PROSPERITY — The 77th annual Newberry Electric Cooperative meeting was held Wednesday in the gym of Mid-Carolina High School with more than 1,600 members registering.
Ray and Hazel Franklin were the longest married couple in attendance at 68 years, while both Buddy Kunkle and Emily Turner were recognized for being the oldest in attendance at 100-years-old.
Travis Bonds, meanwhile, was the youngest in attendance at 10 months old.
Katie Coker from Mid-Carolina, Bryson Longshore from Newberry, and Cameron Sheffield from Whitmire will be among the 1,600 rising high school seniors from around the country who will be spending a week in Washington, D.C., in June.
“I will never forget that I’m your servant,” House District 40 Rep. Rick Martin told everyone in attendance.
Re-elected without opposition in Zone 1 was Blake Brigman, while CJ Bishop will serve another three-year term in Zone 2.
Melanie Bedenbaugh Hawkins defeated Lester Kyle Vaughn 1,088 votes to 689 to fill the Zone 3 seat for the retiring Richard Koon.
Newberry Electric CEO Keith Avery stated that earlier this year, $417,755 of capital credits were returned to its consumers for both 1995 and 1996. Since the refunds started in 1983, more than $12.9 million has been returned, Avery stated.
Avery also noted they are in the planning stages of the development of a high-fiber optic system to bring computer access to its customers. Later this year, Avery said that more than 1,500 miles of wire will start being laid.
The winner of the 50/50 raffle of $241 presented by the WIRE program was Elmira Rutherford.
Winners of $100 electric bill credits included Meredian Lodge #9, Alan Wise Jr., Henry Livingston III, Joe Boozer, Tammy Lominack, Ronald Boozer, Michael Tucker, Julius Jenkins, Carolyn Towns, St. Johns Church, Edward Pyatt, and John Bouknight.
Candice Coker and Vanessa Matthews were the winners of the $500 electric bill credits.