No Title 2218
New co-op leader knows the program and the people
Health coverage for Kentucky kids
Time Capsule: Forest fire prevention conference a success
New co-op leader knows the program and the people
by Paul Wesslund
After almost 45 years working in a variety of jobs for electric co-ops, Bill Corum, the new president of the Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives, has a deep knowledge of the diverse disciplines that run the program of consumer-owned utilities. He approaches that work with a hail-fellow-well-met style that emphasizes concern and understanding for the people who do those jobs.
Corum spent most of his career at Meade County Rural Electric Co-op based in Brandenburg, starting in 1965, digging holes for light poles. Before retiring from Meade County in January of 2000, Corum worked as a power use advisor, helping co-op members with their heating, wiring, and insulation, director of member services, and head of operations and engineering.
He�s also been heavily involved in his community over the decades, from economic development groups, to 4-H, and even running for the state Senate. He lost the election, but declared in his energetic, positive way that he had no regrets because he �ran the campaign just like I intended to.�
He returned to co-ops in 2002, overseeing KAEC�s transformer manufacturing, then becoming chief operating officer.
As KAEC president, Corum heads an organization involved in representing Kentucky�s 26 electric co-ops before federal and state regulatory bodies; coordinating state safety programs; overseeing electric transformer manufacturing and electric utility materials supply marketing operations; and the publishing of Kentucky Living.
Corum lives in Brandenburg with his wife, Pamela; they have two children and three grandchildren.
Federal tax credits are available for home energy-efficiency improvements, including windows, doors, water heaters, and HVAC equipment for existing homes. For details, visit energystar.gov/taxcredits.
It was the biggest ice storm in Kentucky history.
John Gordon, head of the National Weather Service office in Louisville, on the January 26-28, 2009, ice storm, quoted in Ike and Ice: The Kentucky Public Service Commission Report on the September 2008 Wind Storm and the January 2009 Ice Storm.
A group of nature-loving horsemen has become volunteer stewards of the 5,000-acre Clay Wildlife Management Area in Nicholas County. The Clay Farm Back Country Horsemen have dedicated numerous volunteer hours clearing trails and removing litter on the land owned by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. Helping to protect land for use by future generations is a key goal of Clay Farm BCH. �We all enjoy riding at the Clay WMA and want to positively present horseback riders as a valuable resource to the operation by helping in any way we can,� says Clay Farm BCH Vice President Donna Waldrup. For more information about BCH groups in Kentucky, visit www.kybch.com.
What do Miley Cyrus, Governor Steve Beshear, and Ashley Judd have in common�besides being Kentucky natives? They contributed to Favorite Recipes of Kentucky Celebrities, compiled over the past six years by Pamela Whinnery of Paducah. The cookbook features more than 300 recipes from Kentucky artists, writers, athletes, leaders, businesses, actors, bed and breakfasts, musicians, historic sites, and restaurants. Whinnery�s goal is for the cookbook to be used as a fund-raiser for nonprofit and charitable organizations, while also publicizing Kentucky�s many tourist and historic sites. If you�re looking for an interesting Kentucky-oriented product to raise funds for your organization, contact Whinnery at whinneryw@bellsouth.net or (270) 554-5332.
Sausage Bean Chowder from Kenneth Rollins
Kenneth Rollins from Wickliffe was on the University of Kentucky�s 1948 NCAA Men�s Basketball Championship Team and won a gold medal for basketball in the 1948 Olympics. This is his favorite recipe made by his wife.
3 pounds bulk sausage
4 cans (8 oz.) beans (kidney, pinto, or navy)
4 1â„2 cups canned tomatoes
6 cups water
3 small onions, chopped
1 or 2 bay leaves
2 1â„4 teaspoons salt
3â„4 teaspoon garlic salt
3â„4 teaspoon thyme
3â„8 teaspoon pepper
1 1â„2 cups diced potatoes (4-6 potatoes)
3â„4 cup chopped green pepper
Cook sausage until brown. Drain off ingredients. Add to sausage. Simmer, covered, for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove bay leaf. Will serve 12 to 16. Freeze leftovers.
Ideas for parents
by Katie Pratt, UK Extension
University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service specialists are among contributors across the nation who have developed a free e-newsletter, Just-In-Time Parenting. �We�ve put together some wonderful resources for parents with children of all ages,� says Carole Gnatuk, child development specialist at UK. The newsletter includes information about the emotional, mental, physical, and social aspects of raising a child from prenatal to adulthood. Gnatuk and Ahlishia Shipley, a doctoral student in the UK Department of Family Studies, researched and wrote the three prenatal newsletter issues. Subscribe to the newsletter and find more parenting resources at www.extension.org/parenting.
As hybrid and electric cars proliferate, drivers are enjoying the sounds of silence as their cars glide along at low speeds�good for reducing noise pollution but bad for pedestrian safety. Lawrence Rosenblum of the University of California Riverside studied a pedestrian�s ability to hear the low-speed approach of hybrids and concluded that in some cases a pedestrian would not be able to correctly determine the hybrid�s approach until it was one second away. �Our findings could mean that there is an added danger with hybrid cars, particularly at intersections and in parking lots,� he says. Organizations like the National Federation of the Blind are concerned about this safety hazard for people with vision impairments.
Some auto companies have started to tackle this issue with technology to alert pedestrians to the vehicle�s approach, including custom sounds that emanate from speakers in the vehicle�s bumpers. Possibilities range from the sound of a racecar to a favorite musical selection�much like choosing a ringtone for your cell phone. Until then, pedestrians, cyclists, and joggers should remain alert for the quiet humming of hybrids and electric vehicles.
Health coverage for Kentucky kids
Every child should have health insurance. Unfortunately, not every child does. The Kentucky Children�s Health Insurance Program (KCHIP) is free or low-cost insurance for children under age 19 who do not have insurance and whose family income is below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. For example, a family of four can earn up to $42,400 a year. KCHIP covers wellness checks, preventive screenings, medications, and other services. To apply, download an application from www.kidshealth.ky.gov/en or visit a local Department for Community Based Services office. To learn more, call (877) KCHIP-18.
Kentucky is known for so many wonderful things�fried chicken, the Derby, bluegrass, and bourbon to name just a few. Despite these claims to fame, Kentucky still can�t shake its stereotypes. An old saying tells us the best way to dispel an assumption about someone is to walk the proverbial mile in their shoes. Perhaps Phyllis Reynolds Naylor is on the right track with her novel, Faith, Hope, and Ivy June (Delacorte Press, $16.99).
This fictional tale is set both in Lexington and in Thunder Creek, a small mountain community near Hazard. Ivy June Mosley and Catherine Combs, both middle-schoolers, have been selected to act as exchange students to each other�s schools and homes. Both girls must keep a journal to record how what they expected matches reality, with the goal being to dispel the stereotypes each girl might have assumed of the other.
Ivy June first visits Catherine at her expansive home in Lexington to join her at Buckner Academy, a posh private school for girls. Catherine and her siblings are accustomed to theater trips, gourmet dinners in upscale restaurants, having their own bedrooms and bathrooms, and having their own computers and cell phones. Ivy June feels like Miss America in these surroundings, but holds her own when confronted with mountain prejudices.
Later, Catherine will visit Ivy June at her home in the mountains where she lives with her grandparents and 100-year-old great-grandmother and attends public school. Ivy June is accustomed to washtub bathing and outdoor toilets, walking across a swinging bridge to get from the car to the house, and to wasting nothing and working for everything. Catherine is taken aback by these differences, but learns what it means to be a community when tragedy strikes.
Naylor gives insight into how stereotypes form while teaching a lesson in the error of these assumptions. Though written primarily for young adults, all ages can take away a better understanding of each girl�s environment, their likenesses and their differences, and of the benefits of each.
Penny Woods for Joseph-Beth Booksellers, PennyMouse1@yahoo.com, (800) 248-6849, www.josephbeth.com.
One of the country�s largest private dinosaur collections belongs to a father and son team from Danville�a duo with a prehistoric pastime that has resulted in a collection of 60 full dinosaur skeletons and fossils of all types. The John and Jack Hankla collection is on display Jan. 6-Feb. 25 at the Community Arts Center in Danville. John Hankla is a practicing dentist who had an early fascination with dinosaurs that his son inherited. They�ve been collecting from their Wyoming ranch and around the world for more than 20 years.
Dinosaurs: The Big Picture will feature life-sized cast dinosaur skeletons and fossil material from the Cretaceous period (145-65 million years ago), including the ever-popular and terrifying Tyrannosaurus rex. The exhibit includes many activities geared toward children, including interactive art stations, a Dino Dig to look for fossils, a fluorescent minerals exhibit, and a nighttime tour of the exhibit by flashlight. For more information, visit www.communityartscenter.net
. At the Web site, teachers can schedule class field trips and download lesson plans for grades K-5.
A new documentary about three-time world heavyweight champion and Kentucky native Muhammad Ali has just been released on DVD. Facing Ali features some of Ali�s toughest opponents, including George Foreman, Joe Frazier, and Larry Holmes, who provide a new perspective on being in the ring with the legendary boxer.
Time Capsule: Forest fire prevention conference a success
50 years ago in Kentucky Living
Some 200 persons heard Richard E. McArdle, chief of the United States Forest Service, deliver the keynote address at Kentucky�s first Forest Fire Prevention Conference in Lexington Dec. 1-2. McArdle, a former Kentuckian himself, said the job in this State is two-fold: 1) keep people from starting fires, and 2) control fires while they are small. He pointed out the fact that 93 percent of the fires in Kentucky are man-caused. Leading foresters, agriculturists, and representatives of related industries participated in the two-day meet, which, by virtue of one of its resolutions, will continue to function.
