Currents-September 2019

SEPTEMBER 2019

Suwannee Valley

CURRENTS

INSIDE:

BELOW OUR FEET

Cave divers dive deep at Dive Outpost

MEET YOUR TRUSTEE

Learn about District 6 Trustee Andy Walker

AROUND THE COMMUNITY

SVEC employees volunteer to help victims of domestic violence

CEO’S MESSAGE

Suwannee Valley

CURRENTS September 2019

Michael S. McWaters Executive V.P./CEO

Suwannee Valley Currents is a monthly newsletter published by Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative, © 2019. It is distributed without charge to all consumermembers of the cooperative.

Taking the plunge Everyone reading this has likely taken a leap of faith at some point. Maybe it was making a career change or deciding that a relationship was worth taking a chance on. Regardless of the situation, making any big decision takes courage when we don’t know how it will turn out.

The first members of Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative had that kind of courage. They saw that rural areas were being left behind by the big power companies, so they took the leap to build an electric system themselves in hopes of creating something that would sustain their community for decades to come.

More than 80 years later, I think it’s safe to say their faith was well-founded. SVEC has grown from serving 69 members with its first line to more than 18,000 members spread across about 2,100 square miles in four counties. But we are still driven by the same mission of bringing safe, affordable and reliable electric service to our friends, family and neighbors.

Of course, we aren’t the only ones to have taken a leap of faith and been rewarded. SVEC member Cathy Lesh took a plunge of her own when she and her husband bought the Dive Outpost south of Live Oak. The jump from a steady job to running your own business can be scary, but Cathy’s hard work and warm personality made the Dive Outpost a haven for cave divers from all over.

While I can’t encourage any of our members to go diving into caves without the training and experience required to do so safely, I urge you to read more about Cathy’s story and the Dive Outpost in this newsletter. After decades of diving all over the world, she has certainly had some experiences worth sharing.

You can also get to know a little more about Andy Walker, who represents members living in District 6 on our board of trustees. Mr. Walker has faithfully served on the board for almost 15 years.

You can also see some photos from a recent trip a group of SVEC employees made to a local shelter for victims of domestic violence. While there, they helped out by weeding the playground and staining a wooden wheelchair ramp. And be sure to catch up on the details of this year’s 5K Run/Walk 4 Life for the Pregnancy Care Center of Live Oak and the upcoming Touch-A-Truck event to be hosted by SVEC. I know I’m thankful for the leap of faith our founders took decades ago. Without it, we wouldn’t have the strong electric system we are blessed with today and we at SVEC wouldn’t have the privilege of serving this great community. 

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA! Stay up to date with everything happening at your cooperative. Visit our social media channels to get the latest on outage updates, cooperative news, community events, photos and more.

Facebook: facebook.com/sveccoop Twitter: @SVEC_COOP_FL Instagram: Instagram.com/sveccoop 2 | September 2019

WE BELONG TO THOSE WE SERVE Business Office: 800-447-4509 11340 100th St. Live Oak, FL 32060 Lobby Hours: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday Drive-thru Kiosk Open 24 Hours 24/7 Power Outage Reporting 800-752-0025 svec-coop.com facebook.com/sveccoop @SVEC_COOP_FL Instagram.com/sveccoop SVEC is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

On the cover: Cathy Lesh has been providing a home for cave divers at the Dive Outpost for more than 20 years. See story, page 4.

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

BY MARK LONG.

Suwannee Valley Currents

Keep right of way in mind when planting trees Tall Trees

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SVEC works to clear all its rights of way every three to four years. To ensure your tree doesn’t have to be trimmed back, plant the right tree in the right place.

Posting items to power poles creates safety risks Signs and other materials on utility poles are more than just an unpleasant eyesore; they can be dangerous — even life-threatening — to our linemen. SVEC asks everyone to help keep utility poles free of such materials.

The clamped safety boots used by our linemen to climb poles are vulnerable to becoming snagged on staples and nails left embedded in posts long after the signs they held are gone. Foreign objects can also tear workers’ protective clothing, which is the first line of protection from an electric shock. They can also injure workers despite the safety gear they wear to avoid contact with rough surfaces.

Posting items to power poles can also be a public safety hazard. The materials posted on the poles not only distract people as they drive, but they also degrade the quality, effectiveness and stability of the wood.

It is just as important to avoid tampering with or disrupting the guy wires that surround utility poles.

Please inform children not to play or swing on them, and maintain your distance when performing yard work. If you see poles or guy wires that are disrupted in some way, please call one of our member service representatives at 800-447-4905.

Suwannee Valley Currents

September 2019 | 3

Deep dive

Local Dive Outpost creates a home for cave divers

If being underwater in a pitch-black cave is outside your comfort zone, there’s a good chance you aren’t SVEC member Cathy Lesh. The owner of Dive Outpost in Suwannee County has been a cave diver for 30 years, and while some people find the activity intimidating, she hasn’t found an experience that compares.

“You’re out of your element at first, but after a while that changes and you’re completely in your element,” she says.

“There’s no gravity, so it feels like going diving in your easy chair. You’re just so comfortable in this spot, and it’s lovely.”

That comfort comes with decades of experience. Lesh began diving when she met her future husband, an open water diving instructor, in Chicago. Because she worked in the travel industry, the two explored the world and went diving in places like the Great Lakes and the Pacific Ocean.

It took 10 years of open water diving experience before Lesh felt comfortable trying cave diving. She and her husband traveled often to Peacock Springs State Park on cave diving trips, and they became regulars at the Dive Outpost when it opened in the early 1980s. When they had the opportunity to buy the business in 1995, they jumped at the chance.

“We had a lot of trepidation about changing career paths,” Lesh says. “You go from everything being set and knowing your money is coming in to basically jumping off a cliff. We made a bid and looked at each other like, ‘What did we just do?’”

“I’ve had people come through who have done a dozen dives in their whole life, and they want to start cave diving,” says Lesh. “Some people have the skills but aren’t there mentally.

Do you really want to be 1,000 feet back in a rock tube? Sometimes people think they do, but being there shakes them out real fast.”

Learning to maneuver in more subtle ways, navigate smaller spaces and better control buoyancy are all important techniques cave divers have to master. But for Lesh, the payoff is far more valuable than the time it takes to develop these skills.

And the subterranean spaces divers explore aren’t always so small.

DANGEROUS WATERS

Since her husband passed away in 2000, Lesh has run Dive Outpost herself, building it into a one-stop shop for her fellow diving enthusiasts. Visitors to the area can stay at on-site accommodations, purchase new equipment at the dive shop or learn more about cave diving from local instructors.

After accumulating firsthand diving experience, taking advantage of training like that offered at the Dive Outpost is the most important step an aspiring cave diver can take to avoid unnecessary risks.

4 | September 2019

Visitors to the Dive Outpost can stay at on-site accommodations, purchase new equipment at the dive shop and learn about cave diving from instructors.

Suwannee Valley Currents

Maneuvering in small spaces is one of the many skills divers must have when exploring caves.

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY MARK LONG

“You can get into giant rooms that are so big you can’t even light up the sides,” Lesh says. “The water is unbelievably clear.

It’s as close to flying as one can get. Some caves have a lot of current flowing out, so you can pull your way into it, and you don’t swim out. You just fly out on the current. It’s a marvelous experience.”

Cave divers get to experience unbelievably clear water.

COMING HOME

Now in her 24th year running Dive Outpost, Lesh tends to prefer mermaid diving, which is done in open water with minimal equipment. She leaves the cave diving to her customers, but she is as dedicated as ever to building a welcoming environment for them.

“My dog, Bandit, is one of the most important employees,” Lesh says. “I make this my home, and then I bring visitors into my home. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that from people: ‘I feel like I’m coming home.’”

Lesh also knows the hazards involved with cave diving and carries a concern for her visitors with her whenever they go out.

“There’s a level of stress every day worrying about the people going off,” Lesh says. “I find out where they’re going and what time they’re due back. That’s in the back of my mind all the time because cave diving isn’t a walk in the park. It can be a dangerous sport.”

When Lesh and her husband bought Dive Outpost almost 25 years ago, their goal was to re-create the experience they had traveling to Suwannee County. Along with a group of friends, they would pile into a van and camp near their dive site, cooking meals and enjoying good company by the campfire.

“That’s what I came here to create. The whole premise for building this place was to make it somewhere I would go,” Lesh says. “There’s so little you really need to make people comfortable: a nice bed, a cool room, clean sheets. Just a nice place, friendly faces and a cheesy dog.”  Suwannee Valley Currents

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY MARK LONG

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY MARK LONG

September 2019 | 5

MEET YOUR TRUSTEE

Q: What do you like most about living in the Suwannee Valley?

and I knew I could use my electric utility knowledge and experience to help make our cooperative better. I’ve always had three goals: to help improve our reliability, to help keep our costs low, and to help improve our member service. We’ve made strides in all three areas, but there is more work to do, it’s a continuous process.

I like the rural way of life and the country people. We have a great farming community, and I like being able to enjoy the beautiful outdoors.

Q: What line of work are you in?

I’ve been the full-time parent in the family. I have some income from retirement investments and my wife wanted to keep working and build up her retirement. Being a full-time parent is a sacrifice, but a very important responsibility. I’m thankful that we are able to do it. We have one daughter, 14, we’re very proud of her.

Q: What’s the most important impact SVEC has on its community?

Our main responsibility is to provide the reliable, affordable electricity that our members use every day. We take our responsibility seriously in the longterm planning and implementation to provide that energy to our members. We have a great group of employees, they are dedicated to serving our members.

We are local, we live in the communities we serve, and we are owned by our members.

Q: What do you like to do in your spare time?

ANDY WALKER

I love to water ski. I don’t get to go as much as I used to, but I love being out on the Suwannee River near Branford. I also like working on our farm where we grow pine trees.

Q: What made you want to serve on the SVEC board?

I used to work for Florida Power Corp. on the generation side of the business

District 6

H A M I LT O N C O U N T Y Jasper

an

75

ne

1 ADAMS

Suw

3 ROBERSON Live Oak

River

7 HUNTER

e

Andy Walker represents District 6, which lies in the southernmost part of Suwannee County. A native of Branford, Walker has served on the SVEC Board since 2005.

GEORGIA Jennings

White Springs

10

8

S U WA N N E E VACANT COUNTY Wellborn

Dowling Park

4 PUTNAL

5 LORD

McAlpin

129 Mayo

27

9 HART

2 GOFF

Lake City

COLUMBIA COUNTY

6 WALKER

O’Brien

Branford

L A FAY E T T E COUNTY

6 | September 2019

Suwannee Valley Currents

Dutch oven pineapple upside-down cake

Outta the woods

KNOW THE REGULATIONS WHEN DEER HUNTING IN A CWD-POSITIVE AREA

By Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Jeff Schumacher has lived in Florida for nearly 10 years, but he grew up shoveling snow and deer hunting during Wisconsin’s cold winters.

Every other year, he and his friends head north for Thanksgiving to spend time with family and deer hunt in southwest Wisconsin’s Grant and Sauk counties.

Wisconsin, a popular destination for thousands of deer hunters across the country, is one of 26 states and three Canadian provinces where chronic wasting disease has been detected. CWD, which has not been detected in Florida, is a contagious disease that is fatal for deer, elk, moose, caribou and other members of the deer family. Since CWD was first discovered in Wisconsin in 2002, it has increased in prevalence and geographic extent.

Because Schumacher and his friends don’t want to see this happen in Florida, they take extra precautions when handling their harvested deer.

“When we go up and hunt Wisconsin, we make sure to check the regulations on transporting harvested deer for every state we will be driving back through,” Schumacher says. “I research everything and do what is needed to comply with every state’s regulations, including Florida’s, to ensure we’re not spreading the disease.”

Suwannee Valley Currents

Currently, there is no scientific evidence that CWD can be transmitted to humans or livestock under natural conditions. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention do not recommend consuming meat from animals that test positive for CWD or from any sick animal.

The FWC offers the following safety tips for field dressing and processing harvested deer: • Wear latex or rubber gloves.

• Bone out the meat. Don’t saw through bone, and avoid cutting through the brain or spinal cord (backbone).

• Minimize the handling of brain, tonsils and spinal tissues.

• Wash hands and instruments thoroughly afterward.

• Avoid consuming brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils and lymph nodes of harvested animals. Normal field dressing coupled with boning out a carcass will remove most, if not all, of these body parts.

• Cut away all fatty tissue, which will remove remaining lymph nodes.

• Properly dispose of carcass.

To learn more about CWD and how to prevent it, visit MyFWC.com/CWD. 

From J. Wayne Fears 1/4 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 can pineapple slices, drained, reserving juice 1 small jar of maraschino cherries 1 (9-ounce) package Jiffy golden yellow cake mix 1 egg Heat Dutch oven over charcoal or hardwood fire, keeping bottom of oven from coming into direct contact with coals.

Melt butter in the pineapple upsidedown cake pan and sprinkle it with the brown sugar. Place pineapple slices over the brown sugar and place a maraschino cherry in each pineapple center. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat yellow cake mix, egg and half of pineapple juice for 4 minutes. Pour batter over pineapple slices in cake pan. Place pan in 12-inch Dutch oven on trivet or cake rack.

Cook until cake is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Remove from Dutch oven, pour remaining half of pineapple juice over cake and allow to cool in pan for 2 minutes. Carefully flip onto plate and serve warm. Makes 6 servings.

Do you have a great recipe?

Email a copy of a recipe you’d like to share to communications@svec-coop.com.

September 2019 | 7

SVEC in the

COMMUNITY

Don’t miss the FREE Touch-A-Truck family event hosted by Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative.

Children and adults of all ages are invited to touch and explore various trucks, emergency vehicles and heavy machinery at SVEC’s main office located at 11340 100th St. in Live Oak on Oct. 12, 9 a.m.-noon. Vehicle drivers and operators will be there to show you their vehicles and answer any questions.

• Free admission • Bounce house for kids • Food and drink available, benefiting United Way of Suwannee Valley Have a unique vehicle and want to participate? Email Christy Tuckey at communications@svec-coop.com.

LENDING A HELPING HAND A group of SVEC employees spent a recent Saturday morning weeding the playground and staining the woode n wheelchair ramp at a local shelter for victims of domestic violence.

PREGNANCY CARE CENTER 5K RUN/ WALK 4 LIFE Come visit the SVEC water station or say hello to members of our team at this year’s 5K Run/Walk 4 Life. Proceeds from the family-friendly event go to the Pregnancy Care Center of Live Oak. Date: Sept. 28 Place: First Federal Sports Complex Schedule: 8 a.m., registration and check-in; 9 a.m., 5K begins