Second Quarter 2003

DSL Expansion is Big News for NATCO Customers

The news just keeps getting better for Internet users in the NATCO service area. Now, DSL high-speed Internet is available in all exchanges, and at a great, low price of only $29.95 per month for residential customers. In addition, installation is free for a limited time - a $95 savings.

For all the details, call NATCO Customer Service Representatives at 1- 800-775-6682.

Highlights of DSL Savings Program (Coupon worth over $100)

• Save more than $100 now when you order DSL. NATCO waives installation fee ($95) and reduces the modem cost by $69.
• How much you save depends on what payment plan you choose (1 payment of $126; 6 payments of $21; 18 payments of $10).

About DSL

• DSL is high-speed Internet service.
• DSL downloads large files - graphics, music, financial, software - in a flash!
• DSL is an "always on" service. No waiting on dial-up connection.
• Use the Internet at the same time you use the phone or fax.
• See the coupon offer in this newsletter or billing statement to save more than $100.
• DSL Internet has a private dedicated line, not a shared line, like cable providers.

DSL Internet for customers - except those in extremely remote areas - is a service we are proud to offer. Available because NATCO continually researches new technology and implements that technology where possible to provide our customers with better telecommunication services.

As a NATCO customer, you can have the best broadband service available for the Internet at a low monthly rate and no installation fee. Now is the time to try DSL for its speed, convenience, and reliability. Call 1-800-775-6682.

Marion County Youth Leadership Team at NATCO for Technology Session

Members of the South Shore-Marion County Youth Leadership Team who attended their March session about technology are: Front row from left: Abby, Ashleigh, Danielle, Danielle, Melissa; Second row from left: Holly, Carole, Christine,Westley, Michael. Back group from left: Sean, Stephen,Troy, Courtney.

March 18, 2003, was Technology Day for the South Shore-Marion County Youth Leadership Team. NATCO annually hosts one of the nine monthly sessions for ninth grade students whose schools have chosen them to be on the youth leadership team.

As they close the year's activities, they are learning about businesses in the community, jobs and skills needed for jobs of the future. Previous monthly sessions dealt with self-knowledge, teamwork, meeting leaders of area communities and the state. South Shore Foundation is glad to be a primary sponsor of the South Shore-Marion County Youth Leadership Team and to work with Entergy, the Marion County Extension Service, and all the adult advisors.

To All South Shore Area Fire Departments:

For your planning, please be informed that the South Shore Foundation does not foresee making additional grants for communications equipment and AED's (automatic external defibrillators) to area fire departments.

We are glad to have been able to approve grants of approximately $63,000 to equip area emergency volunteers when they requested funding over the last four years.

South Shore Foundation salutes all the volunteers who respond to fires, health problems, and other emergencies in our South Shore communities. You perform great public service!

During the remainder of 2003 and for the near future, South Shore Foundation trustees will emphasize funding of grant applications which further the educational and environmental portions of the foundation's mission statement.

Lead Hill Expansion Prepares NATCO to Meet Future Needs

NATCO has completed an expansion of the Lead Hill central office and is now more thoroughly prepared to provide customers the digital services they will need in the future. A construction project designed by architect Jeff Laur and built by HDI of Harrison doubled the size of the Lead Hill building. “We are real pleased with the building,” said Network Services Supervisor Travis Sullivan. It was only about two weeks behind schedule due to weather.

The building houses switching, transmission and ADSL equipment. "We had been running out of space in the building. Because of all the changes in technology, this expansion helps position us so that we can add new digital services that customers might want," Sullivan said.

The high-speed Internet service known as DSL is now able to be provided to all NATCO exchanges. NATCO customers who wish to upgrade to DSL Internet service would find now is a good time to so do, while installation fees are waived and the price of the DSL modem is reduced.

Because DSL users must be within a certain radius of the telephone switch, customers must call NATCO to check their location. Sullivan said loop limits do limit DSL accessibility in a few places in the exchange. In those places, the highspeed service ISDN can serve customers.

This is the first expansion of the Lead Hill host central office since its dedication 10 years ago. It is the host central office because it is centrally located in relation to all the exchanges.

Electronic Postcards – Fun, Friendly, Free

    

If you have Internet service - you can now send someone an e-postcard from the NATCO Web site at www.natconet.com/ecards.
 
It’s fun, friendly, and free.

Just click on the blue and yellow card button which is prominently displayed on the home pages of our Web sites. Besides the NATCO site, choose the big e-card button on the South Shore Web site at www.southshore.com or the NATCO Technologies home page at www.natcotech.com.

You can pick electronic postcards with the photos you like best from around our area. Choose fishing, fireworks, river scenery, the Bull Shoals Dam, Bull Shoals Lake Boat Dock, Buffalo River, Top O' the Ozarks Tower in Bull Shoals, or Peel Ferry.

Then, type a very short message (75 characters) and add your recipient’s e-mail address and yours. When you send this email, you have sent a postcard in a modern, no-handling-needed way. And, your postcards could help boost the South Shore tourism season.

Advertise in the Ozark Regional Directory 2003

	be included in the right telephone directory ...the Ozark Regional Directory 2003 the right listings the right size book right on target reverse listings reliable companies advertise online
1-800-775-6682 • www.natconet.com

Twin Lakes Community Foundation Receives $10,000 from South Shore Foundation

The South Shore Foundation has made a $10,000 donation to the newly-formed Twin Lakes Community Foundation, which serves four counties: Marion, Baxter, Fulton, and Izard.

The $10,000 donation goes toward the Twin Lakes Community Foundation's goal of raising $70,000 by June 30. Since the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation is matching beginning years' funds dollar-for-dollar, Sam Rhoades, fund-raising chairman, said the $52,000 raised locally as of April 1st, becomes $104,000 to be used to benefit the Twin Lakes area. "If another $18,000 in endowments can be raised, the area will benefit from earnings on $140,000 year after year," he said.

Jodie Elizabeth Jeffrey, a South Shore Foundation trustee, said the $10,000 gift a "challenge" to other organizations in the area to help the Twin Lakes Community Foundation reach its goal by the June 30 deadline. "South Shore Foundation trustees see the potential of the community foundation to help the four-county area now and in the future. That's why we stepped forward with a donation now, when the Twin Lakes Community Foundation can get local contributions doubled. This is a great time to donate, and we hope others will plan to do so right away."

Rhoades added, "This is a great opportunity to help with a cause in which you are interested and double the impact of your donation."

Rhoades explained that endowments, such as South Shore Foundation's, can be established within the Twin Lakes Community Foundation to ensure that their causes can be funded forever. Rhoades said the Twin Lakes Community Foundation is a "general public charity serving our area." Its mission is to encourage the building of a pool of permanent endowed funds from which earnings will be granted to assist with needs in the area.

Estella Tullgren, executive director of the Twin Lakes Community Foundation, said a community foundation's unique role is to provide a home for hundreds of donors both living and deceased, who take advantage of this tax-favored way to enhance their charitable giving. She added, "A community foundation, in handling the bookkeeping for charitable donations, allows those who want to make charitable donations to receive all the tax advantages without setting up their own charitable foundation."

Mrs. Tullgren and Rhoades said the Twin Lakes Community Foundation will be awarding grants from a $10,000 gift from Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation in May.

Since 1996, the South Shore Foundation has awarded grants to nonprofit organizations to advance education, preserve the environment and develop the economy in Marion and Boone counties. Trustees will continue to fulfill its stated mission while working in conjunction with the Twin Lakes Community Foundation. Interest from the $10,000 can be designated to recipients annually by the South Shore Foundation.

To learn more about the new Twin Lakes Community Foundation, contact Estella Tullgren at
(870) 425-2694 or by email: tullgren@webewireless.com.

South Shore Scholarship Program for High School Seniors Expanding

South Shore Scholarship Program for High School Seniors Expanding South Shore Foundation has changed its Academic Scholarship program in two ways:

1. The $1,000 grant to one graduating senior at each South Shore area school will be renewable for up to four years for a total of $4,000 per scholarship.
2. Financial need will be a factor in awarding the scholarship.

To have their scholarship renewed, each scholarship recipient must complete at least 12 semester hours of course work per semester and maintain a "B" average. The student must attend an Arkansas college or university. Students interested in the South Shore Academic Scholarship must now fill out an application and apply through their school administration.

South Shore Foundation trustees said, "Financial support is necessary for college students throughout their study, not only in the first year." The trustees recognized that students who are given the $1,000 grant in their first year should be able to rely on continuing 1,000 grants for two, three or four years to earn the degree or certificate in their field of study.

Students who received the South Shore Academic Scholarship last year and their parents have received letters explaining the renewal process, which must be completed by June 30th. They must notify the South Shore Foundation trustees whether they want their scholarship renewed and provide a transcript of their grades for the academic year.

The second change in the South Shore Academic Scholarship program starts with graduates this year (2003). The scholarship selection now includes financial need in addition to a student's academic grades. The foundation will still require the graduating senior in each South Shore area school with grades in the "excellent" range to receive the scholarship.

No longer will the scholarship go automatically to the student with the highest grades and college entrance test scores, as it has since 1996. The trustees of the South Shore Foundation have revamped the scholarship program to reach out more to students who are not as likely to be receiving other financial aid.

School administration and counselors at each school are asked to determine the winner, based on the student's academic record and financial need. Selection for this year's recipients has been underway since March, and recipients will be announced soon. Students will receive a scholarship certificate at their graduations or honors nights.

Spotlight On Digital Services

Some travelers need Internet connectivity when they are on the road. Thanks to NATCO, they can have it while in the Twin Lakes area. For business or personal use, visitors staying at many area hotels and motels may access the Internet through NATCO Technologies when they travel with their own computers and use their computers in the hotel room.

If travelers wish to rent the use of a DSL-connected computer, they go to the NATCO Technologies Demonstration Room at Brooks-Jeffrey Marketing, 19 Medical Plaza, Mountain Home. Those interested may call (870) 425-8064 to schedule their Internet use.

If you are expecting visitors from out of town this tourism season, you might mention our Internet access programs to your friends and relatives. Here's how our programs work.

When visitors arrive and select lodging at one of the hotels/motels listed, bringing a computer along, he or she calls the NATCO toll-free number to sign up for Internet while in the area. The number is 1-800-775-6682. The cost is $19.95 during their visit and setup and payment is done over the phone with a credit card.

Participating hotels/motels are: Baxter Inn, Bel 'Arco, Best Western, Comfort Inn, Days Inn, Executive Inn, and Ramada Inn.

If the traveler can configure his/her own computer for the Internet service, there is a purple NATCO notebook at the front desk of their hotel with instructions for configuration with the following systems software: Windows 95 or 98; Windows ME; Windows XP; and to access an AOL account. If the visitor prefers to have screen shots, there is a set of instructions that combines Windows 95, 98, ME, and XP and adds screen shots.

A customer who does need assistance in setting up an Internet connection may call the NATCO Technologies tech support desk at NATCO. (Call the tollfree number listed.) All traveling customers will speak with NATCO Technologies technicians.

"We are happy to provide this service to visitors. Besides the convenience for them, we are demonstrating that the South Shore area can provide the high quality digital services they are used to in their home community," said NATCO Vice President Steven Sanders Jr. "Looking down the road a little further, if they return to vacation, reside, or relocate their business to this area, they will know who to call for telephone and Internet services - the NATCO family of companies."

Any motel, hotel, or resort in the area wanting to add this service for their guests may contact Steven Sanders Jr. at NATCO.

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Businesses in Marion, Baxter and Boone counties are invited to participate in this
region's first online yellow page project sponsored by a telephone company.
There are three levels to the program:

1. Free Listing
All businesses listed in the Ozark Regional Telephone Directory (the official telephone directory of NATCO and Yelcot) will receive a free listing that includes: Business name, one mailing address and/or one physical address, and one phone number.

2. Link to Your Site and E-mail Address
In addition to your free listing, you will receive a link to your Web site and a link to one e-mail account. $5 per month* (for Ozark Regional Telephone Directory advertisers)
$10 per month* (for businesses who don't advertise in the Ozark Regional Telephone Directory).
*Ads will be billed monthly.

3. In Addition to 1 and 2, Your Online Yellow Page Ad May Also Include up to 25 Words that Describe Your Business and up to 15 Phone Numbers.
$10 per month* (for Ozark Regional Telephone Directory advertisers)
$20 per month* (for businesses who don't advertise in the Ozark Regional Telephone Directory). Changes to an ad may be made at anytime during the year for a fee of $10 ($5 for directory advertisers).

Sign up online, over the phone or in person

Visit www.natconet.com 1-800-775-6682 301 East Main Street, Flippin

 

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Northern Arkansas Telephone Company | 301 East Main Street | Flippin, Arkansas, 72634
Toll Free: 1-800-775-6682 ext 323 | : 1-870-453-8822
© 2002-2003. All Rights Reserved.

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