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THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS • THE COMMERCE NEWS
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2016
Fall armyworms devastating pastures
Armyworm damage
Joel Davis checks out a pasture for damage done by fall armyworms. In
what officials say is the worst armyworm outbreak ever in Georgia, Jackson
is among the Georgia counties declared a “disaster area” by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
While walking through
one his pastures, Joel Davis
looked down and saw a
small armyworm crawling
on his boot. He bent down
and squashed the insect with
his thumb.
“That felt good,” he said.
Davis’ fields are just some
of the many in Jackson
County that have been dam
aged by fall armyworms.
Coupled with hot weather
and a Level 1 drought, the
armyworms have been dev
astating to farmers in the
area.
Davis has been farming
all his life - 73 years - but
he said he hasn’t seen the
armyworms get this bad.
He’s sprayed many of his
fields multiple times. Still, the
armyworms return.
“It’s just a constant bat
tle to keep them down,” he
said.
Jackson County was
recently designated a disas
ter area by the United States
Department of Agriculture.
The armyworms are march
ing through many pastures
and hayfields in the area,
feeding on the forage grasses.
The cost adds up for local
farmers as the armyworms
eat the hay they use for
their own cattle, along with
the excess they would nor
mally sell. Add to that the
cost of insecticides, and the
armyworms are proving to
be expensive, according to
Davis.
By the time many farm
ers saw the telltale signs of
the insects - browned grass
and lingering black birds and
crows - it was too late to
manage.
“It doesn’t take them
long,” said Davis. “By the
time you notice, it’s almost
too late. They just march
right across the pasture...I
guess that’s probably where
they got their name.”
It only takes a few days for
armyworms to eat their way
through a field. The drought
and lack of rain has left the
armyworms with little natural
threats.
“It’s a heaven for them,”
said Jackson County’s Uni
versity of Georgia extension
agent Greg Pittman. “No rain
means no challenges for the
armyworms. It’s a perfect
storm.”
The insects are affecting
homeowners, too. Pittman
estimates his office has
received over 50 calls about
armyworms this year. Many
in the Braselton area have
been from homeowners,
who’ve noticed the insects
eating away at their lawns.
Pittman said to most
people, the browned grass
just looks like a sign of the
drought. But he said the
armyworms are causing a
much larger problem.
“Many people look out at a
brown field and think it’s just
because of dry weather...but
this is not just dry weather,”
said Pittman.
Pittman doesn’t expect the
worms to be cleared out until
the first frost of the year. That
is troubling to many Jackson
County farmers, including
Davis and Joe McMullan.
“I’ve never wished for
an early frost before,” said
McMullan.
McMullan already got less
than expected in his most
recent cut of the year.
“We won’t get another,”
he said.
Farmers are looking at
alternatives now, including
grinding hay and putting in
byproducts to supplement
nutrients for cattle. Others
are selling cattle they hadn’t
intended to sell.
“But we’ll make it,” said
Davis. “There’ve been tough
This product may
.contain up to 10%
lethanol by volume.
Gas 'shortage' hits
Local motorists are finding it challenging to locate gas stations with gasoline,
thanks to a leak in a Colonial Pipeline line in Alabama, which forced Colonial
to shut down the line for repairs. Gasoline is flowing, but outages could be an
issue until Colonial completes a bypass, supposedly later this week. The short
age has also caused gas prices to rise by more than 20 cents a gallon.
New hospital authority
moves to engage attorney
Commerce’s new hospital
authority is in the process of
retaining an attorney.
The authority met briefly
Monday night in closed ses
sion to discuss the acquisition
of real estate. But when it was
over, the authority voted to
authorize city clerk John Stell
to engage the Atlanta law firm
of Polsinelli PC, which spe
cializes in legal services for
hospitals and health systems.
City manager James
Wascher, who is treasurer of
the authority, said the author
ity will pay no retainer fees
and that its costs “will come
at the time of regulatory com
pliance.”
The city formed the
authority — comprising the
mayor and city council
plus Jo Totherow, Charles
Blair and Dr. Narasimhulu
Neelagam — as a means of
helping Northridge Medical
Center access federal funds
available to authority-owned
hospitals.
To do that, the authority
would “purchase” the land
and buildings owned by
Northridge and lease them
back to Northridge. The
transaction would not actu
ally involve any exchange of
cash, and the authority is
early in the process.
“The premise is to help
the hospital any way we can
without placing a financial
burden on the city,” Wascher
said. “If we can make that
happen, we will move for
ward.”
The city manager said
the lease would cover the
authority’s costs as well as a
payment in lieu of property
taxes.
“That’s going to be part of
the contract we negotiate,”
Wascher said. “The authority
is going to need some kind
of funds to operate.”
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Jackson EMC to return
$7.5 million to members
Jackson Electric Mem
bership Corporation’s
(EMC) board of directors
announced at the cooper
ative’s 77th annual meeting
on Thursday Sept. 16, that
$7.5 million will be returned
in December to more than
220,000 members who
received electric service in
1990 and/or 2015.
“Because Jackson EMC
is a not-for-profit coopera
tive, the board is able to return
a portion of the revenue left
over after all the bills are paid,
funds we refer to as ‘margins’,
to our members at the end of
each year,” said board chair
man Chuck Steele. “After this
December’s refund, Jackson
EMC will have returned $115.5
million in margin refunds to
its owner/ members since the
cooperative was founded in
1938.”
Steele also reported to the
audience that during the year,
Jackson EMC had invested
$39 million in the coopera
tive’s distribution network,
and had added more than
3,400 meters.
Northridge
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