Headlines

By Sherri Ellington

Citizens Emergency Response Teams and public works and emergency personnel were thanked for a job well done during the recent ice storm.

“It was really busy Thursday,” said Lamar EMA director Billy Campbell. “We had one commissioner out with the CERT teams at 7 a.m. and the county manager pulled out his chainsaw and went to work.” [Full Story »] 

Local attorney Bill Johnston has announced his decision to seek election to the District 16 seat in the Georgia State Senate being vacated by Sen. Ronnie Chance who is stepping down. [Full Story »] 

The Delphi Trio is the next performance in the Gordon State College Concert Series. [Full Story »] 

By Ken K. Green

The annual Trojan Cup soccer tournament wraps up Saturday with eight matches scheduled to be played on the Lamar County school system campus. [Full Story »] 

By Sherri Ellington

Whether it is Christ, cooking or coaching, Victor Gotell has given back to his home community.

Now he is in need of a kidney and is asking the community to help him back. His letter requesting testing for a live kidney donor is in this week's issue of The Herald Gazette. “I’ve had a great support system through all my illnesses, especially from my friends Alex Richardson and Cedric Fallings,” he said. “I like to attend church and family activities with my wife Sharon.” [Full Story »] 

By Kay S. Pedrotti

Children in the juvenile court system will have a new voice in their favor, the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program. [Full Story »] 

SRE crews and additional personnel have restored power to more than 5300 members in less than two days. Less than 3500 outages remain as of 9:15 a.m. Crews have been working steadily around the clock trying to restore power across seven counties. Some individual outages will last into the weekend. Members with medical conditions that require a constant supply of electricity are urged to make other arrangements immediately.

Over 80 additional linemen and contractors are helping with the process but it is a daunting task based on the devastation. There is a method for restoring power safely and effectively so just because you have not seen a truck in your neighborhood does not mean they aren’t working on your outage. Crews must start working from the substation that feeds a circuit and work their way down to tap and service lines at residences.

Some areas in SRE’s territory are extremely rural with lines running cross-country. In many cases there are massive trees and limbs that have fallen across roads and rights-of-way that must be cut and removed before trucks can even get to the poles and lines that have been torn down. Clearing paths to the damage is extremely time consuming. Meriwether County in particular has been described as "Armageddon" because of the number of fallen trees and extensive damage to our system. Progress is being made now but some individual outages will go into the weekend. If individuals have damage to their equipment (meter base or conduit on the side of the house) or home, they are responsible for making those repairs before SRE can safely reconnect service.

Work is expected to continue through the weekend. The Civic Center in Barnesville and the Pike County Senior Center on Hwy 19 in Zebulon have been designated emergency shelters and will remain open as needed for anyone in need of relief. Residents in Pike County can call 770-567-3857 for transportation to the Senior Center.

Everyone’s patience and cooperation is appreciated. Members should continue using the outage hotline for first-time outage reporting: 1-866-244-4890. The operators are responsible for taking calls and reporting outages but they do not have access to information that allows them to give estimates on restoration times or dispatch schedules.