AAA forecasts 31.5 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home during the Labor Day holiday weekend. Those traveling in and through Covington County should obey the traffic laws as area law enforcement will be out participating in the annual “Click It or Ticket” campaign.
Earlier this summer, Governor Robert Bentley announced the count was to share in a nearly $68,000 traffic enforcement grant to facilitate traffic initiative.
As part of the initiative, area law enforcement began targeting impaired drivers Thursday and will continue their increased patrols to the end of the Labor Day holiday travel period on Monday.
AAA reports the traffic numbers are a 2.4 percent decrease from the 32.3 million people who traveled one year ago.
“AAA is projecting a decrease in the number of Labor Day travelers as some Americans react to recent economic uncertainty and increasing air fares,” said Clay Ingram, AAA Alabama spokesperson. “While automobile travel is expected to increase slightly, if recent declines in gasoline prices continue through Labor Day, we could see an increase in last-minute holiday weekend travel.”
The decrease in expected travelers is a result of a mixed economic outlook, consumer uncertainty regarding the overall economy, and recent downturns in economic factors that affect discretionary income, which is particularly relevant to the travel and tourism industry.
Locals awaiting a gas price decrease may get their wishes after the Labor Day holiday, Ingram said.
Throughout the holiday weekend gas prices won’t change much, he said.
“But after the holiday, we should see prices start to drop significantly,” he said. “This is the time of year when our demand starts to drop significantly, and it is already much lower than it was last year, so we should be in line for some decreases throughout the fall.”
Just how much of a decrease is unclear, Ingram said.
“It’s tough to say how much, but when you consider that our prices are roughly a $1 per gallon higher no than they were at this time last year, and our demand is about 3 percent less, it would appear that we might have a lot of room to drop.”
Statewide prices vary greatly, with some stations as high as $3.74 per gallon, while others are as low as $3.29 per gallon, Ingram said.
Locally, prices average $3.51 per gallon in Andalusia; $3.65 per gallon in Florala and $3.48 per gallon in Opp.
Last year, gas was $2.46 per gallon in Andalusia; $2.59 per gallon in Florala and $2.46 per gallon in Opp.
Ingram said it’s very important for motorists to price shop for the cheapest gas along their normal travel areas.
“That would be a tremendous help in getting our gas prices lower,” he said.
Schools throughout the county will now share in more than $55,000 distributed Wednesday by local legislators, Sen. Jimmy Holley, R-Elba, and Rep. Mike Jones, R-Andalusia.
The money was given on a per-student ratio, with Covington County Schools receiving $27,847; Andalusia City Schools, $11,917; and Opp City Schools, $15,604, for a total of $55,368.
“This money does two things,” Holley said. “The state education budget was not enough. These funds are to be used to fill the void due to lack of funding. It addresses the subject of teacher supplies, while addressing the needs of some special projects that didn’t get funded in the budget.
“I, like Rep. Jones, felt like the impact of this money needs to be felt in the classroom,” he said. “Now, it will.”
Jones said the funds given represented the discretionary funding given to the legislators during the first three quarters of the fiscal year. Schools should receive one more allocation by Oct. 31, the end of the fiscal year.
“We call this general purpose money to be used directly for purchasing school supplies and to make up the difference where there is a specific need,” Jones said.
The first stop made by Jones and Holley was to Andalusia Elementary School, where the men distributed checks totaling nearly $12,000.
Students in Mrs. Black’s second grade class – like others throughout the county as Jones and Holley made stops at Straughn and in Opp – had one thing to say after the presentation: “Thank you!”
Triple digit heat indexes have pounded Covington County nearly all summer long, creating a huge demand for air conditioning. But it hasn’t been enough to surpass output records for local utilities companies.
Local generator, PowerSouth, said they are ready to meet peak demand this summer, which hasn’t happened yet.
“We are well positioned to meet the energy needs of our distribution systems this summer when demand is at its highest,” said Damon Morgan, PowerSouth vice president of power supply. “Sufficient generating capacity, purchase power agreements and demand side management resources are available to help manage expected peak usage.”
This summer, PowerSouth has forecasted a peak of 1,897 megawatts, but hasn’t yet reached it, compared with the 2010 summer peak of 1,997 megawatts, which occurred on Aug. 1.
The summer peak, which is the highest point of demand during the season, usually occurs between June and August between 4 and 6 p.m.
Peak loads are measurements of the average total electric demand by consumers for the highest one-hour period.
One mega-watt of electricity can serve about 800 to 1,000 homes, Morgan said.
Between PowerSouth’s existing generation and long-term and short-term contracts, the company has approximately 2,429 megawatts of resources available to help meet summer peak demand, Morgan said.
“Due to our high residential load, extreme weather is the dominant factor when it comes to producing electricity during times of high demand,” Morgan said. “High temperatures could produce peak loads this summer that rival those of recent years.”
Morgan said that even though forecasters show overall growth in electricity consumption slowing as a result of the economic slowdown, most consumers will continue to utilize the most energy during times of extreme temperatures.
Andalusia Utilities Department Office Manager Cathy Alexander said with heat indexes more than 100 degrees, it’s been a tough summer to keep cool, and she suggested consumers try tips to cut down on their power bills.
“(You can do) simple things like keeping curtains and blinds closed to keep out the heat and making sure that doors are not left open to let the heat in,” she said. “It’s hard to turn up that thermostat, but the longer that those air units run, the more energy that is used.
“When my children complain it’s hot in the house, I tell them to go outside for 30 minutes and come back in, it feels really good then,” she said.
Covington Electric Cooperative spokesman Mark Parker said CEC strives to educate its members about the benefits of making wise energy choices and implementing energy efficiency practices through a number of ways.
“One of the best communication resources we have is our magazine Alabama Living, which allows us to communicate directly with the membership on a monthly basis,” he said. “Several energy efficiency articles and advertisements are published each year in the magazine.”
Parker said CEC also provides energy saving tips online and through radio advertisements.
“Every CEC office has free energy saver guides available in the lobby areas, and we will mail those to members upon request,” he said. “Another service the co-op provides at no charge to our members is a free energy audit.”
During the energy audit, a member service representative comes to a member’s home to evaluate the home’s energy usage and identify problems and make suggestions to improve efficiency.
“Electric bills can be greatly impacted by the weather and that’s why energy efficiency and usage awareness is so important,” Parker said. “When we experience extreme highs like we’ve seen this summer, air conditioning units are going to run longer. Most of the bill inquires we receive can be directly correlated with temperatures.”
Here are some no cost energy-savings tips.
• Change your air filter regularly.
• Set your thermostat to 68 degrees in winter and 78 degrees in summer.
• Keep electronics and small appliances unplugged when not in use.
• Keep showers to five minutes.
• Reduce the water temperature on you water heater.
• Turn lights off when you leave a room.
• Wait until you have a full load to run the dishwasher and clothes washer.
• Only heat and cool rooms that you use, close vents and doors to unused rooms.
Dianne Chavers, shown inside her AES classroom, refused to say how much money she’s personally spent on classroom
supplies. Like other teachers in the city system, she received a check or $200 for supplies yesterday.
Come Monday, Anna Johnson will begin her first official day on the job as a fifth grade teacher at Andalusia Elementary School. And without have ever receiving a paycheck, she’s already in the hole some $800.
Why? Because students aren’t the only ones who need school supplies.
For the last three years, there have been no state funds given to teachers to purchase classroom supplies such as copier paper, ink cartridges, pencils, pens or even books for classroom libraries. It’s also why school systems send out “suggested donation items” lists containing paper towels, hand sanitizer, Kleenex and the like at the beginning of the school year. There’s no extra money to purchase these items, ACS teachers said.
“Since this is my first year here, my room is blank,” said Johnson, who used the $800 she’s already spent to outfit her classroom. “I needed to buy everything. I needed and still need supplies, decorations, everything.”
But Tuesday, teachers in the Andalusia City School System got a “Christmas gift in August” in the form of a $200 stipend from the Andalusia Utilities Board.
“Wow is all I can say,” said first grade teacher Jackie Henderson, who likened the appropriation to a Christmas gift. “Of course, I’ve already spent way over that $200, but I can’t say thank you enough for the money.”
Like Johnson, Stephanie Nall is a first-time teacher at AES. Nall, a third grade teacher, said she’s spent between $700 and $800 on her classroom, purchasing the basics for the first day of school.
Third grade teacher Dianne Chavers refused to say how much she’s already spent out-of-pocket.
“I can’t tell because my husband would see it,” she said. “But I can tell you that money (the utilities board gave), that is a huge deal. We’re in our third year of having no money, and having to pay for everything out of pocket. Every penny counts, especially when you have only a few pennies.”
And teachers across the state have less money to spend on school supplies this year. That’s because the Legislature, seeking to stabilize the state employee retirement system, approved a big increase in the amount of money teachers are paying toward their retirement.
Teachers likened the change to a 2.5 percent reduction in salary.
“We’re not going to have our children do without in our classrooms,” Chavers said. “Things have to get done and you have to have the supplies to do it.”
Judy Bozeman, a special services professional for fourth and fifth graders, said she was “ecstatic” for the funds.
“Right now, I’d say I’m up to $600 out-of-pocket,” Bozeman said. “But it’s all worth it. Kudos to the utilities board for doing this for us. They don’t know what it means to us.”