Macon Magazine

August/September 2024 | maconmagazine.com 35 for addressing important issues and the creative means used to do it. For instance, she chose an investigative documentary film format to report on residents in the town of Juliette, Georgia who learned their drinking water was contaminated with heavy metals that advocates linked back to a local power plant's coal ash pond. Called "Saving Juliette," Wetherbee and co- producer/co-cinematographer Grant Blankenship took audiences into people's kitchens and community meetings to hear of the small Georgia community's health issues and fears. Plant Scherer's 1,000-foot chimneys can be seen from parts of Macon, nearly 20 miles away. Named by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the top carbon-polluting power plant in the nation, the plant's waste is stored in an unlined ash pond more than 700 acres large. The EPA reports that coal-power waste is a carcinogen as radioactive as nuclear waste due to naturally occurring elements in coal, such as uranium, becoming concentrated in the burning process and containing other compounds linked with health concerns. The documentary includes footage of watershed protection organization Altamaha Riverkeeper's executive director as he tested Juliette residents' well water, which was found to contain 505 times the legal Image courtesy of Anthony Howard. "Saving Juliette" shows the human impact of a power plant's environmental pollution as residents become sick in Juliette, Georgia. TOP Wilson filming on location in Juliette. ABOVE "Saving Juliette" film still. All images courtesy of Evey Wilson Wetherbee. California limit of hexavalent chromium, among other chemicals. Though there is no national standard limit, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration reports that hexavalent chromium is linked to various cancers, as well as kidney, liver, and other diseases. High cancer and rare disease rates in Juliette, plus home closures and demolishments, sparked the filmmakers' interest in making the voices of the community heard. Just as "Prison Town" got a nod from the Peabody Awards for "excellence in storytelling that reflects the social issues and the emerging voices of our day," the 40-minute documentary "Saving Juliette" was nominated for an Emmy and won awards from organizations and film festivals, including the 2021 Macon Film Festival. Wetherbee is a University of Georgia graduate, having studied photojournalism and religion, and has a master's from the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill related to documentary filmmaking and web design. She's worked with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, AFL-CIO, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, and The New Yorker, among others. Now, she's in Macon, the mother of two, and at Mercer and the Center for Collaborative Journalism, teaching and working on independent and

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