P.O. Box 390, Fredonia, KS 66736 620-378-2161 www.radiantec.coop Radiant e L e C t R i C C o o P e R at i v e HI-LITES radiant electric cooperative, Inc. Board of trustees Don Songer President Loren Dickens Vice President Larry Felts Secretary-Treasurer Tom Ayers Trustee Lee Bracken Trustee Daryl Donohue Trustee David Engelman Trustee Staff Leah M. Tindle Administrative Manager Dennis Duft Operations Manager April Engstrom Ann Fitzmorris Deborah Foster Jacob Gillum Cindy Holinsworth Ryan Huser Larry McVey Steve Odell Jeff Reed Glen Seiler Frankie Shay Benny Stephens Brian Sumner Tracy Tindle Contact us 9346 Jewell Rd, P.O. Box 390 Fredonia, KS 66736 620-378-2161 www.radiantec.coop office hours MondayвЂ“Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT Wells Wood Works Wins national award Personalized Name Puzzle Wins Fat Brain Toy Award Wells Wood Works, LLC, located in rural Fredonia has had a remarkable year. The manufacturing company owned by gReg and deBRa WeLLS is the maker of Personalized Name Puzzles. The Wells were awarded the 2012 Fat Brain Toy Award, which means that visitors to Fat Brain Toys website have chosen it as the best-of-thebest in specialty toys, games and gifts. The award-winning puzzle encourages logic abilities, motor skills, letter recognition, name spelling and early self-esteem. Their toys were even featured in Martha Stewart Living magazine. вЂњWe received a phone call from our daughter, Lisa [Huebner of emporia] that she had just received her September issue of the magazine and two of our puzzles were on the front cover,вЂќ Wells said. вЂњWe also noticed an incline in sales after the magazine came out.вЂќ вЂњWe are expecting our largest sales year ever; based on sales of 7,000 puzzles in 2011, we are anticipating sales close to 10,000,вЂќ Wells said. Wells Wood Works, LLC, is the first manufacturer to mass produce the puzzles. With the use of a CNC router, a computer controlled shaping machine, the company has been Employee Joanne Betts is laying primary colored letters into the Personalized Name Puzzles with pastel colors shown in the foreground. able to reduce waste, frequency of errors and the time the finished product takes to get to its customer. Greg Friend is the computer IT guru; he has been responsible not just for creating the programs that track inventory, but also for all the computer programming required to cut each name as well as the letters. This allows Wells to invoice automatically from the purchase orders. вЂњIf it requires a computer program, Continued on page 16-Bf DeCeMBeR 2012 KanSaS CountRy Living 16-a Continued from page 16-Af Thinking about ordering a puzzle for your little one for a Christmas gift? The last day to order is December 15. he can figure it out and has saved us countless hours and many dollars in bringing this to life,вЂќ Wells said. The CNC router is controlled by a computer which uploads coordinates into the machine controller from a separate CAD program. The puzzle board is made of Birch veneer medium density fiber (MDF). With its beveled edges, it is run through the router with the end result of a personalized name puzzle. All puzzles, boards and letters are sanded to ensure no splinters. The letters are made from Plum Creek medium density fiber board. The high quality wooden letters are available in solid primary colors or soft pastels and are sleek and smooth. The individual letters are two by threeinches, accommodating small hands. The letters are coated in water based paint, free of contaminates. No need to worry if your childвЂ™s name is available, even for uncommon name like вЂњIgna- The CNC router begins cutting the name Morgan. 16-B KanSaS CountRy Living DeCeMBeR 2012 tius,вЂќ or a differThe September 2012 issue of Martha Stewent spelling like art Living magazine featured the PersonalвЂњemilee,вЂќ delivery ized Name Puzzles on the cover. will be no problem. The letter pieces are all in capital letters and are available with up to nine letters per puzzle. The puzzles can be used as a baby gift for a babyвЂ™s room and then used as an educational toy as the child grows into toddler age and begins to learn their colors and letters. вЂњOur puzzles are made to be handled and played with by toddlers,вЂќ Wells said. Also, if the dog happens to chew on a letter or is lost, that letter can be replaced. The Personalized Name Puzzle can be bought from www.fatbraintoys.com. Look at the 2012 Fat Brain Toy Award Winners and the Personalized Name Puzzle will be listed along with other award winners. If you are in the Fredonia area, orders can be placed at вЂњHeartstrings A Flower BoutiqueвЂќ located at 412 N. 7th Street or by calling 620-3784248. Heartstrings is owned by Radiant member, Sherri Wickham. Greg and Debra Wells and their business Wells Wood Works, LLC, are members of Radiant Electric Cooperative. Permission was granted by Fat Brain Toys for information used in the article. Radiant Will award $4,000 in Scholarships in 2013 The Radiant electric Cooperative Board of Trustees has approved $4,000 for the 2013-2014 Radiant electric Cooperative, Inc., Merit Scholarship. The scholarships will be announced at the Annual Meeting of Members on Thursday, April 4, 2013. Scholarship committee members include Barbara Curtis, elk City; Sharon Frankenbery, Altoona; Marilyn Kidd, Fredonia and Randy Studebaker, Thayer. The scholarship committee will meet in January 2013 to finalize the scholarship application. Graduation seniors and college students that are dependents of Radiant electric members or a member that is planning to attend a four-year college for the 2013-2014 school years are eligible to apply. i have to Pay Because My electricity was off?! Our customer service representatives (CSR) have heard that stateRadiant will assist members as much as we can, but the responsibility for equipment ment a few times and then the member tells on the load side of the main breaker (illustrated below) belongs to the member. Any their neighbor вЂњyou damage or deterioration to the line from the meter pole to the residence/structure is better not call in, your the responsibility of the member. Service charges can apply if Radiant does any type cooperative will charge you to repair your outof maintenance on the line from the meter pole to the residence/structure. age problem.вЂќ When you call our office to report an outage, the first question Residence, the CSR will ask you is, barn or other structure вЂњHave you checked your that is NOT breakers or fuses?вЂќ the property In a number of of Radiant outages you may have Electric Cooperative. checked the breakers MemberвЂ™s Responsibility RadiantвЂ™s Responsibility in your home but may not be aware that in most rural areas there are breakers under the RadiantвЂ™s responsibility stops at the main breaker meter and many times that is the cause of the outage. The breakers under the meter are the property of digital meters, it is very easy to check. With the price of fuel, labor and the home owner and, in an overtime Look at the digital readout; in most equipment it is costly to send our callout situation, you will receive a bill situations if you can read the meter, crews on unnecessary trips, and we for the lineman to reset your breaker. the power from the transformer to continue to try and keep our cost He may not have the equipment or the meter is good so the problem is down as much as possible. material to repair your problem as an probably on your side of the meter. Take a few minutes on a nice day electrician would. If it is blank, then the power to and check out your electric service your meter is probably off and you breaker points and how the meter Radiant electric is proud of our should call in and report the outage. looks during normal operation. If you linemen; they are very caring and will have any questions, give us a call at do what they can to help you in any help us help you! 620-378-2163. situation. Your cooperative does not enjoy Radiant electric Cooperative is how do i know if it sending you a bill for resetting your here to serve you 24 hours a day, 365 is my problem? breakers or other problems that are days a year. Call us if you need us, we With the installation of the new on the member side of the meter. will be happy to respond. Where Does the CooperativeвЂ™s Responsibility Stop? Radiant Transformer Radiant Meter Pole DeCeMBeR 2012 KanSaS CountRy Living 16-C Local Event Calendar Caney December 6 вЂ“Caney Christmas Parade: At 6 p.m. in downtown Caney. Chanute December 9 вЂ“4-h annual tasting tea: Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum. December 9-13 вЂ“Christmas Lane on Main. CoffeyviLLe December 7 вЂ“Chamber Christmas Parade: Annual chamber Christmas parade and first Chamber Cash Bucks giveaway drawing. indePendenCe December 17-18 вЂ“Mercy auxiliary holiday Sale: In the Round Tower on Monday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. neodeSha December 10 вЂ“annual Christmas Parade: The parade begins at 11 a.m. Welcome New Members Tamara ScalettaвЂ“Buffalo Brandon J. WoodвЂ“Buffalo Justin M LyonsвЂ“Caney Brandy D StoutвЂ“Cherryvale Elizabeth ClarkвЂ“Coffeyville Shawna NickleвЂ“Coffeyville Stephen FunkвЂ“El Dorado David DarbyвЂ“Fredonia Kenneth RussellвЂ“Independence Samantha FrickвЂ“Neodesha Lorena MeadowsвЂ“Neodesha LaForge Construction Corp.вЂ“Parsons LR EnergyвЂ“LLCвЂ“Sycamore Destry DykeвЂ“Thayer Joe ThorntonвЂ“Thayer Trampas BensonвЂ“Stockton, MO Holiday Office Closings Radiant Electric wishes our members a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Our offices will be closed December 24-25 and January 1 in observance of these holidays. If you have an electrical outage, please call our dispatch service at 1-800-821-0956. Radiant line crews are on standby to restore your service. 16-d KanSaS CountRy Living DeCeMBeR 2012 Bright ideas for Safe Lighting this Season Sparkling lights and dazzling decorations are hallmarks of the season. Make sure your holiday decorating is done with safety in mind. Use only holiday lights that have been safety tested and have the UL label. Before decorating, check each light strand for broken sockets, frayed cords, or faulty plugs. Always be sure to unplug the lights when replacing a bulb. DonвЂ™t string together more than three standard-size sets of lights or you could risk overheating the circuit. Outdoors, use only lights, cords, animated displays and decorations rated for outdoor use. Cords should be plugged into outlets equipped with GFCIвЂ™s. Use a portable GFCI if your outdoor outlets donвЂ™t have them. Take extra care not to throw strings of lights over tree branches that are near power lines and service connections. Radiant offers these additional tips for safe holiday decorating: f Match plugs with outlets. DonвЂ™t force a three-pronged plug into a two-pronged outlet or extension cord, or remove the third prong. Keep electric cords out of high-traffic areas. Do not run them through doorways, staple, nail, or tack them to the wall, or hide them under rugs or carpets. Always unplug lights before going to bed or leaving your home. Make sure extension cords are in good condition and are UL-approved cords rated to carry the electrical load you will connect to them. f DonвЂ™t let children or pets play with light strands for electrical decorations. f If you spot an electrical danger, make sure to unplug the malfunctioning appliance immediately and get a replacement. Holiday cooking and entertaining should also be undertaken with safety in mind. More than 30 percent of home fires and injuries are caused by cooking, according to the National Fire Protection Agency. Follow these tips to avoid shocks or fires: f Inspect all small appliances and electric cords to make sure they are in good repair before using. DonвЂ™t use appliances with cracked or frayed cords. f Read the operating instructions of any appliance before use. When purchasing new kitchen appliances, look for UL-Listed appliances with automatic shut-off features. f Keep cooking areas empty and devoid of grease. Stay focused and attentive to baking, brewing, and simmering foods. f Make sure outlets near sinks are equipped with properly tested ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCIвЂ™s) to prevent shocks. Radiant electric non-discrimination Statement The Radiant Electric Cooperative, Inc., is the recipient of Federal financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individualвЂ™s income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDAвЂ™s TARGET Center at 202-720-2600 (voice TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Director of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S. W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410, or call toll free 866-632-9992 (voice) or 800-877-8339 (TDD) or 866-377-8642 (relay voice users). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.