11 minute read
TRAVEL
KEEPING WARM
HEATING PADS, ELECTRIC BLANKETS AND SPACE HEATERS
Electric space heaters and blankets are great ways to stay toasty warm when the temperature drops. But don’t forget about safety before you plug in these chill-chasers.
During these winter months, when space heaters and electric blankets come out of hibernation, home fires increase.
“Heating equipment is the second leading cause of home fires in the United States,” said Jon Elkins, vice president of safety, training and compliance at Indiana Electric Cooperatives. “More than 65,000 home fires are attributed to heating equipment each year. These fires result in hundreds of deaths, thousands of injuries and millions in property damage.”
Remember: An electric space heater is a temporary option for supplemental heat. Many homeowners may use this option to heat specific rooms while they sleep, but this is unsafe. When you leave a room or go to sleep, it is important to turn off your electric space heater. If you’re leaving it unattended, it could overheat or fall. It is also important to always plug space heaters directly into a wall outlet — never use an extension cord, which can cause overheating. Electric blankets and heating pads are also popular during the cold months. Never fold them and avoid using them while sleeping. Inspect them for dark, charred or frayed spots, and check to see if the electric cord is cracked or frayed. Be sure to read the manufacturer’s instructions and warning labels carefully before using them in your home.
While there is no risk for carbon monoxide poisoning with an electric space heater, it holds many other safety hazards if not used properly. To be safe, install smoke alarms on every floor of your home and outside all sleeping areas. If you already have them, be sure to test them once a month.
Don’t let your guard down if you keep yourself or your home warm with an electric space heater, electric blanket or heating pad. By following these tips, you and your family have a better chance of avoiding significant fire and electric shock hazards.
• DO read the manufacturer’s instructions and warning labels carefully before using any space heater or electric blanket.
• DON’T leave a space heater or electric heating blanket unattended. Turn it off when you’re leaving a room or going to sleep. • DO inspect heaters for cracked or broken plugs or loose connections before each use.
• DON’T use the heater if plugs are frayed, worn or damaged. • DO keep heaters at least three feet away from anything that can burn, including papers, clothing and rugs. • DON’T use electric blankets while sleeping or as a mattress pad. • DO plug space heaters directly into a wall outlet. Do not use an extension cord or power strip, which could overheat and result in a fire.
• DON’T fold an electric blanket when it’s in use. Folded or tucked blankets could overheat and cause a fire.
cooperative career
Professional progression: EMBRACING CO-OP VALUES
After college, Jason Clemmons worked as a high school guidance counselor in his hometown of Rushville. He also facilitated a young mothers’ group and worked with at-risk youth through the Mayor’s Youth Council at the Boys and Girls Club. He had a full plate. These were 80-hour weeks, he said, giving him little time to spend with his wife and their young family. But it was important work – work to make the lives of others better. He was also a community volunteer for various boards and organizations. Today, Clemmons is starting his second year as the CEO of Clark County REMC in Sellersburg. While leading an electric utility may seem a long way from his passionate community roots, for Clemmons it was part of a natural progression of growth and an opportunity to further practice the electric cooperative values he embraced when he took his first cooperative job in 2004. “As I look back, each and every thing I did was not just about the job. It was about impacting people’s lives, making their life just a little bit better every day. Becoming a CEO gave me the ability to really work with the employees and work with the departments and just really try to affect their lives in any way we could.”
Clemmons’ first cooperative job was manager of member services at his local electric cooperative, RushShelby Energy in Manilla, Indiana. After seven years working for the school system, he loved what he was doing and wasn’t interested in applying. But Rushville’s then-mayor encouraged him to apply. He knew the electric cooperative was a great place to work and would provide job stability for Clemmons, who was still working year-to-year on a grant. Clemmons did apply, and he got the job. It was life altering, providing job security and more typical work hours. But, in many ways, he found that the co-op values of commitment to the community and cooperation allowed him to continue his passion for community service. At the cooperative, he continued his close ties to community organizations. He continued working with young people through the statewide electric cooperative network that included youth programs. Plus, he gained new experiences and leadership skills through educational opportunities the cooperative provided. “What kept me there was just the cooperative spirit – the cooperative way of life. That’s something I just put a huge amount of value to, and each day I try to live those values,” he said. As the years passed, Clemmons took on new responsibilities and roles. He rose to vice president of marketing/ member services in 2015. When the CEO at Clark County REMC retired at the end of 2020, Clemmons was awarded the position. “For me, the cooperative way of life is just part of everyday life,” he said. “Electric co-ops are here to make people’s lives better. We’re here to be a part of our communities and make our communities better.”
2004 Hired
Manager of Member Services RushShelby Energy
2015 Promoted
Vice President of Member Services RushShelby Energy
JASON CLEMMONS
Chief Executive Officer Clark County REMC
INTERESTED IN AN ELECTRIC CO-OP CAREER?
Visit WePowerIndiana.org to learn about available careers or tell us about yourself.
2020 PROMOTED
Chief Executive Officer Clark County REMC
ONTHE-JOB training
COOPERATIVE EMPLOYEES GRADUATE FROM SAFETY PROGRAM
The Hoosier Energy Apprenticeship, Training and Safety (HEATS) program held its first in-person graduation program since 2019 this fall at French Lick Resort. The program, which started in 1975 as a way to ensure linemen had proper jobrelated safety training, expanded over the years to include other co-op employees.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 and 2021 graduating classes never received formal recognition of their accomplishments. That made the 2022 graduation program a threeyear celebration of 103 total graduates across four training disciplines representing not only Hoosier Energy but 17 of its 18 member cooperatives.
Among those disciplines receiving apprenticeship certificates: linemen, metering technicians and substation technicians. This year’s graduation also included the first group to complete the member services representative (MSR) program, a two-and-a-halfyear course that began in 2019 and culminated in 2021.
The first metering technician class graduated in 1995 and the first substation technician class graduated in 2015. The 2020, 2021 and 2022 graduating classes now bring the total number of graduates to 781 since the HEATS program first began. The program continues to grow with no sign of slowing down.
Hoosier Energy Apprenticeship, Training and Safety graduates gathered with friends, family and instructional staff for the 2022 graduation program at French Lick Resort.
THAT’S A wrap Make it a ‘green’ season with eco-friendly gift-wrapping ideas
With a bit of creativity and preplanning, those holiday gifts you bought for everyone can be wrapped both beautifully AND in an environmentally conscious way. Here are 10 eco-friendly tips to try when it’s time to wrap things up!
1Embrace one of the “buzziest” trends in gift wrapping: furoshiki, a Japanese method that uses fabric to sustainably make any item presentworthy. Napkins, tea towels or scarves work well for wrapping smaller gifts. If you have a larger present to wrap, head to the fabric store to pick up the size of fabric needed in a holiday print. Or, you can recycle an old sheet by cutting it into appropriately sized furoshiki cloth. The cloth can be reused over and over again to wrap presents in the years to come.
2Got an old T-shirt or flannel shirt headed for the rag pile? Instead, cut the shirt into ribbon-width strips to use to tie around your package. Or, tie an old tie into a packagebow.
3Another way to decorate your package: use natural elements like evergreen or thyme sprigs, cinnamon sticks, dried flowers or dried citrus peel. Tie them on your packages with twine or recycled ribbon from last year. These decorations can be added to the compost pile after the gift is unwrapped.
4Elevate your gifts with snazzy package tie-ons like thrift shop costume jewelry, Christmas tree ornaments or jingle bells.
5Old maps, colorful pages torn from old magazines, and yesterday’s newspaper can all be used as gift wrapping. Or, use some of your kids’ artwork as gift wrap. (This is a perfect idea when wrapping gifts for the grandparents!)
6Colorful washi tape not only gives packages an artistic flair; the tape is biodegradable and thus environmentally friendly.
7Glass mason jars are a cute, trendy and recyclable container for small gifts and, of course, food items. The jars can be decorated with washi tape and the aforementioned package tie-ons.
8Turn an empty potato chip bag inside out and wipe the greasy residue clean with a towel. Voila! You now have a silver gift bag that no one would guess once held munchies.
9Turn old postcards and the fronts of old Christmas cards into gift tags. You can also cut festive shapes out of corrugated cardboard shipping boxes and use those as gift tags. Try attaching the gift tags with clothespins.
10 A pillowcase can be used as a gift bag that can actually be utilized for its original purpose once the holidays are over. Even novice sewers can make pillowcases from festive seasonal fabric in just minutes. They’d look just as good on a bed as they would stuffed with goodies under the Christmastree.
HOP ABOARD THE TINSEL
LINES Train events deliver Christmas magic
Something magical happens when trains couple with Christmas. Be it a model electric train circling the base of a Christmas tree firing up a child’s imagination or a genuine old-fashioned steam or diesel engine chugging through a winter’s night to real holiday delights, trains add to the nostalgia and memories of the holidays like no other form of mass transportation. And for the masses of Hoosiers looking for some railroad whimsy, there come opportunities both large and small.
Experience the tradition of Jingle Rails
Indianapolis THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Train Ride
French Lick
Hoosiers can travel vicariously through the West aboard Jingle Rails: The Great Western Adventure which continues its annual run through Jan. 16, 2023, at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in downtown Indianapolis.
Jingle Rails is a G-scale model train wonderland containing nine working model trains that wind through a stunning miniature landscape, creatively built out of all-natural materials and decorated with holiday lighting. The exhibit features miniature versions of local treasures of Indianapolis, including the Eiteljorg Museum, Monument Circle and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The trains then head through the national parks of the American West, passing legendary sites including grand railway lodges, Northwest Coast Native villages, and wonders both natural and human-made.
Over nearly 1,200 feet of track, the trains whistle and chug past Old Faithful geyser which actually erupts, Mount Rushmore, the Hoover Dam, and much more.
Now in its 13th year, Jingle Rails is included with regular museum admission. Members are free. Children ages 4 and under have free admission. For non-member advance sale tickets, visit Eiteljorg.org/JingleRails. THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Train Ride is a re-creation of the classic children’s story on board a real train. During the interactive 70-minute long experience, passengers are served hot chocolate and a treat by dancing chefs, enjoy a reading of the book by Chris Van Allsburg, and receive the first gift of Christmas (a silver sleigh bell) after Santa boards the train to greet families. Elves lead passengers in caroling and fun holiday activities on the return trip to French Lick.
Each coach is dressed in festive holiday décor and features color-changing lighting synched with the activities on board. Families are encouraged to wear their pajamas for the ride!
Unfortunately for this year, as every year, all tickets are sold out by December. But now is the time to be thinking of the 2023 ride. Public sale for the 2023 season will begin Jan. 10, 2023, at 9a.m. First class and dome class tickets sell out quickly. So, make plans and purchase your tickets in January. The rest of the seats generally are sold out by November when the Express starts running.
The 2023 schedule begins Nov. 3 and continues until Dec. 23. For more details and to order your 2023 advance tickets,visit FrenchLickThePolarExpressRide.com.
