So - Glenn and I were on the road to learning about making ethanol and exploring all sources of information available both near and far. In small southern towns gossip and "chewing the fat" are popular forms of entertainment. This isn't all bad because being "put in touch" with someone through this exchange can turn out to be advantageous. That is exactly what happened with Griffin Lovett and DuBois Porter. Griffin is publisher and DuBois is editor of the local newspaper, The Dublin Courier Herald. It is a daily paper with a circulation that reaches numerous communities surrounding here. Along the way, a mutual friend suggested that we needed to get together with these two fellows because of our common interest in making ethanol. So - we did and this is the newspaper article that resulted in our meeting: LOCAL GROUP STARTS ETHANOL PRODUCTION By STEPHANIE MILLER Dogwood Energy out of Tennessee uses as its motto, "Taking back America one gallon at a time," but for a group of Laurens business owners, that motto hits a little closer to home when it's broken down to one newspaper or one bushel of corn at a time. Such is the situation that brought The Courier Herald, Dr. Glenn Bridges of Chinaberry Ranch in Buckeye and HLT Farms, LLC/dba HLT Energy, owned by Dianne Lovett of Dublin to team up to produce the area's first locally made ethanol fuel in nearly 30 years. Bridges is an urologist at the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center and farms part time. The Courier Herald's owners, Griffin Lovett, publisher, and DuBose Porter, executive editor, knew the newspaper's delivery force had been especially hard hit by the rising gas prices and have been searching for ways for months to help relieve some of the expense of the rising gas costs by making in-house changes to help the carriers. But, when those changes were still not enough to relieve the high cost of gasoline for the carriers, Lovett began to search for alternate fuel solutions. He found Dogwood Energy LLC in Tullahoma, Tennessee. The company builds and markets stills than can be used to make ethanol from such locally grown crops as corn, millet, and many others. Bill Sasher, CEO of Dogwood Energy, made a trip to Dublin recently with one of the ethanol stills to meet with Griffin and Dianne Lovett, Porter, Bridges and Raymond Joyce, Laurens County Extension agent, to set up the ethanol maker for a "water and steam" demonstration at Bridges' farm. Dogwood energy started by providing bio-energy products in the wood pellet business. But, after gas prices began to soar following Hurricane Katrina, Sasher began to rethink the making of ethanol from farm products as an alternate fuel and began to market the preassembled ethanol stills. Sasher said many, if not most, of the newer vehicles today have been created to operated on "flex fuel" which means the vehicles will run off an ethanol mix called E85, which is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. As Sasher and Lovett talked about making the ethanol, Lovett realized his wife's farming operation could grow the crops for the potential fuel and the opportunity to go "Back to The Future" appeared. Lovett said he also saw the potential for helping the carriers of The Courier Herald. As independent operators, delivering the newspaper in the state's third largest county was especially challenging for the carriers. "If we could produce enough ethanol and the carriers could use it ˜ it could make the difference to some whether they are able to continue to deliver their route or not," said Lovett. Lovett is no stranger to producing ethanol. Almost exactly 30 years ago during the oil crisis of the late 1970s Lovett and Charlie Garbutt of Garbutt Construction Company constructed one of the first "stills" to make "gasohol." They were not alone, according to an article from The Courier Herald dated Nov. 6, 1979; Dubliner's Bob Walker, Mike Williamson and Wade Pearce also built and ran several runs producing 150-160 proof alcohol from a still designed by Georgia Tech graduate Walker. Back then a barrel of crude oil was $15 and was at an all-time high. Now some 30 years later, with crude oil at $73 a barrel and gasoline in middle Georgia at near the $3 per gallon mark, history is repeating itself. As Lovett and Porter were in the planning stages and looking at the possibilities for the ethanol still, across the county another businessman was also looking at ways to cut gas costs. Lovett said Bridges heard that he and Porter were considering purchasing a still so Bridges contacted him. Porter said Bridges' interest and volunteering to operate the still on his farm in his barn was the final piece of the puzzle needed to go forward with the project and to start seeking local, state and federal licensing. "His interest has been a tremendous help," said Lovett. Bridges had also been working with the University of Georgia Experimental Station in Tifton and locally with Joyce to find the crops, other than corn, that are also suited for making the ethanol. Bridges said his interest came about because of his pride in the American way. "I didn't want to be a slave of OPEC," he said. "I'm old enough to like the old American way ˜ if there's this problem, we didn't wonder why the federal government didn't help us, we decided to do something ourselves. Plus, it's something of a Patriotic thing. We'd like to see if this might help resurrect the small farmer in Georgia." According to Sasher, many cars are being made that can operate using "flex fuels" and many of their owners don't even realize the vehicles can run off ethanol. He said usually "flex fuel" is noted in the owner's manual or near the gas tank. Sasher said all vehicles could be made to run off bio-fuels. "The technology is in Detroit to do it," said Sasher. Over five million "flex fuel" cars are already on the road and GM, Ford and others are working to provide additional "E85" cars. A BI-fuel convertor, "Flexanol" which will allow most cars with fuel injection engines, to be able to run either gasoline or E85, is currently being developed by Dogwood Energy. A similar product called "FlexTek" has been in use in Brazil for many years, Lovett said. Porter said for he and Lovett, the goal is to produce enough ethanol to help cut the gas expense of the newspaper's delivery carriers. "With this technology ˜ we could provide our newspaper carriers a reduced price fuel and hopefully stimulate enough interest to build a market here for alternative fuels," said Porter. Joyce talked with Sasher, Bridges, Lovett and Porter about the many possible locally-grown crops that can be used for the ethanol and he told them about the interest he has already had from local farmers about the ethanol. Porter said with the growing interest in ethanol across the county for the first time in 30 years, more corn has been sold in the U.S. for ethanol production than what was exported. The group journeyed to Bridges' farm where the still was assembled and tested using water. Porter said absolutely nothing other than water could be tested in the still until the local, state and federal permits were received. As of Tuesday the permit was granted from the Laurens County Commissioners and the federal permit has been applied for. Now with the local approval, the group can apply to the state for a permit. Sasher said considering the current cost of corn per bushel and the cost of the enzymes needed to make ethanol, it could still be produced for about $1.20 a gallon. He said on average it takes about a bushel of corn to make 2.6 gallons of ethanol. 'Even if it just brought the price of gas down 25 percent it would help us," Porter said. As Bridges' business partner Robbie Williams watched the still assembly she made an observation that making ethanol truly is a trip from the future back in time. "Here we are in this huge world of technology and what are we doing? - A process that was used thousands of years ago." Williams, who is also a writer, said she and Bridges have tried growing bamboo and flowers and now at the farm she will help him in the new adventure. "Now, we're going to try growing ethanol." But, just like the beginning of America where man had to adapt to survive against many hardships this group of independent businessmen and women are once again learning to do new things an old way. "That really is what it's about, being independent,' said Bridges.