Leadership North Augusta inaugural class begins work
Members of the first North Augusta 2000 Leadership North Augusta program began their nine-month program Oct. 7. The first class will study North Augusta life, including arts and culture, education, economic development and community service. The program's goal is to identify, develop and cultivate North Augusta leaders.
Members include: Cindy Arrant, manager of finance and administration for the Community Foundation of the CSRA; Bobby Bagwell, project manager with Hammond's Ferry; Catie Bugos, branch executive director, Family Y of North Augusta; Shelley Craft, owner of Special Effects and Men's Refinery; Tom Dunaway, senior project manager with W.R. Toole Engineers Inc.; James Gay, loan officer with First Bank Mortgage; Patricia Lee, manager, Applied Computational Engineering & Statistics, Computational Sciences Directorate, Savannah River National Laboratory; Kristi Poss, buyer's agent with Shannon Rollings Real Estate; Verne Sadler, patrol lieutenant with North Augusta Department of Public Safety; Kevin Toole, retail sales manager with First Citizens Bank ; Brian Tucker, president of the North Augusta Chamber of Commerce; Patrick Zier. attorney with Zier Law Firm LLC.
Local veterans to celebrate service
American Legion Post 71 will conduct a Veteran's Day ceremony at Wade Hampton Park on Nov. 11.
The ceremony will take place from 11 a.m. to noon.
"We hope that all citizens will observe Veteran's Day by honoring the men and women who have served, and continue to serve, their country in uniform," said Post 71 Commander Bob Ramsey, in a news release.
The Fort Gordon Navy/Marine choir, North Augusta High school student choir and NJROTC cadets will perform at the ceremony. Keynote speaker will be John Curry, deputy to the Garrison Commander at Fort Gordon.
Rain location for the event is Post 71's headquarter on East Spring Grove Avenue.
For more information, contact Jimmy Sharpe at (803) 292-7600.
County hopes additional ambulances enhance coverage, response times
Aiken County officials say putting three new ambulances on the road in coming weeks will improve emergency services throughout the community.
The ambulances were ordered almost a year ago, but Aiken County EMS received them Oct. 15, said Nick Bianco, the director of emergency services. The ambulances still need radio and medical equipment, Bianco said.
"They are replacing old ambulances that had over 250,000 miles on them," he said. "This will give us ambulances that won't fail and that will make it to their destinations without interruption."
The county receives about 20,000 calls per year, and needs appear to be growing. The county opened its ninth station in south Aiken County on Citadel Drive earlier this year, he said, and it's now one of the busiest stations.
The private provider network is another way the county has enhanced emergency services, said county administrator Clay Killian.
On Sept. 1, the network of privately run ambulance services began assisting the county's emergency services agency. Southstar, Capital City, Aiken Rescue and Palmetto ambulance services handle emergency calls for the county with certified emergency staff and privately owned ambulances, Killian said.
Each of the agencies provide EMS with an eight-hour or 12-hour block daily to assist in responding to 911 calls. Having the extra emergency support has increased the daily number of ambulances dispatching calls from about eight to 12, Killian said.
"We may have some of our units go to an underserved area like North Augusta or Langley, while the private units dispatch to other calls downtown or elsewhere," he said.
The additional emergency personnel and ambulances have already made an impact.
If funds are available in next year's budget, two additional EMS stations will be built and some of the nine existing stations will be renovated, said councilman Gary Bunker.
"We have done a lot to the emergency system to meet the demands in the last year," Bunker said. "We'd like to do even more, but it all depends on next year's budget."
