The Upper Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation (UCEMC) is an electric power distribution cooperative. UCEMC is owned and operated by its members and distributes electric power through more than 4,735 miles of lines to more than 52,000 members located primarily in Jackson, Overton, Putnam and Smith Counties and northern DeKalb County. Several members are served in “fringe” areas of Clay, Fentress, Macon, Pickett, White, and Wilson Counties.
Smith County Middle School recently received a $5,000 STEM grant from The Tennessee Valley Authority and Upper Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation.
The school used that money to purchase model solar cars to teach the kids about science, technology, engineering, and math.
As SCMS Principal Kelly Bell explains, children can learn some of life’s most important lessons while playing, and that was the idea when the kids raced their solar cars on the last day of school:
One of the things we love best about the Upper Cumberland is the natural beauty that surrounds us. We are fortunate to have so many trees that offer beauty, shade, and a habitat for all sorts of birds and other wildlife. We know that you appreciate our community for many of the same reasons.
At Upper Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation, we strive to balance maintaining beautiful surroundings and ensuring a reliable power supply by keeping power lines clear in rights of way (ROW). UCEMC has recently approved the largest ROW budget in the co-op’s history.
While we recognize and appreciate the beauty of trees, there are three main benefits to tree trimming in ROW areas. However, before touching on the main reasons, here’s what a “right of way” is and how it may impact you. A right of way is the land we use to construct, maintain, replace or repair underground and overhead power lines. Rights of way enable the co-op to provide clearance from trees and other obstructions that could hinder the power line installation, maintenance, or operation. ROW areas are typically on public lands or located near a business or home. Regardless, UCEMC must be able to maintain the power lines above and below the ROW. The overall goal of our vegetation management program is to provide reliable power to our members while maintaining the beauty of our community. Proactive vegetation management benefits co-op members in three tangible ways.
Safety
First and foremost, we care about our members and put their safety and that of our lineworkers above all else. Overgrown vegetation and trees pose a risk to power lines. For example, if trees are touching power lines in our members’ yards, they can pose a grave danger to families. If children can access those trees, they can potentially climb into a danger zone. Electricity can arc, or jump, from a power line to a nearby conductor like a tree. A proactive approach also diminishes the chances of fallen branches or trees during severe weather events that make it more complicated and dangerous for lineworkers to restore power.
Reliability
Of course, one of the biggest benefits of a smart vegetation management program is reliability. Strategic tree trimming reduces the frequency of downed lines causing power outages. Generally speaking, healthy trees don’t fall on power lines, and clear lines don’t cause problems. Proactive trimming and pruning keep lines clear to promote reliability.
Affordability
As you know, UCEMC is a not-for-profit cooperative, and that means we strive to keep our costs in check to keep our rates affordable. This extends to our approach to vegetation management. If trees grow too close to power lines, the potential for expensive repairs also increases. Effective tree trimming and other vegetation management efforts keep costs down for everyone.
Our community is a special place. We appreciate the beauty trees afford, but we also know our community depends on us to provide reliable energy. Through vegetation management, we are better able to keep the power lines clear, prepare for future weather events, and secure the grid’s reliability.
Upper Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation is happy to announce the scholarship winners of the 2021 UCEMC Washington Youth Tour Essay Contest. Katie Ash of Smith County High School, and Katie Grandstaff of Gordonsville High, will be receiving a scholarship upon high school graduation next year. Ms. Ash, who plans on a medical career after college, and Ms. Grandstaff, who is currently taking dual-enrollment classes, will not be going to Washington D.C. on the annual Washington Youth Tour. The tour was canceled due to pandemic concerns. In lieu of that trip, The Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association awarded $1,000 toward the UCEMC Scholarship, for a total of $2,000 for each student.
Graduating students who won the essay contest in 2020 received their $2,000 scholarships recently. Faith Pawloski of Jackson County High School, Sydney Griffin of Gordonsville High, Kobe Kitchen of Smith County High, and Kaylee Laycock of Livingston Academy, are all looking forward to a relaxing summer before hitting the books in college this fall. Congratulations to our 2020 and 2021 Scholarship winners!
Electric Cooperatives – Building a Brighter Tennessee
By Katie Grandstaff – 2021 UCEMC Scholarship Winner
BOOM! CRACK! SWOOSH! BAM! These were the sounds I heard as a fierce storm rolled through, and all of a sudden, I sat in darkness! The storm had passed, but the wind had done a number on the telephone poles and the electrical lines. As I sat in the quiet darkness without air conditioning and no TV, I began to think, “What can I do without electricity?” I was so bored! It was only eight o’clock, so it was much too early to go to bed. So, I finally just sat down in the recliner and felt sorry for myself. The rain had started again, and the next thing I knew, I had drifted off to sleep and began dreaming about how it must have been before electricity. I found myself in the 1920s visiting with a rural family who lived before electrical cooperatives were formed to provide electricity to rural areas.
During my dream, I met a teenager named William. I had so many questions to ask him. My first question was, “How do you survive without electricity?” He began to explain, “We try to get everything done during daylight hours. During the nighttime hours, if the light is needed, we have to use oil lamps.” William then told me about his cousin, James, who livers in town. The town has electricity supplied by a privately-owned utility company, and a municipal utility company supplies another nearby town’s electricity. William said, “My cousin, James, is always talking about how amazing it is to be able to pull a string and turn on lights. I dream of the day that I can magically pull a string and brighten the room.”
I continued to ask him another question, “Why do you not have electricity out here in the4 country?” William explained to me, “No suppliers are willing to provide electricity to rural areas because it is not profitable.” His eyes lit up when he explained that he had heard about the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Rural Electric Administration. He excitedly said, “REA and TVA might bring electricity to the rural areas because the REA’s purpose was to loan money to rural areas to form non-profit cooperatives which would be owned by the people in the community it is supplying.” William wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, but he was hopeful.
As we sat there and talked about life without electricity, his older sister, Helen, came into the room. She began to explain what she knew about the non-profit cooperatives. She began to explain what she had read in the newspaper about how the Upper Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation would be formed. She said, “UCEMC would be based on seven principles. It would have a voluntary and open membership to everyone who needed it, and every member would be a part-owner with voting privileges.” William did not seem very interested in how the cooperative was going to start. He just wanted electricity in his house. Helen told us how it would not only provide electricity but support communities as well. William was beginning to run out of patience and said, “Enough already! I want to know when our house can be lit up at night like my cousin’s house in town.” Helen then described how UCEMC would train and educate members while working with other cooperatives to better serve their communities in many different ways. Helen said, “I want you to know the principles on which UCEMC would be built. Yes, UCEMC will provide you with electricity just like your cousin in the city, but it will do so much more to support and provide for the community.” At that point, William said, “Wait, Helen, wait, as usual, you are talking too much. All I really need is to be able to pull a string to brighten a room when it gets dark.” Then, he apologized to me for his sister talking too much. He laughed and said, “She has been reading too many science fiction books. She even believes that people would have a box in their homes one day to sit in front of and watch moving pictures. How crazy is that?!” I knew he was talking about television, but I also knew he could not believe something like that could exist, so I didn’t try to explain to him what it was.
Suddenly, I woke up because the electricity had popped back on and the room was so bright. How wonderful it was to hear the air conditioner running and the television coming alive. That evening made me realize how important electricity was in my life. I began to wonder what William would have thought about all of these advances due to electricity. My life brightened up just because the linemen at UCEMC repaired the lines, as I am sure William’s life would have been brighter to have been able to pull that string. William knew electricity could brighten up a room, but what he did not realize, it gives us a better, brighter life. UCEMC has and will continue “Building a Brighter Tennessee” throughout the years to come. Shine on UCEMC!
Building a Brighter Tennessee
By Katie Ash – 2021 UCEMC Scholarship Winner
A crisis was going on all over Tennessee. Many of its communities were losing their light due to some electricity-stealing villain. The communities needed someone’s help before all the light went out. The people put all their hope into a band of superheroes that have helped the world many times before.
Down at the superhero’s warehouse, they were getting word of this villain. They started making a plan to help the people of Tennessee before it was too late. All they needed was each other and teamwork to save the community. With all their qualities together, they could do it. Now, they just had to round up the troops.
Our first hero is Actively. He carries out the decision-making for the team. With his help, we will be able to save the citizens of Tennessee with his brilliant decisions and tactics. Actively will make a plan to defeat the villain. Next is Voluntary; he always wants to help whenever there is a crisis, and he will not back down from a challenge. Voluntary is always there when you need a helping hand and will offer everything he can to help with the problem.
Now, we have Equality. He keeps all of us working together and for a certain cause to save Tennessee from complete darkness. He will help us have this whole crisis under control fairly and impartially so everyone can be happy and be with light.
Here, we have Educationally. He will educate the public on how we will do our job to save the community. He will keep everyone calm and let them know what is going on, so there is no panic.
Lastly, we have Cooperatively. He is in charge of using the resources and tools we have available to save the day. He is very skilled in working with the people and the team to get what needs to be done.
We call our team of heroes the Electric Cooperatives. With all their hard work and skills put together, they could do anything. Now, they set out to face this villain. They keep getting alerts that he was moving fast, and the people of Tennessee started losing hope. Then, here comes our heroes to save the day.
Actively decided we would start returning and fixing the lines in places that were down, then they would stop him in his tracks. Voluntary was the first to jump in and get the lines fixed. While Equitably and Cooperatively worked to get the tools and everything needed to take this on. Educationally worked on how they were going to fix these lines and get Tennessee shining bright again.
They all worked together to fix all the lines and catch up to the electric-stealing villain. The heroes went through ten different communities before catching up with him. They saw him trying to tear another line down, but before he could, they stopped him. They asked him why he was doing all this and making the world dark. He replied, “Because in my community we had a terrible storm and all of our lines were knocked down,” he continued, “No one helped us to put them back up o we’ve been without light and electricity for weeks now.” The team told him they would help fix all their lines, and they would have everything back in no time, but he couldn’t keep tearing other communities’ lines down. He agreed, and the team got to work. All of Tennessee’s communities were soon up and running with electricity, and everyone was relieved. Tennessee was saved thanks to the Electric Cooperatives team.
Sunset Marina and Resort has become a summer destination for locals who are rediscovering Tennessee beauty.
Tom Allen’s teenage summers were spent pumping gas at a marina. That’s when he learned about a concept that has him in awe to this day. Lake Time. People who live on Lake Time can eat when they’re hungry, catch a nap when they’re tired, and swim in the moonlight if they’re feelin’ froggy. They have no place to be at any particular time. Unless, of course, it’s sunset. That’s when they don’t want to miss the view at the aptly named Sunset Marina and Resort on Dale Hollow Lake near Byrdstown.
The owners of this little Pickett County slice of heaven cater to those who live on Lake Time because they understand. “Lake Time means there is no set lunchtime, dinnertime, whatever they want to do at the moment is what they do,” Tom explained as we sat on the deck of a pontoon. “They’re a very laid-back group of people. They want to be on the water so they can let their hair down, relax, and not be stressed.” Tom knows what his customers need. He and his business partner invested in this former fishing camp back in 1993, and they haven’t looked back. Even during the height of the pandemic when other business owners were walloped.
“The first beautiful weekend that we had last year in May, we were inundated with customers. Every weekday felt like a weekend, and every weekend felt like a holiday around here. 2021 is shaping up to be even busier.”
You don’t have to own a boat to be on Lake Time here at Sunset Marina and Resort. Turn your family into “boat people” and rent your choice of watercraft from Tom and his crew.
“We have 48 rental boats from small fishing boats to a large houseboat, and a fleet of ten rental houseboats that will sleep from 8-12 people,” Tom says. “We have pontoon boats that people love to take out on picnics and parties, and we have boats for skiing, tubing, and wakeboarding, along with six Waverunners.”
March kicked off with the Toyota Major League Fishing Tournament here at Sunset. Dale Hollow Lake is famous for the World Record (largest) small-mouth bass caught here in 1969. If Lake Time for you means throwing a line in the water, this is the place to be.
Even Lake Time people need to sleep – whenever that is – and if you’re not cruising around on a houseboat, landlubbers have their choice of rental cabins or a large four-bedroom chalet. All of the accommodations have kitchens, but when the family cook is on Lake Time, the chef at Sunset Restaurant by The Steel Coop is always serving lunch and dinner.
“This is the first year that the Steel Coop has leased our restaurant space,” Tom says. “It’s a very successful restaurant in Livingston, so they’ve kept a similar menu, and the reviews have been great!” (Editor’s note: I’ve eaten at both Steel Coops – fabulous!)
While Tom has come a long way from pumping gas for summer money, his job description for “boss” sometimes includes pumping gas. Anything to ensure that the customer maintains that “Lake Time” attitude and state of mind. Generally, Tom gets a break because once his customers get on the water, they let go of the angst. “We look at the water as a tranquilizer for people,” Tom says. “It takes the edge off people the minute they see the water, get in a boat, and are floating around. It seems like time stands still – even Lake Time.”
To get to this serene place, Tom must be the hustle and muscle behind the scenes. Year-round. “During the season when I’m serving customers, it’s a very long workday beginning at 6:30 a.m. We have arrivals, departures. We need to make sure their experience with us is without problems,” Tom says. “I’m the one who has to solve the problems. It’s challenging in the summer months, but we also have challenges in the winter with floods, ice, snow, and wind. All of these elements impact a marina, and we have to react and make sure the boats in the boat slips are well protected.”
There is an adage that goes, “if you do what you love, you never work a day in your life.” It’s easy to see how much this man loves what he does for a living, so it’s safe to say that Tom Allen hasn’t worked since 1993. “Getting to invest in a business that keeps me on the water all day, every day was a Godsend; an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. 30 years later, it’s like I just got started.” If you’re at home reading this article, or stuck behind the desk at work, take a moment to go online to sunsetmarina.com and see for yourself what Tom’s workday is all about.
Online, view Sunset Marina’s Live Lakecams featuring sunrise, and of course, the star of the marina – the sunset – anytime you need a quick escape. While you’re at it, make a plan to check out Sunset Marina and Resort in person and get on Lake Time before the summer is over.
L-R: Director of Administrative Services Kathy Reece receives her 20-year Service Award from UCEMC General Manager Jennifer Brogdon.
Kathy began her career at UCEMC as a Customer Services Representative in 2001, became an accountant in 2005, and was appointed Director of Administrative Services in January 2021. Congratulations, Kathy!
L-R: Dave Allmon, Engineer; Tommy Pitman, Carthage District Manager; Digger Poindexter, UCEMC Board; Moose Tyree, UCEMC Board President; Jennifer Brogdon, UCEMC General Manager; Back Row L-R: Michael Petty, Mid-State Construction; John Potts, Gordonsville Mayor; Jeff Mason, Smith County Mayor; Anthony Apple, Smith County Chamber of Commerce.
A groundbreaking ceremony last week at Upper Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation kicked off the complete refurbishing of the 42-year-old South Carthage District office building.. With the size of equipment evolving and technology changing rapidly, the outdated facility no longer meets the needs of a modern UCEMC. The office will still be open for members to conduct UCEMC business throughout the remodeling process.
Total project costs are estimated at around $9.3 million. Construction and remodeling will not result in rate increases to members.
New Technology Hub
The plans to refurbish the facility will include a new technical operations center. The area will serve as a multi-directional fiber hub for UCEMC’s territory with interconnections to surrounding electric co-ops.
“We already have an interconnection with Tri-County EMC and are making plans with Middle Tennessee EMC about an interconnection,” says Joe Skelton, UCEMC Operations Manager. “Most Tennessee co-ops are interconnecting and providing a co-op fiber grid that will serve the Tennessee Valley well for any changes that may come.”
UCEMC is close to completing an approximately $2 million Fiber Optic Ring project. Once completed, a physical “ring” or circle of fiber will connect district offices and substations for the power grid’s visibility and control. Skelton says the new technology will improve response during outages.
“Our goal is to provide reliable power as technology moves toward remote control, which increases our speed of response and reliability,” Skelton says. “We need an infrastructure to support that. This fiber optic ring path to our district offices and substations provides that secure infrastructure. Suppose any point of that circle goes out. In that case, we still have connectivity to each office or substation from the other part of the circle.”
Longer Poles, Longer Trucks
The increased demand for space on poles to accommodate new technologies means that utility poles must be taller (longer) to handle the extra load of fiber and telecommunications equipment. When the Carthage District office truck garages were designed in 1978, utility poles only held electric and telephone lines and were approximately 35 to 40-feet long. Today’s poles can be up to 50 feet to keep those additional wires high off the ground. That means longer trucks are needed to haul those poles to the worksite. “The equipment, trucks, and even the poles have grown with the times; the building housing them has not,” Carthage District Manager Tommy Pitman explains. “The new trucks have less than one-inch clearance from the garage door. We’ve had to knock out part of the dock in the old truck bay to get these new vehicles inside.”
Six Years of Planning
UCEMC has studied options for the Carthage District office since 2015. The board of directors reviewed various alternatives. They included a total relocation to a new site, remodeling the customer service and engineering areas vs. rebuilding, and hybrid options of separating customer service and engineering into a different facility.
UCEMC General Manager/CEO Jennifer Brogdon says the board concluded that the most effective solution was to move forward immediately with a refurbishing plan.
“We’ll be remodeling the existing warehouse for operations’ storage needs and will construct an additional warehouse and pole yard to meet modern specifications,” says Brogdon. “We believe it will enhance members’ experience with us as they visit to sign up for service or to pay their bill. Re-working the existing customer service and engineering areas will provide our members with a spacious and convenient place to conduct business.”
The project’s estimated completion date is late October 2022.
One description is that it looked like a war zone in some Upper Cumberland areas last week. Once the snow and ice melted, those of us who aren’t lineworkers ventured out of our homes and looked around. If you live in town, you might not have seen that much damage from the storm at first glance. But other areas told a different story. Bowing street lights, hundreds of limbs littering the ground like matchsticks, some of them blocking utility access roads. Snapped power poles were abundant in some places…
Meet some of our heros that provided unwavering support to our customers during the storm!
General Accounting Department
Livingston CSRs L-R Casey Smith, Stephanie Paul, Kathy Smith
Zachary Pennington, the award-winning videographer and Jackson County High School Senior, demonstrates his drone camera.
If you were to ask Jackson County High School student Zachary Pennington about his award-winning video, he would have to ask you, “Which one?”
The JCHS senior has been producing videos since he was 13, starting with a historical documentary of Gainesboro, which amassed more than 15,000 views. Two years later, a mini-documentary about the “Abandonment of Gainesboro” garnered the “Best Film on a Budget” award at the Johns Hopkins University Film Festival.
His video for the JCHS Drama Club won a $10,000 prize for the school through the NBC Rise Grant program.
Zachary produced a video in the eighth grade that caught the eye of JCHS Basketball Coach Jim Brown, who kick-started the teenager’s interest in closed-circuit television.
“I found him his first week of high school and asked him to help with JCTV,” says Coach Brown. “I learned that he was not just talented. He was also dependable, trustworthy, and extremely well-mannered. He’s been the backbone of JCTV, and we’re blessed to have him at our school.”
On February 7, in a virtual ceremony, Governor Lee honored Zachary with the Governor’s Volunteer Star Award for a video he produced for the Chamber of Commerce.
As the awards and video production requests began to pour in, the teen did what any good business person does; started his own successful company, Pennington Productions. Those who have seen Zach’s work know that he possesses something that sets his videos apart from the rest.
“Like many other things, there is a science and an art to videography,” says Coach Brown. “Anyone can create videos if you have the equipment. However, the outstanding ones are also artists. Zach is an artist. This is what separates him from many others in the profession.”
This busy young man was also honored by Upper Cumberland EMC as a candidate in the 2020 Youth Summit due to his leadership ability, talent, and excellent grades. We caught up with Zachary between video shoots to learn more about this intelligent entrepreneur.
What sparked the interest in shooting video?
I would have to start with my interest in photography. When I started taking photos, I quickly found out you could tell a better story with video, especially when I became better at video editing. I preferred the challenge of making videos over just photos and still do.
Did you take courses in production to get started?
I’ve never taken any courses in video production, so I’m entirely self-taught. Even if I wanted to in school, they have never offered any classes like that. I’ve grown up in an age with information being accessible in the palm of my hand. I was always watching YouTube, simply learning about ways to make videos from creators online.
What kind of video and editing equipment do you have?
When I first started, I actually filmed my first wedding on an iPhone and edited it with an iPad. Over the years, I have picked up a lot of gear and have constantly been upgrading. I have everything I need to create a great video like cameras, lenses, drones, lights, microphones, stabilizers, stands, computers, etc. I’ve definitely invested a lot into my business. However, my gear’s growth has been organic. Over time, I would buy what would make my videos better or more efficient.
Tell us about the first video you made at age 13 and how that put you on this path:
The first big video I made was a video showing my hometown Gainesboro, Tennessee. To this day, music is a crucial influence in some of my personal creations. I created the video because I came across the song “Dirty Old Town” by Craig Cardiff. As I listened to the music, I would imagine the shots I wanted to get. Posting the video to Facebook and reaching over 15,000 views definitely inspired me to create more. Not to bring attention to me, but to bring attention to the beauty and incredible places I had around me. After that, I was asked to create a video for my football team — then my cousin’s wedding, and on it went. Since then, I have been the “video” guy in my community and am completely glad to be. Now I’m blessed to do video production as my full-time job.
Is there a famous cinematographer that you admire?
There are so many cinematographers out there; it would be hard to pick one. Everyone has so many unique styles and ways to tell a story. The people in the industry I look up to most would probably be the video creators I watch online. We can share our work and get instant feedback from those in the same community, which is very helpful.
How did you get involved with the Jackson County Chamber? After I created my mini-doc on the abandonment of Gainesboro in 2018, Jordan Hunter, President of the Chamber of Commerce, reached out and wanted to talk. When we got together, he explained he moved back here and was serious about getting the county up and alive again. We shared the same enthusiasm and talked about ways we could achieve that. Since then, we have been in contact, and I have been trying to help in ways I can by recording events, creating commercials for tourism, videos for grants, etc.
You’ve won the Governor’s Volunteer Star Award for 2021. Were you surprised by the recognition?
Yes, I was surprised. I think it just goes to show how you can be a volunteer in many different ways. Everyone brings something different to the table, and I just so happen to get an award for it. I’m honored to receive it.
When did you start your production company, and how do you balance the shooting schedule with your studies?
I shot my first wedding in October of 2016, but I would say professionally since June of 2019. Most of the time, shoots don’t interfere with class. I do have to admit, though, before the pandemic last year, I had a lot on my plate. I was juggling school with a part-time job, my business, broadcasting football, and basketball games, multiple extracurricular activities, plus editing videos every chance I got.
Tell us about your work for the sound and video department for JCTV.
This is led by Coach Jim Brown, who wanted to broadcast the high school sports games live. In the beginning, there were three other students involved, but over the years, it has dwindled to only Coach Brown and me. Live production was definitely new to me, so the Coach showed me the ropes freshman year, and I learned fast. Over the years, we have upgraded our gear and tried to make our broadcasts better. Sometimes, I would contribute some of my equipment. We would run four cameras live with commentators, graphics, instant replays, commercials, and much more. It has been fun to run and direct a small-scale sports network!
Electric Cooperatives – Building a Brighter Tennessee
