The Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition’s annual honor recognizes outstanding contributions to its mission of facilitating water quality improvements in the upper Hiwassee River basin.
By Tom Bennett
Special to Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition Inc.
Murphy, N.C., Jan. 12, 2010 – Lamar Paris, Sole Commissioner of Union County, Ga. has been named the recipient of the second annual Holman Water Quality Stewardship Award of the Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition. The award will be presented at a banquet set for Friday night, March 12, 2010 at Brasstown Valley Resort in Young Harris, Ga.
Paris is in his third four-year term as Sole Commissioner of Union County. Union County has the only locally managed sediment and erosion control program that is currently operating in the upper Hiwassee River watershed. Under Paris’ leadership, the county cross-trained building inspectors and sediment/erosion control personnel to save time associated with addressing sedimentation complaints. And inspectors use a technologically advanced system whereby field notes are downloaded automatically into the computer back at the office.
Paris also continues to educate himself about environmental issues. He is a 2008 graduate of the Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership, an intensive series of nearly weeklong workshops held in different parts of the state over the course of one year.
“Commissioner Paris sets a good example for other local government officials in our 4-county area,” said Callie Moore, executive director of HRWC. “We see very few severe violations of water quality in Union County compared to the other counties in the watershed.”
The Holman Water Quality Stewardship Award Banquet & Silent Auction is held annually by the HRWC to celebrate the relatively good water quality still being measured in the Hiwassee River and its tributaries and to honor the person or group that has done the most over the past year to protect it. The event is also a fundraiser for HRWC, designed to help better secure the organization’s long term future.
Who is Bill Holman? He is an eminent figure in the North Carolina environmental field and the Director of State Policy at the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University. Holman had important statewide roles as secretary of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources and executive director of the Clean Water Management Trust Fund.
What is the Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition? HRWC is a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation working hard to improve water quality. It has its headquarters in an office space rented from a feed and seed store in the unincorporated Peachtree community of Cherokee County, N.C., near the town of Murphy. The coalition is 15 years old. There are two full-time and one part-time employees.
The directors from Union County, Ga., are Robert Head, III, chairperson, Jim Dobson and Barry Varian; those from Towns County, Ga. are Anne Mitchell, vice-chairperson, and Truman Barrett. Those from Cherokee County, N.C. are Silas Allen, Mark Kephart, and Nancy Troxler, secretary; and from Clay County, N.C. are Brenda Hull, Treasurer and Gil Nicholson.
This organization doesn’t have much money and is the Ebenezer Scrooge of U.S. water science when it comes to controlling spending. However, it has gone first class with the actual Holman Award. It is a sculptural art glass piece by David Goldhagen of Goldhagen Art Glass in Clay County. The torso shape suggests the power of water. The glass represents the fragile ecosystem of streams and rivers. The colors represent the living things in it that must be protected.
HRWC’s modest 2010 sponsorship goals for the Holman banquet are one Platinum ($5,000); two Gold ($3,000); three Silver ($2,000); five Teal ($1,000); and six Blue ($250-$999). The organization expects 150 guests. Its 2009 operating budget is $155,000.
Paris was selected by a board of directors committee from a slate of eleven nominations. Nominees included five candidates from Cherokee County, N.C., two candidates from Towns County, Ga., and three candidates from outside the watershed.
Jim Dobson, a leader in soil conservation who is retired superintendent of the University of Georgia’s College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences’ Agricultural Experiment Station near Blairsville, Ga., was the inaugural recipient of the Holman Award in 2009.
Tom Bennett of the Martins Creek community near Murphy, N.C., was a retired newsman, Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition member/volunteer/donor and recipient of the 2015 Holman Water Quality Stewardship Award. Tom died on December 28, 2020.