October Red Pencil

The Red Pencil
Newsletter of Watauga County Retired School Personnel
Vol.XII, No.2 October 2009 ntn1066@hotmail.com___

October Meeting
When: Thursday, October 15, NOON, $10, check made payable to Watauga County NCRSP
Where: Deerfield Methodist Church
Why: To hear a report on current conditions for retired school personnel from Pam Deardorff, executive secretary of NCRSP and lobbyist, and her husband, Dave, who is a financial officer with the NCRSP office
With: staples and canned goods for the Hunger Coalition (powdered milk, peanut butter, soup), medicine bottles and plastic bags
all the lovely, noisy, loose change you’ve been collecting for the Scholarship Fund
a fistful of dollars to purchase tickets for a most special raffle [See below.]
If your caller has not reached you by October 11, phone Margaret Sigmon to make your reservation, 264-2036.
A Very Special Raffle
Once upon a time in the mountains, a young boy spent snow days with his grandmother, learning from her how to make fabulous apple pies from scratch. In fact, despite his successful career in education and his considerable skills as a husband, father, and craftsperson, among certain circles, this young boy has become known as the consummate pie maker. Fortunately for us, he has just joined the Watauga Unit of North Carolina Retired School Personnel, and in October, STEVE BREITENSTEIN is trading his football talents for his culinary talents and baking one of his famous apple pies just for us to raffle for the benefit of our Scholarship Fund. Tickets will be $1 each or six for $5. Be clever and save your dollars now for a chance on this rare treat.
Contributions/Suggestions/Email Edition of The Red Pencil, anyone? Change of email or snail mail address?

ntn1066@hotmail.com or snail mail to
Nanci Tolbert Nance, P.O. Box 188, Blowing Rock NC 28605

The Importance of Membership
If you have not renewed your membership in the Watauga Unit of NCRSP for this year, you will find the amount of your dues in the upper right corner of the mailing label on this newsletter. Your Horace Mann Accidental Death Insurance policy will end on October 31 if you do not renew your membership by that time.

If you are newly retired and have not joined yet, please make your decision now to join this vital organization. You need us, and we need you, too! In fact, we need every retired educator to be on our membership roster in order to strengthen our position as advocates for retaining and improving benefits for all retired school personnel in this state. Together, we have strength.

You can pay your dues at our October meeting or mail them to Dot Barker, 451 Poplar Hill Dr., Boone NC 28607. If you have questions, please call Dot at 264-3621 or Barbara and Roland Moy, 264-8811.

On the Subject of Membership: HELP!
Do you know any retired teachers in Avery County? Because their NCRSP unit has not been active for several years, we have received permission from District III to invite them to attend one of our meetings and even to join us. In this cause, your personal touch could be extremely effective. Through Phi Delta Kappa or Delta Kappa Gamma or another organization, you may know several retired educators in Avery County, and if you do, please give them a call and invite them to our October meeting to hear Pam Deardorff speak and to enjoy the fellowship of fellow educators.

Read any good labels lately?
General Mills is putting Box Top$ for Education labels (pictured above) on the bottoms of Kleenex, cereals, and all their other products and donating cash for each one you cut out to the school of your choice. So far, General Mills has donated more than $300 million dollars to classrooms across the country. At our meeting in October, La Verne will have a small plastic bag each of us for our collection and she will deliver the bags to schools. Check those General Mills products, folks!

District III Fall Convention
The District III Convention of NCRSP is in Morganton this year, at the First Baptist Church on October 16. This meeting is always interesting and informative, and the drive to Morganton on a beautiful autumn Friday should be a real treat. Cost of attending is $15. If you’re interested in being a part of this gathering, call Beth at 264-9227 after the 23rd of September but before the 26th and leave a message on her answering machine.

Our Scholarship Recipient Sends Her Thanks
It is with sincere gratitude that I thank you for your generous contribution to my continuing education at North Carolina State University. With your financial assistance I will be able to purchase my textbooks for both the fall and spring semesters. Your generosity is greatly appreciated. Thanks again.
Kathryn London
The ABC’s of the F L U
The regular flu and the H1N1, or Swine, Flu are NOT the same thing. All of us need to take the regular flu shot as soon as possible, but we retirees are not in the population most susceptible to the H1N1 flu. In fact, doctors believe that we may actually carry a kind of immunity to H1N1. At any rate, get your regular flu shot as you normally do and wait for further developments on the second shot. Experts now say that the supply of the H1N1 shots will be sufficient for our entire population.
ALSO, statistics say that 50% of people over 50 will have shingles, and we all know that’s not a happy thought. If you have not had the shingles shot, order it at Boone Drug at Deerfield, make an appointment to go the pharmacy, and BCBS should cover everything but $30. If you have any questions, check with the nurse downstairs at Deerfield.
Recording Those Volunteer Hours!
We all sound like broken records when we talk about recording our volunteer hours, but the subject is important and the process is really so simple that we must say it again. We are NOT tooting our own horns or showing off or bragging when we report the amount of time we spend in service to others. Instead, we are giving support to the assertion of the NCRSP that we continue to be a valuable resource to the quality of life in our state. Each of our volunteer hours is valued at more than $22, and the accumulated value of our service to the state is a matter for considerable personal and professional pride. Please, please, PLEASE keep up with your volunteer hours for this year.
Volunteer Hours 2009
A little email courtesy, please.
Do you love forwarding jokes and pictures of children and animals and warnings about viruses to your friends? If you do, stop it – UNLESS you remember one simple fact: every time you send an email message with all your friends’ addresses in the TO box, you’re exposing each one of them to a possible attack by computer hackers. You’ve given one person’s address to five or ten or fifty other people who may be total strangers, and that’s more than rude; it’s dangerous.
Sharing, however, is fun, and if you’re going to forward ANYTHING to a group, follow this simple procedure. Do it EVERY SINGLE TIME.

1. Create an entry in your address book for Unidentified Recipient and give it your own email address.
2. Locate the BCC box just below the TO and CC boxes at the top of a new email. If you can’t find it, ask someone to show you where it is, but do not send mass emails until you locate it.
3. Click Forward on the email you wish to share.
4. Type Unidentified Recipient in the TO box.
5. Type all your friends’ names in the BCC box. [BCC stands for Blind Carbon Copies.]
6. In the body of the message, highlight any personal information and the addresses of all previous recipients (Not everyone is as polite as you are.) and hit Delete. Now you have a clean message that contains only the material you wish to share.
7. Review quickly to see that Unidentified Recipient is in the TO box and your friends’ names/addresses are in the BCC box.
8. Hit Send.
9. Wait for your friends to thank you and to be impressed by your conscientiousness and kindness. You’re saving everyone a lot of trouble!

Green hints from SECU website:
Instead of sending old rugs, towels and blankets to the landfill, donate them to your local animal shelters.
As part of your pre-winter cleaning routine, make sure your refrigerator's condenser coils are cleaned so air can circulate freely. When dust and pet hair build up on the coils, the motor works harder and uses more electricity.
When the time comes to replace appliances and electronics, buy products that have earned the ENERGY STAR® rating. These products provide the features and performance you want while saving energy and reducing greenhouse emissions.
Ceiling fans can help keep you comfortable even in winter. Reversing the direction of the blades pushes warm air down into the room. Fans should turn counter-clockwise in the summer and clockwise in the winter.
The best way to warm up a vehicle is to drive it. No more than 30 seconds of idling on winter days is needed – anything more wastes fuel and increases emissions.
Clean warm-air registers, baseboard heaters and radiators as needed; make sure they're not blocked by furniture, carpeting or curtains.
One compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb is four times more efficient than a regular bulb, while giving off the same amount of light.
During the winter months, set your thermostat at 68 to 70°F during the day and 60 to 65°F at night.
Keep shades up in the winter and remove any obstructions to sun-facing windows to allow the heat of the sun to warm your home.

IN MEMORIAM
The members of the Watauga Unit of NCRSP sends our deepest sympathies to the family of Gaynelle Wilson, in whose memory we have added $25 to our scholarship fund.

At our August meeting:
Ben Strickland, chair of our Legislative Committee, gave us the latest information about our retirement and insurance. We are grateful for his careful attention to the details that matter so much to us!

La Verne Franklin, vice president of Watauga NCRSP, presents a handmade card to Sue Aldridge in appreciation of her years of service to this unit as our historian. Thanks to Sue, we have beautiful, organized scrapbooks filled with photographs, articles, and other memorabilia.
Please note that we will also vote to approve our operating budget at our October meeting.

image009.gif
26K View Download

August Red Pencil-- Details of our kickoff breakfast for 2009-2010 school year

The Red Pencil

Newsletter of Watauga County Retired School Personnel
Vol.XII, No.1 August 2009 ntn1066@hotmail.com

August Meeting
When: WEDNESDAY, 12 August 2009, 9AM
Registration, payment of dues to begin at 8AM

Where: Deerfield Methodist Church

How much: $10, check payable to Watauga County NCRSP
for a buffet country breakfast catered by George Wellington

What: getting together on the first day of school, welcoming new
retirees, and enjoying the pleasure of each other’s company

If your caller does not contact you, call Margaret Sigmon at 264-2036 before 8 PM on Saturday, the 8th of August or email her at margaretsigmon@bellsouth.net. NOTE NOTE NOTE that school begins on WEDNESDAY this year, NOT Thursday! Don’t forget to put your golden apple pin on your lapel, either!

By now, this information is standard, but it still matters and you can really help “the staff” to simplify this first meeting of the year by being ready when you arrive to:

1.pay your dues. You’ll find more about the amount later in this newsletter, but you know by now that your dues are noted on your mailing label on this issue of the RP. Bring a check in that amount made out to Watauga Unit, NCRSP. Remember to pay particular attention to the article about dues later in this newsletter;
2.contribute to the Scholarship Fund. The sum of $5 is a suggestion, but we’re happy to be the recipients of your generosity in any amount;
3.drop all the lovely, noisy, loose change you’ve been collecting into the little watering cans at your table;
4.keep up with your volunteer hours for Community Participation chairperson Eula Mae Fox; and
5.pile the tables just inside the door high with school supplies for distribution to the students in the Watauga County Schools. Marshall Ashcraft, who is responsible for getting our contributions into the schools, says that he probably receives more spiral notebooks than the students need but that they would really appreciate some 1 ½” 3-ring binders and backpacks. Because the backpacks usually cost between $15 and $20, perhaps you’d like to team up with another member or two and hit Wal-mart! Remember that school supplies are tax-free on the weekend before school begins.


A REALLY IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM MARGARET SIGMON

The members of Watauga County North Carolina Retired School Personnel receive a call before each of the five annual meetings reminding them of the meetings and confirming their attendance. Our volunteers make many phone calls and leave many messages on answering machines. If you find a message on your machine, returning that call is EXTREMELY important so that the callers can get their lists to Margaret Sigmon by Sunday before the meeting day. A total number must be given to George Wellington on Monday so he can do his grocery order. If you do not receive a call about the meeting, please phone Margaret Sigmon at 264-2036.

President’s Message

Greetings and a big, hearty welcome to all! How much fun it is to meet together at breakfast on the first day of school to celebrate with each other! Even more than usual, in these troubling times, we need the encouragement and friendship of our fellow educators and the support and the strength of our organization to fight for our continued health and retirement benefits. Even though most of us are no longer “on the front line,” we are concerned, dismayed, and perplexed with the proposed legislative cuts in education. Issues, for which we fought, are under attack. The teachers of our state, aided by the diligent work of our NCAE/NCRSP officers and lobbyists, have spoken again and again to preserve the gains that have been made. Each time we receive a legislative update from Ben Strickland, we ask ourselves, “Where will it end?”

The only answer to save teacher jobs and maintain class size is to increase revenue. While searching the horizon for a view of the newly-erected wind turbine from our house, my granddaughter saw it, and exclaimed, “If you look for it, you will find it!” Out of the mouth of babes comes wisdom and advice for our legislators. There are ways to save education from those disastrous cuts, and our legislators, with our prodding, must search for those solutions. If they do, they will find it!

My heart and my thoughts will be with you on the morning of August 12th, but I will be in San Francisco representing North Carolina in the National Senior Games. I will look forward to the news of the meeting and to our next gathering on October 15th.
Let the year begin!
Thank you for the honor of serving as your president
Beth Carrin


On The Green Side

Last year your harried editor promised that each newsletter would contain a hint or two for going green and preserving our planet. This year, I promise to do a better job, beginning with this message about plastic bags. Did you know that some stores actually charge you $.10 for each plastic bag they use for your purchases?

Worldwide, we use between 500 billion and one trillion plastic bags, with less than 2% of them being recycled. Millions of these bags end up in the litter stream and even account for more than 10% of the debris washed up on our coastlines, according to the Marine Debris Monitoring Program. When you are checking out and the clerk asks, “Paper or plastic?,” the correct response is, “Neither. I brought my own bag.” Almost every store sells a recyclable bag with its own logo at an extremely reasonable price (Wal-mart sells bright blue bags for $1 and you can find lightweight, sturdy bags at every grocery in town, in Target, and in dozens of other stores.), and you can do your part by taking these bags – no matter the logo – into every store. Belks? Recyclable bag. The outlets at Shoppes on the Parkway? Recyclable bag. Develop the habit of keeping bags in your car and taking them with you no matter what.

And if you shop at Lowes Grocery, did you know that you’ll get CREDIT at the cash register if you’ve brought your own bags?

THIS month, purge your cabinets of all those nasty plastic bags and bring them to our August meeting. We’ll take them to the Hunger Coalition where they will be put to use – and then, we hope, recycled.


REMEMBER THAT OUR AUGUST MEETING IS ON WEDNESDAY, NOT THURSDAY!
Contributions/Suggestions/Email Edition of The Red Pencil, anyone? Change of email or snail mail address?

ntn1066@hotmail.com or snail mail to

Nanci Tolbert Nance, P.O. Box 188, Blowing Rock NC 28605

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Fond Farewell

Ruth Lisk has moved to Texas to be closer to her son. She will continue to join our unit and be a part of our happy group. Her new address is: Ruth Lisk, La Vita Bella, 3527 Oak Dr., Dickenson, TX 77539.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We all lead busy lives and have full calendars. To help simplify your calendar for the coming school year we offer this listing of NCRSP meeting dates and ask that you write them down in your pocket calendar immediately to prevent conflicts with doctors’ appointments or dentists’ visits or other demands on your time. Take a moment now, please, to make sure that you can join us all year for our informative and interesting meetings.


For Your Calendar: The 2009-2010 Watauga Unit NCRSP Meeting Schedule:

12 August 2009 9AM

15 October 2009 noon

17 December 2009 noon

18 March 2010 noon

20 May 2010 noon


We’ve seen some of these questions before, but they’re still fun. The questions are straight, with no tricks, and so are the answers.

1. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?

2. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?

3. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters ' dw' and they are all common words. Name two of them.

4. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?

5. Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.

6. Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter 'S.'

$$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$

$$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$

MONEY MATTERS: paying dues the efficient way

As always, your dues amount is printed in the upper right corner of your mailing label this month. If you receive your newsletter by email, you may check with Dot Barker, dot24@bellsouth.net on your amount. Please bring this amount to the August meeting, with your check made payable to Watauga Unit of NCRSP. If you are unable to attend the meeting, you may mail your check to Dot Barker, Treasurer, 451 Poplar Hill Dr., Boone NC 28607. If your label has PR printed on it, you have chosen to have your dues deducted from your retirement check through the Payroll Deduction Plan. DO NOT WRITE a check for your dues if you see PR on your label. You certainly will, however, want to write a check for the Scholarship Fund. If you are not on the Payroll

Deduction Plan and will be writing a check for your dues, you may include your donation to the Scholarship Fund in your check if you wish.

If you are a new retiree or a membership prospect, you will find no dues amount on your label. If you retired after July1, 1999, your annual dues are $106. If you retired between July 1, 1985 and July 1. 1999, your annual dues are $60.

Please consider paying your dues this year through the Payroll Deduction Plan, whether you are a new retiree or a current member. With this plan your dues are deducted from your retirement check each month, so they are spread over the year rather than in one check. You have no check to write at the beginning of the year. Also, even though we all hope that we won’t have to use it, the amount of the Accidental Death and Dismemberment Policy that comes with your membership is $7,500 for those members on the Payroll Deduction Plan and only $2,500 for cash-paying members. Please note that the state will drop accidental death coverage for cash-paying members who have not paid by December 15. The forms for both types of membership will be available at our August meeting. Again, PLEASE consider paying through Payroll Deduction, for your benefit and our chapter’s.

Again, you may include a contribution to the Scholarship Fund in your dues check. If you mail your dues to the treasurer, you may include both dues and Scholarship Fund donation in the same check.

Our unit has an Associate Membership plan for noncertified personnel - assistants, secretaries, cafeteria workers, etc. The Associate Membership is $10 and is for nonvoting membership in the local unit only, which includes our newsletter, The Red Pencil. This does not include membership in the district, state, or national organization. This is available only for noncertified personnel.

If you have any questions about dues, please call Dot Barker at 264-3621 or email her at dot24@bellsouth.net.

Need a Lift?

If you or anyone you know needs transportation to one of our meetings, please call our president, Beth Carrin, at 264-9227, and she will make arrangements.


2009-2010 Officers

Watauga Unit

North Carolina Retired School Personnel

President Beth Carrin 264-9227 bethiemae@charter.net

Vice Pres/Pres Elect La Verne Franklin 964-3337 franklin160954@bellsouth.net

Sec./Treas. Dot Barker 264-3621 dot24@bellsouth.net



Parliamentarian Robert G. Shipley 297-2832

Legislative Comm. Chr. Ben Strickland 264-2320 benstrickland@bellsouth.net

Membership Comm. Chrs. Roland, Barbara Moy 264-8811 moyrf@appstate.edu

Necrology June Mann 264-8626 junemannwhs@aol.com

Community Participation Eula Mae Fox 264-3066 emfox5429@bellsouth.net

Scholarship La Verne Franklin 964-3337 franklin160954@bellsouth.net

Decorations Linda and Roger Harwood 264-3974 rlharwood@bellsouth.net

Meeting Arrangements Margaret Sigmon 264-2036 margaretsigmon@goboone.net

Remembrance Lera Randall 264-3979 lerarandall@earthlink.net

Historian Janice Burns 295-7454 burnsjn@bellsouth.net

Red Pencil Editor Nanci Tolbert Nance 963-8892 ntn@skybest.com

ntn1066@hotmail.com

Webmaster Lee Stroupe 264-1276 lstroupe@gmail.com


Community Participation chair Eula Mae Fox, unit president Beth Carrin, and unit secretary/ treasurer Dot Barker
Do you know any prospective members of our unit, new retirees who would benefit from membership and who would add energy and another perspective to our group? If so, please let them know that we need them and they need us. Remind them that membership in NCRSP includes Panorama and NCAE News Bulletin, FREE accidental death and dismemberment insurance up to $7,500, lobbyists representing retirees’ needs, free hearing screenings, member discount cards for discounts at over 150,000 locations/businesses – and all for as little as $6.75 a month on payroll deduction. Invite them to attend our meeting in August.

New retirees have received a letter from our unit. At the bottom of the letter is a coupon for breakfast at that meeting.

If people ask you exactly what we do, please tell them that in addition to meeting five times a year for fellowship and information, we also donate school supplies to Watauga County students, collect children’s books for Santa’s Toybox, collect food, medicine bottles and plastic bags for the Hunger Coalition, donate cellphones to OASIS, and provide services to our members that include Christmas stockings for our shut-ins and transportion to meetings.

Do you have musical talent? Would you be interested in performing with a chorus of our members? Please speak with La Verne Franklin at our meeting on WEDNESDAY, the 12th of August.

Don’t forget to keep up with your volunteer hours! Did you know that the state values that time at $20.25 per hour? The worth of our contributions to our community is one factor in convincing our legislators that we matter and that we should be considered when decisions are made about retirement benefits. Keep count of your hours!

Don’t forget that we have really good pens with our NCRSP motto, “The Power of One,” on sale for $2.00.

Answers To Quiz:


1. North American landmark constantly moving backward...... Niagara Falls (The rim is worn down about two and a half feet each year because of the millions of gallons of water that rush over it every minute.)

2. The fruit with its seeds on the outside .... Strawberry.

3. Three English words beginning with "dw"? Dwarf, dwell and dwindle.

4.. Fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar… Period, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation marks, brackets, parenthesis, braces, and ellipses.

5. The only vegetable or fruit never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh... Lettuce.

6. Six or more things you can wear on your feet beginning with 'S'….Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes, stockings, stilts.


The Red Pencil

Watauga County NCRSP

451 Poplar Hill Dr.

Boone NC 28607