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September 2, 2009 | Associated retirees reflect upon 57 years of combined experienceContact : Nancy Southworth 417.885.9246 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Longtime employees Gary Turner and Wesley Weimer retired Aug. 3 from Associated Electric Cooperative after serving a combined total of 57 years with the cooperative at its Thomas Hill Energy Center. Gary Turner began his career at Thomas Hill Energy Center as a general utility in January 1980. He soon progressed to auxiliary operator, and after two years Turner progressed to assistant control room operator. He held this position for seven years before advancing to his final position as a warehouseman in the power plant. He retired with 29 years of service. “There’s great responsibility to keep the millions of dollars of inventory that we have here straight,” Turner said. Keeping parts organized is essential to plant productivity, particularly when co-workers need to check out parts for the job site. Turner found great satisfaction in arranging parts in the warehouse for more efficient recovery and enjoyed meeting the vendors that deliver to the warehouse. On a typical day, Turner took care of receiving the parts, matching and counting for accuracy, putting the information into the computer, placing the parts on the proper shelf and then checking out needed parts to co-workers. Wes Weimer began his career at Associated in February 1981 as a mechanic first period. In 1982, when Thomas Hill moved to three shifts of mechanical maintenance, Weimer decided to stay on the third shift, which is where he has proudly served for the past 28 years. “It takes all the departments and people to produce power, and I’m very thankful to have had a job of that caliber,” Weimer said. After progressing to journeyman and then to journeyman machinist/mechanic, Weimer said he has seen a lot of changes in almost three decades. The biggest change was when Associated changed from Missouri coal and a scrubber for sulfur dioxide removal to Wyoming coal. “We had to,” Weimer said. “It was the only way to stay competitive, and I’m glad we did.” Associated was one of the first utilities to burn 100 percent low-sulfur coal in a large cyclone boiler power plant. The $542 million conversion, including mine closure, to low-sulfur coal reduced sulfur dioxide emissions (SO2) to fulfill the requirements of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. Since 1994, Associated has reduced its SO2 emissions rate 90 percent. Associated also recently finished a multi-million dollar environmental controls project at Thomas Hill Energy Center that reduces the cooperative’s system wide nitrogen oxides emissions 90 percent to improve air quality and meet the requirements of the Clean Air Interstate Rule. Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. is owned by and provides wholesale power to six regional and 51 local electric cooperative systems in Missouri, southeast Iowa and northeast Oklahoma that serve more than 875,000 customers. AECI’s mission is to provide an economical and reliable power supply and support services to its members, including its “Take Control & Save“ energy efficiency program, www.TakeControlAndSave.coop. AECI is a Touchstone Energy Cooperative. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V Released: 2 September 2009 |
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