Georgia Magazine - January 2018 - 14

NEWS FROM GEORGIA'S ELECTRIC CO-OPS COMPILED BY AMY SCHNEIDER

Tribute to fallen
linemen

MEGAN GILES

COURTESY COASTAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE

Coastal Electric Cooperative's
Whoville wins first prize

Coastal Electric Cooperative employees and their family members greet spectators at the
Richmond Hill Christmas Parade on Dec. 2. The float, which was a representation of
Dr. Seuss' Whoville, won first place among entries by commercial businesses.

idway-based Coastal Electric Cooperative took first place among
commercial business floats with
its rendition of the Grinch and Whoville in the 22nd annual Richmond
Hill Christmas Parade on Dec. 2.
The parade theme was "A Storybook Christmas," so Coastal Electric
decorated its hybrid electric bucket
truck as Whoville from Dr. Seuss'
"How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

Each Who house on the truck
had its own solar panel, and Coastal Electric's information technology manager, Terry Cook, donned a
Grinch costume and sneered at spectators from the bucket of the truck.
Coastal Electric CEO Whit Hollowell dressed as the mayor of Whoville and rode the truck with other
co-op employees and their family
members.

As part of the Downtown Spirit hay-baledecorating project in Soperton last fall, the
district office for Lyons-based Altamaha
Electric Membership Corp. (EMC) paid
tribute to linemen who have died while serving their communities to keep the lights on.
Jordan Giles, Megan Giles, Michael Giles
and Andrew Hart decorated the hay bale on
Oct. 20, and it remained on display through
the end of the year.
IES

C
ION

Georgia's competitive cooks battle for top honors, page 46

ILL

January 2018

EMC leaders on agenda at broadband conference

The trip of a lifetime:
the Washington
Youth Tour

hen Broadband Communities magazine held its sixth national conference in Atlanta in early November, leaders from Georgia's electric cooperatives (EMCs) were on the agenda.
Participants at the Economic Development Conference, which had the
theme "Fiber for the New Economy," included Wayne Livingston, president
and CEO of Diverse Power in LaGrange; Jeremy Nelms, general manager of
Blue Ridge Mountain EMC in Young Harris; and Erik Brinke, director of administrative services and external relations at Blue Ridge Mountain EMC. Also
part of the program was Georgia state Sen. Steve Gooch (R-Dahlonega), who
has championed rural broadband in the General Assembly.
A significant part of the agenda for the conference, which covers a ninestate region (Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana), focused on the important role
that electric membership cooperatives and their partnerships play in efforts to
bridge the digital divide in rural America.
14

More online at www.georgiamagazine.org

2018

page 26A
Stitching memories
into art

page 16

Remembering
the Trail of Tears
www.georgiamagazine.org

page 20

Record-setting month!
For the first time, a single issue of GEORGIA Magazine-
the one you are reading now-
has topped 1 million copies in
paid circulation. To each of the
1,000,779 households receiving
this January issue, thank you!
GEORGIA MAGAZINE

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - January 2018