Success Stories for Louisiana
Hurricane Rita Assistance: Many Americans helped the victims of record-breaking hurricane season, but the employees and members of the board of directors of Pointe Coupee Electric Membership Corporation (Pointe Coupee Electric) (LA-015), New Roads, Louisiana, decided they wanted their assistance to be more personal.
So on the guidance, some might say insistence, of Electric employee Pam Bergeron, the company contributed to help out their power co-op brethren at Jefferson Davis Electric Co-op Inc (Jeff Davis Co-op). of Jennings, Louisiana., an area devastated by Hurricane Rita.
Bergeron found out that 10 of the families of the Cameron based Jeff Davis Co-op had lost everything. Many of the Jeff Davis Co-op employees displaced by Hurricane Rita evacuated to Pointe pee Parish, said Pointe Coupee Electric manager Jodie Cotton.
"They went back after the storm to no houses, nothing," he continued. "Pam came to me with the idea of Pointe Coupee Electric employees contributing their hard-earned money to help them out."
"I just thought we needed to do something to show our support," she said, adding she began taking donations from other employees. Board members also contributed. "It's just wonderful-Everybody just stepped up and pitched in."
Pointe Coupee Electric also showed its employees a DVD "of what those families had to go through," Bergeron said. "We had nothing to compare to that here. We were really lucky."
"It's easy to forget that there are still people suffering," Bergeron said, six months after Hurricane Rita and seven after Katrina." A lot of people are still suffering, but many people forget about it after so much time has gone by."
In all, Pointe Coupee Electric's employees contributed $1,500 for the 10 families, money that was equally distributed among them as American Express gift cards.
"That way, they can do whatever they want with the money," Bergeron said.
"I'm very proud of Pam and the support shown by our employees to these families whose lives were shattered by Hurricane Rita," Cotton said.
April 2006
PCEMC
Names 2006 Youth Tour Delegates: Winners of the annual Youth Tour contest
sponsored by Pointe Coupee Electric Membership Corporation (PCEMC) (LA-15),
New Roads, Louisiana, were recently announced by Joseph H. "Jodie" Cotten, Jr.,
General Manager.
Winning the all expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association's (NRECA) Youth Tour Conference are Tenoa Vessel from Iberville Parish, Hannah Lynn Best from Pointe Coupee Parish and Jeremy Swanson from West Baton Rouge Parish. The students will also attend the Louisiana Electric Cooperatives' Leadership Conference in Baton Rouge this April.
Tenoa Vessel, who attends Plaquemine High School, is the daughter of Carlton and Kedra Vessel of Plaquemine. Her sponsoring teacher was Mrs. Allyson Williams.
Jeremy Swanson, who attends Port Allen High School, is the son of Terry and Beth Swanson of Port Allen. His sponsoring teacher was Mr. Lee Smith. Hanah Lynn Best, the daughter of James and Toni Best of Ventress, attends Catholic High of Pointe Coupee. Her sponsoring teacher was Mrs. Brandy Gosserand.
Runners-up in the contest who will serve as alternates if the winners are unable to take part in the annual Youth Tour are: Kermit Joseph, who attends Port Allen High, is the son of Lisa Joseph of Port Allen; and Jori Ashlyn LeJeune, who attends False River Academy, is the daughter of Remi LeJeune of Livonia.
The Pointe Coupee Electric Youth Tour finalists were among approximately 500 high school juniors from the area served by Pointe Coupee Electric who were eligible to participate in a writing contest. The students submitted essays in the form of letters to any elected official on a topic of their choosing. The final competition held March 5th consisted of the written essay (letter) accounting for 50 percent of the judging, an interview which counted for 30%, and the oral presentation of the letter, which made up 20 percent of their score.
The delegates selected will be among the 25-30 young people from all over the state participating in the Louisiana Tour to the nation's capital, June 9 through June 16, 2006. They will also attend the Louisiana Electric Cooperative's Leadership Conference in Baton Rouge, April 5 through April 7.
Approximately 1,250 Youth Tour participants from 37 states will meet in Washington, D.C. for the 41st National Rural Electric Cooperative Association's "Government-in-Action" Youth Tour Conference where they will meet their congressional delegation, learn first hand how our government works, tour historical sites and participate in many educational programs.
Compliments of "Pointe Coupee Electric News", April 2006 edition.
April 2006
Co-ops Unify to Meet Rita's Challenge: Work crews descend on Louisiana, Texas to rebuild after storm.
As hurricanes go, Rita wasn't the worst. Just the same, this storm, which followed quickly on the heels of Hurricane Katrina, certainly left its own mark.
Rita, which struck near the border of Texas and Louisiana September 24, 2005, didn't pack Katrina's punch, but for co-ops in its direct path, the results spelled the same tragic litany: flooding, destroyed lines and poles and significant power outages.
Though weakening somewhat before making landfall, Rita's most intense eastern side slammed into the southwestern Louisiana district served by Jefferson Davis Electric Co-op, (Jefferson Davis) (LA-019), Jennings, Louisiana.
Swooping into the state, Rita knocked out power to 180,000 consumer-members, about 45,000 more than Katrina. Eight of Louisiana's 12 co-ops reported significant damage. The worst destruction was at Jefferson Davis, where eight of its employees and two co-op board members were left homeless. The co-op's concrete-block branch office in Cameron Parish was pulverized.
"It's just unbelievable, nothing left. It floors you to see this kind of thing," said Reggie Esthay, line operations superintendent for the co-op of 10,000 consumer-members.
A Safe Haven: Employees were able to immediately begin clearing debris and restoring their headquarters, thanks to the safe haven provided by a sister co-op, Pointe Coupee Electric Member Corporation (Point Coupee) (LA-015), New Roads, Louisiana, some 60 miles north.
Pointe Coupee workers found overnight housing for 10 of Jefferson Davis' employees, enabling them to return quickly after the storm to start the huge task of rebuilding. Esthay said the co-op constructed a tent city to lodge and feed an estimated 800 co-op line workers from dozens of states and private contractors. He said the inland side of the district could probably be restored within two to four weeks.
The area along the Gulf Coast was another story.
"There's no fixing anything there," Esthay said. "It will have to be rebuilt from scratch."
'A tremendous thing': The other heavily damaged Louisiana co-ops were making progress-restoring power to about 85,000 consumer-members within four days of the storm, said Randall Pierce, executive director of the Louisiana statewide.
Pierce said that co-ops in the path of the Category 3 storm-Beauregard Electric Co-op (Beauregard), Deridder, and Washington-St. Tammany Electric Co-op (LA-010), Franklinton, Louisiana-will have a long road to recovery.
"The problem at Beauregard is going to be water, flooding and trees down. Just getting to the damaged areas is incredibly difficult," Pierce said. "We can't estimate how long that will take."
He added that co-op crews from 35 to 40 states were in Louisiana-a workforce of about 4,000.
One of the biggest battles being waged is against fatigue.
"You've got these crews out there in the worst conditions," Pierce remarked. "You have people in offices talking with consumer-members and carrying out the incredibly hard job of coordinating out-of-state crews.
"But we have really seen how our circumstances have brought out the best in people, too. It's a tremendous thing to see this national co-op family come together," Pierce said.
Texas making progress: Eleven Texas co-ops were in harm's way, according to Tiffin Wortham, vice president of member services at Texas Electric Cooperatives.
At the height of the storm, half the meters in the service territories of those co-ops-more than 200,000 -were without power, he said.
By September 27, about 102,000 of those meters were still without power.
Jasper-Newton Electric Co-op (TX-125), Kirbyville, and Sam Houston Electric Co-op (Sam Houston), Livingston, bore the brunt of the storm, with complete system loss, Wortham said.
Deep East Texas Electric Co-op (Deep East) (TX-064), San Augustine, Texas, also saw severe damage.
Both Deep East Texas and Sam Houston are served by New Orleans-based Entergy Corp., which reported major losses to its transmission system.
"Progress continues in Texas and some customers may be restored by mid-week. But Entergy expects a long and difficult restoration in the aftermath of the extensive damage caused by Hurricane Rita," the company said in a September 27 statement.
The IOU delivers electricity to 2.7 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
Help From Afar: Meanwhile, co-ops elsewhere were already in full assistance mode. As Rita whirled inland, help to repair the damage arrived quickly. Every Texas co-op that could was sending assistance, Wortham said.
"All of them that I've talked to so far have volunteered to come help," he said. "Membership is coming through, both locally and nationally."
Co-ops in New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, and Montana also had crews on the way, though some of those might be sent to Louisiana, Wortham said, depending on the need. The issue of where to send crews is no small matter.
With two huge storms smacking the Gulf Coast in a matter of weeks, utilities in their paths were chasing the same supply of materials.
"We've had two hurricanes and three different areas that were hit, and we're all looking for contractors and men and equipment and supplies," Wortham said. "We've got a friendly rivalry with Louisiana. We're coordinating on where the crews go and trying to share the best we can."
Statewides have done a good job of coordinating the efforts, he said. "The statewides seem to communicate real well. Everything seems to be holding its own." !
Compliments of NRECA's "Electric Co-op TODAY", September 30, 2005 edition, Volume 11.
October 2005