The Down East Seniors Club held its Sept. 5 meeting at the Blind Center of North Carolina in Washington. President Gary Brinn led the meeting. Jim Hackney played for the singing of “God Bless America” which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Ed Hamrick gave the invocation and read factoids for the date in history. Several members provided humor.

Brinn announced that the executive committee recommended dues be changed to $40 per quarter. This change was accepted by a show of hands.

Rudy Burns introduced Alston Tankard with Washington Electric Utilities. Tankard is serving as the transmission and distribution superintendent and as the interim director of WEU. WEU serves some 14,000 customers in Beaufort, Pitt and Washington counties. They employ 17 linemen to maintain the 500 miles of line. Power is generated by Duke Energy and distributed to local areas through North Carolina Municipal Power Agency. WEU pays NCMPA approximately $2 million dollars per month for power. WEU maintains generators and has a load management program with customers to reduce the peak electrical load each day. This is because power Duke supplies above their normal peak load is very expensive. WEU is rebuilding old lines north of the city to reduce line losses and make power delivery more reliable. They are also gradually switching the city streetlights to LED.

Mark Eakes won the 50/50 drawing.