Newspaper Page Text
Forecasters Wrong, Storm Bypasses
from front page
it hit expressways, streets and
roads - but failed to stick to most
plants, a phenomena forecasters
said theg couldn’t explain.
Wide-ranging forecasts for
late this week ranged from highs
in the 50s, lows in the 30s and
sunshine to cloudy skies and
snow flurries.
“DODGE ‘BULLETS””
Danny Fricks, operations
supervisor for the Georgia Power
Co., Summerville, said little
damage resulted from the brief
weekend sleet and snowfall and
rain, except on Lookout Moun
tain. About 75 to 100 people were
without power along Ga. 157 on
the mountain, he indicated, but
their power was quickly restored.
“We're glad to dodge all the
‘bullets,” we can,” he said.
Local crews are still restor
ing power to houses that had
their meters and service stacks
torn away from the buildings,
Fricks said. Private contractors
had to replace those, he said, be
fore the power company could
restore power. .
Laura Sparks, a spokesman
for North Georgia Electric Mem
bership Corp.,%msed in Dalton,
said she had not received any re
ports of power outages due to
this past weekend’s weather.
SENT HOME
“We had crews here until 2
a.m. Saturday before we sent
them home,” she added. How
ever, some individual homes still
might not have fiower because of
being overlooked during the
heavy work load, Ms. Sparks
said.
“Itkind of bypassed us,” she
said of this past weekend’s
storm.
Ron Moore of Charter Cable
Communications Inc., Cleve
land, Tenn., said no further prob
lems were reported in Chattooga
County last Friday, Saturday or
Sunday.
However, the power system
in Mentone was demolished by
the Jan. 22-23 ice storm and
“hundreds” of power poles were
broken and must be replaced,
Moore said. Charter cannot re
store cable TV service at
Mentone until power is restored.
MENTONE
“We had planned to rebuild
the entire system (in Mentone)
with new equipment starting in
March,” he said. .
Mary Stoner of Alltel Corp.,
which provides telephone service
to Chattooga, said Monday that
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EMA DIR. HERBERT DODD (R) CHECKS FACILITY
Sheriff Ralph Kellett Concerned About Short Outage
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TWO STORES POST $1.89.9 PER GALLON COST FOR KEROSENE
Both Located In Summerville City Limits; Storm Misses Area
the utility had started answering
routine service calls this week.
Two Alltel employees from
LaFayette are helping this week,
she indicated. Service still must
be restored to some houses
where the service lines from the
main phone line were downed,
she said.
“I'm so thankful we didn't
get it (ice storm) this week,” Mrs.
Stoner said with relief.
“Some people said ‘this was
the biggest non-event there ever
was’ — and that’s good,” Commis
sioner Parker said laughingly
Monday despite suffering from a
cold.
GENERATOR
“Everything went
smoothly,” said Herbert Dodd,
director of the county's Emer
gency Management Agency and
head of the Chattooga Emer-
Eenc_v Medical Services. “We
ope it stays that way until
spring. We had a few brief power
outages where Georgia Power
might have been doing some
work but they were briet.”
Dodd, who had fgone with
out sleef for most of the previ
ous week, installed an emergency
generator at the county/emer
gency transmitter tower this past
Friday.
He told Commissioner
Parker about power going off to
the transmitter at 10:30 a.m.
Dodd was on top of Taylor Ridge
by 10:45 a.m. and had the gen
erator operating by 10:55 a.m.
Moments later,ie learned that
normal electrical power had been
restored to the transmitter.
Without the device and tower,
none of the county’s emergency
operations — incfudin&{ police,
the sheriff’s office, local tire de
partments, the EMS, EMA and
911 - could communicate.
FRIGID WALKS
The previous weekend,
Dodd had to refill the generator
with fuel every two ant% one-half
hours. On one occasion durin
the Jan. 22-23 ice storm, Dods
said he had to walk the mile and
one-half from U.S. 27 to the
transmitter. Summerville Police
Officer Dewayne Tinney accom
panied him, he said. Summer
ville Police Chief Stan Mosley
guarded their vehicles at the U.S.
27 roadside, he added.
“Trees were falling all
around us,” he said. “It sounded
like a war was going on.
Britt Evans, chief of the
Chattooga County Rescue
Squad, made many trips with
him to refill the generator, Dodd
added.
“I would fill it (generator)
up, go home and lie down an
hour and get back up anddgo u(i)
there and Ell itagain,” Dodd said.
Evans also helped him cut
trees out of the roadway, he said.
FORESTERS
The Georgia Forestry Ser
vice used a bulldozer to shove
fallen trees —many of them large
hardwoods — out of the road soa
pickup truck loaded with fuel
could travel along the Taylor
Ridge road to the transmitter,
Dodd said. Inmates from Hays
State Prison, Pennville, then
came along and cut the trees so
larger vehicles could get to the
ridge tog, he added.
Although Dodd depended
on the small generator to %ft ast
the brief outage Friday, he %ad
plans to install a propane genera-
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ALL “D” BATTERIES GONE FROM DISPLAY
Empty Spaces Show Stripping Of Popular Size
A O T R B S S R e DAR
Farmers Mutual Insurance
Trion, Georgia
Insurance On Homes, Trailers, and
Commercial Buildings.
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734-3997 (HOME)
LAFAYETTE OFFICE — (706) 638-2888
“SERVICE 24 HOURS A DAY”
This is a non-profit organization with no agents.
(Celebrating 103 years of Business).
tor at the site. It would operate
for about 28 hours without be
ing refueled, he said.
In Trion last Thursday
night, Jan. 27, Police Chief
Charles Latta said he arranged
two emergency shelters to be
available f(g)r local residents this
past weekend. The Trion School
System offered the town its facil
ity, as did the recreation
department’s building. Winter
tires were readied for use on the
town’s GEMA four-wheel drive
trucks, he indicated.
TRION FUEL
Jeff Bettis, superintendent
of Trion’s wastewater treatment
plant, said last Thursday he had
obtained $2,100 gallons of die
sel fuel to run the plant’s genera
tors in case of power failure.
President Clinton, at the re
quest of Governor Roy Barnes,
Friday declared 30 Georgia
counties, including Chattooga, as
disaster areas as a result of the
Jan. 21-22 ice storm, reported
the Georgia Emergency Manage
ment Agency (GEMA).
Commissioner Parker said
Monday afternoon he had not
received official notification of
the presidential declaration.
However, in preparation for the
anticipated action, he already
had prepared a “ballpark figure”
on how much it wou{(’i cost to re
move fallen trees and limbs from
the county’s rights-of-way.
CLEANUP COST
The estimate ranged be
tween SBO,OOO to SIOO,OOO, he’
said. Actual costs could be higher
or lower than the estimates, he
added. Officials are keeping
records on the number of per
sonnel, hours worked and over
time required to work during the
ice storm of Jan. 22-23, Parker
said.
The federal government
would pay 75 percent of the costs
for cleaning the streets of local
towns ang the roads of the
county, he said. In past emergen
cies, the state government has
paid the remaining 25 percent of
the total, Parker said, but it re-
mained unclear whether that
would happen this time.
INMATES HELP
Johnny Crawford, assistant
to Warden Billy Tom;;'l‘cins of
Hays State Prison, said Monday
the three regular county Hays
inmate crews were clearing
county roadsides this week, in
addition to an extra grisoner
crew. Instead of loading the
limbs and trees onto trucks and
hauling them to the chert pit on
U.S. 27 south of Summerville,
Crawford said, consideration
was being given to having a wood
chipper with the crews. That
way, the fallen branches and
trees could be ground to bits
where they hit the ground or
street.
“It will take a long time (to
clean up all the streets and
roads), it really will,” Commis
sioner Parker said. He wants the
rights of way to be clear by sprinlg(
so the county’s mowers can wor
unim(feded, the commissioner
added.
PRAISE
Both Commissioner Parker
and Dodd issued g;aise for
Evans, Tinney, Chief Mosley, in
dividuals who volunteered helf)
the community, the county’s vol
unteer rescue S(}:xad, sheriff’s
de{)artment, Sheriff Ralph
Kellett, Georgia foresters, local
volunteer firemen and the
county public works department
for their dedication and work
during and after the Jan. 22-23
ice storm.
Parker also issued high
praise for Dodd and Joe Reed,
county public works superinten
dent. He said Reed worked in
spite of illness and had to be
forced to go home.
UNINSURED
Statewide damages from the
Jan. 22-23 storm have been es
timated at roughly $46-million
in uninsured losses, said Gary
McConnell, Chattooga County,
director of GEMA.
In addition to funds for cit
ies and counties to help clean up
after the ice storm, the presiden
tial declaration makes residents,
farmers and business owners
who suffered storm-related
losses eligible for a wide range of
help.
Other eligible applicants in
clude senior citizen centers,
homeless shelters, libraries,
community centers, emergency
fire protection and ambu%ance
services, parochial schools and
outpatient medical treatment fa
cilities.
GEMA AID
GEMA said the assistance
Erograms include temporary
ousing, low-interest loans to
repair or replace storm-damaged
property and grants for serious
needs and expenses not met by
other programs. Also, NGEMC,
a non-profit corf)oration, is an
ticipated to be eligible for reim
bursement for the cost of debris
removal, emergency protective
measures and hazard mitigation,
GEMA officials added.
The declaration also makes
the county eligible for hazard
mitigation grants for action
taken to prevent or reduce long
term risfi to life and property
from natural disasters.
“PROJECT IMPACT”
Thanks to McConnell, Chat
tooga already is involved in
“Project Impact,” a federal fund
ing program designed to help
communities plan mitigation
measures. That grant is expected
to range between $300,000 and
$400,000, he indicated earlier.
One Injured
In Mishap
During Week
One person was injured in a
two-car accident on Back
Berryton Road in Summerville
last week, according to the Geor
gia State Patrol (GSP).
According to the report by
Trooper J. S. éarroll:
A 1999 Ford Taurus driven
by An§ela Dawn Fuller, Sum
merville, was travelin(i; west on
Back Berryton Road and at
tempted to turn left into a private
drive when she pulled into the
path of a 1989 Chevrolet S-10
pickup truck driven by Mark
William Schrader, Summerville,
who was travelin’%}fast on Back
Berryton Road. The Fuller ve
hicle traveled approximately 66
feet, coming to rest facing south
in the private drive and the
Schrader vehicle traveled ap
groximately 177 feet from impact
efore hitting a dirt pile and
overturning. Fuller said her vi
sion was obscured by a large van
that was in front of Ker.
Schrader was injured.
Fuller was presented one ci
tation, according to the GSP re
port.
Chattooga
School Board
To Meet Mon
The Chattooga County
School Board will meet at 7 fi).m.
Monday at the school
iggerimendent’s office off Ga.
“The public is invited.
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Staff Photo By D. J. Laan
GROCERY STORES THROUGHOUT COUNTY PACKED
Citizens Prepare For Snow-Ice Storm That Never Arrived
®
Wrong Winter Forecast Has
People Buying ‘E hing’
eoplie buying "L.verything
Lines In Stores Long, Items Sell Out By Weekend
By D. J. LAAN
Staff Writer
Although the weekend win
ter storm forecast for Chattooga
County skipped the community,
its residents nevertheless were
read¥_ with loads of emergency
supplies.
Maybe it was the memory of
the ice storm the previous week
end or thoughts of the 1993 bliz
zard, but it appeared that few
people were unprepared for what
turned out to be a non-event.
Parking lots at every major
super market and the Wal-Mart
discount store in Summerville
were filled to the brim with shog-
Eers looking for items that might
eg) prepare them for the week
end.
Some shoppers at Save-A-
Lot Inc., U.S. 27, north of Sum
merville, talked about the storm
forecast and what they were do
ing to prepare for the threat.
Most were decked-out in
winter clothing with toboggans
and floves, pushing buggies
filled with milk, cereals and
canned goods. One item missing
from the shopping carts was
bread.
BREAD, ANYONE?
The store’s bread shelves
were empty. Not even a hotdog
bun package could be found in
the bread section. Suddenly, a
loud scream came from a woman
who had spotted a Flower’s Bak
ery Co. truck driving into the
parking lot.
As the deliveryman pushed
a large mobile unit of some 100
loaves into the store, the frenzied
shog)pers began racing to get a
loaf or loaves.
Grocery cart after cart was
abandoned as women, men and
children ran like a herd of starv
ing cattle to the front of the store.
Cashiers who were in the process
of checkinfi out the customers
stopged what thefi' were doinfi
briefly and watched the ma
dash.
The bakery employee, who
arpeared stunned at the sight of
all those folks running in his di
rection, backed away from the
cart toward a sidewall of the
buildin%and watched the melee
of grabbing, clutching hands
reaching for a loaf.
In asingle minute, the bread
rack was empty.
UNBELIEVABLE
“That’s unbelievable,” said
Joyce Adams, Trion, as she
watched the scramble.
“It reminded me of a herd of
cattle stampeding,” she said.
Ms. Adams said she was
shopping for herself and for her
elderly mother.
“I have to get éroceries for
mother,” she said. Most of the
items in Mrs. Adams’ cart were
fresh-food items such as milk,
fruit and meats.
Odala Mitchell, Summer
ville, another sh(;pper, said she
was buying just a few extra items
in case the roads were impass
able for more than three or four
days.
“I doubt that will be the
case,” she said, “but I want to
have what I need in case it does
happen.”
COOKING STOVE
Pegfiy Hall, Chattoogaville,
said she had been thinking about
buying a portable cook stove to
have at her home in case of a
power outagle.
“I usually have enough ex
tra food for my husband and me
to get by a few days,” she said.
“But, without electricity, I can’t
cook.”
She called Shamblin Hard
ware, Summerville, early Friday
morning to see if it had a portable
stove in stock.
“They were already out so I
called Wal-Mart to see if it had
stoves,” she said. The one in
Summerville was also out of por
table stoves. Customer service
suggested that she try the Rome
store.
EN ROUTE
She drove to the store in
Rome to bu{a stoves before she
went to work.
“I was late to work but for a
good cause, I figured,” she said
with a laugh.
However, by the time she
got to the Rome store, only one
The Summerville News, Thursday, February 3, 2000 —
stove remained.
“There was one other bu
tane stove, which a clerk was
showing a customer how it op
erated, but as far as propane
stoves, only one was left,” she
said.
She quickly took possession
of the remaining stove.
“I feel a lot more confidant
that my husband and I will sur
vive this storm,” she said.
GETTING READY
Debra Ramey, Teloga, said
she did her shopfi)ing on Frida{.
She stopped by the Summerville
discount store for a few items
and as she gushed her shogping
cart through the foyer, she hear
customer service announce:
“The Wal-Mart employee
said the store was out of kerosene
lanterns, kerosene and lamp oil
and r:fiular matches,” she said,
“and the only candles left were
the three-wick variety.”
She said she started think
ing about a scenario in which the
forecast snowstorm wouldn’t oc
cur, as it didn’t. She said she
imagined God sitting up in
heaven grinning at frantic hu
mans. 2
“He might be saying, ‘I
showed them again that they
can’t predict what I will do.”
“NOT A THING”
Beth Wilson, Summerville,
said she didn’t do anything out
of the ordinary to prepare for a
weather emergency.
“I have §as heat that doesn’t
depend on electricity for the fan
motor,” she said. “My water
heater is gas,” she said. But Ms.
Wilson said she did buly batter
ies and a container of lamp oil,
just in case.
“I needed those anyhow. I
didn’t buy any extra groceries,
just what I would buy normally,”
she said.
Pam Thrasher, a Trion resi
dent who works for the Chat
toocfa County Sheriff's Office,
said she didn'’t prepare for what
turned out to be a non-snow/ice
event.
“I just bou%ht my normal
groceries and filled my car with
gasoline because that’s what I
normally do,” she said.
PREPARED
Shirley Benedict, Summer
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Qualifying enterprises are invited to present proposals.
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P.O. Box 368
Summenrville, GA 30747 g
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Ron Moore, General Manager Sie oKD Comeany
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TRION
MEDICAL CENTER
701 ALLGOOD STREET e TRION
CALL TODAY FOR SPECIAL
OSTEOPOROSIS SCREENING
oty
MELCHOR ONG, MD
INTERNAL MEDICINE
ROBYN SHEPHERD, RN, MN
NURSE PRACTITIONER
OFFICE HOURS: MON. - THUR. 8:30 - 5:00
FRI. 8:30-3:00, SAT. 10:00 - 2:00
DIRECTION: 27 N. to Triangle Shopping Center Plaza, Bear Left
Onto Central Avenue At First Stop Light, Turn Left Onto Allgood
Street. Go through Two Stop Signs, Travel 4 Tenths Mile and Turn
Left Into Trion Medical Center.
ville, said she had heard that a
big snowstorm would pass
through North Georgia since
Jan. 17. “I wasn'’t too worried
about it,” she said. Ms. Benedict
owns a generator.
“Our electricity went down
for three days during the storm
before this ();orecasted) one but
we had the generator and it re
stored all power to us,” she said.
Phyllis Durand, Menlo, said
her family was “totally prepared.
“I got paid last Thursday
(Jan. 20) and I spent SIOO on
groceries. I bought snacks for my
firandkids," she said, “and a tur
ey that I roasted.” She said she
also rented three videotapes and
bought extra batteries to run the
video cassette recorder in case
her home lost electricity.
“I have a fireplace and
plent{) of wood so I never wor
ried about getting cold,” she said.
BUGGY FULL
Bud and Linda Hart, who
reside between LaFayette and
Summerville, had two shopping
carts filled with items.
“We have four children and
we like to come to Summerville
because the prices are better
here,” Bud said.
Mrs. Hart said she bought
extra ice cream, cake mixes, po
tato chips and soft drinks to ap
pease her children in case they
were out of school a few days.
She also said the family
bought 15 gallons of kerosene to
use 1n its portable heaters in case
electricity, their
main source of heating, dis
appeared.
“We have three kerosene
heaters and we are ready for the
cold if it comes,” she said.
She said she stopped earlier
at a Summerville store to buy
gloves but it had sold out of them.
“Isn’t that something?” she
said. “Well, I guess a lot of par
ents thought just as I did — that
having an extra paid of gloves
would be good to change into af
ter playing in the snow.”
BULB BAGS
Save the plastic mesh bags
oranges usually come in. Experts
with the University of Georfiia
Extension Service say they make
ideal stora%e bags for air-drying
gourds, bulbs and herbs.
13-A