Friday, July 6, 2012
EXTRA ONLINE EDITION ROTARY HELPS IN JULY 4 CELEBRATION. PAGE 5
Putnam woman honored with statewide award CHARLESTON – Debra Martin, a school secretary in Putnam County, has been named the 2012 West Virginia Board of Education School Service Personnel Employee of the Year. Martin is the only full-time secretary at Buffalo High School and serves as the receptionist, financial secretary and administrative assistant. In her nomination, Principal Richard Grim described Martin as an exemplary employee who is exceptionally well organized and enthusiastic. “Mrs. Martin has the respect of the staff and students and works to continually improve the culture of the school,” Grim said. Martin continues her education by participating in technology training programs provided in the county and completing courses at the Kanawha Valley Community and Technical College. Her colleagues say she is a tireless volunteer for school activities, heads numerous community service projects, and serves as the youth director at Cross Creek Community Church. The West Virginia Board of Education established the annual awards program to recognize outstanding school service personnel employees. Each year the program honors one person, chosen from aides, bus drivers, cooks, custodians, maintenance workers, office workers and other school service personnel, for his or her contribution to the school and community. “School service personnel are an important part of any school family,” said state Board of Education President Wade Linger. “We are proud to honor them for SEE MARTIN ON PAGE 3
Power returning to Putnam County As of Friday morning, 5,347 remain without STAFF REPORT WINFIELD -- The power is coming back on throughout Putnam County as Appalachian Power continues work to restore service that was lost during the severe storm of last Friday, June 29. As of this morning, Friday, July 6, Appalachian Power was reporting that 5,347 people in Putnam County remained without power. Statewide as of this morning, just over 128,000 people remained without power. At its peak, more than 330,000 people in West Virginia were without power and more than 17,000 people in Putnam County were without service. As of this morning, Appalachian Power was still listing today, Friday, July 6, as the date that full service would be restored in Putnam County. A strong storm moved through the Appalachian Power territory Thursday afternoon and caused approximately 40,000 additional customers to lose electricity. Appalachian Power currently hasmore than 4,200 workers dedicated to service restoration. Tree removal workers, damage assessment specialists, company line mechanics and outside line contractors are working in the restoration effort. Appalachian has secured help from 22 states. Because hotels are completely booked the company has arranged for approximately 1,000 workers to bunk in area college dormitories and armories. DAMAGE ASSESSMENT More than Appalachian Power 90 distribution substations were taken out by the storm and all but 6 are back in service. More than 370 circuit breakers were taken out of An Appalachian Power worker works to repair a power line along Route 34 in Putnam County. Photo service due to the storm and all but 38 are back in courtesy of Appalachian Power service. RESTORATION ESTIMATES More than 100 transmission lines were affected by Friday's storm. It is estimated that ninety-five percent of Appalachian’s customers 80 percent of these lines have been either partially or completely been should have power restored by late Sunday. restored to distribution stations. • Friday night, July 6 - Greenbrier, McDowell, Mercer, Monroe, PutAt least 500 poles across Appalachian’s territory were broken and needed replaced, and thousands of spans of wire damaged. On aver- nam and Summers counties • Saturday night, July 7 – Boone, Cabell, Jackson, Lincoln, Logan, age, it takes a crew of three or four people approximately four hours to replace a single pole. SEE STORM ON PAGE 3
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