U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Buford Dam under construction in the 1950s.
Buford Dam under construction in the 1950s.
NOTHING !!!!
The Tallapoosa River in Haralson County. Georgia is dry. There is a severe drought. Even if Atlanta built dams on every river in the area, if they go dry due to drought the dams won't have done the city any good and they would still be looking at a drought today ANYWAY.
The State of Georgia needs to get out of it's own way and build desalination plants. The drought is not going to end and even in theory if it was going to end, it would be a decade before the rivers and any manmade lakes due to dams would fill again and ONLY with steady doses of healthy rainfall.
They need to get out of their own way !!!!
Record drought continues in the South
Most of Alabama and Georgia, the Tennessee Valley, and now North Carolina are experiencing "exceptional" drought conditions in the record-breaking drought that has plagued the South throughout the second half of 2007.
Rainfall in Alabama is more than 30 inches below normal for the year. Here in East Tennessee, we are about 18 inches below normal. (Although we are getting some welcome relief from a severe storm system blowing through as I type this.)
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, "Many locations in the Southeast are on pace to have the all-time driest year on record, with many stations having histories back to the 1880 time period." Also, "Of the 628 water systems being tracked, 173 have mandatory water conservation measures in place, while 162 have voluntary restrictions in place." You can read their full report and review the latest map here.
More "water wars" controversy erupted earlier this week, when the chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission suggested running a pipeline from the Tennessee River to Atlanta, where water supplies are running dangerously low. According to the Huntsville Times, there was even talk of a deal involving cooperation on a light rail line between Chattanooga and Atlanta in exchange for a water pipeline.
http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2007/12/record-drought-continues-in-south.asp
Atlanta Journal Consitution
Georgia's water crisis: How did we get here?
Cycle of plan, fail and repeat has left region high and dry
By MATT KEMPNER
Published on: 12/16/07
No one has ever been fishing in the West Georgia Regional Reservoir that officials first planned in the 1980s to help quench the region's thirst.
That's because despite millions of dollars set aside by three Georgia governors, the state never built the reservoir. It never inundated thousands of acres of woods and pastures along the now drought-stricken Tallapoosa River in Haralson County, just a few miles from the Alabama line.
Nor did the state build the rest of the network of at least a dozen regional reservoirs that were supposed to drought-proof North Georgia. Nor did officials erect a proposed dam on the Chattahoochee River six miles downstream of Lake Lanier to pool more drinking water for metro Atlanta. Nor did they win approval to lock in dibs for more drinking water from Lanier.
Despite ample warnings and dire predictions over the last four decades, metro Atlanta has continued to grow even as it repeatedly failed to guarantee it would have enough water to satisfy its long term needs.
Every drought — including the current one — reminds officials how risky the area's water future is.
Abandoned by wavering political attention, shortchanged on money, hamstrung by environmental concerns and stymied by focus on a tri-state water war, potential solutions have died or gone uncompleted.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2007/12/15/missed_1216.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab
Winter weather blowing in
By JEFFRY SCOTT
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/15/07
Mother nature, who bathed metro Atlanta in spring-like temperatures last Sunday (high of 76, low of 57), will get her capricious revenge tommorrow with a windy high in the 40s and a Sunday overnight dip into the low 30s.
"Last week, we were 20 degrees above normal temperature," said National Weather Service meteorologist Michael Griesinger Saturday. "This Sunday it will be 10 degrees below normal. It's going to feel like December — for a change."
In the mountains of North Georgia flurries are predicted Sunday night but no accumulations are expected. There, around Blue Ridge and Blairsville, the temperatures will be in the low 20s.
In this chilly news there is a blessing: rain. Metro Atlanta may get as much as one inch over the next 24 hours before skies clear in the late afternoon and early evening Sunday.
The metro area will cling to a vestige of its ersatz Spring through the middle of Saturday, with temperatures in the mid-60s, but those will steadily drop.
In the mountains the high Sunday expected to be in the mid-30s around midnight with temperatures dipping through the rest of the day. "It's going to be a goofy forecast up there," said Griesinger.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2007/12/15/weather_1215.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab
Nuke plants may be pricier than expected
Some estimates are 2-3 times higher than a few years ago
By MARGARET NEWKIRK
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/15/07
On Monday, Georgia Power asked state regulators for more time to submit cost estimates for two new nuclear units.
And on Thursday, a Florida utility may have explained why.
• More Business news
Florida Power & Light is planning to build the same kind of Westinghouse reactor units that Georgia Power is, and the Florida utility said Thursday that its two reactors are likely to cost between $12 billion and $18 billion.
That's two to three times more expensive than figures bandied around the industry just a couple of years ago, when power companies began talking about building new nuclear reactors for the first time in decades.
To date, Georgia Power and its parent, Southern Co., have scrupulously avoided putting a price tag on Georgia Power's proposed nuclear expansion, saying such estimates were premature.
"We have not given out numbers because we have been working with our vendor to try to get the best price for nuclear," Georgia Power spokesman John Sell said.
Other industry players, though, have ventured guesses.
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/business/stories/2007/12/15/nuke_1215.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab
Macon Telegraph
Plane plot suspect escapes in Pakistan
By ZARAR KHAN - Associated Press Writer
Anjum Naveed
Pakistani police officer escorts to Rashid Rauf, right, a British suspec tin an alleged plot to blow up trans-Atlantic jetliners,to a court appearance on Dec. 22, 2006 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Rauf escaped from police custody Saturday, Dec. 15, 2007, after appearing before a judge at a court in the capital, Islamabad, said Khalid Pervez, a city police official. Two policemen were being questioned about how Rauf had gotten away.
A British suspect in an alleged plot to blow up trans-Atlantic jetliners escaped from police custody in Pakistan on Saturday, officials said. Rashid Rauf fled after appearing before a judge at a court in the capital, Islamabad, said Khalid Pervez, a city police official.
Police teams were driving around the area in search of Rauf, who Pervez said had managed to open his handcuffs and evade two police guards who were taking him back to jail in the nearby city of Rawalpindi.
"We do not know how he escaped. But we do know he has escaped and the two policemen have been taken into custody for negligence," Pervez told The Associated Press.
http://www.macon.com/world//story/213887.html
Pakistani leader ends state of emergency
By PAUL ALEXANDER - Associated Press Writer
President Pervez Musharraf lifted a six-week-old state of emergency Saturday, telling a skeptical nation the crackdown was to save Pakistan from a conspiracy rather than ensure his own political survival.
But Musharraf also made clear he would keep a tight lid on dissent, entrenching limits he imposed under the emergency including strict curbs on press freedom and the replacement of independent-minded judges with jurists friendlier to the U.S.-backed leader. Opponents have said the changes set the stage for national elections next month to be rigged, and have threatened to hold mass demonstrations.
http://www.macon.com/world//story/213603.html
Video
http://video.ap.org/v/Legacy.aspx?f=GAMAT&g=f9c0db44-7307-4b04-ac66-4102ef1aeb11&p=ENAPworld_ENAPworld&t=s201&rf=http%3a%2f%2fwww.macon.com%2f&fg=tool&partner=en-ap
Gadhafi arrives in Spain
By MANU FERNANDEZ - Associated Press Writer
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi began his first official trip to Spain Saturday with a private visit to a luxury country resort hotel after arriving from France where he sealed business deals worth billions of dollars.
Gadhafi, who was long a vocal champion of armed struggle and a sponsor of state terrorism, is keen to restore normal relations with European countries after renouncing terrorism and nuclear weapons.
The Libyan leader and an entourage numbering at least 200 arrived at Seville airport from France aboard three aircraft and sped away in dozens of cars to the secluded Hacienda La Boticaria hotel, 11 miles southeast of Seville.
During his four-day visit to Spain, Gadhafi is expected to meet Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, King Juan Carlos and former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar among other senior officials.
Speaking to journalists, Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos noted Spain's important economic interests in Libya, especially in the energy sector.
Gadhafi's visit to France last week set off angry protests. But French President Nicolas Sarkozy defended it, saying it was France's duty to encourage states that move toward international respectability.
http://www.macon.com/world//story/214163.html
Unemployment claims up statewide; down in Macon, WR
By Linda S. Morris - lmorris@macontel.com
The Georgia Department of Labor announced Thursday that 48,150 laid-off workers filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance benefits in November, up 16 percent from October.
In Macon, claims were down by 252, or 18.7 percent, from 1,347 to 1,095, according to a news release. Claims also were down in Warner Robins 48 percent, from 639 to 332.
The statewide increase is primarily due to seasonal layoffs in the manufacturing industries, the release stated.
The number of initial claims filed in November is up 1.4 percent from November of 2006, when 47,487 were filed, according to the release.
Georgia labor market data is not seasonally adjusted and is available at www.dol.state.ga.us.
http://www.macon.com/102/story/212682.html
Oprah was a great visitor, but got it wrong about Macon being a "small town"
A bunch of you have asked my impressions of the recent Oprah Winfrey visit to Macon.
My first reaction was Oprah was the most gracious celebrity to visit our city in the almost 30 years I have lived here.
She didn't ride into our fair city with tinted windows. She was not a recluse. She got out and circulated. She let folks touch and tug on her sleeves.
And she ate her way through Macon.
Oops! Sorry. I forgot. This is not The National Enquirer.
I now have a better understanding of her enormous appeal. She adores her fans as much as they adore her.
The recognition and exposure generated by her three-day stay - and the buzz that has been sustained by it - is going to benefit our city for months and years to come.
Of the two TV shows, I enjoyed the second show considerably more than the first. It was quite a thrill to hear her talk so favorably about Macon. It was neat to watch her walk where we walk, dine where we dine, shop where we shop and brush elbows with our friends and neighbors.
http://www.macon.com/194/story/208535.html
The 'Otis Redding affect'
Long before there were 24-hour news channels, cable and the Internet, most radio and TV stations received news through a teletype system.
These machines were pretty big, about the size of a small refrigerator only taller. They clunked along and shook as they spit out reams and reams of newsprint, most of it thrown away, carrying news from all over the world.
The machines were equipped with a bell that alerted stations if there was something coming across that was really important. In all the years that I was in radio, I only heard that something-very-very-very-important-is-happening bell once, when D.B. Cooper skyjacked a Northwest airliner from Portland, Ore., headed up Interstate 5 to Seattle, a short 174-mile flight.
Old D.B. wasn't making a political statement, he wanted $200,000, and if he didn't get it and four parachutes, he would make everyone go boom with a bomb in his briefcase. One of the great mysteries is what happened to him after he jumped. Cooper and all the money were never found.
In any case, the teletype machine that day went bananas. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. The number of dings indicated how important the news was, so I can only Imagine what the teletype machines all over the world, particularly here in Macon, were doing 40 years ago yesterday, when word started to spread that a plane carrying Otis Redding and the Bar-Kays had crashed. All on board died with the exception of Ben Cauley, the trumpet player.
http://www.macon.com/151/story/209189.html
Archaeologist: Ga. artifacts may point to de Soto's trail
By RUSS BYNUM - Associated Press Writer
Related Content
http://www.fernbank.edu/museum
The rusty, diamond-shaped iron blade, its sharp point jutting from the dirt where it was discovered, could be a centuries old clue that sheds surprising new light on the obscure path taken by the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto.
For archaeologist Dennis Blanton it has erased most doubts that the patch of ground in southeast Georgia was visited more than 460 years ago by some group of Spanish explorers - if not de Soto himself.
"It's pretty much case-closed," says Blanton, standing in a clearing among planted pines where his archaeologists have dug about 18 inches into the dirt in an area the size of a small house. "If you had to deduce the most plausible source, it would be de Soto."
But it also presents a mystery: The site is 90 miles from where most experts agree that de Soto traveled.
And it highlights the challenge of deducing the route taken by de Soto - an explorer who left few traces of his journey.
http://www.macon.com/220/story/213765.html
US military deaths in Iraq at 3,892
The Associated Press
Related Content
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/
As of Saturday, Dec. 15, 2007, at least 3,892 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians. At least 3,168 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
The AP count is three higher than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Friday at 10 a.m. EST.
The British military has reported 173 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia, three; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, Romania, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, South Korea, one death each.
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The latest deaths reported by the military:
- A soldier was killed Friday by small arms fire in Nineva province.
http://www.macon.com/world//story/214164.html
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