well-known Mississippian-
period mound centers in the
Southeast. The area was
home to several thousand
people between 1000 A.D. to
1550 A.D. Today, the 54-acre
historic site protects six
earthen mounds, a grass
plaza, village site, borrow
pits and defensive ditch. The
original inhabitants are cul
turally linked to the Musko-
gean-Speaking tribes, and the
Muscogee (Creek) Nation is
the lead culturally affiliated
tribe that will take charge of
transfer of control and rebur
ial of Etowah ancestors.
Officials emphasize that
Etowah Indian Mounds State
Historic Site will remain
open to the public and school
groups. Visitors can watch a
15-minute film, learn about
the Indigenous people who
lived in the area, and walk
throughout the cultural land
scape. Plans include more
ranger-led programs to inter
pret daily life, such as fish
ing, hunting and agriculture.
A dug-out canoe recently
made using traditional meth
ods is already on display.
DNR historians and ar
chaeologists are beginning to
consult with tribal partners
on how museum displays
will be permanently reimag
ined, so a timeline for com
pletion is not available. The
museum space will be under
transformation until spring
2023, and the repatriation of
Etowah's more than 400 an
cestors and their 187,000 fu
nerary belongings is
expected to take three to five
years. DNR will continue to
partner with tribal nations
culturally affiliated with the
site to ensure respectful repa
triation and to work toward
building a better relationship
that benefits all who come to
the site.
Etowah Indian Mounds
State Historic Site is located
in Cartersville, Georgia and
is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5
p.m. To learn more, visit
GaStateParks.org/etowahin-
dianmounds.
Jol mole than 130 yeals, the Pickens
Piogiess has keen an open, impartial soulce
of community news, operating on a principle
of fairness and neutrality. 'We prtnt all views
without prejudice. 'We lespect all opinions,
suppress none. St is out mission to infoim
the people in a well lounded mannel.
www. pickensplogless. com
Cold weather causes issues for schools
Maintenance crews working to repair damage
Pickens School Press Release
Because of extremely cold weather this weekend, PCSD
has identified water leaks in five buildings. The damage at
PJHS, JMS, and the administrative offices is minimal. A
leak at the building that houses Mountain Education Charter
High School is currently being assessed. The field house at
PHS has extensive water damage.
A water mitigation company has been on-site at PHS
working at the field house since this afternoon. Our facilities
and maintenance personnel have been working diligently
and will continue to monitor our campuses throughout the
week in case other issues arise.
We will post updates as needed. At this time, the water
issues will not affect the scheduled return to school for stu
dents on January 5, 2023. If this should change, we will
work to notify families as soon as possible.
Snow/Ice catch county by surprise
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
Commission Chair Kris
Stancil said the county had
treated some of the higher el
evation roads on Monday but
didn’t treat countywide as it
wasn’t supposed to amount
to more than a dusting. But
the snow kept coming and “it
turned straight to ice,” Stan
cil said. The official figure
was a 14 inch of snow fell rel
atively quickly on Monday
evening.
The county brought in
their on-call road crew and
went to work treating where
it was most needed.
He said particularly bad
was Lumber Company Road
which had several stranded
vehicles. “We just kept put
ting product on it,” he said.
Stancil said he had been
informed that there was one
wreck with injuries.
In the city of Jasper, Po
lice Chief Matt Dawkins re
ported several vehicle
accidents and a handful of
roads had to be closed into
Tuesday morning.
photo/Angela Reinhardt
It didn’t last long but the snow that fell Monday, turned
almost instantly to ice, according to county crews.
State energy regulators approve Georgia Power rate hike
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - The state
Public Service Commission
(PSC) approved a $1.8 bil
lion rate increase requested
by Georgia Power Tuesday
that embraced most of an
agreement between the
agency’s staff and the com
pany presented last week.
Commissioners slightly
lowered the upper limit on
profits Georgia Power will
be allowed to keep and
sweetened incentives to be
offered to encourage the de
velopment of solar energy
and the deployment of elec
tric vehicle charging stations.
But the PSC stopped short of
more far-reaching changes
proposed by Commissioner
Lauren “Bubba” McDonald,
who provided the lone oppo
sition in Tuesday’s 4-1 vote.
The $1.8 billion rate hike
- down from Georgia
Power’s original request of
$2.9 billion - will raise the
average residential cus
tomer’s bill by $3.60 per
month starting Jan. 1. That’s
down significantly from the
$14.90 monthly increase cus
tomers would have seen next
year under the original front-
loaded three-year request the
company proposed in June.
Instead, customer rates
will go up by 4.5% in 2024
and again in 2025 under the
agreement between Georgia
Power and the PSC’s Public
Interest Advocacy Staff.
The commission set the
return on equity (ROE) for
the utility at the staff-recom
mended level of 10.5%,
down from the 11% the com
pany sought.
But commission Chair
Tricia Pridemore amended
the upper limit of the “earn
ings band” - the range within
which the utility can earn
profits for its shareholders
without sharing them with
customers - to 11.9%,
slightly below the 12% Geor
gia Power requested and cur
rently receives. The PSC
staff had recommended re
ducing the upper limit to
11.5%.
“In the current environ
ment of increasing interest
rates and record inflation, it
is important to hold the com
pany close to current band
levels in order to maintain
the company’s financial in
tegrity and the efficiency in
centives to ultimately benefit
customers,” Pridemore said.
The commission defeated
an alternative amendment
McDonald proposed to fol
low the staff’s suggestion
and set the upper limit of the
earnings band at 11.5%.
“All those revenues inside
the band go to the company,
not the ratepayer,” McDon
ald said.
The commission did ap
prove one customer-friendly
amendment Pridemore intro
duced increasing the percent
age of revenues the company
brings in above the earnings
band that are refunded di
rectly to ratepayers from the
10% contained in the agree
ment to 40%.
Commissioner Fitz John
son proposed an amendment
to provide 65% of the $81
million Georgia Power had
sought for EV charging sta
tions. The agreement had cut
that allocation to just 10% of
the original request.
The PSC also passed an
other Johnson amendment to
charge residential customers
participating in Georgia
Power’s community solar
program $24 for every
“block” of power generated
and charge commercial cus
tomers $25 per block. That’s
less than Georgia Power
wanted but more than the
PSC staff recommended.
“Pricing at this level will
allow participating cus
tomers the opportunity to
support the development of
clean energy as well as the
opportunity to realize fuel
savings,” Johnson said.
Finally, the PSC approved
an amendment proposed by
Commissioner Jason Shaw
to increase payments to par
ticipants in Georgia Power’s
rooftop solar program for the
electricity they generate be
yond what they use.
“This change will im
prove the economics of
rooftop solar for [participat
ing] customers and encour
age the adoption of more
solar in Georgia,” Shaw said.
However, the commission
did not lift the current 5,000-
customer cap on the utility’s
pilot rooftop solar program,
which solar industry advo
cates have complained
threatens the financial health
of their business.
Environmental groups
also criticized the PSC for
not expanding the rooftop
solar program, particularly
when Georgia Power cus
tomers will face a series of
other rate increases over the
next couple of years.
“Georgia Power cus
tomers should brace them
selves because electric bills
are on the rise,” said Jill
Kysor, senior attorney in the
Southern Environmental
Law Center’s Georgia office.
“Customers need more op
tions to control escalating
costs, like access to rooftop
solar. By failing to expand
[that] program, the commis
sion missed an opportunity to
let folks lower bills and to
create new local Georgia
jobs.”
Chris Womack, Georgia
Power’s chairman, president,
and CEO, said in September
the company expects to file a
request in February for unre
covered fuel costs to account
for the volatility of the en
ergy market resulting from
factors including rising natu
ral gas prices and the impacts
of the war in Ukraine.
The utility also will be
looking to the PSC to recover
the costs of bringing into
service the two new nuclear
reactors being built at Plant
Vogtle.