SEPTEMBER 2014
South Alabama ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE
Rural Studio Celebrating 20 years of
improving life in Hale County
Amateur radio Spanning the globe and helping out at home
www.southaec.com
Best Alabama 20
15
It’s back! Once again, Alabama Living readers have a chance to vote on the places and things that make our state great! We’ve got some new categories this year, so check out the list and tell us what’s your choice for the “Best of Alabama”!
advice for a newcomer 1. Best moving to Alabama
9. Best historic cemetery
17. Best annual event
city/town with unique 2. Best or funny name
statue or historical 10. Best marker in Alabama
18. place
place to take a 3. Best all-time athlete (past or present) 11. Best Sunday drive
Best non-chain breakfast
Alabama grown 19. Best produce
4. Best Alabama export
random roadside 12. Best attraction
20.Best cook-off event
5. Best movie about Alabama
location in 13. Best Alabama for a selfie
seasoning, sauce, or 21. Best condiment made in Alabama
6. Best place to go on a first date
place to get muddy or 14. Best play in the mud
Alabama dish to serve 22. Best out-of-town guests
7. Best place to get married
outdoor adventure 15. Best destination
Alabama made product to 23.Best send home with “out-of-towners”
8. Best place to retire
outdoor annual festival/ Best thing about living 16. Best 24. jubilee/etc. in Alabama
25.
Best article, feature, photo or helpful tip you read in Alabama Living in the past 12 months
Cast your vote for VOTE ONLINE www.alabamaliving.coop Name: ___________________________________ the Best of Alabama for the chance to win Address: _________________________ City: ___________ St: ___Zip: ________
500
$
Deadline to vote is Oct. 15, 2014.
Phone Number: __________________Co-op: ______________________________
Mail to: Alabama Living Survey • P.O. Box 244014 • Montgomery, AL 36124 No purchase necessary. Eligibility: Contest open to all persons age 18 and over, except employees and their immediate family members of Alabama Rural Electric Association, and Alabama Electric Cooperatives; and their respective divisions, subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising, and promotion agencies.
MANAGER
Max Davis CO-OP EDITOR
Chellie Phillips ALABAMA LIVING is delivered to some 420,000 Alabama families and businesses, which are members of 22 not-for-profit, consumer-owned, locally directed and taxpaying electric cooperatives. AREA cooperative member subscriptions are $3 a year; non-member subscriptions, $6. Alabama Living (USPS 029-920) is published monthly by the Alabama Rural Electric Association of Cooperatives. Periodicals postage paid at Montgomery, Alabama, and at additional mailing office. POSTMASTER send forms 3579 to: Alabama Living, P.O. Box 244014 Montgomery, Alabama 36124-4014.
ALABAMA RURAL ELECTRIC ASSOCIATION
AREA PRESIDENT Fred Braswell EDITOR Lenore Vickrey CREATIVE DIRECTOR Mark Stephenson ART DIRECTOR Michael Cornelison ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Jacob Johnson ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Brooke Davis RECIPE EDITOR Mary Tyler Spivey ADVERTISING & EDITORIAL OFFICES:
340 TechnaCenter Drive Montgomery, Alabama 36117-6031 1-800-410-2737 E-mail: advertising@areapower.com www.areapower.coop NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE:
National Country Market 611 South Congress Ave., Suite 504 Austin, Texas 78704 1-800-626-1181 www.nationalcountrymarket.com www.alabamaliving.coop USPS 029-920 • ISSN 1047-0311
VOL. 67 NO. 9 SEPTEMBER 2014
LIVING
11 Are you prediabetic? Many people don’t know they are prediabetic until it is diagnosed with a simple blood test. Early detection can prevent or delay serious health complications.
16 Hamming it up
In the age of cell phones, texting, internet and other forms of instantaneous global communications, why do so many folks still use a century-old technology?
Mary Buntin and her 21-monthold son, Wesley, of Sprott, enjoy strolling on a boardwalk built by Rural Studio students at Perry Lakes Park near Marion. PHOTO: DAVID HAYNES
30 Southern Bite
A popular blogger, who believes “with a good recipe and confidence, anybody can make anything,” has turned his favorite family recipes into a cookbook. When you see this symbol, it means there’s more content online at www.alabamaliving.coop! Videos, expanded stories and more!
DEPARTMENTS 9 24 32 33 36
Spotlight Worth the Drive Outdoors Fish & Game Forecast Cook of the Month
Printed in America from American materials
Alabama Living
SEPTEMBER 2014 3
Manager’s Comments
South Alabama Electric Cooperative Board of Trustees
Bill Hixon District 1
James Shaver District 2
Leo Williams District 3
Ben Norman District 4
DeLaney Kervin District 5
Norman D. Green District 6
Glenn Reeder District 7
James May At Large
Headquarters: 13192 Hwy 231 P.O. Box 449 Troy, AL 36081 800-556-2060 southaec.com 4 SEPTEMBER 2014
The Impact of Regulations on You MAX DAVIS, GENERAL MANAGER
We’ve written before about how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed to limit carbon dioxide at new power plants. This is concerning because these regulations, along with the ones EPA has in store for existing plants, have the potential to drive up your electric bills. Now is the time for electric cooperative members to join their voices together and send a clear message: Please remember consumers as you are writing these regulations. You can help first by visiting www.Action.coop today and sending a comment to the EPA. You can also help by sharing the link with your friends and family. What’s at stake? Beyond providing safe, affordable electricity, at South Alabama Electric Cooperative, we’re worried about jobs in Alabama and many of our communities that we serve. We’re also worried about costs. The new rule would require Alabama’s generation facilities to achieve a 26.7 percent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030. The rule, set to become final by June 1, 2015, would dramatically affect the nation’s coal-fired power plants. Coal is the cheapest and most abundant fossil fuel and considered the workhorse of the U.S. power system. It is used to produce approximately 40 percent of the nation’s electricity, more than any other fuel. It helps keep prices stable for our coopera-
tive and power flowing even when demand spikes. While these regulations are technical, the potential increase in electric rates is something we take personally because we know it’s difficult to make ends meet month-to-month. We know the tough choices you face – we all face – in trying to live on a budget. That’s what sets cooperatives apart from other utilities and that’s why we must stick together. Thousands have answered the call already and sent comments through www. Action.coop. But we need more. Here at South Alabama Electric, we look out for you. And we don’t take this request lightly. It only takes 30 seconds to help raise our voices together. At South Alabama Electric we’re encouraging everyone to sign up … and ask their friends and families. And now we’re asking the same from you. We need you to take a stand and urge our families and friends to join us. Visit www.Action.coop. And talk to your neighbors about what we’re doing and why. We’re powering the future, driving economic growth and fostering innovation for you. And we don’t want these new regulations to get in our way of progress. Please join the call and help us keep moving forward.
www.southaec.com
South Alabama Electric Cooperative
South Alabama Electric Monthly Operating Report KWH Sold 28,402,809 Avg. Utility Bill $214.24 Average Use 1,755
Can you afford to
pay more for your electricity bill? THE EPA THINKS YOU CAN.
Total Accounts Billed 16,177 Total Miles of Line 2,668 Consumers per mile of line 6.06 Information from JUNE 2014
ACTION.COOP Alabama Living
SEPTEMBER 2014 5
6 SEPTEMBER 2014
www.southaec.com
South Alabama Electric Cooperative
Sending power to your home is a lot like driving to a neighboring state. You wouldn’t consider taking a two-lane secondary road to travel to a city hundreds of miles away, would you? Of course not. You would find the nearest interstate so you could drive faster and arrive at your destination in less time. Just like you, your electricity has an interstate that allows it to travel long distances, and a secondary system that winds through back roads and neighborhoods to direct it to its final destination, your home. Transmission lines that deliver power from a power plant to substations are the fast-moving interstate highways of the electric industry. Our Generation and Transmission (G&T) Cooperative, PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, meets the needs of 16 electric cooperatives and four municipal systems in Alabama and Northwest Florida. This system covers 39 Alabama counties, 10 Florida counties, and more than 33,000 square miles. Our system has over 2,270 miles of transmission lines. These lines carry from 46,000 to 230,000 volts of electricity into the local distribution substation. They are located on structures ranging from large metal towers more than 100 feet tall to a single pole standing 70 to 90 feet in the air. And just like a car leaving the interstate, the electricity leaving the substation has to slow down when it enters the distribution lines serving South Alabama Electric’s service area. Transformers in the substation provide the braking system for lowering the voltage of the electricity so it can continue safely along its journey. So, how does it work? Higher voltage electricity passes through a system of coiled wires located in the substation transformer. The electricity enters a primary side of the transformer, which has metal coil windings surrounding that side of the transformer, and then passes to a secondary side, which has fewer coil windings. Travelling through the reduced number of windings lowers the voltage as it leaves the secondary side and continues the journey along the distribution lines. The electricity moving along South Alabama Electric’s distribution lines are cruising between 7,200 volts to 12,470 volts, depending on whether or not they are travelling along a single-phase, two-phase or three-phase line. Consider these lines the secondary roads of the electric system. They make the journey through the local co-op’s service area. Distribution lines carry the electricity shorter distances than
Alabama Living
transmission lines. They transport electricity to the businesses, schools and homes served by your co-op. These are the lines you see South Alabama Electric crews repairing after a storm. Your electricity has one more stop before making its way into your home. Just as you slow down to pull into your final destination, the voltage is lowered one more time. It takes a turn off the distribution line and into another transformer that’s located outside your home. This transformer may be a canister hanging on a pole or a box in your yard if you have underground electric service. Like the substation transformer, the electricity passes through a primary side with more coil windings to a secondary side with fewer coils. The voltage leaving the secondary side is generally between 120 and 240 volts. Most transformers service only one home or business, but in some subdivisions two homes may share a single transformer. These transformers are protected by fuses that will disconnect them from the electric line if there is a fault caused by current surges or overloads. After the electric current leaves the transformer, it makes its way through a service line, into the meter base and to its final destination – your home, where it powers the appliances and electronics of our modern world. As you can see, the electric highway plays a key role in powering our lives and delivering safe, reliable and affordable electricity to you. By Karen Combs and Chellie Phillips
SEPTEMBER 2014 7
TOGETHER 8 JUNE 2014
W e u s e e n e r g y w i s e l y. Two home improvements — more attic insulation and energy-efficient windows — can make a big difference in your energy usage. Insulation with an R-38 value (about 12-15 inches) and energy-efficient windows improve your home’s energy performance and thermal comfort. Let us perform a home energy audit and find ways to use energy wisely. Together we power your life.
www.southaec.com or 800-556-2060
www.southaec.com
Alabama Living
SEPTEMBER 2014 41
Brundidge Fall is a great time to start shopping local!
Come browse our locally owned businesses for all your home, business and gift needs!
Jackson Hardware
111 S. Main St. Brundidge •334-735-2773
Mon - Fri: 7am-5pm
Sat: 7am - Noon
Large selection of guns and hunting supplies
Brundidge Florist, Gifts & Antiques 104 Main St. Brundidge
334-735-2009 800-558-0444 Open Mon., Tues, Wed. Fri - 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Thurs - 8 a.m. - Noon
Sat- 8 a.m. - Noon
www.brundidgealabama.com 42 SEPTEMBER 2014
www.southaec.com
Our Sources Say
What is it really about?
T
his past month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held public comment forums on its proposed Green House Gas (GHG) Emission Standards for Existing Electric Generation Plants across the country. As you might imagine, advocates for both sides were present and demonstrated that regardless of the seriousness and potential economic and environmental impact of any issue, public forums are akin to circuses. Some groups called for abolishment of the EPA and all environmental standards. Others called for immediate abandonment of coal, nuclear and natural gas usage. The former could potentially commit us to an uninhabitable environment and the other to a world of darkness and no transportation. Both are ridiculously untenable. By the EPA’s own standards, the GHG Rule, when fully implemented, will only result in an improvement in global temperatures of less than one degree. That small effect will do nothing to change the adverse reactions that so many of the anti-coal protestors were ranting about. If all this is not about a measurable change in the global climate, what is all the fuss about and why is the administration so determined to pursue it? I have included the following quotes primarily from a Minority Report of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that provide some light on the subject. “On one hand, as scientists we are ethically bound to the scientific method, on the other hand we are not just scientists, but human beings as well. And like most people, we’d like to see the world a better place, which in this context translates into our working to reduce the risk of potentially disastrous climatic change. To do that, we need to get some broad-based support, to capture the public’s imagination. That, of course, entails getting loads of media coverage. So we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements and make little mention of the doubts we might have. Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest.” – Stephen Schneider, author of “The Genesis Strategy” and lead author on parts of three sequential IPCC reports “No matter if the science of global warming is all phony…climate change provides the greatest opportunity to bring about justice and equality in the world.” – Former Canadian minister of environment in 1988 “We may get to the point where the only way of saving the world will be for industrialized civilization to collapse.” – Maurice Strong, organizer of the first U.N. Earth Science Summit in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in 1992
44 SEPTEMBER 2014
“We have got to ride the global warming issue. Even if the theory of global warming is wrong, we will be doing the right thing in terms of economic policy and environmental policy.” – Timothy Wirth, former U.S. senator from Colorado and former U.S. undersecretary of state for global issues “A global warming treaty such as the Kyoto Protocol must be implemented even if there is no scientific evidence to back the enhanced greenhouse effect.” – Richard Benedick, former deputy assistant secretary of state and head of the Policy Division of the State Department “For the first time, humanity is instituting a genuine instrument of global governance, one that should find a place within the World Environment Organization, which France and the European Union would like to see established.” – Jacques Chirac, former president of France, speaking at the 2000 U.N. Conference on Climate Change “First of all, developed countries have basically expropriated the atmosphere of the world community. But one must say clearly that we redistribute de facto the world’s wealth by climate policy. Obviously, the owners of coal and oil will not be enthusiastic about this. One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. This has almost nothing to do with environmental policy anymore…” – Ottmar Edenhofer, IPCC official So what is climate change all really about? Maybe the people at the EPA hearings are no crazier than those setting national and global policies on the issue. It should be obvious that with global temperatures not increasing over the past 15 years, this is not about the climate. It is not about the environment. It is about a new global order – all at our expense. I will close with a quote from Patrick Moore, Greenpeace cofounder and former activist for curbing anthropogenic carbon emissions, “We do not have any scientific proof that we are the cause of the global warming that has occurred in the last 200 years… The alarmism is driving us through scare tactics to adopt energy policies that are going to create a huge amount of energy poverty among the poor people. It’s not good for people and it’s not good for the environment. In a warmer world we can produce more food.” I hope you have a good month. A
Gary Smith is President and CEO of PowerSouth Energy Cooperative
www.alabamaliving.coop
Alabama Living
SEPTEMBER 2014 45
Alabama Snapshots 1
2
3
4
Submit Your Images! NOVEMBER THEME:
“I’m thankful for...”
SUBMIT PHOTOS THROUGH OUR WEBSITE: alabamaliving.coop/submit-photo/ OR SEND COLOR PHOTOS WITH A LARGE SELFADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE TO:
Photos, Alabama Living, P.O. Box 244014 Montgomery, AL, 36124
RULES: Alabama Living will pay $10 for photos that best match our theme of the month. Photos may also be published on our website at www. alabamaliving.coop. Alabama Living is not responsible for lost or damaged photos. DEADLINE FOR NOVEMBER: Sep. 30
46 SEPTEMBER 2014
My Invention 1. John Tope demonstrates his homemade snow machine SUBMITTED BY Terri Tope, Evergreen 2. Bill Hyde connected empty water bottles to run from his air conditioner to his laptop to prevent overheating while in Iraq SUBMITTED BY Vicky Hyde, New Brockton
3. Ding-No-More classic car protector used to prevent other car doors from hitting your classic car while parked in your garage. SUBMITTED BY Walter K. Johnson, Foley 4. Miller Reese Hutchison, Montrose. Among his 1,000+ inventions were the first electrical hearing aid and the Klaxon horn with the famous “Ah-oo-gah” sound. www.alabamaliving.coop
CALL FOR ENTRIES
8
Alabama Rural Electric Association’s
th
Quilt Competition Our theme is: What put us on the map? Design your quilt square around the idea of what your local co-op area is known for. We need all co-ops represented!
Mail, E-mail or Fax form below for your entry package. Deadline to submit quilt square is December 31, 2014 Name: ________________________________________________ Address: ______________________________________________ City, State Zip: __________________________________________ E-mail: ________________________________________________ Phone: ________________________________________________ Cooperative: ___________________________________________ (The electric cooperative name on front of this Alabama Living.)
Mail to: AREA 340 TechnaCenter Drive Montgomery, AL 36117 or Phone: 334-215-2732 Fax: 334-215-2733 E-mail: lpartin@areapower.com