Issuu

Wiregrass

Electric Cooperative

PERFECT PARTNERS

WEC and Troy Cable partner to bring fiber

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 029920) is published monthly by the Alabama Rural Electric Association of Cooperatives. Periodicals postage paid at Montgomery, Alabama, and at additional mailing office.

VOL. 69 NO. XX  JUNE 2018

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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 Managing Editor Allison Griffin Creative Director Mark Stephenson Art Director Michael Cornelison Advertising Director Jacob Johnson Advertising Coordinator, Graphic Designer Brooke Echols Communications Coordinator Laura Stewart

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Printed in America from American materials Alabama Living

A new partnership will help the Wiregrass have fast, reliable internet access.

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FARMING THE WIREGRASS

Operation Round Up makes donation to Cottonwood FFA chapter.

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Bringing Broadband

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9 Spotlight 26 Worth the drive 29 Around Alabama 36 Gardens 40 Outdoors 41 Fish & Game Forecast 46 Cook of the month 54 Snapshots ONLINE: alabamaliving.coop ON THE COVER Senior staffs from WEC and Troy Cable signed an agreement on April 16 to help bring broadband to the Wiregrass. See story, Page 6.

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Bringing broadband: Standing in the gap for rural America Board of Trustees John Clark, Jr. District 3 President Donna Parrish District 2 Vice-President

Les Moreland, CEO Wiregrass Electric Cooperative In last month’s magazine, we announced that Wiregrass Electric Cooperative had entered into a partnership with Troy Cable to construct a fiber connection to all our substations and offices, opening the door for many of our members to have access to a broadband-fiber connection. It’s important for each of our members to know that, as with everything this cooperative does, “you are our reason!” The same goes for this project.

Why Fiber? Debra E. Baxley District 1 Secretary

Danny McNeil District 4

Tracy Reeder District 5

Kip Justice District 6

While electricity hasn’t changed over the years, electric distribution certainly has. The technology WEC uses today is leaps and bounds beyond what was available even 10 years ago. Smart meters, our InControl prepay program, text message alerts, the ability to control circuits from our offices and other wonderful tools are made possible by communication technology. New technologies on the horizon promise to be even more beneficial. As a cooperative, we have to ask ourselves a key question: How can we be ready to best serve our members in the future? One answer was to create a fiber network. By investing in this fiber backbone, we’ll not only serve our members better today, but we will also ensure we’ll be able to offer the very best services possible in the future. This alone more than justifies our investment into this technology.

Why broadband? Donald Ray Wilks District 7

Greg McCullough District 8

We know that fiber will help us best serve our members with affordable, reliable energy. But, we also have an opportunity with this partnership to improve our Wiregrass community in a significant way.

Broadband is an essential infrastructure requirement for luring new job-creating businesses and industries to this area, and for our farming/agricultural community. Schools, hospitals, doctors offices and more need a fast internet connection to do their jobs. The benefits and impact of high-speed internet are hard to overstate. However, rural America is being left behind as cities and suburbs gain access to fiber. It’s not as profitable to string fiber to a street with two or three people as it is one with 25 to 30 people. That’s why we seized this opportunity to have our partners, Troy Cable, build fiber to as many of our members as possible during their fiber buildout. That way, what’s a great project for WEC is also a great advantage for the Wiregrass. This partnership will improve the quality of life for our members and our community. We also deeply appreciate our Board of Trustees for sharing in this vision and allowing us to move forward with this project.

Internet for every member

Although our goal is to have a broadband/fiber connection to everyone in our Wiregrass Community, we know that may not be a reality for everyone, at least today. We are, however, committed to helping every WEC member have access to fast, affordable internet service. That’s why we are also working on a satellite internet solution offered directly through Wiregrass Electric Cooperative to help bridge that gap until a broadband connection arrives. We’ll have more details about that in the months to come. n

Spreading the message

WEC selected to share safety message at national meeting David Winstead District 9

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WEC was selected in April to speak at a national safety summit about its culture of safety. During the summit, WEC’s safety committee shared its image campaigns such as “You are Our Reason,” “This Is My Why” and “Always and Never.” These have been recognized repeatedly at a national level for innovation and as a model of an effective safety culture. n www.alabamaliving.coop

WEC Service Area

This June, take the time to

#thankalineman June 4 is Lineman Appreciation Day throughout the state of Alabama. This June, take a moment and tell a lineman how thankful you are for the work they do. Electricity is an essential component of our everyday living. From the time you turn on the lights in the morning to the time you turn them off before bed, you’re using electricity. We rarely think about how important electricity is to our everyday life until the power goes out. If your power does go out, Wiregrass Electric Cooperative linemen answer the call. Linemen are the first responders of the cooperative family, getting power back on and making things safe for all after storms and accidents. They even use their skills to go and assist other cooperatives who have been hit by storms. Cooperative linemen give meaning to the motto “neighbors serving neighbors.” They live and work across the Wiregrass, and when the lights go out, they respond to help their neighbors have electricity again. Line crews also do much more than repair downed power lines. They help prevent outages from ever happening by clearing the rights of way around power lines. Another way to show your appreciation for linemen is to observe the rights of way around your lines. Not only does this help improve the reliability of your electricity, but it also helps improve safety conditions for linemen.

Are you on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter? On June 4, use #thankalineman to join others in Alabama in saying thank you to cooperative linemen.

Lee recognized by board of trustees The Wiregrass Electric Cooperative board of trustees presented a resolution to Alabama State Rep. Paul Lee on April 23, recognizing him as a friend of our cooperative and for all the work he does in support of our members and rural electrification. Board members, from left, Donald Ray Wilks, Debra E. Baxley, Board President John Clark Jr., Danny McNeil, Kip Justice, David Winstead, Tracy Reeder, Donna Parrish and Greg McCullough presented the resolution to Lee. n

Contact Information Mailing address 509 N. State Hwy 167 P.O. Box 158, Hartford, AL 36344 Phone 1-800-239-4602 Toll Free Outage “Hotline” 1-888-4-MY-OUTAGE 1-888-469-6882 (24 hrs/day) Website www.wiregrass.coop Find us here:

Find Wiregrass Electric Co-op on Twitter (twitter. com/wec2), Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Payment Options BY MAIL Wiregrass Electric Cooperative, Inc. Department 1340, P.O. Box 2153 Birmingham, AL 35287-1340 WEBSITE Payments may be made 24 hrs/day by Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express and E-Check on our website at www.wiregrass.coop. PHONE PAYMENTS Payments may be made any time by dialing 1-800-239-4602. NIGHT DEPOSITORY Available at each office location. IN PERSON Mon. – Fri. 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Payment kiosks also available 24/7 in all offices. Hartford 509 N. State Hwy. 167 • Hartford, AL 36344 Samson 13148 W. State Hwy. 52 • Samson, AL 36477 Ashford 1066 Ashford Highway • Ashford, AL 36312 Dothan 6167 Fortner St. • Dothan, AL 36305 For questions regarding sanitation service, call Houston County Sanitation Department at 334-677-4781 or Dothan City Sanitation at 334-615-3820.

Alabama Living

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Partners in broadband WEC and Troy Cable partner to bring high-speed internet to the Wiregrass

Nearly 80 years ago, residents of the Wiregrass formed a cooperative to bring electricity to their homes and businesses, and it changed the area forever. Today, that same cooperative is bringing new infrastructure to the area — high-speed internet. Broadband internet will drive economic development and create new online opportunities, while improving the cooperative’s efficiency to benefit all members. A partnership between Wiregrass Electric Cooperative and Troy Cable will create a fiber optic backbone between all of WEC’s substations and offices. This network will allow WEC to improve reliability, provide better member services and save money through greater efficiencies. Also, the project will make high-speed 6 JUNE 2018

broadband connections available to thousands of people in the Wiregrass along the network’s route. Until now, most residents were limited to internet service with download speeds of 2 Mbps or less. In fact, some areas had no internet service at all. The Troy Cable partnership, when completed, will provide about 25 percent of WEC’s members access to a broadband connection. More will come later. “The cooperative’s goal is to have a broadband connection for absolutely everyone in the Wiregrass, but that may take some time,” says WEC Chief Operating Officer Brad Kimbro. “In the meantime, we are also finalizing details that will allow us to provide a high-speed internet option for those areas that will still not have broad-

band access after our substations and offices are connected.” The option for those outside of Troy Cable’s initial service area will be through a satellite partnership. “Although the satellite speeds will not be as great as Troy Cable’s broadband,” says Kimbro, “we still expect to be able to provide speed of 30 Mbps, which, in most cases, is much faster than any other option available currently.” These improvements will benefit everyone, from local students doing homework to business owners operating in the Wiregrass. The needed infrastructure will also promote economic development and help bring jobs to the area. “The rural communities of Southeast Alabama are being left behind,” says Kimwww.alabamaliving.coop

WEC CEO Les Moreland and Troy Cable General Manager and Chief Financial Officer Jake Cowen sign the partnership agreement to bring fiber internet to the Wiregrass.

Troy Cable crews have started installing fiber on WEC’s power lines.

bro. “Making high-speed internet available will help us better serve our members by providing the internet speeds they need. Our mission is to improve the quality of life for our members, whether that be through electricity, our charitable foundation or providing high-speed internet. We want to serve our members to the best of our ability.” Rather than choose the shortest route for the fiber optic network, WEC emphasized the importance of designing a system to bring this fiber buildout in proximity of as many members as possible. “We are proud to partner with Troy Cable because we know the kind of people they are,” Kimbro says. “They are a locally owned company. We know the people who work there, and we know the Alabama Living

WEC Chief Operating Officer Brad Kimbro, Vice President of Engineering for Troy Cable Chad Copeland, Troy Cable General Manager and Chief Financial Officer Jake Cowen, WEC Vice President of Engineering and Operations Jason Thrash and State Rep. Donnie Chesteen, R-Geneva, look at a map detailing the routes that will connect WEC’s 15 substations and 4 offices

kind of service they provide. Our members are going to be pleased.”

Solving a problem

Lawmakers and local leaders have emphasized the need to improve access to technology and the internet, particularly in rural areas. The partnership between WEC is one example of the projects extending from the State House to rural routes across the state. In 2014, the Alabama House of Representatives approved the Wireless Infrastructure Renovation for Education Act, better known as the WIRED Act, to bring broadband internet to all K-12 schools in Alabama and to improve students’ ability to use technology such as laptops and tablets in the classroom.

Once implementation began, bill sponsor State Rep. Donnie Chesteen, R-Geneva, visited schools to evaluate the progress. He heard the same message repeatedly: Educators loved having the technology in the classroom, but students were hindered by slow internet speeds at home. “For me, that is what started the drive behind what we can do from a state level to get broadband to rural Alabama,” Chesteen says. Meanwhile, the quarterly Grow-Dothan Geneva County meetings work continually with businesses, government entities, Dothan-area chamber executives, and citizens to build a thriving regional business network for the county and the Wiregrass community. Those meetings JUNE 2018 7

created two initiatives: construction of a new career tech center in Geneva County and an emphasis on more reliable broadband internet. Chesteen began working on both efforts. Last year, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey cut the ribbon on the new Geneva Regional Career Technical Center, known as G-Tech. More recently, Alabama lawmakers passed the Alabama Broadband Accessibility Act, which gives grant money to providers who will supply a high-speed connection to unserved areas. Chesteen, as the bill’s sponsor in the House, worked tirelessly along with its sponsor in the State Senate, Sen. Clay Scofield, R-Guntersville. The legislation will allow Troy Cable to apply for grants to further expand their fiber network in the Wiregrass. “In this day and time, internet is an essential service to homes and businesses just like electricity was in the 1930s when our cooperatives came into existence,” Chesteen says. “For me, it started with the education component, but it expanded into economic development. You can’t recruit businesses to rural Alabama if you don’t have high-speed internet. You take economic development, education and agriculture, and that’s right in the wheelhouse of the Wiregrass.”

A perfect partnership

While Chesteen was working in Montgomery on the rural broadband bill, another partnership formed. In May 2017, WEC invited Troy Cable to its home office in Hartford to begin a conversation about how to provide muchneeded, high-speed internet service to this area. “We already had a great relationship with Wiregrass Electric,” says Jake Cowen, general manager and chief financial officer for Troy Cable. “WEC CEO Les Moreland and I are both on the board of the Wiregrass Economic Development Corporation, so we were already interacting at that level, and we were just trying to figure out what we could do to help this community.” Troy Cable, locally owned in nearby Troy, offers internet, voice, video and security services in Troy, Brantley, Luverne, Elba, Brundidge, Ozark, Daleville, Dothan, Enterprise and New Brockton. Through meetings and discussions, an agreement was formed in which Troy Cable will connect WEC’s offices and substations with fiber, while making internet 8 JUNE 2018

Pictured is WEC and Troy Cable senior staff signing an agreement to help bring broadband to the Wiregrass. Front row, from left: Les Moreland, WEC Chief Executive Officer; Jake Cowen, Troy Cable General Manager and Chief Financial Officer. Back row, from left: Lisa Lenoir, WEC Chief Financial Officer; Jason Thrash, WEC VP of Engineering and Operations; Brad Kimbro, WEC Chief Operating Officer; State Rep. Donnie Chesteen, R-Geneva; Chad Copeland, Troy Cable VP of Engineering and Jimmy Copeland, Troy Cable Director of Special Projects.

service with 100 Mbps download speeds available to as many WEC members as possible. “They are going to be able to get all of their entertainment needs and more,” Cowen says. The new network will also allow G-Tech to use high-speed internet to prepare students for future careers and to improve the area’s workforce. But there is a range of additional uses. High-speed internet will improve job searches, interactions with government services, use of video applications like Skype, and home businesses. Also, farmers will be able to remotely stream live video of their farms to assess damage from storms, a system WEC will also use at its substations. The system will benefit mobile phones as well. Troy Cable connects four major cellphone providers to the internet, and those companies will be able to upgrade their services to 4G and 5G speeds. Troy Cable knew WEC was the perfect partner to help them bring services to the unserved areas of the Wiregrass. And WEC saw it as a perfect opportunity to introduce Troy Cable to the Wiregrass. “They have been in this community for so long, and they are trusted,” Cowen

says. “They bring a certain level of credibility to us because we are coming in from outside of the community. I think they will be a strong partner.”

More work to be done

Chesteen has emphasized patience during the development of the plan for the new network. He knew it would take time to get broadband to the rural area, and that still holds true. Cowen says the company hopes to complete deployment of the 50 miles of fiber by next year. “We are working with fibers that are about as small as a hair, so this is just going to take some time,” Cowen says. Visit join.troycable.net to view what services are available in your area and to let Troy Cable know if you are interested in the fiber service. “If it had not been for Wiregrass Electric’s willingness to be a partner, we would not be as far along as we are,” Chesteen says. “We are very grateful they saw the need for broadband. It’s very rewarding to see the work that has gone into this project from this group. It has been a group effort to get us to this point.” n

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WEC’s Operation Round Up Charitable Foundation made a $6,000 donation to the Cottonwood FFA chapter to help them with a special project to teach students about how to properly raise livestock.

Continuing the tradition ORU donation helps Cottonwood students learn about farming Della Johnson describes herself as a city kid. Before she took an agriscience class at Cottonwood High School, she had little knowledge about farming or how to plant a home garden. Then, Nathan Butler, an agriscience teacher and National FFA Organization advisor, took over her class. “The first year he taught the class, he had us do everything,” Johnson says. “We built birdhouses, we planted crops, and we learned how to use tools. He even gave us potatoes to plant at home. I planted them in my backyard and loved it. Everything in the class was so hands-on.” The high school now plans to grow the agriscience program with the help of Wiregrass Electric Cooperative’s Operation Round Up Charitable Foundation. Operation Round Up recently donated $6,000 to help Cottonwood create an out50 JUNE 2018

side laboratory where students will learn to care for livestock and to grow and maintain fruit orchards. “My goal is to introduce these students to farming and to teach them how to properly take care of livestock,” Butler says. “So many kids don’t get the opportunity to learn about farming, so this is a great way to teach them.” Operation Round Up is an innovative program designed to allow WEC members to help the community by rounding up their electric bills to the nearest whole dollar. The money is used to help schools, churches, and fire and police departments. The funds also provide scholarships to local high school students. The Wiregrass area has a rich farming tradition, which made helping the Cottonwood project an easy decision for members of the Operation Round Up

board. The Operation Round Up donation will go toward buying livestock equipment such as hay rings and feed and water troughs for the Cottonwood project. “Farming is the backbone of the Wiregrass, and it’s extremely important to help carry on that tradition,” says WEC Chief Operating Officer Brad Kimbro. “This project will be a great asset for the students at Cottonwood.”

Innovative concept

Butler wanted to build an area behind the school to include a large fenced-in field and a barn to house farming equipment. The idea came from Brad Willis, an agriscience teacher at Rehobeth High School, who did a similar project with row crops. Butler’s farming background consists of raising cattle, which he chose as the focus www.alabamaliving.coop

for his students. He plans to bring in cows, poultry and even sheep to help students learn everything from day-to-day care to breeding. Local veterinarians will assist. He also plans to bring in fruit orchards for the students to grow and maintain. Cottonwood already has a greenhouse where students learn about gardening. “There are a lot fewer farmers, but everyone needs food, and they need clothes,” Butler says. “Less than 2 percent of the population farms, and most kids don’t even know how to farm. I want to teach them how to raise livestock and garden efficiently. Some kids don’t want to be in the classroom; they want hands-on work, and this will give them that opportunity.” Students began working on this project last fall by putting up the fencing. The school hired workers to build the barn. Currently, Cottonwood has no livestock, but Butler has secured sponsors from local farmers who will help with the purchase of cows. Butler would love for his students to be able to take the animals to local fairs and show the livestock. “This will provide so many opportunities for our students and prepare them for life after school,” Houston County Superinten-

dent David Sewell says. “This donation from Wiregrass Electric gives us a chance to open up more opportunities for our students.” WEC board member Debra Baxley teaches English and history at Cottonwood. She says this donation was exactly what WEC envisioned for the charitable foundation three years ago. “Our foundation has done so many great things, and this is a great example of the great work this foundation is doing,” Baxley says. “FFA teaches so many life skills, and that’s what kids need.” Butler said none of this would have been possible without the help of WEC and its members. “Rickey Moore and Brad Kimbro have been so helpful with this,” Butler says. “We couldn’t do projects like this without the help of the community. It would have taken us 10 years to do this project by ourselves. I want everyone at Wiregrass Electric and their members to know what a great program Operation Round Up is. I hope they never stop that program because so many people benefit from it.” n

From left, Evan Peacock, Cottonwood FFA historian; Josh Burke, Cottonwood FFA treasurer; David Hall, Operation Round Up board president; Rickey Moore, Operation Round Up board member; Nathan Butler, Cottonwood FFA adviser; Delain Faulk, Operation Round Up board member; David Sewell, Houston County Schools superintendent; Summer Dunham, Cottonwood FFA president; and Della Johnson, Cottonwood FFA reporter.

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