Gwinnett Forum.com -- Gwinnett County's community forum and idea exchange

TODAY'S ISSUE
GTC helps avoid blackouts, keep lights on in Georgia
By Tom Parker
Georgia Transmission Corporation
Special to GwinnettForum.com

SEPT. 2, 2003 -- Where were you during the Great Blackout of 2003?

Hopefully, you were in your comfortable, air-conditioned home watching the history-making spectacle on television. The blackout that left 50 million Americans in the Northeast without power on August 14, 2003, should serve as a "wake-up call," according to President George W. Bush. In less than three minutes, 61,800 megawatts (MW) of electricity stopped flowing. Cities from Michigan to Connecticut stood still.

Fortunately, by 6 a.m., on August 15, two-thirds of the power had been restored. However, because nuclear power plants had to come back online, full restoration took several more days.

The good news is that electric service in Georgia was not affected by the blackout. All of Georgia's systems remain stable and are operating well. The reliable and safe delivery of electricity to you, our customers, is the first priority of your local EMC and their electrical transmission provider, Georgia Transmission Corporation (GTC).

The greatest challenge to maintaining our high standard of reliability is Georgia's tremendous growth, both in population and in demand for electricity. In the decade of the 1990s, Georgia's population grew at an astounding 26.4 percent, while demand for electricity grew even faster - a whopping 47 percent. Twenty Georgia counties, including Gwinnett County, are among the 100 fastest growing counties in the nation.

Fortunately, the transmission system in Georgia has been well maintained, upgraded and expanded to meet the states fast-growing demand for electricity. Through careful planning and expedited construction of generation, transmission and distribution facilities, Georgia's Electric Membership Cooperatives have been able to keep up with this demand and provide reliable service to 3.7 million consumers in Georgia.

Georgia's electric cooperatives, through GTC, have invested in new and upgraded infrastructure, including new transmission lines, substations, fiber optics, microprocessor-based relays and modern computer and communication systems, averaging $100 million annually for the last four years. GTC forecasts the same for the coming years, including more than 350 miles of transmission line and over 60 substations through 2006. System improvements and maintenance must continue and be completed in a timely manner if reliability is to be maintained!

Officials of Georgia Transmission Corporation and Georgia System Operations Corporation (GSOC) continually monitor all aspects of the system that delivers 27 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity to EMC customers each year. GSOC operates the control center for those same co-ops and is in continuous communication with Georgia Power and control centers in surrounding states.

As a participant in the Georgia Integrated Transmission System (ITS), GTC works with other utilities in the state to ensure that the grid is constructed and maintained to meet the demands of Georgia. The ITS operates more than 16,000 miles of transmission line in Georgia and coordinates with the Southeastern Electric Reliability Council to help ensure reliability and security.

Other ITS members include Georgia Power Company, MEAG Power (city-owned electric systems) and Dalton Utilities. This is a unique, effective business arrangement, unmatched in any state.

We know that new and upgraded transmission lines and substations are a critical factor in our ability to provide reliable service for Georgians and to prevent anything close to a repeat performance of the Great Blackout of 2003. We pledge to continue building and maintaining a system that keeps the lights on.

ELLIOTT BRACK
Another opportunity for a Jackson naming just arrived
By Elliott Brack
editor and publisher
GwinnettForum.com

SEPT. 2, 2003 -- The effort continues to change the name of the Atlanta airport! Either the proponents want to eliminate the Hartsfield name on the airport altogether, or at least hyphenate the name to Hartsfield-Jackson. Some even would prefer Jackson-Hartsfield.

Perhaps the Jackson crowd is missing another opportunity, one that could be much easier to attain.

After all, the airport is a mere institution. As long as they want to work off the Hartsfield name, why not remember one of the best loved of all creatures in Atlanta history. The late Willie B, the giant silverback gorilla at the Atlanta Zoo charmed people for years. He was, of course, named for William B. Hartsfield.

And low and behold, the Jackson forces had an opportunity virtually handed to them on a silver platter, when last week it was announced that Caesar, a 26 year old silverback lowland gorilla, was coming from the Los Angeles Zoo to the Atlanta Zoo! There was a picture of him in the newspaper..

At first blush, the Jackson Family might be taken back by this suggestion. But oldtimers in Atlanta among the family will remember how well Willie B. was received here, loved by kids and adults alike, with the whole town feeling like a grandparent when Willie B. finally succeeded in creating an offspring.

Not only that, but it's far easier to re-name an incoming gorilla for the former mayor, than to change the name of an airport memorialized with another former mayor's name.

We say name the new Centennial Park for Maynard Jackson...and get permission to change Caesar's name to Maynard.

Georgia got a big gift last week when the giant chemical company, DuPont, gave the state 16,000 acres of land near the Okefenokee Swamp.

The gift was especially good for the environment since it was on this land that DuPont had once contracted with International Paper Company for mining phosphate. It was thought that such mining could endanger the ecology of the nearby Okefenokee Swamp. Now International has waived its right to conduct this mining.

The gift is major, the largest ever given the State of Georgia, Our governor, Dr. Sonny Perdue, himself made the announcement of the gift.

All Georgians are grateful to DuPont and International Paper for this generous gift. It will ensure that this valuable land adjacent to the Okefenokee Swamp will be protected for the ages.

Does the current situation in Iraq, where continued outbursts of explosions trouble the civility of that nation, remind you of the constant problems of terrorism and self-righteous vindication on both sides in the nearby Holy Land?

Though the United States has occupied Iraq, now it is finding that holding the peace is just as difficult. What troubles this corner is that the bombings and sporadic gunfire often are now between warring factions in that nation, in addition to often being aimed at the occupying forces. And as such, you wonder: will the United States ever learn it is difficult if not impossible to govern a people engaged in such deep-seated political unrest?

It's good that an election is coming in America. Perhaps that will move our current Administration more than anything else toward getting us out of the Iraqi quagmire.

FEEDBACK
9/2: If anyone needs recalling, it is our president

Editor, the Forum:

Why is California's budget crisis the fault of Gray Davis, while our national budget crisis is blamed on a sluggish economy? Was the bust of the "dot com" boom the fault of Gray Davis? Did Gray Davis overcharge California for electricity?

In the recent budget deal in California a deficit of tens of billions has been reduced to single digits. At the same time, our national budget deficit continues to soar while Congress and the President increase spending and cut taxes.

If anyone needs to be removed from office, it is George W. Bush for his mishandling of the federal budget. George Bush is lucky that there are no provisions for a recall on the federal level. The equivalent is impeachment. As we all know, impeachment is reserved for high crimes and misdemeanors. Recalls should be reserved for the same; we have yet to hear a single accusation of a crime against Gray Davis. A vote of yes on recall is a vote for a misguided right wing coup.

-- Louise Johnson, Norcross

9/2: About Judge Moore and that monument in Alabama

Editor, the Forum:

Those who oppose Judge Moore and the Ten Commandments act as if the Constitution came out of a vacuum-that it came from out of "Thin-Air."

Hans Zeiger (a conservative columnist) recently received a letter that said, "GOD doesn't give rights; the CONSTITUTION does." The person sending the letter is misguided. He has falsely assumed that we can have the finished product without any of the ingredients i.e the whole is not a sum of the parts. This logic is crooked.

It is as foolish as thinking you can have a cake with no flour, eggs, milk, sugar, etc. The truth is that our Constitution was not born out of thin-air, but it was crafted from God's Word. God has given rights and has communicated those rights in the Bible and upon our hearts. The reality is that the Constitution exists not to "give rights" but to define the rights that God has already established.

Some hate Judge Moore's monument because it reminds them of the historical roots of our law system. The monument reminds them that God was at one time part of the fabric of our nation's judicial system and our Government. They want to forget that the Commandments were the foundation upon which our forefathers (and our European ancestors) formed their law code.

The Left can forget God and relegate Him to the periphery of public life but they cannot change His existence. God is whether we like it or not! The historical revisionists can rewrite our history books (leaving out faith) but they can't change the real truth that our nation was envisioned and established by people who believed in God and wanted God's laws as the basis of our society's mores.

We should not deny the plain truth that we did not create our laws and our moral code-we only followed the divine boundaries written upon our consciences and in His Word the Bible. The Ten Commandments monument should remain and one like it should be established in every place in which justice is loved and dispensed.

-- C. Lee Smith, pastor, First Baptist Church, Norcross

9/2: We are allowing Bush to bankrupt our country!

Editor, the Forum:

President Bush has used up the $127 billion surplus left him by Clinton; we now have a $455 billion deficit. Despite the fact that the Iraqis want us to leave, Bush is determined to hang on and provide Halliburton, Bechtel and their subsidiaries their profits and to steal Iraqi oil, at a cost to American taxpayers of $4 billion a month.

This money would be better spent to rebuild our school and health care systems, replace the 2.7 million jobs lost by Bush and help in cleaning up our dreadfully polluted air and water. Why are we tolerating this stupidity? Whenever they want to bully us into approving their maniacal
obsession with plunder and conquest, the Bush cabal says "terrorist" and we jump and capitulate. How much longer are we going to allow them to play to our fears and destroy our country? Americans need to wake up and understand how they are being manipulated before it's too late.

-- Charles Prendergast, Texarkana, Tex.