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Ghostriders win top honors in
national event
By Dan Eakin
Monitor Correspondent
CANTON–The Ghostriders, an equestrian drill team based in Van Zandt
County, won some top honors in the U.S. Equestrian Championship Drills
held last week at the Austin Arena in Myrtle Springs.
The Ghostriders Quadrille won first place to be national champions in
Division 11 competition.
The Ghostriders Precision Drill Team won third place in Division 1 and
the Ghostriders Youth placed ninth in the nation in Division 1.
The Ghostriders Youth also placed third in Division 6 in national
competition. The Ghostriders were also awarded the Sportsmanship Trophy
by the attending teams.
“We were very honored to be chosen,” Ghostriders director Gary Bonner
said.
“The United States Equestrian Drill Championship, and the Ghostriders
would like to thank the city of Canton and all the sponsors that support
this national competition,” Bonner said.
“This event continues to grow each year and teams arrive as much as a
week early to shop in Canton,” he added.
“There were no injuries during the competition,” Bonner said.
Drill teams from all over the state and even the nation came to Myrtle
Springs for the national competition.
Cowgirl Express, a drill team from the Dayton, Ohio area, won first
place in Division 1 and Division 5, and second place in Division 2.
Ghostriders has about 20 members. They sometimes ride four or eight at a
time in competitions.
EPA recognizes H-E-B as a top green
power purchaser
Special to The Monitor
SAN ANTONIO–H-E-B has again qualified as one of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) top 10 retail green power purchasers in the
Green Power Partnership.
The company’s Austin region operations are being recognized for a
voluntary purchase of 27,600 megawatt-hours (MWh) of green power from
Austin Energy’s GreenChoice Program.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the list of the
nation’s top 10 retail green power purchasers July 10.
The current list, which is released quarterly, is available at http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/.
This top 10 list highlights retailers within the Green Power Partnership
that have completed the largest annual voluntary green power purchases
through June 26.
“Green power” is defined by the Partnership as electricity products that
are partially or entirely generated from environmentally preferable
resources, such as solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, and low-impact
biomass and hydro resources.\
These renewable energy sources are cleaner than conventional sources of
electricity that produce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, a greenhouse
gas linked to global climate change. Green power purchases support the
development of new renewable energy capacity.
“Environmental sustainability is one of our key operational goals, and
we are pleased that our efforts have been significant enough to warrant
recognition by EPA,” H-E-B Environmental Affairs Manager Susan Ghertner
said.
“Green power is good for the earth – and, increasingly, good for
business as well,” she added.
H-E-B obtains this green power, which represents about 25 percent of the
electricity used by facilities in the Austin region, in the form of
biogas and wind-generated electricity.
The biogas electricity is generated at the Tessman Landfill Biogas
Project, east of San Antonio, which uses methane gas produced by
decaying garbage at old sanitary landfills.
The wind power comes from 120 wind turbines located in McCamey and
Sweetwater, Texas. H-E-B is the top purchaser in the retail industry of
green power produced in Texas.
H-E-B constantly explores energy-saving opportunities through new
technologies and innovations.
For example, the company requires energy-efficient lighting in stores
and parking lots, saving more than $3 million a year and reducing carbon
dioxide (CO2) emissions by 78 million pounds.
Currently, the company is sponsoring a total-store Energy Challenge
through Oct. 1.
Each store is assigned to one of six defined groups, with the goal of
achieving the greatest percentage of energy reduction within that group.
Each Partner in the winning stores will receive $100.
Simple steps, such as closing dock doors, fixing water leaks and turning
off lights when not in use can help save significant amounts of energy.
H-E-B expects the measures taken as part of the contest to result in an
energy reduction of five percent for the three months of the
competition, leading to savings of approximately $1.2 million.
The amount of energy saved would be enough to power 1,000 homes for one
year, and the pollution averted will roughly equal that created by 1,750
cars during a one-year period.
EPA has previously recognized H-E-B for achieving significant energy
savings and being among the first in its field to respond to the
agency’s ENERGY STAR Commercial Building Challenge.
“Purchasing green power is one of the easiest ways for an organization
to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions and improve the environment,”
program director for the EPA’s Green Power Partnership Blaine Collison
said.
“H-E-B’s use of green power contributes to reducing the environmental
impacts associated with conventional electricity use and helps promote
our nation’s energy independence,” he added
The U.S. EPA, using data on national average avoided CO2 emissions,
estimates that H-E-B’s purchase is equivalent to avoiding more than 46
million pounds of CO2.
Buying 27,600 MWh of green power is comparable to removing the emissions
of more than 4,000 cars annually or planting more than 5,000 acres of
trees.
“We have a responsibility to help the communities that we serve,”
Ghertner said.
“Our environmental efforts are an important part of that, and we hope to
keep working with EPA to accomplish even more in the future,” he added.
H-E-B was founded in Kerrville in 1905 with a single grocery store.
For more than a century, it has been an innovative retailer known for
fresh food, quality products and convenient services.
The company has grown to more than 300 stores in Texas and Northern
Mexico with more than 60,000 employees.
H-E-B is one of the largest food chains in the United States, with sales
of $11 billion, and is the largest privately held company in Texas.
EPA’s Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program helping to increase
the use of green power among leading U.S. organizations.
The program encourages organizations to purchase green power as a way to
reduce the risk of climate change and the environmental impacts
associated with conventional electricity use.
Currently, the Green Power Partnership has more than 600 Partners
voluntarily purchasing more than 5.3 billion kWh of green power.
Partners include a wide variety of leading organizations, such as
Fortune 500 companies, local, state, and federal governments, trade
associations, as well as colleges and universities.
Hensarling offers support for Israel against
terrorists
By U.S. Rep. Jeb Hensarling
Special to The Monitor
WASHINGTON, D.C.–U.S. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (TX-05) praised House passage
of H.Res. 921, a resolution to reaffirm the House of Representative’s
support for Israel, condemn both Hezbollah and Hamas for their actions,
and condemn the governments of Iran and Syria for their continued
support for Hezbollah and Hamas.
“I rise in strong support of this resolution and to condemn the recent
attacks upon Israel by Hezbollah. All of us tonight have the earnest
prayer that the current wave of violence can end quickly.
“Innocent civilians are being lost in Lebanon and Israel, and the word
‘tragic’ never does the situation justice.
“But peace can never be achieved by asking Israel to put at risk its
security and the safety of its people.
“Let there be no doubt, this latest conflict began with Hezbollah.
Rockets have now rained down upon Israel. Israel has been forced to
defend her citizens and sovereign territory, and I believe that Israel
has the moral, historical and legal right to do so.
“Holding the keys to peace in this situation are Hezbollah’s state
sponsors in Damascus and Tehran. They can and must use their influence
to convince Hezbollah to return the kidnapped Israeli soldiers.
“By doing so, Syria and Iran will finally demonstrate that they are
prepared to join the world community. Should they not, however, the
world community must hold them fully accountable for being state
sponsors of a terrorist organization.
“Also critical to achieving a lasting peace in the region is
international support for the full implementation of United Nations
Security Council Resolution 1559.
“Passed by the United Nations Security Council in 2004, the resolution
calls on all foreign forces to withdraw from Lebanon, and for all
militias within Lebanon to be disbanded.
“Its full implementation, Madam Speaker, will promote greater
independence for Lebanon and greater security for Israel, not to mention
the rest of the world.
“Since 1948, the United States has stood with and supported the State of
Israel, as it has defended herself from these who seek her destruction
and deny her very right to exist.
“In return, Israel has been our staunchest ally in the region as well as
a full partner in the global war on terror. By passing this resolution,
we assure Israel that we will continue to stand by her side in the face
of terror.” |