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‘Hard times have given counties a
chance to get caught up on what we need to do for
the environment’
Paris receives Holman Water Quality Award
By Tom Bennett
Special to
Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition
Young Harris, Ga., March 13, 2010 – Union County, Georgia is
at the top of its state on the map, and in that same
position in its river watershed as a model local government.
Lamar Paris,
who is the sole commissioner of Union County, received the
Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition’s award for environmental
protection at a banquet at Brasstown Valley Resort
tonight.
It’s the
Holman Water Quality Stewardship Award, now in its second
year, and Paris succeeded his Union County neighbor Jim
Dobson as the honoree. “What makes this such an honor is
that Jim Dobson won it before me and we both live on the
same hill. Jim is the best friend anyone could ask for.”
Paris said.
The Hiwassee
River Watershed Coalition helped Paris lead Georgia in 2008
to revise guidelines for buffers along streams that drain to
public water supply intakes.
“Not long
after I became commissioner, Callie Moore (executive
director) walked into my office and introduced herself,”
Paris recalled. “The first thing I thought to myself was,
‘I’ve got to get her out of here. The last person I want to
see is an environmentalist.’ At that time, I’d been dealing
with a lot of the metro area environmental groups and let’s
just say that they sometimes use a less than desirable
approach for pushing their goals and objectives.”
Instead,
Moore has assisted in many ways with what Paris said is his
desire for a balance between economic growth and care for
water quality and the environment around us. “She
understands that we still have to use some property to build
and develop, to make a living, but there’s no reason we
can’t have good water quality at the same time.”
“Two big
building projects going on right now in Young Harris and
we’ve got one in Blairsville,” Paris said. “If this had been
10 years ago, mud would be out on the highway. But because
of best management practices, proper environmental design,
contractors who want to do it right, and enforcement
programs (when needed) to make sure they do it right, you
didn’t see that when you drove here tonight.”
Paris is the
first vice president of the influential Georgia group,
Association County Commissioners of Georgia. It has a lot
to say about how counties develop land and meet
environmental standards. Next year, Paris will be president
of ACCG in the same year as a new governor takes office.
“We’re in
some hard times right now,” Paris said in closing. Possibly
one of the few upsides is that “it’s given us a chance to
catch our breath and get caught up on what we need to do for
the environment.”
The Hiwassee
River Watershed Coalition facilitates water quality work in
four counties in two states – Union and Towns in Georgia and
Cherokee and Clay in North Carolina.
Jim Dobson
is retired chief of the University of Georgia agricultural
experiment station in Union County and the winner of the
inaugural Holman Water Quality Stewardship Award in 2009.
Award
namesake, Bill Holman is a former director of North
Carolina’s Clean Water Management Trust Fund.
David
Goldhagen of Goldhagen Art Glass near Hayesville, N.C., has
been commissioned by HRWC to create the Holman Award each
year. It is presented annually to the person in the
watershed doing the most to ensure good water quality.
* * *
Tom Bennett of the Martins Creek Community west
of Murphy is a Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition member and volunteer.
E-mail him at
farblumtn@gmail.com
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