Illinois
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Another survey finds members love co-ops

In a nation-wide survey, rural electric cooperatives edged investor-owned utilities on a critical measure of customer satisfaction.

The survey found that fully 50 percent of co-op members gave their co-op the highest marks, whereas only 47.1 percent of those served by a municipal system and only 39.4 percent of those served by an investor-owned utility gave the same score for their electricity providers.

"Co-ops have long enjoyed a familial relationship with their consumers," said Phil Osborne, president and CEO of the Preston Group, a public relations firm specializing in utility issues. The study was commissioned on behalf of one of its divisions, UtiliMark, a utility newsletter.

The survey also found consumers were generally more satisfied with their electric utility, regardless of its structure, than their local phone company or their cable or satellite service. That might explain another survey finding, that many electric customers (43.4 percent) support their local electric companies offering more services, including telecommunications and Internet access.
What services do you want?

What service would you most like your electric co-operative to offer? Write and tell us. If we use your remarks, we'll send you a small token of our appreciation. Send your comments to: Illinois Datebook, Illinois Country Living, P.O. Box 3787, Springfield, IL 62708 or e-mail them to aiecinfo@fgi.net. Be sure and include the name of the co-op you belong to.

Dates of Note:

The Illinois Health Care Cost Containment Council will hold a series of public hearings this month to hear testimony on the need for outpatient data collection. Although nearly 70 percent of all health-care procedures are conducted on an outpatient basis, the council says there is very little information on which to base decisions about outpatient care. Hearings will be held Oct. 1 in Springfield, Oct. 5 in Peoria, Oct. 15 in Schaumburg, and Oct. 20 in Mt. Vernon.

Oct. 1-2, Educadon Technology Conference, Crowne Plaza, Springfield. This is the sixth annual demonstration of classroom technology. Call (217) 359-2252 for details,

Oct. 28, Grant Writing workshop sponsored by Illinois State University's Applied Social Research Unit, publisher of Grant News. The workshop will be at Jumer's Hotel in Bloomington. For more information, contact the unit at ISU, Campus Box 4950, Normal, IL 61790-4950 or call (309) 438-7771 or visit www. socialresearch.ilstu.edu.

Help with water, waste water

The non-profit Illinois Rural Community Assistance Program (RCAP) has issued a reminder that staff members offer free assistance to rural communities, organizations and citizens in solving water and waste water problems.

More information is available by writing Jennifer Goodman, rural development specialist at the Illinois RCAP regional office, P.O. Box 1090, Springfield, IL 62705-1090, e-mail at jgoodman@icaanet.com, or call (217) 789-0125.

6 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING OCTOBER 1998

Getting communities online

Rural areas served by local telephone cooperatives already have quality Internet access, but most of rural Illinois is served by major investor-owned companies that find it too costly to provide those services to sparsely populated areas.

"This makes a strong case for cooperatives," says Sheldon Keyser, coordinator for Rural Development, an arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He said his office can help with financing and in teaching communities how to get an existing Internet service provider to serve an area.

Keyser said his office has helped hundreds of local groups develop community projects in Illinois. "Sometimes the technical know-how is more important than the financing we provide," he said. "If we wait for the major telephone companies to bring us the Internet, we will likely be waiting a long, long time."

For more information, contact Keyser at (618) 327-8822 or e-mail him at skeyser@rurdev.usda.gov, or visit the Rural Development web site at www.rurdev.usda.gov/il/index.html.

Tragedy sad reminder

A recent tragedy underscores the reason cooperatives worry about your safety.

A double electrocution this summer took the lives of two people on a farm southeast of Springfield served by a rural electric cooperative. The accident occurred when an auger came in contact with a 7200-volt power line.

Agriculture is one of the most dangerous professions and electrification made American farmers' job far safer as well as easier. Yet, it's still a tough job and safety is the first rule. It's easy sometimes to let down your guard and miscalculate the risk. We hope this tragic accident reminds you to never forget about safety.

Co-op members across Illinois extend their heartfelt condolences to family members who suffered the loss; your loss is our loss, too.

U.S. Census takers needed

Would you like a temporary, part-time job to bring in extra income? The U.S. Bureau of the Census needs you for the year 2000 count of the U.S. population.

To remain fully staffed for the next two years, the Census Bureau must constantly recruit people in order to fill 283,000 temporary jobs over the next two years.

According to Michael Weiler of the Census Bureau in Washington, D.C., the need for candidates is great, especially with the low unemployment rate in the United States, which makes finding people more difficult.

"We are looking for people who want to schedule census jobs around their current employment, as well as retirees, participants in government programs and people who are not currently employed. Most of these jobs are in the field, going door to door, listing addresses and interviewing residents," Weiler said. However, there are some office jobs available in the bureau's 475 offices nationwide.

There are some waivers or administrative exemptions that will help recipients of government benefits to work on Census 2000 without reducing their benefits. Weiler said the Census Bureau is not giving hiring preference to welfare recipients (only to veterans, under the U.S. law), but it does plan to hire up to 4,000 welfare recipients in 1998 and 1999, with additional hiring in 2000.

For more information on how to apply for a Census 2000 job, call toll-free, (800) 325-7733 (TDD).

OCTOBER 1998 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING