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Congratulations & t£e Graduates! SEE PAGES 1B-6B Wxt dlajette Tuesday, May 18,2021 barnesville.com Barnesville, Ga. 30204 HERE’S THE SCOOP Memorial Day observance set for Milner The local VFW Post will be conducting Memorial Day services Monday, May 31 at the Veterans Memorial in Milner City Park. All veterans and those who appreciate them are invited to attend. The proceedings will begin at 11 a.m. For more information, contact post command er Richard Wright at 770.584.4608. Ag After Hours is Thursday The annual Ag After Hours event, hosted by the Lamar County Soil & Water Conservation Dis trict and Farm Bureau, will be held Thursday at the Wetlands Trail off Roberta Drive. The festivities will begin at 5:30 p.m. The event highlights the importance of agriculture to the local economy and allows producers to network with local businesses. For more information, call 770.358.5884. Early deadlines for holiday Due to the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, May 31, Tljc i)rral& Aurttr will go to press early. Please submit news and advertising before noon Thursday, May 27, to be included the May 31 edition. Subscribe. Your name goes on the label in this box LC Class of 2021 marches Saturday The Lamar County High School Class of 2021 will graduate during commencement exercises set for 9 a.m. Saturday at Trojan Field. Up to 176 students could receive diplomas from superintendent Dr. Jute Wilson and LCHS principal Dr. David Boland, depending on test results. Masks and social distancing are encouraged. After the proces sional, keynote ad dresses will be given by valedictorian Ryla Traylor and salutato- rian Saffron Abreu. Dr. Wilson will present the graduation ad dress. Class president Connor Gotell will welcome parents and guests. Treasurer Tessa Bateman will lead the Pledge of Allegiance. Historian Keitrye Parlier will outline the Class of ’21’s highlights. School board chairman Danny Turner will also address the graduates. After the diplomas are dis tributed, class vice-president Talaijah Murphy will deliver closing remarks which will be followed by the recessional. The individual grads are saluted in our special gradua tion section on pages 1B-6B of this edition. THE HERALD GAZETTE/WALTER GEIGER Nursing degree completed Christine Pyrrhus holds her diploma aloft in exultation as she and her fellow nursing grads leave commence ment exercises held Friday at Summers Field Park. Pyrrhus received her BS degree in nursing in the second of two graduation ceremonies held at the park. Dan White, a member of the GSC Foundation, addressed the first group of grads. Justin Gunnels, soon to be assistant principal at LCMS, addressed the second. Dick Esco to receive Golden Eagle Award Dick Esco will receive the Golden Eagle Award for Lamar County from the Boy Scouts of America May 20. The awards banquet is set for the civic center at 6:30 p.m. Esco, is retired from Georgia Farm Bureau and is very active with the local chamber of commerce and other organizations. He has served for many years as the chairman of Buggy Days. Mayor Peter Banks is chair man of the awards committee. For tickets or more informa tion, call Banks at 404.433.0224 or BSA district executive Re- bekah Florence at 770.468.4479. ESCO GSC soccer seeks GCAA championship The GSC Highlanders de feated Georgia Military College 1-0 Sunday afternoon in the semifinal round and will play for the GCAA title for the fourth consecutive year Wednesday. GSC (7-3) entered the postsea son as a #3 seed and had lost twice to GMC earlier in the season. Freshman Sophia Kotopka got the lone goal of the match in the 38th minute. Kotopka is the GCAA’s leading scorer. Becca Doyle had a clean sheet in the net for Gordon. The Highlanders battle #1 seed South Georgia Wednesday at 4 p.m. in Douglas, Ga. for the GCAA/NJCAA Region 17 title. Fiber internet to arrive sooner than expected In February, Southern Rivers Energy (SRE) announced its partnership with Conexon Con nect to build a fiber network alongside its electric distribu tion system to bring high-speed internet services to SRE mem bers. Since then, staff on both sides have been working dili gently on the network design, engineering and establishing roles for the project. SRE staff recently attended a fiber network kick-off and planning meeting at Conexon’s headquarters in Kansas City, with department-specific dis cussions about each phase of the construction process. “We have a Conexon Con nect Construction Project Manager on-site and right now, he is riding through the terri tory in Phase 1 to compare the fiber network design with our physical electric system and make any necessary changes to the fiber design. We are in the earliest stage of make -ready engineering, which includes identifying poles that need to be replaced and trimming trees and vegetation that may interfere with electric and fiber lines,” says SRE Director of Marketing/Member Services Erin Cook. “The construction schedule is divided into two phases, with multiple zones in each phase. These zones include the sub station and every connecting circuit. Now that we have the design, Conexon is confident SRE’s 2,150 miles of fiber will be completed within about three years, compared to the initial estimate of 4-5 years for Southern Rivers Energy’s and Central Georgia EMC’s projects combined.” The fiber network design is Fiber Internet Construction Plan Phase One and Phase Two Order of Construction connect following the existing electrical infrastructure. Where power lines are overhead, the fiber will attach to the poles; wherever SRE has underground service, the fiber will be installed under ground. Fiber construction crews start at the substations and work their way outward follow ing each circuit. They build it, splice it, test it and then release it. Once a circuit has been tested and released, Conexon Connect will begin contacting members in that area to sub scribe. SRE members who sign up for fiber internet service while construction crews are in the area will not pay a con nection fee, regardless of the distance from their house to the road. “The main thing everyone wants to know is when fiber in ternet service will be available in their neighborhood. Although we have an estimated timeline, the actual start date depends on when we finish the make- ready engineering and construc tion,” said Cook. “Right now, we plan to start make-ready con struction for the areas served by the Tobesofkee substation in late June or early July. While we are still months away from beginning the actual fiber con struction, Connect anticipates connecting the first customers in Phase 1 this fall, barring any weather events or other factors that could delay make ready and/or fiber construction.” For regular updates on construction progress, pre-reg istration and installations, visit conexonconnect.com/southern- riversenergy or follow Southern Rivers Energy and Connect, Powered by SRE on Facebook. Coweta Spalding Monroe Meriwether Upson Crawford ©2021 THE HERALD GAZETTE, BARNESVILLE, LAMAR COUNTY, GA 30204, 770.358.NEWS