Cooperative Living March/April 2014 - 6

MAILBAG
THANKS FOR THE LEGISLATIVE GUIDE
I really want to thank you for the service
you provide for Virginia citizens with the
publication of your Legislative Guide
(February Cooperative Living). I kept the
2013 issue until the 2014 issue arrived.
I use it to correspond with those officials
who represent me. The maps you provide
are truly eye-opening with the way gerrymandering
affects some counties. There are
counties that are divided into at least three
different districts.
Jean Durham Busboso
Locust Dale, Va.
LOVE YA, BUT DON'T SPEW SEWAGE
Love your magazine! It is so refreshing to
read about the things I hold dear about rural
living in this beautiful state of Virginia. So I
was surprised to see a MAILBAG letter titled
" Next Time, Let the Girl Drive! " (January
Cooperative Living).
I wasn't surprised that there was an
uptight feminist who can't let a cute picture
of two kids in a toy car go without making
some feminist political statement because
the sweet little girl on the cover wasn't the
one in control exercising domination over
the boy. Maybe in Rolling Stone magazine
that is the norm, but I was surprised your
editor let it be printed in a magazine that
clearly doesn't cater to that crowd.
I hear that kind of garbage
every day on television, in the
movies, in the mainstream
media, and I am tired of it. I
was hoping I could relax and
read one of my favorite
publications that doesn't
broadcast the regular
sewage spewing from
Hollywood, the liberal
media and others who attack
the conservative values of good
" country folk. " The letter just
seemed out of place in your great
magazine. I wish you
hadn't given print space to
a letter spouting off like
that. One of the reasons
many of us live in the country
is to get away from foolishness
like that.
Preston Brenchley
Spotsylvania, Va.
DIGITAL COMMUNICATION
MUCH LIKE ELECTRICITY
I read with interest Richard
Johnstone's February editorial " Of the
People ... " promoting the 25th anniversary
legislative guide for 2014. It includes a sentence
beginning, " Those with computer
connectivity will be further aided by going
online ... " , followed by a paragraph describing
the reasons electric cooperatives were
WRITE US!
NOTE
EMAIL
ADDRESS
We want to hear from you - comments, opinions, suggestions.
Your letter must be signed and legible. We reserve the
right to edit for grammar, style and length, with a 250word
maximum for acceptance. Write: MAILBAG,
P.O. Box 2340, Glen Allen, VA 23058-2340; or email
mailbag@co-opliving.com. Please include your name
and city/town of residence, with MAILBAG as the subject.
formed in the 1930s. The same
reasons apply equally in 2014
with respect to both rural celltower
coverage and high-speed
Internet connectivity.
Indeed, replacing
references in Johnstone's
column to electrification
with digital communication
rings true today: " Areas
long on land and short on
people have always posed
challenges for those who live in
WHATZIT?
Each issue, we will
pub lish a photo of a familiar
but unidentified object.
You are invited to make
your best guess and send it
in writing with your name,
address, and phone number
to WHATZIT?, c/o Cooperat -
ive Living, P.O. Box 2340,
Glen Allen, VA 230582340;
or guess online at
www.co-opliving.com
under " Contests. " Dead -
line for entries is March
20. All correct entries will
be put into a drawing and
a winner announced in
the June 2014 issue. The
winner will re ceive a
check for $25. 
4
them. A generation after residents of
American cities had [cellphone and Internet
service], nine out of 10 [rural] families [do]
not [have full coverage or reliable service].
And large [communications] companies
understandably [?] [are] not interested in
serving areas of low density and even lower,
or no, profitability. So in the 1930s and '40s,
neighbors joined together and formed cooperatively
owned utilities, to provide themselves
with electric service. "
Could the same process and structure that
built the network of rural electrification be
utilized now to provide reliable, cost-efficient
digital communications today to millions of
rural Americans? " Life on the farm, and rural
life generally, would never be the same. "
Ronald Skinner
Bumpass, Va.
KIDS' KORNER MADE A GOOD POINT
I really appreciate the January KIDS'
 DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS?
The January 2014
WHATZIT? (r) was
the treads on a car
tire. Reader Allison
Thompson (left) of
Covington was our $25 winner.
Congratu lations, Allison!
KORNER article, about protecting night skies
from light pollution. The article was very well
written, and included many good reasons to
fight light pollution. One reason not mentioned
was security. An unshielded light
throws glare, making one unable to clearly
see the area that is being lit. This can be
potentially hazardous and certainly does not
make us safer.
Some electric cooperatives, and every manufacturer
of lighting fixtures, offer lights that
are shielded. Unfortunately, if the shielded
light is not requested, the unshielded light is
Cooperative Living/March-April 2014
Cooperative
November/December 2013
living
Going
Places
For the Holidays
pg. 12
 Reader Recommended Appetizers
for the Holiday Hostess pg. 16
 Storm Doors Save Energy $$$ pg. 26
 Art & Archaeology in Alexandria's
Old Town pg. 30
For changes of address, please contact your local electric cooperative.
http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living March/April 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cooperative Living March/April 2014
