Cooperative Living June 2017 - 4

Viewpoint | by Richard G. Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor
ISSN 1529-4579
RICHARD G. JOHNSTONE JR.
Executive Editor
BILL SHERROD
Editor
LAURA EMERY
Field Editor
JANET BAILEY
Production Manager
LAURIE MILLS,
Apple Eye Studio, LLC
Graphic Designer
AMANDA S. CUNNINGHAM
Advertising Sales
MARY HOWELL
Classified Ads
To contact magazine:
9 a.m.-5 p.m. M-F
Phone: (804) 346-3344
Or at any time:
Fax: (804) 346-3448
Email: bsherrod@vmdaec.com
Web: www.co-opliving.com
Published by the VA, MD & DE Association
of Electric Cooperatives
LARRY C. HOWDYSHELL
Chairman
JAMES E. HUFFMAN
Vice Chairman
HERBERT R. PATRICK
Secretary
FLETCHER B. JONES
Treasurer
RICHARD G. JOHNSTONE JR.
President & CEO
Board of Directors: R. Wayne Browning, Belvin Williamson, Jr.,
A&N; C. Michael Sandridge, Michael J. Keyser, BARC; George N.
Goin, Gary E. Wood, Central Virginia; Robert E. Arnold, Michael
I. Wheatley, Choptank; Jeannette S. Everett, Steven A. Harmon,
Community; James E. Huffman, Shawn C. Hildebrand, CraigBotetourt;
Patricia S. Dorey, J. William Andrew, Delaware;
Fletcher B. Jones, John C. Lee, Jr., Mecklenburg; Russell G.
Brown, Greg W. White, Northern Neck; J. Manley Garber, Stan C.
Feuerberg, Northern Virginia; Dale McNiel, Randell W. Meyers,
Powell Valley; Herbert R. Patrick, Micheal E. Malandro, Prince
George; Richard C. Oliver, Kent D. Farmer, Rappahannock; Larry
C. Howdyshell, Michael W. Hastings, Shenandoah Valley; Frank
W. Bacon, Jeffrey S. Edwards, Southside.
To advertise in Cooperative Living, contact:
Amanda Cunningham (804) 346-3344
National Advertising Representative: NCM,
611 South Congress Ave., Suite 504,
Austin, Texas 78704 * 800-626-1181
Member of the NCM network of
publications, reaching more than
8 million homes and businesses.
PRESSRUN . . . . . . . . . 521,229
COOPERATIVE LIVING (USPS 473-300) is
published 10 times a year, monthly except for
combined March/April and November/ December
issues, by the Va., Md. & Del. Association of Electric
Cooperatives. POSTMASTER, address changes
should be sent to: Cooperative Living, 4201
Dominion Boulevard, Suite 101, Glen Allen, VA
23060, (804) 346-3344. Periodicals Postage paid at
Glen Allen, VA, and additional mailing offices.
Subscription: $4.99 per year for members of
subscribing co-ops; $10 per year for all others.
ADVERTISING published is accepted on the
premise that the merchandise and services offered
are accurately described and willingly sold to
customers at the advertised price. Neither this
magazine nor the electric cooperatives in Virginia,
Maryland, and Delaware endorses any products or
services advertised herein. If any readers encounter
non-compliance with these standards, they are
asked to inform the Editor.
The public spaces of our age are populated with faces, angled over small
screens, interacting with a virtual world. So it's refreshing to enter the real
world of an electric cooperative annual meeting, as members gather face
to face to carry on a tradition begun three generations ago, when neighbor
joined neighbor in common cause and brought light to the countryside.
T
he desire to assemble is as old as
humankind. To celebrate. To
commiserate. To communicate.
We gather to share news and air views.
To make good times better and bad times
bearable.
The very best gatherings usually involve
food. Sharing a meal is a basic human
instinct, deeply rooted in our
DNA. It's our natural urge to
share food that sustains the
body, accompanied by
conversation that feeds
the mind, creating an
experience that soothes
the soul.
After all - above all
This old-fashioned
They share fellowship and food with
neighbors, oftentimes to the spirited sounds
of gospel, bluegrass or country music, from
lively local performers.
They listen to reports from management
about the financial and operational
condition of their utility. They elect the
board members who will
represent their interests, and
they vote on amendments
or additions to their
co-op's bylaws.
This oldfashioned
exercise
- we're social animals.
Tweets and texts may be
today's rapid-fire version
of yesterday's Western
Union telegram, but they're
no substitute for spending our
most precious resource - time -
with others: family, friends, neighbors.
Of course, for Americans, gathering together
is more than mere urge. It's a right guaranteed
by our Founding Fathers, to assemble with
others freely and peaceably. We exercise this
right every day.
Over the centuries, the melding of our natural
inclination to get together and our national right
to do so has given birth to several classic
American gatherings. The town hall meeting.
The protest march. The public square debate.
And, yes, the electric cooperative annual
meeting. Annually for 80 years now, thousands
upon thousands of rural, small-town and
suburban citizens have gathered in nearly 1,000
communities across the land, in 47 of our 50
states, to make decisions about their memberowned
utility. They gather in co-op meeting
rooms and garage bays, in school auditoriums,
at open-air pavilions and county fairgrounds and
in civic centers and community colleges.
2
exercise in democracy
is both refreshing and
resilient ...
in democracy is
both refreshing
and resilient, a
living reminder of
a time when civics
was still widely
taught in school; when
neighbors would gather
face to face to catch up on
news; and when citizens would
meet to make important decisions
about their welfare, in the shared space they
all called home.
Annual meeting season hereabouts starts
in early June, during spring's gentle warmth,
continues through summer's withering heat,
and concludes in late September, as fall's
chill begins cooling the land and painting
the leaves. During this stretch, each of
Virginia's 13 local electric cooperatives will
hold its annual members meeting.
You're invited - indeed encouraged -
to attend your cooperative's get-together,
and take part in the business of your
business.
You'll become part of a classic American
tradition, one that celebrates what's possible
when neighbors join together, in common
cause, whether to raise a barn ... hold
back a rising river ... or spread power
across the land. 
www.co-opliving.com
Face to Face
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Cooperative Living June 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cooperative Living June 2017
