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Co-op's 70th Annual Meeting a Success
An estimated crowd of 4,500 attended Monday evening's Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative Annual Meeting of Members. The event was held in a light rain at the cooperative's equipment facility in Pickens.
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Preliminary entertainment was provided by the YAMS group of traditional musicians, representing students from Pickens County's elementary schools. They were followed to the stage by Curtis Blackwell and the Dixie Bluegrass Boys. After the conclusion of the business meeting, the gospel quartet, Gold City, entertained the audience.
Blue Ridge President and CEO Charles Dalton chaired the business session, which featured some remarks from U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham. Dalton's report to the membership outlined measures the cooperative had taken during the last few years to cut costs and bring greater efficiency to the operation. He enumerated areas in which the cooperative was achieving savings, including its pole-inspection, vehicle-maintenance, line-loss prevention, right-of-way maintenance, and meter-reading programs.
Dalton also told the members that Blue Ridge was devoted to the principle of at-cost service. He noted that the cooperative had recently disbursed its 28th consecutive annual refund of capital credits. In April, more than $600,000 in patronage-capital checks were mailed to those who were co-op members in 1984. Dalton said that Blue Ridge had returned over $18.2 million to its members through the years.
Members cast their ballots in elections for three Blue Ridge board seats:
- For the Greenville-Spartanburg district seat, incumbent Kenneth Southerlin defeated Kathleen Jennings by a vote of 479 to 361.
- In the Pickens County race, Spencer Dalton prevailed over Robert Crenshaw by a margin of 510 to 375.
- Incumbent Oconee County director Joel Davis was unopposed and returned to office by acclamation.
The grand prize, a 2003 Ford F-150 pickup, was claimed by ticket-holder Ruby Gail Morris of Pickens.
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