About The Banks County news. (Homer, Banks County, Ga.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (July 26, 2017)
PAGE 6A THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 2017 Social EMC Foundation awards $40,000 to agencies serving Banks County The Jackson EMC Foun dation board of directors awarded a total $122,618 in grants during their June meeting, including $40,000 to organizations serving Banks County. These include: •$15,000 to the Potter’s House, an Atlanta Mission facility, to help feed, house, counsel and provide edu cational programs, such as adult literacy, to men who are recovering from sub stance abuse through an intensive residential pro gram at this 570-acre work ing farm in Jefferson. •$15,000 to Auditory Verbal Center for a thera pist, clinical supplies, and equipment maintenance, repair and calibration, used to help children under the age of five in the coun ties served by Jackson EMC who have cochlear implants overcome their hearing loss and learn to communicate without the use of sign language. •$10,000 to Piedmont Regional Library System, which serves Banks, Bar- row and Jackson counties, to cover its electronic book system fee and hosting costs, and purchase addi tional Ebooks, providing a quality selection of Ebook titles and free access to technology they might not be able to afford. Jackson EMC Foundation grants are made possible by the more than 185,200 participating cooperative members who have their monthly electric bills rounded to the next dollar amount through the Oper ation Round Up program. Their “spare change” has funded 1,208 grants to orga nizations and 345 grants to individuals, putting more than $12.2 million back into local communities since the program began in 2005. Any individual or charita ble organization in the ten counties served by Jack- son EMC (Clarke, Banks, Barrow, Franklin, Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson, Lumpkin, Madison and Oglethorpe) may apply for a Founda tion grant by completing an application, available online at http://www.jacksonemc. com/ foundation-guidelines or at local Jackson EMC offices. Applicants do not need to be a member of Jackson EMC. (presentedby the members of 11.torn IC M EMDEIt SHIP / CORPOItATION Piedmont Regional Library System Ten Thousand & 00/100 JACKSON V>irvu^ V(rrtjf>tir FOUNDATION FUNDS FOR LIBRARY A $10,000 Jackson EMC Foundation check to the Piedmont Regional Library System will help fund the electronic book system. At the check presentation are (from left): Joe Hicks, Jackson EMC Jefferson district manager and Beth McIntyre, director of the Piedmont Regional Library System. Kudzu bug causes change in UGA research Once a devastating presence in Geor gia’s soybean fields and a major nui sance to home gardeners, the kudzu bug population has diminished over the past three years. “Having kudzu bugs in your field isn’t the end of the world. It becomes prob lematic when you have too many of them,” said Ian Knight, a University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Envi ronmental Sciences graduate student. The focus of Knight’s master’s degree thesis is the rapid decline of kudzu bug populations in Georgia. This unexpected decline forced Knight to change his proposed research project from measur ing the rising population of kudzu bugs in Georgia to determin ing the reason for the population plummet. Researchers developed a formula for counting the kudzu bugs by the number of insects that filled a certain area, he said. One cupful represented about 2,300 bugs, and two cups came to about 4,600 bugs. “When they were at their (population) peak, you couldn’t count that many bugs,” Knight said. “That’s how I thought I would be measuring kudzu bugs, (but) nope, not even close.” Knight studied the pest and found that populations have dropped significantly for two reasons: a parasitoid wasp and a fungus. The parasitoid wasp Paratelenomus saccharalis can deposit a single egg into a kudzu bug egg. The wasp egg hatches and feeds on the developing egg, killing the kudzu bug within. The wasp is not native to the U.S. UGA Cooperative Exten sion entomologist Phillip Roberts believes it may have arrived with the original infestation of kudzu bugs in 2009. He said it might have taken longer for the wasps to catch up with the bug population. “We have observed greater than 50 percent kudzu bug mor tality in some soybean and kudzu fields due to parasitism by this wasp,” Roberts said. Roberts and Knight also attribute the Beauveria bassiana fungus to the kudzu bug decline. The fungus attacks and kills both immature and adult kudzu bugs in soybean and kudzu fields, and UGA researchers observed kudzu bug populations killed by the fungus. At their population peak, kudzu bugs were a major pest for soybean farmers in the Southeast. Roberts and fellow UGA entomologist Michael Toews observed an average soybean yield loss of 19 percent in untreated fields during UGA field research trials from 2010 to 2013. The damage rose as high as 60 percent soybean yield loss in some fields. High populations of the pests can infect and irreparably damage soybean plants, stunting the plants’ growth, reducing seed weight and causing a decline in the number of seeds per pod. Kudzu bugs are currently not a major issue, but that doesn’t mean their populations won’t spike in the future, Roberts said. For that reason, he implores farmers to be aware and consis tently scout to curb any chance of a problem in the future. (Thanks to Clint Thompson, news editor with the UGA Col lege of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences). Bob Waldorf is the Banks County extension agent. Kesler reunion planned Aug. 6 The annual Kesler reunion will be held on Sunday, Aug. 6, at Prospect Church in Toc- coa. The service will begin at 10:30 a.m. with lunch to fol low in the Family Life Center. Those who attend are asked to “bring a well-filled basket.” Paper products and utensils will be fur nished. Special music will be provided by Clarke Kesler. Please Recycle This Newspaper Notice of Call of 2017 General Election and Notice of Qualifying Period for 2017 General Election by the Town of Homer, Georgia The Town of Homer, Georgia will con duct the General Election on Tuesday, November 7, 2017 from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., for the purpose of electing the Mayor and Five councilmembers. The qualifying fee for the position of Mayor shall be $22.50 and for each Council member shall be $12.60. All qualified candidates are encouraged to mn. The qualifying for offices will be held at Town Hall 943 Historic Homer High way, Monday August 21,2017, 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. and Tuesday, August 22, 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. and Wednesday August 23, 8:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Last day to register to vote in the munic ipal election is October 10, 2017. Expert care. For your whole heart. Athens Regional Cardiology Group is now Piedmont Heart Institute At Piedmont Heart Institute, we offer the most advanced treatments available. But we also know it's ultimately people who heal people. So we're proud to welcome Athens' finest to the Piedmont family. Their expertise and compassion make us—and you—stronger. piedmont.org/AthensCardiology 706.752.7343 ["1 Piedmont HEART
