July/August 2009 Published for the members of “We Keep You Connected” FTC Offering World-Class Service in Small-Town America Also Inside... NACC instructor has a Passion for Music Quilters recreate a Piece of History Young life marked by Courage and Faith Don't miss FTC's Annual Meeting Saturday, Aug. 1st Your FTC is commited to providing World-Class service At the 2008 Annual Meeting, I had the Perhaps one of the most significant opportunity to share with you that your accomplishments of 2008 was preparing Board of Trustees had made a $36 Mil- the way for expanding our service into is a member-owned corporation lion, three-year commitment to bring you areas outside our traditional territory. dedicated to providing communica- a World-Class Broadband Network. Our This expansion is through our subsidiary tions technology to the people of founders envisioned that the people of Farmers Telecommunications Corporation. northeast Alabama. The company Sand Mountain would not have to settle Your support of this project played a huge has over 16,000 access lines, mak- for less than the best when it came to role in helping us provide the exciting en- ing it the state’s largest telecom- reaching the world by phone. Our current hancements in your service that we’ve just munications cooperative. leadership made the same commitment to announced – unlimited calling plans and Board of Trustees you with respect to the communications the most requested feature we’ve ever had, Randy Wright, President platform of the future. local calling within the FTC network. Flat Rock Exchange On Saturday, August 1, at our 2009 An- I appreciate the leadership of our nual Meeting, you will hear me say that at Trustees and the loyalty and service of our Robert B. Burkhalter, Vice President the end of this 36-month period, approxi- employees whose commitment to hard Pisgah Exchange mately 72% of our membership will have work has helped us contain our costs. Danny R. Richey, Secretary optical fiber-based connectivity available That’s what made all of these improve- Geraldine Exchange to their home or business. This will enable ments possible. At the end of the day, it’s Lynn Welden, Treasurer us to provide you voice calling, advanced still all about you. You are both our cus- Bryant Exchange data services, access to the public Internet, tomer and our owner, and I like to think and digital television service – all of which we haven’t forgotten who we work for. Greg Griffith are absolutely World-Class and affordable. After all, it’s our job to KEEP YOU CON- Henagar Exchange We’ve had our challenges along the NECTED. Gary Smith way. Our television service was delayed Please make plans to attend the An- Fyffe Exchange almost an entire year when the national nual Meeting of your cooperative on Satur- business platform upon which it was based day, August 1. I look forward to seeing you Randy Tumlin n Rainsville Exchange collapsed. We had to rebuild it. But by there. partnering with other companies just like us we avoided losing our investment and Connected have put together a service that we believe Vol. 13, No. 4 July/August 2009 is actually better than what we started is a bimonthly magazine with. published by Farmers Telecom- munications Cooperative, © 2009. That type of challenge was typical of It is distributed without charge to 2008. We also closed the sale of certain all member/owners of the Coop- wireless assets to AT&T Mobility and were erative. Send address able to give our Farmers Wireless custom- corrections to: ers access to the world’s largest wireless Farmers Telecommunications network, AT&T Mobility. We saw the vast Cooperative, Inc. majority of our wireless customers make this change seamlessly and on very favor- P.O. Box 217 Fred Johnson 144 McCurdy Ave. N. able terms. Those customers now enjoy is General Manager Rainsville, Alabama 35986 such benefits as nationwide calling plans of Farmers Telephone: (256) 638-2144 with no roaming charges and unlimited Telecommunications www.farmerstel.com mobile-to-mobile calling within the AT&T Network. Cooperative, Inc. Produced for FTC by: WordSouth Public Relations, Inc. www.wordsouth.com It’s All Online! On the Cover: Connected magazine is available anytime, from anywhere. Search feature Make plans to attend the stories and recipes, then print or even email them to family and friends. Annual Meeting of your Farmers Login today and stay connected! Telecommunications Cooperative Visit FARMERSTEL.COM on Saturday, August 1st. and click on the Connected icon Photo by Stephen V. Smith 2 Connected - July/August 2009 NOW we're talking... UNLIMITED NATIONWIDE CALLING Now included in FTC Bundles! Telcom Enhanced Telcom Telcom 1 Max 2 Plus 3 Enhanced 4 Essential Speed: 10MB Speed: 6MB Speed: 3MB Speed: 1.5MB UNLIMITED UNLIMITED UNLIMITED UNLIMITED NATIONWIDE CALLING NATIONWIDE CALLING NATIONWIDE CALLING NATIONWIDE CALLING (Local & Long Distance) (Local & Long Distance) (Local & Long Distance) (Local & Long Distance) Voice Mail Basic, plus Voice Mail Basic, plus Voice Mail Basic, plus Voice Mail Basic, plus UNLIMITED Calling Features UNLIMITED Calling Features UNLIMITED Calling Features UNLIMITED Calling Features High-Speed High-Speed High-Speed High-Speed Broadband Internet Broadband Internet Broadband Internet Broadband Internet with speeds up to 10MB** with speeds up to 6MB** with speeds up to 3MB** with speeds up to 1.5MB** $ .95 $ .95 $ .95 $ .65 109 Per Month 99Per Month 89Per Month 74Per Month Dial 611, choose a FTC Bundle today and start talking! Restrictions on Use of FTC’s Unlimited Long Distance Service - FTC’s Unlimited Long Distance Service is available to Residential customers only and is provided subject to FTC’s Standard Terms and Conditions and FTC’s Price List (subject to any advertised discount).* These can be found at www.farmerstel.com . Unlimited Long Distance Service, whether purchased alone or as part of an FTC Bundle, is for typical domestic voice use only. It does not include 900 calls, 800 services, Calling card calls, International calls, Directory Assistance, Operator Assistance, multi-line conference calls, chat services, or data services – standard rates apply for these services. All long distance calling areas are limited to the 48 continental United States plus Alaska, Hawaii, and select U.S. Territories. Long distance is not intended for use to connect to Internet service providers, data providers, or information services. Commercial facsimile, auto-redialing, resale, telemarketing, and general business use are strictly prohibited. While FTC does not apply arbitrary limits on typical long distance usage per month, should FTC determine, in its sole discretion, that usage is not consistent with typical Residential voice usage patterns and is abusive of the Service, FTC reserves the right, after giving notice of its intent, to immediately suspend, restrict or terminate the long distance service, or to bill future excessive usage charges at the per minute rate included in the FTC Price List, without further notice. FTC reserves the right to block permanent Call Forwarding in connection with the use of Unlimited Long Distance Service. Customers must subscribe to FTC Long Distance. All rates are subject to change. FTC reserves the right to eliminate its Unlimited Long Distance Service offering or any FTC Bundle that includes Unlimited Long Distance Service at any time upon appropriate notice to all customers subscribing to the Service or Bundle, consistent with then existing Alabama law and the rules and regulations of the Alabama Public Service Commission. Additional requirements and restrictions may apply. *The rate does not include applicable taxes and fees. “We Keep You Connected” 2009 ANNUAL MEETING Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative Saturday, August 1, 2009 DeKalb County Schools Coliseum (Highway 35 East in Rainsville) “We Keep You Connected” Registration begins at 9 a.m. / Business Meeting begins at 11 a.m. Election for the Board of Trustees (Pisgah, Bryant and Geraldine Exchanges) Free FTC Tote Bag for the first 1,000 members registered! Grand Prize: Two members will receive one year of FREE advance services from FTC! Other prizes include two high-definition LCD TV's and three $500 cash prizes! 4 Connected - July/August 2009 Those attending the Annual Meeting nying some of the of Farmers Telecommunications Coop- leading pastors and erative are sure to enjoy the music and ministries of today. ministry of the Rick Webb Family. In addition to the The Webbs are celebrating their 25th itinerate ministry year of music ministry with a strong heri- of Miles and Webb, tage and wonderful memories! Rick and Phyllis Rick and Phyllis Webb began their begin singing more professional music journey in 1978 with than 100 dates each the internationally acclaimed vocal year. group ReGeneration directed by vocal The Webbs orchestrater Derric Johnson. The ten have been afforded singers traveled 100,000 miles, reaching opportunities to more than a million lives in over 500 live share the platform performances each year. Disney World with outstanding speakers and pastors In 1997 the inception of The Rick appreciated the group so much that they throughout the United States each year. Webb Trio opened a new concept of annually showcased ReGeneration. In In addition to their concert schedule Rick ministry for the Webbs. Over the past 10 1983, Derric Johnson's singers became the and Phyllis participated in the Radio years Rick and Phyllis have enjoyed and The Voices of Liberty, the host group for Bible Class sponsored TV music ministry appreciated the vocal talents of many EPCOT Center's American Pavilion. It Day of Discovery for 10 years; The Wes- wonderful singers joining them in minis- was during this time Rick and long time leyan Hour international radio ministry try. Starr Cromer, Vernon Chandler, Les- friend Kevin Miles began the male duo sponsored by the Wesleyan Church for 20 lie Hipps and Lyn Westafer have given ministry of Miles and Webb.