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Page 2 — Wednesday, December 16, 2009, TheTrue Citizen
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By Tres Bragg
tresbragg@bellsouth.net
The position has been filled.
A month after Bruce
Storm’s resignation as co-
chairman of Burke County’s
Census Complete Count Com
mittee, county commissioners
appointed his replacement.
Dick Byne, recommended
by Burke County Commission
Chairman Wayne Crockett,
will fill the position follow
ing a unanimous vote. Byne
will work with co-chair Will
iam Bessent in determining
the number of residents who
reside in Burke County for the
2010 Census. The majority of
their work will be between
now and the end of April.
During the last census, a
number of residents who use
post office boxes rather than
street addresses were omitted.
The committee was designed
to help eliminate errors such
as this one, which caused
grant funding to be lower than
it would have been if all per
sons were accounted for.
According to Storm, his res
ignation came after health is
sues with his mother affected
“the time required to devote
to the co-chair position.’’
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Over 60 years of age
One Way
Current - $2.50
New Rate - $3
Each additional stop
Current - $2
New Rate - $2.50
Under 60 years of age
One Way Medical
Current - $3
New Rate - $4
One Way Shopping
Current - $3.50
New Rate - $4.50
One Way School/Work
Current - $4
New Rate - $5
Each additional stop
Current - $2.50
New Rate - $3
Judge Palmer dies at 89
One of Burke’s most beloved judges has died at
age 89.
Monday morning, former magistrate Judge
Mildred Ann Palmer passed away, less than three
years after her retirement.
Palmer took office at the
age of 73 and remained on
the bench for 14 years; how
ever, she learned most of the
ropes years before she was
sworn in. Her late husband
John Teddy Palmer Jr. took
the same office in 1968, and
she worked alongside him in
a small office inside their
hardware store for decades.
Aside from her judgeship, Judge Palmer was
also known as the woman behind the main char
acter in author Patricia Sprinkle's mystery series.
When interviewed about her novels in 2007,
Sprinkle said “I’d been thinking about starting a
second mystery series but I hadn’t had a good idea
for a detective. In Mildred Palmer I had found my
woman.” She talked about meeting her for the first
time, and walking away with an impression that
would live on through novels to come. “I discov
ered that this incredible woman rises in the middle
of the night to hold hearings at the county jail... and
once rode in a sidecar to perform a wedding for
local bikers.”
Census committee co-chairman
January 1, 2010, and transpor
tation will only be provided on
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fri
days.
Board of Commissioners selects
Vogtle unit nearly back at full
power after unplanned shutdown
By Anne Marie Kyzer
annemariek@thetruecitizen.com
A nuclear reactor at Plant
Vogtle that was shut down last
Monday is nearing full power
again.
Unit one was shutdown twice
last week due to separate prob
lems on the secondary side,
which includes the turbine and
other mechanical components
that are not directly involved in
the nuclear process. As of Tues
day morning, the unit was back
at 94 percent power and will re
turn to 100 percent when person
nel complete other maintenance
activities, according to Southern
Nuclear spokesperson Beth Tho
mas.
No homes or businesses lost
power due to the incident.
The unit first shut down
around 6 p.m. last Monday after
a condenser, which pulls steam
from the turbine and turns it back
into water, had a loss of vacuum,
according Nuclear Regulatory
Commission spokesperson Joey
Ledford.
The loss of vacuum is believed
to have been caused when a
feeder breaker was inadvertently
opened. As a safety feature, re
actors automatically shut down
when a mechanical or other
problem occurs.
Though plant officials are still
researching why the feeder
breaker opened, the breaker was
operating properly when they
attempted to bring it back online.
During the process of syncing
the unit back to the grid last
Wednesday, operators shut it
down a second time, doing so
manually when they detected
high vibrations in the turbine,
according to Thomas.
“Based on our plant proce
dures, operators manually shut
the unit down and a team began
working on the issue and discov
ered that the vibrations were
caused by some mechanical
parts inside the turbine that were
creating friction,” she said.
The issue has been resolved
and the unit tied on to the grid
Friday without incident, accord
ing to Thomas.
Southern Nuclear officials said
the incident did not result in a
safety threat nor any damage to
the reactor.
“All the safety system oper
ated like they were designed and
to this point unit two was not af
fected and continued to operate
at one hundred percent,” Thomas
said.
According to Ledford, this is
the first unplanned shutdown, or
trip, Plant Vogtle has recorded
since 2006.
“It’s not unprecedented for
them to trip, but they have had a
pretty good record and most of
the time they arc running from
refueling to refueling,” he said.
By Tres Bragg
tresbragg @ bellsouth .net
A new year means new rates
for Burke Transit users.
Last Tuesday, a public hear
ing was held for citizens con
cerned with the increasing costs
of transportation services pro
vided by Burke Transit.
Although no one showed up
to hear the reasons for upping
the transit rates, commissioners
said the increases are necessary
to compensate for rising costs
and the dramatic decrease in
federal funding for the program.
County commissioners not only
voted to increase fares for users
but also to cut back operation
to just three days a week.
The new rates will take effect
LOCAL AUGUSTA
Over 60 years of age
Current - $20 per hour
One Way
(plus .50 cents per mile round trip)
Current - $7
New Rate - $25 per hour
New rate - $9
(plus .60 cents per mile round trip)
Each additional stop
(medical purposes only)
CONTRACT PRICES
Current - $4
New Rate - $6
Out of County
Under 60 years of age
One Way
Current (fixed)
One Way
$12 per person - four or more
Current - $9
$17 per person - less than four
New Rate - $11
Each additional stop
(medical purposes only)
Current - $4
New Rate - $6
CHARTER
Higher transit rates approved
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