Georgia Magazine - November 2010 - (Page 5)

www.georgiamagazine.org (800) 544-4362, in Georgia; (770) 270-6950 GEORGIA Magazine, the largest-circulation monthly magazine in the state, is published by Georgia Electric Membership Corp. (GEMC), the trade association for Georgia’s 42 consumer-owned electric utilities. On average, more than 500,000 members welcome the magazine into their homes each month. Georgia’s not-for-profit electric cooperatives provide reliable, safe and affordable electric service to more than 73 percent of the state’s land area serving 4.5 million residents. For more information, visit www.georgiaemc.com. EDITOR Ann Orowski, CCC MANAGING EDITOR Jennifer Hewett, CCC ASSOCIATE EDITOR Victoria Scharf DeCastro PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Steve Jacobs ASSISTANT EDITOR Kevin Braun ASSISTANT EDITOR Jim Jess EDITORIAL INTERN Sarah Bakhtiari CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Gale Cutler, Jane F. Garvey, Pamela A. Keene, Jackie Kennedy, Elaine E. Trull CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS A good time to live–if BY PAUL WOOD President/CEO, Georgia Electric Membership Corporation “N Lucas Brown, Mark Buckner, Mollie Burrows, Cyndy Cerbin, Beth Coetzee, Ted Dirkschneider, Nicole Dover, Bob Dubiel, Andre Gallant, Jane F. Garvey, Ernest Gudath, Jimmy Hammond, Kelly Hester, George Knight, Blane Marable, Roger McClain, Patrick McComas, Ann Orowski, Tom Sherer, Greg Sparrow, Rebecca Spratlin, Jay Thomas, Chris Tilley, Kristen Wade ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES Laurel George, (404) 541-0628; Laine Kirby Wood, (770) 289-5700 NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE National Country Market, (800) 626-1181 DESIGNERS Trudie Thibodeaux, Kerstin Weis Mary Wellman, (770) 270-6981 SUBSCRIPTIONS 2010 ADVISORY BOARD Christy Chewning, Jeffrey Ferguson, Stacey Fields, Tony Griffin, Johnnie B. Hall, Pamela Keene, Doyle Medders, Jeff Pierce, Donnie Prince, Steve Rawl, Brandon Reese, Romeo Reyes, Tony Sinclair, Jere Thorne GEORGIA EMC OFFICERS CHAIRMAN Neal Talton, Flint Energies VICE CHAIRMAN Alice Mallory, Coweta-Fayette EMC SEC.-TREASURER Randy Crenshaw, Irwin EMC PRESIDENT/CEO, GEMC A. Paul Wood georgia Magazine (USPS-473120, ISSN 10615822) is published monthly by Georgia Electric Membership Corp., P.O. Box 1707, 2100 East Exchange Place, Tucker, GA 30085. Periodicals postage paid at Thomaston, GA, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to GEORGIA Magazine, P.O. Box 1707, Tucker, GA 30085. Printed in Georgia by Quad/Graphics. Acceptance of advertising by GEORGIA Magazine does not imply endorsement by the publisher or Georgia’s electric membership corporations of the product or services advertised. GEORGIA Magazine’s LIABILITY FOR ERRORS IN, OR OMISSIONS OF, ADVERTISEMENTS, WHETHER IN CONTRACT OR IN TORT, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO DAMAGES TO THE ADVERTISER’S BUSINESS, SHALL IN NO EVENT EXCEED THE AMOUNT OF CHARGES FOR THE ADVERTISEMENT THAT WAS OMITTED OR IN WHICH THE ERROR OCCURRED. ever have we had so many problems that threaten our nation’s future.” Chances are you have heard someone make that observation in recent months. After all, the nation’s problems are many and complex, to say the least. But we have survived tougher times—plenty of them. The Civil War threatened the very existence of the United States. Our nation, divided, was nearly torn apart permanently. The Great Depression imposed the harshest economic burden upon our government the country had ever seen. The unemployment rate soared as high as 24.9 percent in 1933 and stayed above 14 percent for nearly a decade. At one time, 24 million people were out of work. In the 1940s, dictators of the Axis powers set out through a world war to erase our freedoms and put the whole world under totalitarian rule. In the 1950s, a witch hunt for hidden communists in our midst led by Sen. Joe McCarthy falsely accused thousands of Americans and maligned their good names. Today’s youth have no recollection of the terrible division in the nation during the Vietnam War. But their grandparents do. In the 1960s, the nation suffered through urban riots, student antiwar protests and three terrible assassinations. It was a time when the political and social fabric of our nation threatened to completely unravel. In the most recent decade, our country has been weakened by revelations of misdeeds in virtually all our institutions: priests violating their More online at www.georgiamagazine.org vows, financial managers manipulating markets and undermining investors’ confidence, and elected officials betraying voters’ trust. And, of course, there was that runaway gusher in the Gulf, finally capped and shut down after 87 days. As the oil flowed unabated this past summer, some folks felt we were under attack from the Earth itself. So, yes, we have lived through difficult times. Some problems defied resolution, yet we persisted. We always do. Through every period of our sometimes turbulent history, we have emerged stronger than before. That, I believe, is because we are a people who believe in the inviolable strength of our Constitution, and that belief, in turn, empowers us to periodically release, as a nation, the innovation and perspiration required to keep us united and propel us forward. Whenever I hear someone express the fear that these times are the most difficult and challenging in our history, I think of what Ralph Waldo Emerson told an audience in a speech he delivered 173 years ago: “This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.” I hope the next generation is learning that life is not a video game. Real life takes real people with real values to lead it and solve its problems. As they mature, I pray our youth learn the requisite ingredients of leadership—a decent work ethic, unimpeachable integrity and an abiding faith—because this time, indeed, “is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.” 5 November 2010 http://www.georgiamagazine.org http://www.georgiamagazine.org http://www.georgiaemc.com http://www.georgiamagazine.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - November 2010

Georgia Magazine - November 2010
Contents
Viewpoint
Mailbox
Picture This?
Georgia News
Calendar
Currents
A Tour of Honor
Making it Pay in Georgia
Around Georgia
My Georgia
Georgia Cooks
Snapshot

Georgia Magazine - November 2010