Connected Sept-Oct 2012

Connected September/October 2012

From the darkness Near-death experience changed a Bryant man

Published for customers of

Back in the saddle Jesse Tatum turns lifelong passion into new career

Mobile Medicine Bus brings health care to residents in rural areas

General Manager Comments

DEMAND BETTER!

P

erhaps I should avoid the topic, but political decisions have a real impact on us. This column is likely to be a bit controversial, but I feel strongly about the principles upon which our country was founded and I am totally annoyed with the way our political debates unfold. The United States of America faces unparalleled challenges at home and abroad. We should be demanding firm, constructive and deliberate leadership from those we elect to lead us. Instead, much of the current debate centers on things that, frankly, are insignificant except for the fact they inflame emotions and divide Americans among ideologies.

In past issues of Connected I’ve expressed my frustration with dysfunction within our government. One agency harmfully changes rules that we relied on to build a robust broadband network, while yet another arm of government hands out grants to others elsewhere for the same exact purpose. Within 48 hours of writing this article I will be called upon to make two separate economic development presentations. Both involve the prospect of hundreds, if not thousands, of good jobs for this area. They are the type of jobs that pay off mortgages, educate children, and provide health insurance and retirement benefits. In both cases, optical-fiber-based broadband is an absolute requirement.

Without it, the jobs go elsewhere. It is my responsibility to make sure FTC can and will deliver on that need. It frustrates me when the government has no clear picture either of this reality or of the practical results of its dysfunction. Still, I quickly realize this is nothing compared to the larger issues facing our country. It is tempting to get carried away here but I will only discuss two critical points.

First, the total debt of the United States is rapidly approaching a level that cannot be sustained by our economy. Many politicians deny that it is possible for the U. S. to become insolvent and to default upon its debt. They are wrong. No nation in modern history has ever gone down the path we are on without disaster. We can argue amongst ourselves all we want over who should receive government benefits or who should pay “more” in income taxes but we 2 Connected - September/October 2012

must remember this: if the U.S. defaults on its debt, there won’t be ANY government assistance. Our way of life as we know it will be over. You will find no historical account to contradict this.

Second, we face forces around the world that are determined to seek our destruction because we are the most formidable obstacle preventing them from reaching their ideals. They are willing to sacrifice anything, themselves included, for this purpose. We can deny it all we want and try to paint a prettier picture of it. That is a mistake. It is a fact. We must resolve otherwise.

We either deal with these issues responsibly or we suffer the consequences, plain and simple. We deserve and should demand respectful, intelligent debate from all players on the political landscape. I have no use for campaigns that seek to divide us or rely upon character attacks rather than trying to rally us around a common cause. These campaigns may be successful, but they solve few problems and the lasting damage to society has severe consequences.

Ron Chernow’s exhaustive biography of Alexander Hamilton documents the fierce personal rivalry between Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Many people, including me, believe these were the two greatest minds of the American Revolution. Despite their human frailties — and trust me, they had their share — the only thing that surpassed their personal animosity was the absolute commitment of both men to the survival of the new nation. We should demand no less today. If those who win in November care more about personal power and influence, or party loyalty, than they do about the reality of preserving our Union, there will be only one reason for their victory: too many Americans failed to demand better.n

“We Keep You Connected” is a member-owned corporation dedicated to providing communications technology to the people of Northeast Alabama. The company has more than 15,000 access lines, making it the state’s largest telecommunications cooperative.

Board of Trustees Randy Wright, President Flat Rock Exchange Gary Smith, Vice President Fyffe Exchange Danny R. Richey, Secretary Geraldine Exchange Lynn Welden, Treasurer Bryant Exchange Kenneth Gilbert Pisgah Exchange Gregg Griffith Henagar Exchange Randy Tumlin Rainsville Exchange

Connected Vol. 16, No. 5

September/October 2012

is a bimonthly magazine published by Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative, © 2012. It is distributed without charge to all customers of FTC. Send address corrections to: Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative, Inc. P.O. Box 217 144 McCurdy Ave. N. Rainsville, Alabama 35986 Telephone: (256) 638-2144 www.farmerstel.com Produced for FTC by: WordSouth Public Relations, Inc. www.wordsouth.com On the Cover:

Fred Johnson

is Executive Vice President and GM of Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative, Inc.

Nickajack Cave in Marion Co., Tenn.

Twenty years ago, David Gant of Bryant found more than he bargained for when he and two friends went scuba diving for catfish inside the cave.

Read his story on Page 12.

(Photo by Andy Johns)

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Connected - September/October 2012 3

Annual Meeting Recap

FTC experiencing significa

By Kerry Scott

T

By Kerry Scott

, Tom e McClendon ss Je r) to (l ND — ry Rains.

STRING BA son and Ave p m FYFFE FFA o h T vi e L n Hicks, George, Joh

ENTERTAINMENT — The Rick Webb Family entertained crowds with gospel me lodies.

in ET — Those LIFE IS SWE e cream. homemade ic

njoyed

attendance e

4 Connected - September/October 2012

he 58th Annual Meeting of Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative took place at the Northeast Alabama AgriBusiness Center in Rainsville on Saturday, Aug. 4 and was marked by fair weather and a larger crowd than last year’s event.

Those in attendance enjoyed the gospel and patriotic music performed by The Rick Webb Family from North Carolina and the bluegrass, country and gospel music performed by the Fyffe FFA String Band.

All registered members took home an ice cream scoop compliments of FTC, and everyone enjoyed free homemade ice cream.

During the business meeting, members were given a financial update on the cooperative from Tyler Pair, FTC CFO, who announced that “FTC has given back to its members almost $16.3 million. On average, this amounts to more than $1,000 refunded to each member since the beginning of the current capital credit retirement policy.”

General Manager Fred Johnson told the crowd about the triumphs and frustrations that the cooperative had faced since the last annual meeting. “There is much about 2011 I would like to forget,” he said.

Johnson explained that last year was the most difficult year FTC has faced — both economically and with government regulations. “But through that year we learned a lot,” he says. “We learned a lot as a community about ourselves, and for that I am very grateful. And at FTC we learned a lot about ourselves also.

And we have, for the most part, recovered.”

Due to several storms, including the tornadoes of April 27, 2011, FTC’s fiber project was delayed while crews worked on repairing damage and restoring service to its members. “Despite the fact that most of our operational objectives and plans were pushed out at least six months, we are beginning to catch up,” said Johnson.

Even with 2011’s setbacks, the cooperative has experienced significant success with its fiber project. Though finishing later than they had hoped, crews are back on schedule and FTC has realized several million dollars in savings over the projected budget. “We are going to be able to take that project further than we thought we would,” said Johnson. “And we are now facing the very real possibility that by the end of the year 2013, we will have the finest technology known to man available to over 80 percent of our membership from north to south – all the way from Georgia and Tennessee down to our southern boundaries.”

Johnson also told those in attendance about another milestone in the cooperative’s history. At a time when many rural telecommunications companies are struggling or even going under, FTC has more traditional customers than they had one year ago. This comes as a result of the board’s decision to expand service into areas such as Section, Crossville, Fort Payne and Dutton.

Johnson shared other victories as well. “Probably the most significant gratification that I got this year,” he told the crowd, “is that this company made it through the entire year, despite

nt success on fiber project everything we had to do, and did not have a single employee lose time because of an accident on the job.”

He summed up the past year by saying, “We have what it takes to do what it takes.” He then introduced key employees at FTC and encouraged everyone who had a question of any kind to seek out those key employees to get answers. “Please don’t leave here today if we have not addressed a problem you’re having,” said Johnson. “That’s the kind of focus that at FTC we are trying to demonstrate.”

On a sadder note, FTC lost one of its long-lasting board members last year. Mr. Robert Burkhalter resigned in 2011 due to health problems and passed away a few months later. His widow, Patsy Burkhalter, was presented a plaque in recognition of his years of service to the cooperative by Board President Randy Wright.

At the conclusion of the business meeting, FTC awarded several door prizes. The grand prize was a 1998 Chevrolet pickup truck and other prizes included technology gadgets that winners could use with services they receive from FTC. All incumbent FTC Board of Trustees were reelected to serve another three-year term. Those reelected were Danny Richey, Lynn Weldon and Kenneth Gilbert.

August 4,

2012

ttocS yrreK yB

nology — Great tech S R E N IN W PRIZE .

TC members awarded to F

gadgets were

List of PrizeiWinners

 Edward Adams Grand Prize Winner of 1998 Chevrolet Pickup  Marty Myers One year of Advanced Services from FTC  Janice Gilbert iPad  Tenbroeck Volunteer Fire Department Samsung LCD HDTV

GRAND PRIZE — Chris Bryant, Asst. GM, delive rs the keys to Edward Ad ams.

 Five Points Baptist Church XBox 360 Bundle  Glenda George Canon Digital Camera  Sharon Byrd Kindle Fire E-reader  Billy D. Higdon iPod Touch  Charles Williams Samsung Blu-ray Player  Virginia Bailey Flower Arrangement

Weldon, ing are: Lynn itt S — S E E nding are: OF TRUST y Richey. Sta n n a D d FTC BOARD n a t, Gary Smith eth Gilbert.

Randy Wrigh lin and Kenn m u T y d n a R , Gregg Griffith

Connected - September/October 2012 5

A lesson on how to Get back on your horse

By Diana LaChance

W

hen the April 2011 tornadoes blew off a 20- by 70-foot strip of Jesse Tatum’s back barn and beat up his front barn, the destruction wasn’t just physical. It also took its toll psychologically on the Henagar resident.

“The tornado changed everything,” says Tatum, who was working for Heil Environmental in Fort Payne at the time. “After it came through, I took medical leave and then vacation. Then, I sort of lost interest in working altogether and ended up getting a volunteer layoff.”

He still had to make a living though. The question now was how. “I sort of thought I would do something with horses,” he says, fondly recalling his childhood days spent riding his cousin’s ponies. “I would always be over there after I got my chores done, and later in life my wife and kids and I would go to Pigeon Mountain and ride.”

JUST HORSIN' AROUND - Kids love the pony carousel that is part of the party package offered through Highpoint Trail Pony Parties in Henagar.

6 Connected - September/October 2012

So he started thinking about the ponies he already owned, the ponies that his kids rode. “We had a lot of people come over and want to ride them,” he says, “so I decided I’d see if these people would pay to ride.” And they did, though Tatum would be hardpressed to explain the attraction.

“I couldn’t tell you why kids love pony rides so much,” he says, “but there’s probably only 1 out of 50 who are afraid. Even then, they’ll still look – and they usually end up riding!”

Whatever the reason, the kids kept coming, and eventually those ridesfor-pay turned into a bona fide business: Highpoint Trails Pony Parties.

From there, business spread by word of mouth. “Once I did one birthday party, everyone at that party knew about us and then their kids wanted a pony party,” he says.

Before long, he was providing pony, trail, and carriage rides for Bible study groups, corporate events, and even reunions and weddings. “Nowadays, we do a lot of standing events, like the Potato Festival, the Rainsville Rodeo and the Latino Festival,” says Tatum, “and we partner with places like John Jones Elementary and Westbrook Christian Schools in Rainbow City and the Crosspoint Community Church, among others.”

He’s also expanded into making saddle frames, known as saddle trees, using the equipment at his son’s saddle store and a workshop that sits by his barn. “I didn’t know how to do it — I had to learn,” he says. “The guy that sold us the equipment came down and taught me how to saw them out.

Now I sell them to the saddle makers, and they put the leather on them and sell the saddles.”

Is it profitable? “If I didn’t have so many horses that I don’t need, it would be profitable!” says Tatum, who currently has 25 Shetland and Welsh ponies, 14 horses and one mule. Like any animal lover, he is a victim of his own huge heart. “It’s never an easy decision to get rid of one. I also take in horses I shouldn’t and ones that aren’t trainable. I keep thinking I can teach them.”

His mule, Bonnie Sue, is a perfect example. She has been ridden only a handful of times and hardly comes close to earning her keep. But while

BACK IN THE SADDLE - When he's not taking care of his ponies and doing parties and pony rides, Jesse Tatum is making saddle trees, which are the frames for saddles. "I sell them to saddle makers and they put the leather on them and sell the saddles," he says.

Tatum threatens to sell her and makes such statements as “If you got a mule, you need to be a mule person!” and “You don’t need a mule and forty horses!” it is clear his beloved Bonnie Sue isn’t going anywhere.

Tatum’s profits are further diminished by the unavoidable expenses that horse ownership conveys. “It’s not cheap. You have to have land, fences, grass, the horse, the tack, the trailer, the truck,” he says. So even if he wanted to give up the business and retire, he couldn’t. “I can’t afford to saddle up and go into the wild blue – I have to pay the light bill!” he says.

That’s why he and his grandsons do so much on their own, from feeding and training to shoeing and medical care. “Anything you don’t know, somebody else does. Just don’t be ashamed to ask,” he says. “We don’t pretend to know it all, we just know who to ask.”

And unlike Bonnie Sue, most of the horses do earn their keep, which Tatum says is “one way of having them and them not being dead weight.”

Yet despite the cost and the aggravation, Tatum says he wouldn’t change a thing — except maybe to have begun this second chapter of his life much earlier. “I wish I had left (Heil) sooner, and I kept telling myself I would,” he says. “But I’m going to do this as long as I can.”

Certainly he never takes it for granted that he is able to make a living doing what he loves, a fact of which his father would be proud. “My dad hated horses with a passion, so he never encouraged me. To him, a pony was useless,” he says. “But every time I do a birthday party, I get on one and ride, because I promised my dad that someday somebody would pay me to ride my own pony.”

That promise seemed a long way from being fulfilled in April 2011. But they say when a door closes, a window opens. For Tatum, that window opened to his life-long passion. And just as those damaged barns were patched back up in the aftermath of the tornado, so too was their owner. n Connected - September/October 2012 7

   

THE POWER OF FIBER

Mapping the fiber optic buildout

By Diana LaChance that we needed to break the fiber project into phases. By doing so, we could make each area available to customers as soon as possible and our installers could begin installations in these areas even though the overall project was not complete.”

Alan Akins, Engineering CAD Specialist at FTC, says installation crews have installed fiber optic cable to more than half of the homes in the

with an interactive Fiber Availability Map. “The idea of the Fiber Availability Map is to provide customers with Internet access an opportunity to quickly discover when our services t can be hard enough for the averwill be available in their area via fiber age person to keep up with the optics,” says Skeeter Logan, CAD rapidly changing technological Systems Administrator at FTC. “If the landscape, but imagine doing it for user inputs a valid local address, the more than 25,000 customers. That was program will immediately locate and the challenge facing FTC as telecomzoom into that location, informing the munications began an inuser about the availability of dustry-wide effort to replace fiber at that location.” The copper telephone cables with map is also color-coded to fiber optics. represent the different stages “Over the last five years, of fiber availability across the it became apparent that the service area. needs and expectations of Given all of this advance our customers were undergoplanning and the success it ing the greatest shift that the has yielded thus far, it’s no telecommunications industry wonder Trotman was awardhad ever seen,” says Shane ed the national FTTXcellence Trotman, senior operations Award last year for his part and engineering supervisor in bringing fiber optic techat FTC. “Customers today nologies to rural America. But need the ever-increasing while it’s nice to be honored, data speeds, as well as variTrotman says the real reward ous multimedia and video is secondary to the success of demands that fiber optics can When you enter your address into the Fiber Availability Map at www. the buildout. “I feel that we provide.” have struck a great balance of farmerstel.com, it lets you know if fiber is already available at your FTC’s response was a mul- location or when it is expected to be available. The color-coded map being able to offer fiber to the tistage buildout of their fiber also shows projected dates for completion. most people possible while optics network that goes above addressing quality of service and beyond that of their competitors.

FTC service area. “We feel blessed to issues in areas that may not be heav“We decided to commit to providhave reached 60 percent of the homes ily populated,” he says. “We really are ing the very best service possible to in our original area and we plan to building a fiber-optic network in rural as many customers as we could — a reach more than 80 percent by the end Northeast Alabama that is as adsingle dedicated fiber to each home,” of 2013,” he says. vanced and future-proof as anywhere says Trotman. “But to complete a projTo find out what communities are else in the world.”n ect of this scale, it became apparent next, FTC has provided customers Note: This is an ongoing series examining how world-class broadband Internet access will benefit various sectors of our community.

I

Find out if fiber is available where you are 

1

Go to FTC’s website, www.farmerstel.com

8 Connected - September/October 2012

2

Click on the link to the Fiber Availability Map, found in the lower center of the home page.

3

Type your address in the address search bar. Be sure to include the city.

4

Click the “search” button.

5

See color coded results.

No place like home “Made in DeKalb” one-day event spotlights county businesses

By Diana LaChance

W

ith more Americans placing a priority on supporting homegrown businesses, the first-ever “Made in DeKalb” event is timed perfectly. Hosted by the DeKalb County Economic Development Association (DCEDA), this day-long assembly of local industries, break-out sessions and networking opportunities will take place from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 18, at the Northeast Alabama Agri-Business Center in Rainsville.

Pam Clay, director of business retention and expansion for the DCEDA, says that a variety of sectors — manufacturing, warehousing and distribution, logistics, tourism and agribusiness — will be present, with the goal of helping area businesses get to know each other. “We want our industries to have an opportunity to build relationships with each other,” she says. “And if there’s a local company that can become a vendor or supplier for another local company, that would be great!”

The event is not just for companies, however. Local high school seniors are invited to attend the morning portion to meet with representatives from the Alabama Career Center and Northeast Alabama Community College.

For industries, six break-out sessions will be held covering topics from tax abatements to energy savings programs

to workforce development and technical careers.

Also on hand will be several robotics teams from across DeKalb, Jackson and Marshall counties, all preparing for the Oct. 27 Boosting Engineering Science and Technology Robotics Competition.

“It’s essentially a practice day where the students set up and demonstrate their robots,” says Clay. “And Made in DeKalb is a really good opportunity for them to showcase what they’ve done.”

If it sounds like a lot of planning has gone into the event, it has. In fact, Clay says the idea for the event has been a long time in the making.

Nathaniel Ledbetter, key accounts manager for Sand Mountain Electric Cooperative, approached Clay about an event. “I’d have industrial customers looking to buy a product from a different part of the country, only to find out it was being made a couple of miles down the road,” he says. “So I thought, if we could get everyone together and they could start buying from each other, it may not create a job, but it may save a job."

Clay says Ledbetter’s idea mirrored plans within the DCEDA for something they were working on — Made In DeKalb.

Not long after the two met, a steering committee was convened. Since then, says Ledbetter, “the steering committee

has done an outstanding job” – even going so far as to make a special lunch for industry leaders at the event an alllocal affair. “We’re using smokers made in DeKalb County and serving chicken, which is one of the county’s top industries,” he says. “So we’re really trying to tie everything in!”

And while the DCEDA is currently focused on this year’s meeting, there is hope it will become an annual occurrence. “We’re excited,” says Jimmy Durham, executive director of the DCEDA. “We think it will be a program we can continue that will help get our young people interested in the jobs available in our area and help people learn more about our local industries.”n

Made in DeKalb

Thursday, Oct. 18 at the Northeast Alabama Agri-Business Center 1571 McCurdy Avenue N, Rainsville

The event will be open to participating businesses from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and open to the public at no charge from 3 to 6 p.m. For more information, contact the DeKalb County Economic Development Association at 888-421-7957 or 256-845-7957.

Medicine on the Move:

Rolling out health care to rural residents

A

t 1,069 square miles, Jackson County is the third largest in the state of Alabama. Yet its population is a modest 53,000 residents. For county residents in need of medical care, that leaves a lot of distance to cover. Too much distance, says Kim Bryant, CEO of Highlands Medical Center in Scottsboro, Ala. “Jackson County has a lot of rural communities, so you’ve got pockets of people who have limited [access to] health care,” says Bryant. As a result, many end up treating Highlands as a one-stop shop, a primary care provider and hospital all rolled into one. “A lot of people who don’t have primary care come to our ER. We get patients with illnesses like congenital heart failure that come to the hospital two, three, four times a month,” he explains.

That has become an even bigger problem over the last few months given the government’s recent changes to health care. Under the new plan, says Bryant, “the government is going 10 Connected - September/October 2012

By Diana LaChance

to start reducing payments to hospitals for multiple admissions for the same illnesses.” All of which leads to some difficult questions. “How do you address the patients that have these illnesses?” he asks. “And how can we work collectively together to keep those patients well and at home?”

Bryant knew that to address these challenges he would have to get creative. This is how Medicine on the Move, a fully stocked mobile medical unit — or bus — that brings free clinical and educational services to patients, evolved. Medicine on the Move brings patient care directly to Jackson County’s underserved populations. Bryant says he purchased the “completely outfitted” bus this past September with the blessing of the Highlands Board, even driving it back from New York himself, though the concept was one he had been mulling over long before then.

“Three years ago when I came into this role, I thought of this idea to get a bus,” he says. “The dream was to

get out to those communities in our county and our adjacent counties and provide a service to the people.” But he also knew the bus would ensure that Highlands could keep up with the changing health care landscape.

“With the bus, we have the opportunity to help keep people out of the hospital,” he says. “We can identify problems early on so they can get the treatment they need before it becomes severe.”

Since its inaugural outing on March 1, the bus has gone out two to three times a week across the county, providing everything from blood sugar and cholesterol screenings to blood pressure checks. “We see you on the bus whether you are insured or not. It doesn’t matter,” says Bryant. “We also refer patients to their doctor if necessary, or if they have no doctor, we refer them to a physician accepting new patients. And we educate the community on the services they may qualify for, such as a state insurance program or Medicaid.”

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER— Highlands Medical Center Marketing Manager Jennifer McCurdy shares information about services available with Virginia Smith (left) and Argel Graham.

MOBILE MEDICINE — Dr. Maggie Belue, medical director of Medicine on the Move, believes the bus is an excellent outreach tool for rural communities.

Click



Bryant says the bus is normally staffed by one clerical person and one medical person, but as of August, oversight has been provided by Dr. Maggie Belue, medical director for Medicine on the Move and family medicine physician at Highlands Family Medicine. It’s a perfect choice, given Belue’s experience in community outreach. “During my residency at the Mayo Clinic, I was involved in a lot of community outreach and education,” she says. “So as the director here, I want to take the opportunity to go out in the community where the bus may be the only option. It’s just an excellent resource to be able to introduce health care, and to reach out to communities that are in need.”

It’s also an excellent way to educate Jackson County residents about local health care options. “Hopefully, the bus will be a resource to let Jackson County residents know about the services offered at Highlands Medical Center,” says Bryant. “We can provide many of the same services as other hospitals in surrounding counties with the convenience of being close to home.”

So far the bus has proved to be a success and the staff at Highlands keep thinking of new services to offer based on feedback from the community. Bryant says he is pleased by the community’s response to the bus. “I’m actually looking for a second bus!” he says. “I want this mobile program to grow.”

In the meantime, the bus is helping those in need, and even those who may not know they are in need. “For some of the people who visit the bus, it might not occur to them that anything is wrong,” says Bryant. “But they see the bus and think, ‘Why not check and see?’ These are people who may not even want to go to the doctor, but who are now more likely to have a checkup if the bus is right there.”

That type of preventive health care is exactly what Bryant set out to achieve three years ago when he first envisioned Medicine on the Move.

“We’re here to make a difference in the lives of people throughout the rural communities we are serving. We want you healthy and we’re pleased that our mobile medical unit is helping us achieve that goal.” n

Visit highlandsmedcenter.com/ medicine_on_the_move.php to learn more about the services offered by the bus.

 Scan

Scan this QR Code from your mobile device for more information.

Connected - September/October 2012 11

Catfish, angels & second chances A near-death experience changes a Bryant man’s outlook on life

By Andy Johns

A

fter 14 hours in a tiny air pocket clinging to a stalactite in a flooded cave, David Gant thought it was time to die.

His scuba tank was empty, his brain was foggy from a lack of oxygen and the Bryant resident thought he had just passed out briefly.

In the darkness, he cried out for God to save his soul, asked for forgiveness and prepared to die. It was at that moment, he recalls, that his life took a dramatic and unexpected turn.

Gant says he felt God’s presence like never before. He felt the sensation of a hand enter his heart and cleanse it of impurities. He then felt himself being rolled onto his back and immersed in the water that moments earlier he thought would drown him. When he came out of the water, an unbelievable feeling of purity rushed over him.

“I had no control over my body,” he remembers of what he now calls his baptism. “I’ve never felt so clean in my life before.”

Next, Gant had a vision of being 12 Connected - September/October 2012

rescued by two men and leaving the cave in a boat. In the vision, he started telling his story and sharing the gospel as soon as he hit the shore. “The best way to describe it is like a movie playing out in front of you,” he says.

For David Gant, it wasn’t time to die. It was time to change.

CHASING THE FISH

By all rights, Gant should have died.

He’d run out of air and gotten lost 1,200 feet deep into Nickajack Cave in Marion County, Tenn. He lucked into a small air pocket and clung to a stalactite for a total of 18 hours to stay above the water.

“I’ve only seen a couple of men I know get a second chance and one of those is David Gant,” says Dennis Curry, one of the rescuers. “We were fully expecting to bump into his body.”

Around 11 p.m. one night in August 1992, Gant, Scott Clarke and Alex Miles dove into the Tennessee River and swam into Nickajack

David Gant nearly lost his life while scuba diving for monster-sized catfish in forbidden Nickajack Cave twenty years ago.

Cave. The trio hoped to spear some of the 200-pound catfish rumored to roam the cave. In addition to being incredibly dangerous, the fishing trip was also illegal. Since 1980, the cave had been closed to humans because a colony of endangered bats had taken up residence there. A fence with posted warnings about dangers and $10,000 fines still blocks the entrance above water.

But despite the risks, the men swam under the fence and entered the cave.

They searched for the monster cats until their scuba tanks began running low on air. Gant signaled for Clarke and Miles to surface, declaring an end to the trip. But when they surfaced, expecting to feel fresh, cool air on their faces in the large room at the mouth, all they found was water and rock. Their hunt had taken them farther back into the cave than they’d planned.

The men dove and swam quickly toward where they thought the mouth was. But when they surfaced, they

were met by only the cave ceiling with no room for air. In their panic, the divers were making escape more difficult as their fins kicked up sediment. “As soon as you swim by, it stirs all of the silt up,” Gant says. “Visibility can get to zero.”

They split up. By pure luck, Clarke and Miles made it to the room at the entrance where they found sweet air.

Gant mistakenly swam deeper into the cave where the only air he could find was a pocket in the rock about seven inches above the waterline.

He didn’t know if his friends escaped, his air tank was empty and he had no idea how he was going to get out alive.

MIRACULOUS RESCUE

Luckily for Gant, his friends made it out and contacted emergency officials who dispatched a dive team.

While everyone was hoping to find the missing diver, who had not been seen for several hours by the time search crews were mobilized — no one at the scene expected good news.

“It was being treated as a recovery, not as a rescue,” says Mark Caldwell, who in 1992 was a state emergency services coordinator based in Chattanooga.

“The thought was that even if he had found an air pocket he would have been hypothermic and that would

have killed him.”

Eventually, officials at the scene contacted highly-respected cave rescue specialist Buddy Lane in Chattanooga.

He and Dennis Curry obtained a map from TVA and noticed that there were a few air pockets where Gant could have been holding on. “When we saw that, we actually had a little bit more hope for him,” Lane says.

By late morning, about the time Gant had his visions, Lane, Curry and Caldwell persuaded TVA to lower the level of the lake to hopefully open up more air pockets in case the diver was still alive. The decision would cost TVA tens of thousands of dollars, but soon after Caldwell placed the call, water began spilling through Nickajack Dam and the lake dropped 14 inches in one hour.

That drop was just enough to open a two-inch passage for fresh air to reach Gant, who had just passed out from the thin air in his chamber. Gant remembers the rushing air sounding like an oncoming train. Shortly thereafter he saw the light from Lane and Curry’s headlamps.

“You guys are angels right?” a bewildered Gant asked.

“Dude,” Curry responded. “We’ve been called a lot of things, but not angels.”

The two men escorted Gant to a boat

Buddy Lane, left, and Dennis Curry rescued David Gant from Nickajack Cave 20 years ago by persuading TVA to lower the level of the lake to aid in the rescue attempt.

waiting in the large room near the mouth of the cave. He left the cave in a boat with his two rescuers, exactly as it was in his vision.

DIFFERENT MAN

When Gant came out of the cave and reached the shore, he immediately began telling the amazed crowd what had happened. The experience had obviously left Gant a changed man.

“The guys at work the next day said ‘You’re different’,” says Gant, a logger and mine supervisor by trade. “They just knew instantly.”

Days later another incident drove home his new purpose in life. While driving he felt guided to pick up a hitchhiker near the I-24/I-59 split. The men struck up a conversation and eventually Gant recounted his miraculous rescue. The hitchhiker burst into tears and began talking about the challenges and uncertainty in his life.

When they reached the hitchhiker’s destination and he stepped out of the truck, he told Gant that their meeting was no accident.

“He said ‘I needed to hear that,’” Gant remembers “‘God brought you out of there to tell me that story.’”

Gant went on to speak at churches from Colorado to North Carolina. “I never turned down a church group or anybody, and I never took a penny,” Gant says. “How could I charge them for something that God didn’t charge me for? He’s the one that got me out of there. He’s the one that set all of that up.”

His story has been featured on the Discovery Channel, in Outside magazine, on the 700 Club and in the media as far away as Japan and Australia.

Twenty years later, he still gets chill bumps when he talks about the rescue.

Every time he has told the story, it’s had an impact on his audience. “I’ve seen a lot of people that got saved after that testimony,” he says.

But the life that has changed the most has been his own. While Gant always considered himself a good person, he admits turning away from God in his teens. An encounter with God in a dark, wet cave two decades ago turned him around — and he’s worked hard to be a living testimony of Christian love ever since. n Connected - September/October 2012 13

Cupcakes Anyone?

Pecan Pie Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Buttercream Frosting 1 cup chopped pecans 1 cup brown sugar, packed 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 2 eggs 2/3 cup butter or margarine, melted Preheat oven to 350º. Place paper liners in 9 muffin cups and spray with nonstick cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine pecans, sugar and flour. Make a well in the center of the mixture. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until foamy. Add the melted butter and stir to combine.

Pour egg mixture into the well in the dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened.

Spoon batter into the cups, filling each two-thirds full. Bake 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from pan immediately and cool on wire racks.

Brown Sugar Buttercream Frosting: 1 stick butter or margarine, softened 1 box confectioner’s sugar 1/4 cup brown sugar Mix well and spread on cooled cupcakes.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting 1 box white cake mix 2 eggs or 3 egg whites 1 cup water 1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 14 Connected - September/October 2012

While she has always loved helping her mother in the kitchen, 11-year-old Alexa Bailey of Fyffe has spent the last three years baking and creating her own recipes that her family and friends are more than happy to sample.

Preheat oven to 350º. Place paper liners in muffin cups and spray with nonstick cooking spray. In a large bowl, mix eggs, water, cake mix and oil until moist. Add vanilla and mix for 2 minutes. Spoon batter into cups, filling each two-thirds full. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Strawberry Buttercream Icing: 1 stick butter or margarine, softened 1 box confectioner’s sugar milk (to thin icing) 1/4 cup strawberry puree (recipe below) Cream butter, then add sugar. When thick, add milk one tablespoon at a time until you reach desired consistency. Add puree. Mix until well blended.

Strawberry Puree: 1/2 carton fresh strawberries (washed and dried) 1/2 cup of sugar Blend strawberries and sugar in food processor or blender until smooth.

Toffee Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting 1 box yellow cake mix 3 eggs 1 cup water 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil Toffee pieces Preheat oven to 350º. Place paper liners in muffin cups and spray with nonstick

cooking spray. In a large bowl, mix cake mix, eggs, water and oil until moist. Add vanilla and beat for 2 minutes. Spoon batter into the cups, filling each twothirds full. Sprinkle toffee bits over batter.

Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting: 1 stick butter or margarine, softened 1 box confectioner’s sugar milk (to thin icing) toffee pieces (for decorating) Cream butter, add sugar. Add milk one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency. Ice cupcakes and sprinkle toffee on top.

Tea Cakes 1 stick butter-flavored Crisco 2 cups sugar 3 eggs 1/4 cup milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 5 cups self-rising flour Mix all ingredients. Roll out and cut out with cookie cutters. Bake at 375º for about 12 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

Icing: 1-1/2 sticks butter or margarine, softened 1 box confectioner’s sugar 1 teaspoon almond extract Food coloring (optional) Mix together, then add food color to make desired color. Spread over cooled tea cakes.

W

hen she’s not working on back handsprings and somersaults with her competition cheer squad at Maxim Athletics, Alexa spends her free time watching Food Network and baking. “My favorite show is ‘Cupcake Wars’ and I also really like ‘Giada at Home’ with Giada De Laurentiis,” says the Fyffe School sixthgrader.

Shows like those stirred a desire to try baking on her own when she was about 9 years old. “I think if you’re really interested in something, like I was, you should try it,” says Alexa. “You never know if you will like it until you try something new.”

And that’s exactly what she did. “I thought it looked fun to measure ingredients and start mixing them together,” explains Alexa. “And I wanted to use the oven by myself.”

Her parents, Kristie and Brian Bailey, and her little sister, Ady, don’t mind at all since they get to sample everything she makes. “I also share the cupcakes and cookies I make with my friends,” she says.

Alexa says one of her favorite things is baking with her family during the holidays. “I use my tea cake recipe for all occasions by using different cookie cutters and decorating them for the season or holiday,” she says.

And all the time she has put into baking has really paid off. In September, Alexa entered her Cream Cheese Pound Cake in the DeKalb County VFW Fair and walked away with “Best in Show” in the junior baking division.

Alexa says she plans to make a career out of baking. “I want to open my own cupcake shop when I grow up,” she says. Until then, she continues to perfect her cupcakes, creating new and tasty versions for her family and friends.

Alexa Bail ey dreams of hav her own cu ing pcake shop one day.

Among the recipes Alexa has chosen to share with readers are some of her favorites for cupcakes, her award-winning pound cake and her tea cake recipe.n

Cream Cheese Pound Cake -1/2 cups butter or margarine, softened 1 8 ounces cream cheese, softened 3 cups sugar salt to taste 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon almond extract 3 cups flour 6 eggs, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 300º. Cream margarine, cream cheese and sugar in mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add salt and flavorings; mix well. Add flour, alternating with eggs and mixing well after each addition. Spoon into greased and floured tube pan. Bake for 1-1/2 hours. Cool in pan on wire rack.

Connected - September/October 2012 15

“We Keep217• You Connected” P.O. Box 144 McCurdy Ave. N. Rainsville, Alabama 35986

Be a hero,give blood!

Blood Assurance Blood Drive in honor of Bobby Rains Oct. 16 • 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Location: FTC, 144 McCurdy Ave. N., Rainsville, AL

4TH ANNUAL

Little River Canyon Fest November 3 • 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Mentone Colorfest October 20-21 • Sat. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Little River Canyon Field School and Interpretive Center invite you to come and enjoy live music, nature and arts activities, arts demonstrations and sales, great food, children’s activities and more. For more information call 256-782-5697.

Scenic Mentone has a festival each year to celebrate one of nature’s most beautiful times of year. The Fall Colorfest brings artisans and vendors together to demonstrate their crafts and show their wares in Brow Park and throughout historic Mentone.

NACC Theatre presents The Mousetrap

Nov. 9-11 & 16-18 (Fri. and Sat. at 7 p.m., Sun. matinee at 2 p.m.)

Tickets $5 each • All seats reserved • Handicap seating available For tickets or info call 256-638-4418 or visit www.nacc.edu/nacctheatre NACC is pleased to present, for the first time, Dame Agatha Christie’s classic whodunit, The Mousetrap. This play first opened in the West End of London in 1952 and holds the record as the longest initial run of any play in history with more than 25,000 performances. It is best enjoyed by audiences 10 & over.

When strangers are stranded at a bed and breakfast during a snow storm, it isn’t long before they discover one of them is a murderer. Is it the newlyweds whose rampant suspicions jeopardize their marriage? Perhaps it’s the nagging spinster with the curious background. Could it be the architect, the retired Army Major or the mysterious gentleman who claims his car overturned in a snow drift? We’re not telling.