Blue Ridge holds annual meeting

A crowd estimated at five thousand took in last night’s annual membership meeting in Pickens of the Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative. Blue Ridge reported that the crowd for the 74th yearly gathering numbered 2,734 members. Westminster resident Dick Martin left the occasion the winner of the evening’s grand prize—a 2007 Ford F-150 pickup truck. During the business session, Ben Bolt defeated Melissa Ledford for a seat on the board of directors, representing Anderson County. Two incumbent directors were returned without opposition: Len Talley of Oconee County and William Elrod of Pickens County. Blue Ridge General Manager Charles Dalton reported that a signature pledge card campaign expressing concern about potential EPA regulatory actions affecting electric power rates had, so far, attracted support from more than 10 thousand members of South Carolina cooperatives.