The Red Pencil
Newsletter of Watauga County Retired School Personnel
Vol.XIII, No.1 August 2010 ntn1066@hotmail.com
August Meeting
When: WEDNESDAY, 11 August 2010, 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, with musical entertainment
If your caller does not contact you, call Margaret Sigmon at 264-2036 before 8 PM on Saturday, the 7th 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!
Every year we say the same thing about our first meeting, but it still matters and you can really help “the staff” by being ready when you arrive to:
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;
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;
drop all the lovely, noisy, loose change you’ve been collecting into the little watering cans at your table at the direction of our new Scholarship Committee Chair, Billy Ralph Winkler;
keep up with your volunteer hours for Community Participation chairperson Eula Mae Fox; and
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.
BIG RAFFLE COMING: At our August meeting, we will have a package of five (5) tickets to Tweetsie to raffle off. The package is worth between $130 and $150. The tickets are good for one day at Tweetsie, NOT for special occasions. If you’re expecting children, grandchildren, or houseguests, what could be better than a day at our historic attraction? Raffle tickets are $5 each or six for $25. Bring cash and buy raffle tickets for a day at Tweetsie. As always, proceeds benefit the scholarship fund.
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.
Our really important callers this year are Jackie Adams, Sue Aldridge, Wanda Bentley, Beth Carrin, Nancy Cooke, Eula Mae Fox, Joan Mackey, Mary F. Mast, Susan McKay, June Mann, Anne Millsaps, Mary Moretz, Gay Murphy, Rebecca Robinson, Joyce Sherrill, and Deane Shuford.
We thank them for taking their time to make sure we’re know about meetings and have other timely information.
Electronics = Savings Each electronic issue of The Red Pencil saves our unit roughly $5 per year on paper, ink, postage, and printing. That’s money we can use for scholarships and community projects. If you have an email address, please notify Nanci Tolbert Nance at ntn@skybest.com and begin helping our unit to help others.
President’s Message It's that time of year again when I try to control the urge to buy pencils, pens, rulers, notebooks, and anything else that looks like school supplies. I'm sure some of you have the same urge and find yourself at Wal-Mart and Staples, rummaging around to see what’s new.
You may already be hearing the chirp of crickets in the evenings and you know that autumn is closing in on us.
Looking forward to this year, the members of our organization have a lot to be proud of. We are especially good at volunteering to help others. At a district meeting recently, I listened as members of our neighboring counties told of their unit activities. When we listed those things that we had accomplished for the year, I was amazed and pleased that all our activities, with the sole exception of our meetings, are for the benefit of others. Who wouldn't want to be the president of an organization that is of so much benefit to our community? I should have an easy job!
One service we can do for ourselves and our fellow retirees is to stay abreast of what is going on in Raleigh with the legislature. Because we know that the voice of many has more clout in decision-making than the voice of a few, I hope that you will join me in encouraging others to become members of our unit. Our theme for the year is "What Have We Got To Lose?,” and we will have much more to say about that as the year progresses.
I will try to do a good job for you and I am depending on you for ideas, encouragement, and support.
Stay safe and healthy as we begin a new year’s adventure together.
Kindest regards,
La Verne Franklin
Contributions/Suggestions/Email Edition of The Red Pencil, anyone? Change of email or snail mail address?
ntn@skybest.com or snail mail to
Nanci Tolbert Nance, P.O. Box 188, Blowing Rock NC 28605
The Loves of Our Lives This year, your beleaguered editor is going to be asking various members of our unit about “love,” -- not your spouse or your children but something much simpler and less universal – perhaps your pet or your car or the first crocuses in your yard in the spring or the feel of your favorite old sweater. To kick us off, here’s mine:
The other night, I craved tomato juice, and not just a little bit of the stuff, either. I wanted a LOT of tomato juice, salted a little, sprinkled with celery seed and chilled to Emily Dickinson’s “zero at the bone.” Fortunately, I had a bottle of Hunt’s Tomato Juice in the fridge, but as I sat with my tall glass and a book at 1AM, I suddenly realized that I LOVE TOMATOES. I do. I love the acid-y smell of the plant leaves, the warm feel of a ripe tomato in my hands when I pick it off the bush, the assorted shades of red and yellow – and the new striped ones, too. Pink hybrids, black heirlooms, yellow pears, Rainbow’s End, whatever.
I love tomato sandwiches in the late summer, made with white bread and Hellman’s mayonnaise and so drippy that you have to eat them standing over the kitchen sink. I love my mother’s tomato aspic, made with celery seed and a little sugar, and I especially loved it years ago when my mother-in-law made her own tomato juice. Oh, my word. If God has that recipe and can get Anne Nance to make some tomato juice, I hope He serves it with Sunday lunch.
I love broiled tomatoes next to scrambled eggs and grilled toast in a “full English breakfast” and huge peeled tomatoes quartered, splayed on a bed of lettuce in a bowl and filled with cottage cheese. I love fried green tomatoes – and the book of the same name, too.
Go easy on the hot sauce and the booze, and I love a Bloody Mary.
I love enormous tomatoes the size of my cat’s head and little bitty cherry tomatoes. I love tommytoes and Romas and Big Boy and Better Boy and Best Boy.
Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes. And to think that Shakespeare’s audiences thought they were poisonous and bought them from vendors in the street in front of the theater to throw at the actors! Let me on that stage!
What do YOU love?
REMEMBER THAT OUR AUGUST MEETING IS ON WEDNESDAY, NOT THURSDAY! $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$
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.
In MemoriamIn this issue we note the deaths of Lovely Danner and Jane Robinson and extend our sympathies to their families. In their memory, $50 has been added to our scholarship fund.
Need a Lift?
If you or anyone you know needs transportation to one of our meetings, please call Beth Carrin at 264-9227 and she will make arrangements.
2010-2011 Officers
Watauga Unit
North Carolina Retired School Personnel
President La Verne Franklin 964-3337 franklin160954@bellsouth.net
Vice Pres/Pres Elect Billy Ralph Winkler 264-3330 winkler3@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 Billy Ralph Winkler 264-3330
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
New Watauga Unit OfficersBilly Ralph Winkler, Vice President; La Verne Franklin, President; Dot Barker, Secretary/Treasurer
NCRSP – What Have You Got to Lose?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. What do they have to lose if they don’t join? Subscriptions to 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, that’s what – and more.
New retirees have received a letter from our unit. At the bottom of the letter is a coupon for breakfast at our first meeting of the year.
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; give cell phones to OASIS and to our troops overseas; and provide services to our members that include Christmas gifts for our shut-ins and transportation to meetings.
Volunteer Hours Prove Members’ Worth to Legislators In these particularly difficult times, we need to use every bit of leverage we have to make sure that our legislators in Raleigh are aware of us and of our value to the state. With each of our volunteer hours estimated by the May issue of Panorama to be worth $20.25, Watauga Unit retirees contributed more than $191,000.00 to our community in 2009 – and that figure comes from ONLY 23 reporting members! Imagine what that number would have been if we’d ALL reported our hours!
That same May issue of Panorama announced a new program called “Gold Star Locals,” which will reward units that have outstanding Community Participation programs. The state goals relating to volunteer hours are (a) 50% member-participation in reporting volunteer hours; (b) 25% of volunteer hours in educational activities; (c) a local group project in a local school or community endeavor. We already meet goal (a), for I am sure that more than 50% of us do volunteer work. We will need to have conversation and planning to achieve (b) and (c), but both are certainly within our reach.
We have a problem with modesty. We think that reporting our volunteer hours is bragging. Believe me, it isn’t. It is, in fact, the most generous, unselfish thing you can do, because it will help to influence our legislators to act on behalf of all NC state retirees. Keep the form below in a handy spot and be ready to report HUGE numbers in December!
NCRSP Community Participation Volunteer Hours 2010Name:
Other (not familial)
Total Hours in All Categories ________
