THURSDAY. DECEMBER 21.2023 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 3A
State Regent visits local DAR chapter
DAR State Regent Betty Harrah stands with local DAR Sequoyah Chapter Regent
Suzanne Harman, right front, at a recent meeting. The leaders are pictured with new Se
quoyah Chapter members whose patriotic group now totals 140 women.
Federal agency: Fatal
chemical release at Georgia
poultry plant ’preventable'
By Mekiss Huneke
DAR member
The Sequoyah Chapter of
the National Society of the
Daughters of the American
Revolution enjoyed a visit
from Georgia State Society
DAR Regent Betty Harrah at
their December 7th meeting.
State Regent Harrah up
dated the group on efforts to
restore the home of George
Walton, a Declaration of In
dependence signer. His
home, Meadow Garden, is
located in Augusta and is
open to the public. The Geor
gia State Society DAR is
working to raise funds to re
store the home back to its
original state.
In addition to hearing
from State Regent Harrah,
the Sequoyah Chapter en
joyed Christmas carols with
the North Georgia Veterans.
New members were wel
comed to the Sequoyah
Chapter, increasing their
membership to 140. The
business meeting was fol
lowed by a Christmas tea fea
turing sweet treats and
cookies commemorating the
250th anniversary of the
Boston Tea Party on Decem
ber 16.
The National Society of
the Daughters of the Ameri
can Revolution was founded
in 1890 and has a current
membership of more than
190,000 women. The Se
quoyah Chapter, based in
Pickens County, was founded
in 2005 and currently has a
membership of 140 women
active in promoting patriot
ism, heritage and serving our
veterans through various
events and service projects.
The National Society
Daughters of the American
Revolution (DAR) is a
women’s service organiza
tion whose members can
trace their lineage to an indi
vidual who contributed to se
curing American
independence during the
Revolutionary War. Today’s
DAR is dynamic and diverse,
with over 185,000 members
in 3,000 chapters in the
United States and abroad.
DAR members annually pro
vide millions of hours of vol
unteer service to their local
communities across the coun
try and world. DAR chapters
participate in projects to pro
mote historic preservation,
education, and patriotism.
Over one million members
have joined the organization
since its founding in 1890.
If you are interested in
learning more about DAR
membership, visit http://se-
quoyah.georgiastatedar.org/
or contact sequoyahchapter-
dar@gmail.com.
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - The release
of fatal liquid nitrogen at a
poultry processing plant in
Gainesville nearly three
years ago was “completely
preventable,” according to a
newly released federal re
port.
Six workers died at the
Foundation Food Group
(FFG) plant in January 2021
when a liquid nitrogen con
trol system in a freezer room
failed due to a bent tube that
allowed the room to be filled
with a deadly cloud, the U.S.
Chemical Safety and Hazard
Investigation Board (CSB)
found.
The severity of the inci
dent was worsened by FFG’s
inadequate emergency pre
paredness, including a failure
to install air monitoring and
alarm devices. As a result, at
least 14 workers entered the
freezer room or the surround
ing area to investigate the in
cident or try to rescue
coworkers, with three of
those workers and a fire
fighter suffering serious in
juries from asphyxiation.
“Workers were not aware
of the deadly consequences
of a liquid nitrogen release,”
said Drew Sahli, the CSB in
vestigator in charge. “Ulti
mately trying to save their
colleagues led to them sacri
ficing their own lives. This is
a known hazard, and better
training and communication
could have prevented such a
tragedy.”
After the incident, FFG
sold the plant to Gold Creek
Foods, which is its current
owner. Gold Creek does not
have liquid nitrogen freezing
processes in the building
where the incident occurred.
The CSB report made 12
safety recommendations, in
cluding calling on the federal
Occupational Safety and
Health Administration
(OSHA) to establish a na
tional standard addressing
hazards arising from the stor
age, use, and/or handling of
cryogenic asphyxiants.
The agency also sug
gested that the Compressed
Gas Association and the Na
tional Fire Prevention Asso
ciation improve their
guidance on the safe use of
cryogenic asphyxiants, in
cluding liquid nitrogen,
“The CSB’s recommen
dations are important for pre
venting incidents involving
liquid nitrogen and lessening
their severity if they do
occur,” CSB Chairman Steve
Owens said. “The hazards of
liquid nitrogen must be
clearly communicated to
workers, and the safety man
agement systems for opera
tions that use liquid nitrogen
must be improved.”
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