Pool hall for sale, Dublin, Ga.

14.0301.poolhall

Just down the street from the tallest building in Dublin, Ga. — the closed old First National Bank — sits this empty pool hall on Madison Street.  It is sandwiched between two other buildings that look like they’ve been closed for a long time.

Dublin suffered during the recent recession as the unemployment rate for Laurens County, where Dublin (population 16,201) is the county seat, rose to  13.8 percent in July 2011.  Two years later it was about two points lower, but was down to 9.4 percent in December 2013, according to federal government data found at this site.

Some 23.6 percent of residents of Laurens County (population 48,434) live in poverty, according to Census data

Photo taken Feb. 16, 2014 by Andy Brack.  All rights reserved.

Closed chicken joint, Dublin, Ga.

Empty fast-food chicken joint, Dublin, Ga.
Empty fast-food chicken joint, Dublin, Ga.

This fried chicken outlet on Telfair Street in Dublin, Ga., is one of many buildings that closed during the recession.  The unemployment rate for Laurens County, where Dublin (population 16,201) is the county seat, rose to  13.8 percent in July 2011.  Two years later it was about two points lower, but was down to 9.4 percent in December 2013, according to federal government data found at this site.

Some 23.6 percent of residents of Laurens County (population 48,434) live in poverty, according to Census data

Photo taken Feb. 16, 2014 by Andy Brack.  All rights reserved.

Empty bank, Dublin, Ga.

Old First National Bank, Dublin, Ga.
Old First National Bank, Dublin, Ga.

Look closely at the top of the six-story brick building on South Jefferson Street in Dublin, Ga., and you can barely make out the words “Citizens and Southern Bank.”

The now-empty building, built around 1910 (“MCMX”), has boards on some windows; others are open without glass.  The bank, apparently the tallest building between Macon and Savannah, started out as the First National Bank, according to the letters carved over the front door.  By the time the bank was built, Dublin had emerged from obscurity after the Civil War into one of the largest cities in Georgia, according to the New Georgia Encyclopedia.

Other interesting facts about Dublin:

  • Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made his first public speech at the First African Baptist Church in Dublin when he was 14.  You can seek King celebrated in the right side of the picture as part of the town’s Black History Month observation.
  • Baseball manager Earl Weaver, who ended up in the Hall of Fame, once was a player-manager for the Dublin Orioles, a Class D minor league team in the city.
  • During World War II, Dublin was home to a prisoner-of-war camp of captured Germans and Italians.

Dublin (population 16,201) is the county seat for Laurens County.  Some 23.6 percent of residents of Laurens County (population 48,434) live in poverty.

Photo taken Feb. 16, 2014 by Andy Brack.  All rights reserved.

Livery, Mayesville, S.C.

Old livery, Mayesville, S.C.
Old livery, Mayesville, S.C.

The old Livery Stable in Mayesville, S.C., appears to be undergoing renovation, retired editor and photographer Linda W. Brown writes. The livery is across the railroad right-of-way from the Kineen Hotel, pictured earlier in the month.

Sumter County’s Mayesville, population 731, grew up along the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad, she writes.

“It reached its heyday at the turn of the 20th Century with two banks, a hotel and various other businesses associated with a farming and railroad community. What remains of the Kineen Hotel still stands, but is in very bad repair. The old railroad bed has been removed  and the old railroad right-of-way now serves as green space thought the center of town.”

Sumter County, which is home to Shaw Air Force Base, is comprised of 108,052 people.  Just under 50 percent are white; 47 percent are black. The poverty rate is estimated to be 18.2 percent in the county, but it is a much higher percentage in places like Mayesville.  Poverty there has been estimated to be 36.5 percent for all, but 49.5 percent for children under 18.

Photo taken in February 2014 by Linda W. Brown.  All rights reserved.

Old farmhouse, near Dexter, Ga.

Old farmhouse, near Dexter, Ga.
Old farmhouse, near Dexter, Ga.

Here’s the old farmhouse near Dexter, Ga., that fronts the privy mentioned in the previous post.  As you can see, the front of the house rests on a pile of concrete blocks, but the back of the house is on newer brick supports.

Dexter has about 500 people and is a few miles southwest of Dublin, the county seat for Laurens County.  Some 23.6 percent of residents of Laurens County (population 48,434) live in poverty.

Photo taken Feb. 15, 2014 by Andy Brack.  All rights reserved.

Op-ed: More to energy efficiency than lower power bills

An op-ed in The (Columbia, S.C.) State:

By D. Lowell Atkinson and Andy Brack

FEB. 19, 2014 — Improving the energy efficiency of your home saves you money on your utility bill.

But there are broader benefits that accrue as consumers and businesses weatherize and retrofit their homes and buildings.

For example, using less energy in the home reduces the need for government fuel subsidies, such as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, a federal program that helps pay for home heating and cooling for the most vulnerable and low-income residents.

This program served more than 72,000 S.C. households in 2012, up from 18,218 households in 2009. In spite of more households receiving benefits, the state’s allocation has dropped a dramatic 44 percent over the same period. That means benefits are lower for people on the program.

Because residential weatherization and retrofits can reduce air leakage while maximizing and upgrading heating and cooling systems, investments in energy efficiency can lower energy consumption for residents. And that produces safer, healthier and more energy-efficient homes, reducing the need for the subsidies.

Another value of energy efficiency is its impact on disposable incomes. The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina reported in 2013 that the average participant in its energy-efficiency pilot program saved $288 a year and $8,500 over the 15-year life of the improvements — after considering the typical retrofit cost of $7,684.

That means retrofitting the homes of all 72,016 S.C. recipients of the federal subsidy program would yield $59 million in savings for the government, homeowners and taxpayers. Retrofitting 225,000 homes by 2020 — a goal of the state’s electric cooperatives — would save homeowners $184 million. Most of these households would use the savings to satisfy other financial priorities and to pump money into local economies through the purchase of goods and services.

Per capita spending on electricity in South Carolina was $3,634 in 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, and our state now boasts the highest average retail electricity prices in the Southeast, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. So imagine how much money South Carolinians would save if they embraced energy-efficiency strategies that are common in other states. Improving the energy efficiency of homes is low-hanging fruit that is spoiling because it’s not being plucked by state residents.

Boosting home energy efficiency also provides other benefits often overlooked in conventional program evaluations. Residents in energy-efficient homes experience fewer shut-offs for non-payment because their costs are lower; they don’t have to move or relocate as much because they can stay in their own home.

And utilities, governments, property owners and rate payers get reduced infrastructure costs from not having to build as many power plants. Property values increase, which boosts local tax revenues. And community pride grows as neighborhoods stabilize. Overall, society benefits thanks to more local spending, job creation and improved health.

There are environmental benefits, too. With half of our state’s power coming from nuclear plants, there would be less nuclear waste to bury. Plants would last longer. And air quality would improve because we’d burn less coal to meet routine power needs.

State government could help by adopting a statewide energy-efficiency appliance standard so that washers, dryers and refrigerators sold in stores are required to be more energy efficient overall. As conveyed in the Center for a Better South’s “Getting Greener” policy guide ( green.bettersouth.org), adopting standards for 15 kinds of equipment in states across the South would allow the region to save enough energy to fuel 10 power plants.

South Carolinians also can support energy efficiency by contributing to a residential rehab or retrofit program with local community development organizations. Donors and investors can help by financing energy-efficient homes among the underserved who have few traditional financing options. And contributors can claim a 33 percent tax credit if they invest with any of the 22 certified community development corporations or community development financial institutions in South Carolina. Learn more at communitydevelopmentsc.org.

Mr. Atkinson is a program associate at the S.C. Association of Community Development Corporations; Mr. Brack is president of the Center for a Better South. Contact them at Lowell@scacdc.net and brack@bettersouth.org.

Old privy, near Dexter, Ga.

Outhouse, near Dexter, Ga.
Outhouse, near Dexter, Ga.

There’s no telling how old this privy is outside an old farmhouse just north of Dexter, Ga., in Laurens County.  The unpainted house had some signs that someone might have been restoring it awhile back (new brick foundation in the rear; random concrete blocks at front holding up building.)  But there was no electricity going into the place on Georgia Highway 257 near Dexter’s new water tower.

Just beyond the privy, you can see a small grove of seven mature pecan trees with a field in the rear.

Dexter has about 500 people and is a few miles southwest of Dublin, the county seat for Laurens County.  Some 23.6 percent of residents of Laurens County (population 48,434) live in poverty.

Photo taken Feb. 15, 2014 by Andy Brack.  All rights reserved.

 

Familiar scene

Familiar scene, near Pembroke Ga.

Familiar scene, near Pembroke Ga.

This scene of a flat Interstate highway could be anywhere.  On Interstate 16 near Savannah?  Or on Interstate 26 near Charleston?  Maybe Interstate 55 in Mississippi or 65 in Alabama?  How about I-40 near Wilmington? (Answer:  I-16 at Exit 132, Ash Branch Church Road in Bryan County just north of Pembroke, Ga.)

What’s so familiar about the scene is that there are miles and miles of little development between large cities.  Over the last 50 years, Interstates connected America in new ways never imagined years earlier, but that connectedness started an outpouring of talent and people from rural areas to cities and the suburbs.  Bryan County, which is in Savannah’s metro area, has a poverty rate of 14.7 percent.

Photo taken Feb. 16, 2014, by Andy Brack.  All rights reserved.

Kineen Hotel, Mayesville, S.C.

Kineen Hotel, Mayesville, S.C.
Kineen Hotel, Mayesville, S.C.

This two-story brick hotel in Mayesville, S.C., is a shadow of its former self.  Intricate glasswork hangs awry alongside broken windows.  Second-floor windows are boarded-up.  The first floor is virtually gutted.

Kingstree, S.C., photographer Linda W. Brown captured this shot earlier this month on a trip through the Sumter County town.  Mayesville, population 731, grew up along the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad, she writes.

“It reached its heyday at the turn of the 20th Century with two banks, a hotel and various other businesses associated with a farming and railroad community. What remains of the Kineen Hotel still stands, but is in very bad repair. The old railroad bed has been removed  and the old railroad right-of-way now serves as green space thought the center of town.”

Sumter County, which is home to Shaw Air Force Base, is comprised of 108,052 people.  Just under 50 percent are white; 47 percent are black. The poverty rate is estimated to be 18.2 percent in the county, but it is a much higher percentage in places like Mayesville.  Poverty there has been estimated to be 36.5 percent for all, but 49.5 percent for children under 18.

Photo taken in February 2014 by Linda W. Brown.  All rights reserved.

Jesus sign, Dudley, Ga.

Roadside religion, Dudley, Ga.
Roadside religion, Dudley, Ga.

You can’t miss this sign in Dudley, Ga., that VanishingSouthGeorgia.com Brian Brown calls “Roadside Religion.”

Better South President Andy Brack remembers Dudley as a home to a great aunt who passed away a few years back.  Dudley, home to fewer than 500 people, is in Laurens County in the middle of Georgia.  Some 23.6 percent of residents of Laurens County (population 48,434) live in poverty.

Photo taken in August 2013 by Brian Brown.  All rights reserved.