Illinois
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French Fraker — Illinois electric co-op's elder statesman

French Fraker, (left) attorney for Eastern Illini Electric Cooperative, was honored at this year's rational Rural Electric Cooperative Association meeting in St Louis as one of the elder statesmen for the electric cooperative movement. Fraker is one of the few active electric co-op representatives who attended the fiirst national meeting in 1943.

On January 19 and 20 of 1943, some 1,000 representatives of a newly formed cooperative organization met for the first time in St Louis. It was the very first national meeting of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

At that meeting was an intelligent young attorney from Illinois who was working with the new electric cooperatives in that state. French Fraker is still a practicing attorney and the senior partner in the law firm of Dobbins, Fraker, Tennant, Joy and Perlstein. He is the attorney for Eastern Illini Electric Cooperative of Paxton and has served as counsel for Soyland Power Cooperative, Jacksonville. Fraker attended this year's meeting, once again held in St Louis.

During his 58 years of service, cooperatives have been more than a client to Fraker, they have represented an ideal, a cause. For example, during the 1990s he fought to assure rural residents access to modern telecommunications services previously unavailable in rural areas.

Changing your community for the better "Everybody likes progress. It's change they don't like," said Mark Twain. Like it or not, to survive, rural communities need to manage change. That takes leadership.

To develop your skill in facilitating change, you can attend the third annual statewide leadership conference June 19-20 in Champaign. The conference is designed for anyone interested in facilitating change, especially Chamber of Commerce members; teachers, school administrators and students; economic development directors; farm organization leaders; members of the clergy; staff members of agencies; elected officials; and directors and graduates of leadership development courses. Registration is $85 per person. Scholarships are available. For more information, contact Anne Heinze Silvis at asilvis@uiuc.edu, or call (217) 333-5126, or go to the conference web site at www.ag.uiuc.edu/~lced.

6 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING • MAY 2001

Free newsletter for grandparents raising grandchildren

The number of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren is on the rise. In Illinois, about 70,000 children are raised in homes where a grandparent is the sole caregiver.

"Grandparents who have become parents again come from all walks of life and from all cultural and economic groups," explains Molly Hofer, family life educator with University of Illinois Extension. "They often feel overwhelmed and alone when they take on the parenting role."

In an effort to address concerns that grandparents face, U of I Extension is offering the free newsletter, Parenting Again. This monthly newsletter offers practical tips on issues like finding support groups and resources, helping grandchildren succeed in school, taking care of your own health, effective discipline, and unique challenges for second-time parents. To find out more about the Parenting Again newsletter, contact your county U of I Extension office. Or request the newsletter by phoning (618) 242-9474, or e-mail, campbella@mail.aces.uiuc.edu.

Cooperative to provide two-way satellite Internet service

The National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) has announced strategic partnerships with two industry leaders, DirecPC and StarBand, to provide satellite-delivered, two-way, high-speed Internet service in the rural American communities served by NRTC's co-op members.

Satellite-delivered Internet, while offering speeds and costs comparable to digital subscriber lines (DSL) and cable modems, has the advantage of deployment without the infrastructure investment required for those technologies. The speed and ease of deployment makes satellite-delivered Internet ideal for the sparsely populated and geographically inaccessible areas that co-ops serve.

"Rural Americans were among the first to embrace satellite technology," said NRTC's President and Chief Executive Officer, Bob Phillips. "Ten years ago, when satellite TV dishes were a novelty everywhere else in the country, they were a necessity in rural America. The choice was a dish - or nothing. Today, these same consumers are demanding highspeed Internet access.

"By entering separate partnerships with DirecPC and StarBand," said Phillips, "NRTC is striving to give our members choices for meeting the highspeed Internet needs of their customers and communities."

Give yourself a gift of nature

There are several other uniquely Illinois magazines besides Illinois Country Living. If you are like most rural residents you appreciate the beauty of rural Illinois, its landscape and wildlife. For the outdoor enthusiast in your family we would recommend two magazines, The Illinois Steward and Outdoor Illinois.

Since 1992 Illinois Steward has presented breath-taking photographs of the flora and fauna of Illinois along with informative and thought provoking articles. Readers visit spots far from the beaten path. Get up close and personal with bats, birds, bugs and other critters of Illinois. Discover rock formations, swamps, prairies, farms, forests, sand dunes and wetlands.

To subscribe to this $10 per year, quarterly publication mail a check payable to the University of Illinois including your name and address or send in the subscription form available at http://ilsteward.nres.uiuc.edu to: Illinois Steward, Attn: Bianca Rios, W-503 Turner Hall, Dept. EE, 1102 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL61801.

For outdoor sports enthusiasts Outdoor Illinois magazine, published by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, can't be beat. Recent articles included: Hog Running Wild (free-roaming feral hogs in southern Illinois), Into the Abyss (exploring the bowels of Illinois caverns) and Happy Hunter Grounds (A 13-year old world goose calling champion).

Subscriptions to the monthly Outdoor Illinois are also just $10 per year. Call (800) 720-3249, or send your check made out to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, with your name and address to Illinois Department of Natural Resources, P.O. Box 19225, Dept. IL, Springfield, IL 62794-9225, or visit http://dnr.state.il.us.

8 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING • MAY 2001