MG_NL_1207

December 2007

Middle Georgia EMC Newsletter

Member Newsletter

Middle Georgia

The Official Newsletter of Middle Georgia Electric Membership Corporation

P.O. Box 190, Vienna, GA 31092

December 2007

MANAGER'S

Comments

By Hugh Richardson

Middle Georgia EMC will be 68 years
old in 2008. So, here is a look into
the history of your Cooperative:

70 YEARS AGO

Communities organized to submit

an application through the Rural Electrification
Administration for electric service to the rural areas
of Dooly, Pulaski and Wilcox counties.

60 YEARS AGO

More than 400 members attended

the Annual Meeting of Middle Georgia EMC at Vienna
High School. Plans were also in place to build the
first permanent EMC office.

55 YEARS AGO

A beauty contest was held at the

Annual Meeting with Miss Jean Carr of Hawkinsville
crowned as the winner. She went on to compete in
a national competition in Miami.

50 YEARS AGO

Middle Georgia EMC won first place

with a float depicting life before and after electricity
in the Wilcox County Centennial parade.

45 YEARS AGO

After the construction of Interstate

75 through the middle of Dooly County, the
Cooperative experienced commercial growth from
new gas stations, restaurants and motels. Sales of
electricity tripled over a 10-year period.

40 YEARS AGO

The first

trencher was purchased
for underground services. J.K. Peavey was elected
president of the board of directors.

35 YEARS AGO

Branch offices were constructed in

both Pulaski and Wilcox counties to better serve the
EMC customers and for appliance sales. Hawkinsville
High School became the largest commercial cus-
tomer.

30 YEARS AGO

The Cooperative discontinued print-

ing member newsletters at the office and began
adding the newsletter to RURAL GEORGIA Magazine.

25 YEARS AGO

Load management switches and a

supervisory control system were installed to help
reduce peak power demands and to monitor and
control substation devices.

20 YEARS AGO

A side-trimming machine was added

to the right-of-way crew to help expedite the clear-
ing of tree limbs from the power lines.

The offices of Middle Georgia EMC will be closed

Monday, Dec. 24, and Tuesday, Dec. 25 in observance of the

Christmas holidays. We will also be closed on Tuesday, Jan. 1

for New Year's Day. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays from Middle Georgia EMC!

GEORGIA MAGAZINE

Middle Georgia EMC Newsletter

ver wonder how much money

could be saved by switching

from incandescent lightbulbs to
compact fluorescent lightbulbs
(CFLs)? An online savings calculator
powered by Touchstone Energy
cooperatives shows how making
the switch to the energy-efficient
CFLs can impact savings per year
and savings over the lifetime of
the bulbs.

Visit www.touchstoneenergy.

coop and click on Light Bulb
Energy Saver. The calculator lets
you insert the number of incandes-
cent bulbs you would like to
replace with CFLs. With a click on
"calculate," you can quickly see
how much money you can save.
For example, changing out 15
incandescent bulbs with CFLs saves
$66 per year and $598 over the
bulbs' lifetime.

The program, based on a bulb

being used three hours a day and
consuming 0.088 kwh, assumes
that a 60-watt incandescent bulb
with 750 hours of life will be
replaced with a 14-watt CFL equiv-

alent boasting 10,000 hours of life.
On average, CFLs consume 66 per-
cent less energy than their compa-
rable incandescent cousins and last
up to 10 times longer. According to
the U.S. Department of Energy,
replacing just one incandescent
bulb with a CFL in every American
household would save enough
electricity to power more than

2.5 million homes for a year and
offset the same amount of green-
house gas emissions as taking near-
ly 800,000 cars off the road.

Go ahead and make the switch

to start saving money and help the
environment. Oh yeah ... they
make great stocking stuffers too!

--Touchstone Energy

Make the switch to CFLs and save

iddle Georgia EMC is once

again accepting applications

for three students to be chosen
for a $750 scholarship from the
counties served. This prestigious
award, presented annually to stu-
dents displaying academic excel-
lence and financial need, gives
winners $750 that
can be applied to
academic expenses
at any accredited
two- or four-year uni-
versity, college or
vocational-technical
institute in Georgia.

In order to be

considered for the scholarship, appli-
cants must live with either an EMC
member or an EMC employee and
must either be enrolled in or apply-
ing for a position in an accredited

undergraduate degree program.

Full-time students, part-time

students, as well as EMC

members and employees

are all eligible to receive

the award.

The top winner of

the Middle Georgia EMC

Scholarship will be sub-

mitted in the Georgia

EMC Walter Harrison

Scholarship Fund to be

in the running for an additional
$1,000 scholarship. The Walter
Harrison Scholarship is financed
through donations from Georgia's
EMCs and other associated organi-
zations. Georgia Southern Univer-
sity in Statesboro administers the
fund, with the number of $1,000
scholarships awarded dependent
on year-end earnings.

For more information or

for an application, contact Lisa
Laney or Robert Herman at (229)
268-2671. All applications must
be received by Friday, Feb. 8,
2008, and the recipients will be
announced in May.

Scholarship applications available

December 2007

Middle Georgia EMC Newsletter

GES CORP

MIDDLE GEORGIA EMC

Washington Youth Tour information

hree high school

students from any

school in Dooly, Pulaski
or Wilcox counties, or a
resident of Middle
Georgia EMC's service
area attending another
school, can earn an all-expenses-paid trip to
Washington, D.C., in June. The only requirement is
that the student submit an essay about Middle
Georgia EMC and rural electrification by Friday,
February 29, 2008. The following list outlines the
procedure an interested student must take and the
process of the selection:

If the student is serious about writing the essay,

he or she should fill out an information card and
deliver or mail it to the EMC office. The student
must be sixteen (16) years of age by the tour date,
June 12, 2008.

The student will receive an information sheet,

which outlines the guidelines and informs them
that the material is available through the high
school library, the public libraries in Dooly,
Pulaski and Wilcox counties or the offices of
Middle Georgia EMC.

The student will use the reading material to write

an essay 500 to 1,000 words in length, double-spaced
on 8.5-by-11-inch paper in 12-point type.

Copies of the essays will be delivered to three

judges, each representing one of the three counties.

Students' names will be

removed from the essay
copies and coded.

The essays will be

judged on knowledge of
the subject, originality,
composition, neatness
and grammar.

Finalists will be

selected and interviewed
to determine a winner.
Interview questions will
be general questions
about the student, plus
questions that deter-
mine the student's
knowledge about the
reading material.

The winner will

spend a week in Washington, D.C., to
learn more about the EMCs, rural electrification, our
nation's history and the legislative process. Included in
the trip are tours of the Smithsonian, meals with sena-
tors and representatives, a riverboat cruise and many
other sightseeing trips in the nation's capital. The dates
for this year's tour are June 12-19, 2008.

D
ANIEL PECK STUDIOS

BYR

ON MCCOMBS

Middle Georgia EMC Newsletter

GEORGIA MAGAZINE

Board of Directors

Don Wood

President

Johnny Noble

Vice President

Kay West

Secretary

Ronnie Youngblood

Treasurer

John David McCall

Director

Jerry F. Rhodes

Director

Royce Conner

Director

Ronnie Fleeman

Director

David Dunaway

Director

Davis and Forehand

Attorneys

Staff

Hugh Richardson

General Manager

Lisa Laney

Executive Secretary,

Newsletter Editor

Randy Kent

Office Manager

Mike McGee

Manager of Operations

and Engineering

Vienna Area (229) 268-2671

Rochelle

(Day) (229) 365-2263
(Night) 1-800-342-0144

Hawkinsville

(Day) (478) 892-3436
(Night) 1-800-342-0144

Office Hours

Mon-Fri, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

(Branch offices closed from

12-1 p.m. daily)

Closed Saturday, Sunday and holidays.

There is a dispatcher on call 24 hours

a day for your convenience.

oliday decorations, especially candles and electrical lighting, can be

dangerous for children. It's important to take a few precautions

when decorating for winter holidays.

In 2002, candles started 18,000 home fires in the United States, and
twice as many home fires in December as in any other month, accord-
ing to the National Fire Protection Association. If you use candles,
never, never leave lit candles unattended. Don't put candles on a tree
or natural wreath, or near cur-
tains or drapes. And make sure
you keep matches and lighters
out of the reach of children.

Decorative lighting should be
labeled with the Underwriters
Laboratories seal of approval. If
it's not labeled for outdoor use,
don't use it outdoors.

Never leave a lit Christmas tree
or other decorative lighting dis-
play unattended. Inspect lights
for exposed or frayed wires,
loose connections and broken
sockets. Do not overload exten-
sion cords or outlets, and do
not run an electrical cord
under a rug.

Natural Christmas trees always
involve some risk of fire. To
minimize the risk, get a fresh
tree and keep it watered at all times. Do not put the tree near a fire-
place, space heater, radiator or heat vent. LED lights burn cooler than
incandescent lights and pose a lower risk of fire.

Decorate with children in mind. Do not put ornaments that have small
parts or metal hooks, or look like food or candy, on the lower branch-
es where small children can reach them. Trim protruding branches at
or below a child's eye level, and keep lights out of reach.

Do not burn Christmas tree branches, treated wood or wrapping
paper in a home fireplace as there is a danger of flash fire.

Color additives used in fireplace fires are a toxic product and
should be stored out of reach. Artificial snow sprays are also
harmful if inhaled.

Holly berries, mistletoe berries, poinsettias, amaryllis, boxwood,
Christmas rose, Crown of Thorns, English ivy and Jerusalem cherry are
all potentially harmful to humans and animals if eaten. Use artificial
varieties, or keep these items high and out of reach. If using live vari-
eties, be watchful of fallen leaves or berries that may be picked up
and ingested. To find out whether other decorative plants and prod-
ucts are hazardous, call the Poison Control Center at (800) 222-1222.

--Safe Kids East Central with Medical College

of Georgia Children's Medical Center

Decorate safely for the holidays

GES CORP