Excited! Tonight we will honor 140 area students at our annual youth awards banquet!  #AEMC2022

Throughout April, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) is celebrating line workers by highlighting the men and women who help keep the lights on in homes across America.

Every day, these line workers face immense risks. Carrying heavy gear, they regularly scale 40-foot poles near high-voltage power lines—often in the wake of Mother Nature’s worst when their communities are at their most vulnerable. It’s no wonder the profession is among the 25 most dangerous jobs in the country.

But line workers do more than just keep the lights on and their communities safe. NRECA asked for member co-ops to share stories of line workers who have gone above and beyond.  Amicalola EMC chose to add one of our own to the list of those honored across the nation. Congrats to Joey and all the line workers who give so much to keep the lights on. 

We are concluding our Agriculture Awareness Week by introducing the Fellenbaums, a couple who understands the value of hard work and service to the community. Justin and Emily both grew up in the Pickens County School System and met through the 4-H Program in high school. Emily was also active in FFA and showing livestock during that time. Both volunteered at 4-H events and camps after graduating from high school.

The two continued their journey together to Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, with Justin earning at B. S. Degree in Agriculture and Emily receiving her Bachelor’s in Agricultural Education. They wed in November of 2019. Justin determined he wanted to be a county extension agent, and obtained his Master’s of Science in Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications from the University of Tennessee.  In January of this year, the timing was right and his goal was realized when Justin was named the Pickens County Extension Agent. He’s a split agent with 70% of his job falling under agricultural needs and natural resources of the community and the other 30% being devoted to the 4-H Program. He does visits of home and farm sites and assists with the local Master Gardener Program. Justin is a previous Amicalola EMC Washington Youth Tour runner up and a recipient of an Amicalola EMC college scholarship.

Emily, a former student of Mr. Jason Cantrell at Pickens High, did her student teaching at Dawson High School under the direction of Mr. Keith Pankey.  Following her graduation from ABAC, she was hired as the Fannin High School FFA Advisor, and has been teaching almost 4 years. There she trains FFA members for Career/Leadership Development, supervises livestock projects, assists in running the Blue Ridge Cannery, volunteers with the Fannin Animal Shelter and heads up the annual FFA plant sale.  She is currently working on her Master’s of Science in Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications and is set to graduate from the University of Tennessee in May.

Both Justin and Emily have a desire to give back to the community and the programs that “grew them”. With his enthusiasm and her effervescent love for her students, the Fellenbaums provide the young people of our community with a good example of what effort and perseverance can accomplish. With the couple completing the building of a new home in Marble Hill soon, they’ll be able to serve the people in this area for many years to come.  Amicalola EMC celebrates their many successes and thanks them both for their leadership and dedication to agriculture education!

#EMCsPowerAg #GaAgWeek2022 #GeorgiaGrown #BuyGeorgiaGrown

#GaAgWeek2022 #GeorgiaGrown

Mr. Keith Pankey, FFA Advisor of Dawson County High School, is another successful and dedicated FFA educator in the Amicalola EMC service area. An outstanding individual, who gives so much to his students, he received his Associates in Natural Sciences from Reinhardt University, a B.S. in Agriculture from the University of Georgia, a M.Ed. from the University of North Georgia and his Specialist in Education from Lincoln Memorial University.  He is also a graduate of Chattahoochee Technical College. He has been involved in agriculture his whole life through family farming and professionally since college.

Currently, he is the Agricultural Mechanics teacher at Dawson County High School, also teaching Food Animal Systems and Plant & Landscape Systems, based in the new College and Career Academy on the DCHS campus.

Mr. Pankey is in his 23^rd year of education.  He was the first Agriculture Education teacher to ever be nominated for the Channel 5 News High Five Teacher-of-the-Year. He was Teacher-of-the-Year 2020-2021 for Dawson High School. He has had multiple state qualifying FFA Career Development teams. He’s had multiple area proficiency winners, with three placing 2nd in state. He’s also had three American Degree recipients since starting at Dawson High just a few years ago.

A lifelong resident of Ellijay, he’s been “married 21-years to my beautiful wife Michelle, and I have two beautiful children ages 16 and 14. My daughter Emma Grace is a junior at Dawson High and son Keifer is an 8th grader at Dawson Junior High.”

Mr. Pankey is also a recipient of the Amicalola EMC Bright Ideas Teacher Education Grant Program. Amicalola EMC congratulates him on his many accomplishments and says thank you to him for his leadership and dedication to provide a quality agricultural education experience to the students in Dawson County.

Lastly, anyone who knows him knows how he loves his overalls!

#EMCsPowerAg   #AgHero   #EMCsPowerEducation

As we continue our recognition of Agriculture Awareness Week it’s important to celebrate the individuals who work so hard in the agriculture industry.  Amicalola EMC is fortunate to have many successful and dedicated FFA educators in our service area, one of which is Mr. Jason Cantrell, FFA Advisor and Agricultural Mechanics & Animal Science teacher at Pickens High School.

Mr. Cantrell has an Associate’s degree in Animal Science from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, a B.S. in Agricultural Education from the University of Georgia and a Master’s degree from Iowa State University in Agricultural Education. He has been teaching agriculture at the high school level for 15 years. He enjoys raising beef cattle, goats, and sheep on his family farm.

A sampling of his accomplishments includes 4 National Proficiency Award Winners, 1 National FFA Talent Show Winner, 2 State FFA Presidents, 3 State CDE Winners, 2 state Grand Champion Livestock Projects, 3 State Reserve Grand Champion Livestock Projects, 100 + State FFA Degree recipients, 12 American Degree recipients, 100 Percent FFA Membership for 15 years, 7 former students teaching Ag Ed and 3 former students who became veterinarians. Mr. Cantrell is also a recipient of the Amicalola EMC Bright Ideas for Teachers Education Grant Program.

Amicalola EMC congratulates Mr. Cantrell on his many accomplishments and says thank you to him for his leadership and dedication to provide quality agricultural education to the students in Pickens County.

#EMCsPowerAg  #AgHero  #EMCsPowerEducation  #GaAgWeek2022  #GeorgiaGrown

#GaAgWeek2022   What an important role agriculture plays in our daily lives! In support of Agriculture Awareness Week and to celebrate Georgia’s number one industry – agriculture,  we are celebrating your cute farm kids!

Kade Fields, one of Amicalola EMC’s youngest members, enjoys feeding the baby goats at his great grandpa Dorsey’s in Pickens County. Kade is the son of Jake & Jessi Fields of Ball Ground.  Send your cute farm kid photo to communications@amicalolaemc.com and we will publish as time and space allows.

#DidYouKnow – Food and fiber production, plus directly related processing and indirect sectors, contributes $69.4 billion dollars and over 352,000 jobs to the Georgia economy. Georgia’s 41 EMCs, including Amicalola EMC, provide power to many of the homes, farms and communities that are involved in the agriculture industry. #EMCsPowerAg #GaAgWeek2022 #GeorgiaGrown #BuyGeorgiaGrown 

Giving a big shoutout to all the outside crew members who’ve worked hard all day restoring power.  We are now down to 20 members remaining without power.  Great job!  There are also many employees working behind the scenes in our Dispatch Control Center, and other departments, all with one goal – to restore power to all members as soon as is safely possible.

We are locally owned and operated; owned by the members we serve.  The business model of a cooperative is very different than that of an investor owned company.  The only reason we exist is to provide you with safe, reliable and affordable power.  Thank you for your patience and for your support during this extended outage.

Our crews have made tremendous progress today and we are down to 173 members out.  That is remarkable considering the wind has blown fiercely all day long.  Crews continue to work to restore all power as soon as is safely possible.

Our rough terrain and cross country lines present challenges that urban utilities do not face.  There are many heavily wooded areas and roadways that our power lines go through.  We are allowed to cut and maintain a 30′ right of way, typically 15′ to either side of the wire itself.  On a day like today, with heavy winds bringing trees down, there are bound to be power outages.  All it takes is a tree that is outside of the right of way area we are allowed to clear, that is tall enough that when it falls it strikes the lines and brings them down, and leaves many members out of power.  Or it breaks the pole when it takes the lines down.

We appreciate your patience.  No one likes the inconvenience of a power outage, but in rural areas like we live in, it does happen.  Thank you for the support you give our employees.  Please remember to stay away from any downed power lines and always assume they are still energized.  All power will be restored just as soon as is safely possible.

In spite of high winds that continue to blow, our crews have made good progress throughout the day; we are now down to 1454 outages.  The largest number is in Lumpkin with 891, with the rest scattered throughout our ten county service area.  Broken poles continue to slow restoration time – 2 more were found in Lake Arrowhead, bringing our broken pole count to 7 so far.

Please remember to report all outages to our automated outage reporting system by calling 706-253-0359 OR 706-276-0359 OR 706-864-0359.  All outages will be restored as soon as is safely possible.  Thank you for your patience.

As predicted, very strong winds across our service area resulted in widespread outages, beginning around 4:oo a.m. this morning.  Currently, 3676 members are without power, primarily in Cherokee, Gilmer and Lumpkin counties.

The outages are widespread, but the highest number of members out are in the Lake Arrowhead area of Cherokee County, the Ranger Camp/Hidden Lake Road/Black Falls Road of Lumpkin County and in the Cohutta Forest Road/Chatsworth Hwy area of Gilmer County.

Crews have already found at least 5 broken poles and are in the process of replacing those; 3 in Lake Arrowhead, 1 in Gilmer County and 1 in Lumpkin County.

Our area remains under a wind advisory through 7:00 p.m. this evening, so more power outages are likely.  Please remember the following important safety information: Never go near a downed power line, always assume they are still energized.  Report downed lines to 911, then to our outage management system by calling 706-253-0359 OR 706-276-0359 OR 706-864-0359.