Houston County Research Articles

Security Bank Corp

AbstractCommercial Banking (MIC: SIC: 6022 NAIC: 522110)Security Bank is a bank holding company. Through its wholly‐owned subsidiaries, Security Bank of Bibb County, Security Bank of Houston County, Security Bank of Jones County, Security Bank of North Metro, Security Bank of North Fulton, and Security Bank of Gwinnett County (collectively known as the Banks), Co. is engaged in providing community banking services. The banks provide a range of retail and commercial banking products and services, as well as investment management and financial planning services through its wholly‐owned subsidiary, CFS Wealth Management. As of Dec 31 2007, Co. had total assets of about $2.83 billion and total deposits of approximately $2.30 billion.

Security Bank Corp

AbstractCommercial Banking (MIC: 8.1 SIC: 6022 NAIC: 522110)Security Bank is a bank holding company. Through its wholly‐owned subsidiaries, Security Bank of Bibb County, Security Bank of Houston County, Security Bank of Jones County, Security Bank of North Metro, Security Bank of North Fulton, and Security Bank of Gwinnett County (collectively known as the Banks), Co. is engaged in providing community banking services. The banks provide retail and commercial banking services for consumers and small to medium size businesses mainly in central and coastal Georgia, and in limited parts of the north metropolitan Atlanta area. As of Dec 31 2007, Co. had total assets of about $2.83 billion and total deposits of approximately $2.30 billion.

Houston County News and Notes

Houston County News and Notes

Eastern Equine Encephalitis in a Free-ranging White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) was diagnosed in a free-ranging, adult, male white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) from Houston County, Georgia, USA, in July 2001. The yearling buck had neurologic disease and died during transport to our diagnostic facility. Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) was isolated in Vero cell culture and identified by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; as well, EEEV antigen was detected in brain by immunohistochemistry. This is the first report of fatal EEEV infection in a white-tailed deer. Antibodies to EEEV were demonstrated by microtiter neutralization in 14 of 99 (14%) of the white-tailed deer from Georgia sampled in fall 2001. Most antibody-positive deer originated from the Coastal Plain physiographic region. Eastern equine encephalitis virus should be considered a possible cause of neurologic disease in white-tailed deer where it may occur.

The voice of the public in public health policy and plannning: The role of public judgement

ras X CUT C H F I E LD, Ireson and Hall's timely arguments can open an important dialogue that I believe is long overdue, and which I hope will continue and bring 3 J 3 some reality to the concepts of 'community' and 'community health planning'. ,9z,o d~Z, I should probably begin this commentary by informing the reader that my comments are probably colored by the fact that I have spent my entire 44 years of public health and public medical care management in the four largest pubic health and public medical care venues in the nation: New York City, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles County. The term 'community' has, therefore, always been a troublesome one for me. The questions are really simple in venues such as these:

P EDIATRIC R ESTRAINT U SE I S A SSOCIATED WITH R EDUCED T RANSPORTS BY E MERGENCY M EDICAL S ERVICES P ROVIDERS AFTER M OTOR V EHICLE C RASHES

Objective. To determine the association between pediatric restraint use during motor vehicle crashes and patient transports by emergency medical services (EMS) providers. Methods. Children under 16 years of age who were involved in motor vehicle crashes in Houston or Harris County, Texas, in 1997 were identified from Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) crash data. DPS data were linked probabilistically to City of Houston Fire Department EMS data to identify whether the children were transported from the scene by EMS. Odds ratios were calculated to determine the association between restraint use and EMS transport. Logistic regression was used to control for age and injury severity in this relationship. Results. From the linked data for 1997, 1,696 children were involved in reported automobile or truck crashes to which EMS responded. Of the 1,580 children about whom information concerning restraint use was available, 1,309 (83%) were wearing some type of safety restraint and 1,342 (85%) were transported by EMS. Adjusting for injury severity, children wearing safety restraints during motor vehicle crashes were 60% (95% confidence interval 34−75%) less likely to be transported by EMS than those not wearing safety restraints during such crashes. Conclusions. The use of safety restraints during motor vehicle crashes is associated with a reduction in the number of children transported from the scene by EMS providers. This effect is independent of age and injury severity.

Exploratory Pollen Analysis of Hargrove Lake, Davy Crockett National Forest Houston County, Texas

The objectives of this exploratory pollen analysis of selected samples from a sediment core taken at Hargrove Lake, Davy Crockett National Forest, Houston County, Texas, are to ascertain the quality of pollen preservation in the lake bottom matrix and to evaluate the potential of the pollen spectra deposited in the lake for providing information about former environmental conditions on Davy Crockett National Forest. Hargrove Lake is a natural lake in the floodplain of the Neches River in Houston County, Texas. The Hargrove Lake site (41H0150) lies a short distance to the west. The lake is presently is surrounded by a 10m wide stand of buttonbush (Cephalanthus). These plants are three m tall and have two to ten em diameter trunks. A woodland dominated by water oaks (Quercus nigra) and sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) lies beyond the button bush. These trees are 30 to 40 m tall, and the woodland canopy is 90 to 98 percent closed. The lake is normally about 50 m wide by 200 m long, giving it a normal surface area of approximately 2.5 hectares. The mean depth of the lake at high water is about 90 em. Bedrock marl underlies the area, and the lake retains water during even the most severe droughts. It should provide a continuous pollen deposition record.

Abstract: Subsurface Stratigraphy and Water Resources of the Dothan Area, Houston County, Alabama

ABSTRACT The city of Dothan is located in northwestern Houston County in the extreme southeastern corner of Alabama. Currently, water is supplied to the Dothan area through 30 wells whose screened intervals vary in depth from 100 to 1,080 feet. During 1997, these wells supplied about 19.4 million gallons of water per day to a population of about 75,000 citizens. Prior to the 1997 completion of geological investigations conducted in support of a wellhead protection program for Dothan's water supplies, the probable source(s) of Dothan's water was poorly known. Guesses based primarily on drillers' logs or a combination of well depth integrated with the regional dip of stratigraphic units were invariably incorrect or involved multiple geological units as possible sources. The most fundamental question--"From which unit is our water being produced?"--could not be answered. In order to define the stratigraphy of the area, over 14,000 feet of samples from 11 wells, including two deep oil and gas test wells, in the Dothan area were microscopically examined and described in detail. These data were then integrated with available electric logs. The resulting stratigraphy was used to define the subsurface geology of over 50 additional area wells lacking sample or log control. This stratigraphy defined the precise locations of screened intervals within individual formational units. The construction of a series of strike and dip cross sections, as well as isopach and structure contour maps, for the approximately 150-square-mile study area, also delineated major and minor aquifers and their associated boundary confining units, documented their areal facies and thickness changes, and permitted the projection and characterization of potential aquifers below current production zones.

Occurrence of the spatangid echinoidMaretia arguta(Clark) in the Middle Eocene of Texas

Echinoid fragments were reported by Zachos (1990) from a Weches Formation (Clairborne) outcrop on Hooker Creek in Burleson County, Texas. Enough fragments have been found at the latter locality to piece together a composite identifiable as a species of the spatangid genusMaretia, most likelyM. arguta.This species has not previously been reported outside of Clarke County, Mississippi. A search of the stratigraphic collections of the Texas Memorial Museum in Austin, Texas, has uncovered several previously unidentified specimens ofM. argutafrom two Weches localities, at Kickapoo Shoals on the Trinity River in Houston County and at Nacogdoches in Nacogdoches County. In addition, spatangoid fragments, some of which are attributable toM. arguta, are common in collections from the Weches and Cook Mountain Formations.

Insecticide Evaluation for Control of the Imported Fire Ant in Houston County, Ga, 1991

Abstract Two 1/10 acre subplots were permanently established in each of nine 1 acre plots. Eight products, four granular and four sprays, were broadcast over one acre plot each. The granular products were applied with a ground-driven Quaker Lawn Spreader pulled behind a John Deere 850 Lawn Tractor. Sprays were applied in 55 gallons of water per acre using a pull-behind sprayer with a 20 ft boom. These applications were made on 1 Aug. Approximately 0.2 inches of rain fell on the area within twelve h. Another 0.8 inches of rain fell within 24 h of the treatment. Posttreatment counts were made in the subplots on 7 Aug, 4 Sep, 23 Oct, 26 Nov, and 12 May.

Petrophysics of Bimodal Porosity: Lower Cretaceous Rodessa Limestone, Running Duke Field, Houston County, Texas

ABSTRACT The Running Duke field in Houston County, Texas is developed on an east-west oriented domal structure with production from the Lower Cretaceous Rodessa Limestone. The reservoir rocks consist of ooid grainstone, ooid skeletal grainstone and skeletal grainstone. Micritization of the ooids by early fresh water diagenesis has created intragranular microporosity. The ooid grainstone reservoir, therefore has a bimodal pore system which consists of intragranular microporosity and intergranular megaporosity. The presence of the bimodal pore system in the ooid grainstone results in high water saturations (55 to 87 percent), because the intragranular microporosity is water-filled. In order to determine the true productive potential of these bimodal reservoirs the effective water saturation in the intergranular megaporosity and the amount of effective intergranular megaporosity was determined by combining mercury injection and petrographic analysis with log analysis. First the percentages of both the micro- and megaporosities were determined using mercury injection and petrographic analysis. Then total water saturation was corrected to effective water saturation. Uncorrected total water saturations for the ooid grainstones averaged 69.4 percent. The corrected effective water saturations averaged 34.9 percent. The much lower effective water saturations calculated by a combination of log analysis plus mercury injection and/or petrographic analysis indicates the true productive potential of these bimodal reservoirs.

Insecticide Evaluation for Control of the Red Imported Fire ANT in Houston County, GA, 1990

Abstract Seven treatments, replicated 3 times, were evaluated for RIFA control. Each plot was 0.25 acre in size and circular. Each was marked with an orange surveyor stake at its center. Pretreatment mound counts were made in the central 0.15 acre (subplot) of the larger 0.25 acre circle on 6 Aug. Posttreatment counts were made on 9 Aug (3 d), 14 Aug (8 d), 9 Sep (1 month), and 2 Oct (2 month).

Relation of Nantucket Pine Tip Moth Attack and Fusiform Rust Infection in Loblolly Pine Families

Abstract The relationship between pine tip moth attack and fusiform rust infection was studied in a 12-year-old loblolly pine stand in Houston County, GA. Four pine families were selected for study, and 24 trees of each family were felled for evaluation. The lower 8 ft of each tree was cut into two 4-ft sections and split to reveal the pith. Each section was examined for evidence of pine tip moth attack and the presence of fusiform rust galls. The analysis revealed 476 tip moth attacks and 99 fusiform rust galls. Forty-six of the rust galls occurred at the same place as a tip moth attack. These results, when combined with those of previous studies, suggest that the control of the pine tip moth may reduce the incidence of fusiform rust. Growth and yield simulations and economic analyses indicate that insecticide treatment of loblolly pine for the combined control of the pine tip moth and the associated reduction in levels of fusiform rust infection may be potentially cost effective in stands managed for sawtimber, but not for pulpwood. South. J. Appl. For. 15(4):204-208.

Paleoecology of Eocene Wheelock Member of Cook Mountain Formation in Western Houston County, Texas: ABSTRACT

Paleoecology of Eocene Wheelock Member of Cook Mountain Formation in Western Houston County, Texas: ABSTRACT

Estimating Confidence Bands for Soil‐Crop Simulation Models

AbstractA general method is described that provides confidence bands for the ouput from soil‐crop simulation models. Stochastic data are generated for model inputs and model coefficients. These data reproduce the statistical characteristics of the climate, soil properties, and internal model coefficients including distributions, temporal, spacial and variable cross correlations, means, and standard deviations. Model output based on these inputs is then analyzed to produce means, standard deviations, and confidence bands. A typical application of the method is illustrated using a stochastic model for soils input data together with the nitrogen‐tillage‐residue management (NTRM) simulation model to generate confidence bands for soil NO3‐N profiles in Houston County, MN. Results indicate that 380 to 1800+ computer runs may be required to provide confidence bands for soil NO3‐N concentrations that are within 10% of the means, and that use of singular mean input data sets in a nonlinear model such as NTRM can produce deviations in the simulated results ranging from 0.7 to 101% of the mean output obtained from many runs.

Completion of a Deep, Hot, Corrosive East Texas Gas Well

Summary A 19,011-ft [5795-m] wildcat in Houston County, TX, was successfully completed in March 1984. It tested the Lower Cotton Valley sand, which produced 14.5 MMscf/D [411×103 std m3/d] at a flowing tubing pressure of 8,671 psig [59.8 MPa]. The produced gas contained 4.9% CO2 and 24 ppm H2S. A bottomhole temperature (BHT) of 400°F [204°C] and bottomhole pressure (BHP) of 17,000 psig [117.2 MPa] intensified the corrosion potential. Tubular corrosion protection was provided by a 13% Cr production liner and a combination tubing string of 13 and 22% Cr alloys. The high pressure necessitated a 6,200-psig [42.7 MPa] underbalance liner top test. This paper outlines the completion and the supporting logic. It includes a discussion of the liner cementing, hole displacement, packer selection, tubing design, perforating, wellhead selection, and flowline design.

Geomorphic Indicators of Deeper Seated Structure on the Southern Margin, East Texas Basin: ABSTRACT

Surface geomorphic features are frequently difficult to relate to potential productive structures, but in the East Texas basin there appears to be a significant correlation between surface features and oil fields. The surface topography overlying the East Texas basin gives little indication of subsurface structure. However, conspicuous to southeastern Houston County on the southern margin of the East Texas basin, and to a large part of the entire basin, is a series of northwest- and northeast-trending stream and topographic alignments. These mappable linear geomorphic features (termed lineaments) may indicate fracturing, faulting, and jointing, and thus may be a clue to subsurface structure. The lineaments of southeastern Houston County were mapped and analyzed on a local scale, and those of Houston, Cherokee, Trinity, and Angelina Counties were mapped and analyzed on a more regional scale. Both the local and regional scale lineament analyses indicated preferential orientations of north 30° west and north 30° east. These lineaments are thought to reflect fracturing and faulting although field reconnaissance could not confirm this. It is suggested that gravity slide of the East Texas basin gulfward from the updip edge of the Louann Salt provided the tensional forces necessary for major lineament formation. However on a more scale there is a correlation between lineaments and productive fields. Areas of minimum lineament density on the lineament-density contour maps represent subtle subsurface structural highs and, conversely, areas of maximum lineament density on the lineament density contour maps represent subtle subsurface structural lows. Therefore, petroleum potential is generally limited to areas of minimum lineament density. End_of_Article - Last_Page 277------------

Bimodal Porosity in Oolitic Reservoir--Effect on Productivity and Log Response, Rodessa Limestone (Lower Cretaceous), East Texas Basin

Running Duke field, Houston County, Texas, is on a small domal structure in the East Texas basin. The field currently consists of five gas wells producing from the Lower Cretaceous Rodessa limestone. Seven additional gas completions have been plugged. The Rodessa yields water-free gas production from zones with water saturations in excess of 60%. Porosity ranges from 7 to 14%. The depositional model depicted for the Rodessa in this field starts with the development of an active organic buildup. This was successively overlain by ooid-skeletal-peloid lime sands, lagoonal lime muds, and subsequently by anhydrite and shale. Six lithofacies, based on core study, were recognized for the Rodessa. Each facies has a uniform diagenetic history in the field, making porosity development predictable for each facies. The one grainstone facies forms the reservoir in the field and has two distinct diagenetic sequences; one consists of a marine isopachous cement followed by a later partial infilling of pore space by sparry calcite. The resulting intergranular porosity has a unimodal pore-size distribution. In the other sequence, a discontinuous meteoric phreatic cement is followed by sporadic patches of sparry cement. The resulting pore-size distribution is bimodal with intergranular macropores and intercrystalline micropores within peloids and micritized ooids. Water-free gas production is limited to the rock with the bimodal pore system: macropores hold movable gas and micropores hold bound water within grains. Where core data are not available, cross-plotting techniques using geophysical logs are suggested as methods for separating the productive from the nonproductive grainstone.

Diplazium japonicum and Selaginella uncinata Newly Discovered in Georgia

The Japanese Twin-sorus Fern, Diplazium japonicum (Thunb.) Bedd., has been reported as escaped from cultivation in Gadsden County, Florida since 1957 (Wherry, 1964), and recently Short (1980) published an account of its discovery in Lee County, Alabama. This species subsequently has been found in three widely disjunct locations in Georgia (Fig. 1). In late summer of 1980, my wife and I led a fern field trip in central south Georgia for the Georgia Botanical Society. During the field trip, Marge White and Frieda Polsfuss (fern hobbyists from middle Georgia) showed several of us some pressed fronds of a fern which Mrs. White had collected in Houston County, Georgia. Upon superficial examination, most of us identified the plant as a form of Athyrium, although the possibility of its being a Diplazium was suggested. A frond was given to Lloyd H. Snyder, Jr. (a fern hobbyist from Atlanta), who discovered the same fern beneath a highway bridge in Berrien County, Georgia the following day. Specimens from Houston and Berrien Counties were shown to Dr. Murray Evans of the University of Tennessee, who confirmed the identity of both as Diplazium japonicum. The two sites were rechecked in October to determine the extent and condition of

Diagenesis and Porosity of Rodessa Limestone, Running Duke Field, Houston County, Texas: ABSTRACT

Diagenesis and Porosity of Rodessa Limestone, Running Duke Field, Houston County, Texas: ABSTRACT