Amicalola EMC would like to express words of gratitude to the many U.S. veterans (past, present and future) who have or will proudly serve in our armed forces. Thank you does not seem like enough, but we salute your courage and bravery. Thank you for your many efforts to protect our freedom and keep us safe from harm.
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Amicalola EMC salutes all veterans
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Bright Ideas 2017 – Dawson & Lumpkin County winners
Congratulations to the following Bright Ideas teacher grant winners:
DAWSON COUNTY:
Dawson High: Gregory Baloga and Keith Pankey
Robinson Elementary: John Lundy, Kristy Moore and Tiffany Turner
Riverview Elementary: Paula PossLUMPKIN COUNTY:
Blackburn Elementary: Brittani Abercrombie and Meghan Chester
Lumpkin County Elementary: Tori Jones, Jenna Marshall and Amanda Warren
Lumpkin High: Riley Ray, Jeff Bearinger and Amber Gilleand
Lumpkin Middle: Bryan Fagan, Julie Isaacs, Mariam Brunner and Rebecca Davis -
Bright Ideas 2017 – Gilmer & Pickens County Schools
Many smiling faces in Gilmer County schools today as we awarded $11,410 in Bright Ideas grant money to the following winning teachers:
Ellijay Primary: Paige Eaton, Katie Mayfield, Hollie Kiker and Patricia Ellis.
Clear Creek Middle: Paige Corcoran and Carol Mickus.
Ellijay Elementary: Valerie Kruger and Rhonda Sanford.
Gilmer High: Ashley Stover, Renee Hoard, Russell Logan and Sarah Harbin.
Gilmer Middle: Petra Morin Galicia, Jennifer Farist and Amber Burrell.
Mountain View Elementary: Jennifer Painter and Dale Alsobrook.
North GA Christian: Tara Garland and Julie Greene.Friday, October 13: Made some teachers very happy in Pickens County schools today! Just awarded Bright Ideas teacher grants totaling
$11,293 to 17 winning teachers!Congratulations to:
Harmony Elementary: Jennifer Blankenship, Andra Callahan and Courtney Segers
Hill City Elementary: Kelly Moss, Ashley Cagle, Suzanne Hardison and Amy Childers.
Jasper Elementary: Jennie Smith and Traci Buckingham
Jasper Middle : Dawn Kelley
Pickens County Middle: Rosemary Nelson, Dwight Pullen, Sue Watters and Barbara Miller
Pickens High: Cassidy Byess, Kelly Flatt and Kristie Moss
Tate Elementary: Hilary Tatum -
Bright Ideas 2017 winners!
Bright Ideas 2017 check presentations have begun. Amicalola EMC representatives spent the day making lots of Cherokee County school teachers very happy on Monday! Bright Ideas grants totaling $13,308 were presented to 24 winning teachers! Congratulations to:
Cherokee High: Lorri-Ann Brogdon, Mike Hagan, Lori Sewell, Jon Gustin and Bridget Owensby.
Creekland Middle: Claudia Penland, Elise White and Elizabeth Huffaker.
Ball Ground Elementary: Susan Lumpkin, Jessica Nohner and Chessa McGinnis.
Clayton Elementary: Eileen Gilbert, Heather Chesnut, Anne Cross and Rebecca Heard.
Hasty Elementary: Melissa Manley and Mollie Guy
R.M. Moore Elementary: Tonya Fehrs, Kim Townsend, Kristi Hefner and Kim Moody.
Teasley Middle: Rhonda Edge, Kris Cole and Denise Oringderff.
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Annual meeting – Saturday, October 7, 2017
The 76th annual meeting of the membership of Amicalola EMC is scheduled for this Saturday, October 7, 2017. Registration begins at 11:30 a.m., entertainment at 12:30 p.m., business session to begin at 1:30 p.m. Entertainment for this year’s meeting is The Inspirations. Please make plans now to attend.
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Hurricane Irma wrap-up
The tropical storm remnants of Hurricane Irma brought widespread devastation to our service area. It’s important to remember this was no regular summer storm. It was historic for Georgia to be under a tropical storm warning and power outages were recorded in all 41 EMCs across the state.
Extremely high winds and heavy rain lasted for hours during the evening and through the night on Monday, September 11, 2017. Power outages began Monday afternoon around 3:45 p.m. At the height of the storm, approximately 27,583 members were without power, across all ten counties we serve.
Additional contractor line crews and right of way crews were brought in to assist as well as from sister EMCs from Georgia and other states. Crews worked 6 days to repair and rebuild power lines. The last meter was restored on Sunday, September 17, around 5:00 p.m. Across the state, a total of approximately 550,000 member outages were restored.
We appreciate the patience and understanding of our members during this extended outage period and a sincere thank you to those who came to assist us.
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Power restoration update – Saturday
987 members now out of power, down from the 27,583 Monday night. Amicalola EMC crews, assisted by contractor crews and sister EMC crews, have already restored almost 26,000 members. The estimated number of broken poles that have been/will be replaced is now over 100. Thank you for your patience as we continue working to restore all power.
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Power restoration update – Friday 3:00 p.m.
We are down to 2245 members still without power. Crew continue to work, now encountering some of the most hard to reach, remote areas. Here is the latest update from Georgia EMC:
EMCs ENTER LATTER
STAGES OF RESTORATIONTUCKER, Ga. 3 p.m.—Outage numbers continue to drop for customers of Georgia’s electric membership cooperatives (EMCs). Electric co-ops are in the process of restoring service to 35,000 customers spread across the state and expect to make significant progress throughout this afternoon and tonight.
Since late Monday/early Tuesday, more than 4,500 linemen from 15 states have worked non-stop to restore service to more than a half million customers. This may be the first time in memory that all 41 EMCs have been affected by a single storm.
As EMCs enter the latter stages of restoration, some important factors to consider:
• Crews are working in some of the most severely damaged parts of their systems in hard-to-reach, remote locations.
• EMCs report a historically high number of downed trees, power lines and power poles. Some EMCs have documented as many as 200 broken poles.
• Imporant Fact: replacing one broken power pole can take a four-man crew as much as three to four hours to replace.In addition, EMCs are working in extremely difficult terrain and serve enormous land areas with far fewer customers per mile of line (an average of 10) compared with investor owned utilities (average of 34) and publicly owned utilities, or municipals (with an average of 48). Why is this important? EMC crews can spend hours working in one location and restore service to a small pocket of customers.
Georgia crews are working with linemen from Arkansas, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. Some arrived in the Peach State prior to the storm, others were staged until the storm passed, and others arrived after the storm.
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Power restoration update – Friday morning, 10:27a.m.
We are down to 3063 members without power, from a high Monday night of 27,583. The current outages are in 5 counties as follows: Cherokee 3, Dawson 480, Gilmer 183, Lumpkin 2284 and Pickens 113. We do understand that it’s been a very long week for those still without power, and we really appreciate your patience at this time. It’s important to remember this was no ordinary storm. We’ve made history in the fact that Georgia was under a tropical storm warning. The damage is widespread and severe. Our crews are working so hard and we have so many fine men who have left their families and their homes to come here to help us.
If you are currently out of power, please make sure the outage has been reported into our outage management system by calling one of these numbers: 706-253-0359 OR 706-276-0359 OR 706-864-0359. This is the method we use to track where the outages are. When you call in, you have an opportunity to leave a message if you have important helpful information. Even if you know someone near you has reported the outage, please take a moment to call in so your specific location can be recorded.
Again, thank you for your patience.
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Power restoration update: Thursday, 5:45 p.m.
Crews continue working hard to restore power. Currently down to 4739 members still out, down from a high Monday night of over 27,500.
Lumpkin County was one of the hardest hit areas, with a multitude of broken poles, which slows the restoration process. Much progress has already been made and we will continue working to restore all power as soon as is safely possible. Thank you for your patience.