Second Quarter, 1999
Y2K - Will You Be Ready?In 1997, NATCO began preparing for the Year 2000 with the formation of a Year 2000 Committee. The committee is composed of a senior management leader and representatives from our telephone plant, Internet service, accounting and customer service departments. Are you ready for Year 2000? If you are uncertain that your home or business telecommunications equipment meets Y2K standards, we encourage you to contact the manufacturers of your phone, fax and computer equipment to confirm Y2K compatibility. Remember, all components, including hardware and software, must meet Year 2000 standards. To assist you in this effort we've provided a list of companies you may contact to obtain either a brochure or the company's Web site address where more information will be available to you about Y2K readiness. Most of the sites feature a Y2K status report for hardware and software produced within the last decade. If you have further questions regarding our Year 2000 compliance, or need further assistance to assess the Year 2000 compliance of your communications equipment, please call our office at (870) 453-8811 (toll free from NATCO exchanges).
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Plan to Recycle Your Phone Directory First alert! Toward the end of the summer, new 1999-2000 telephone directories will be produced, and customers will have to decide what to do with outdated directories. At NATCO we have been recycling the directories for you for several years and plan to continue the service. Please plan to drop off your outdated Ozark Regional Directory at our office lobby in Flippin or at a recycling location near you. Drop-off locations will again be the following places and hours:
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South Shore Foundation Assists South Shore Foundation, the charitable arm of the Northern Arkansas Telephone Company, has granted $10,000 to the Marion County Regional Airport. The grant was approved by South Shore Foundation Trustees at their first quarterly meeting of 1999. Marion County Regional Airport Board Chairman John Dyess said the $10,000 contribution would go toward matching an Arkansas Aeronautics Department grant of $100,000. The funds are made available on a 75/25 fund sharing basis, he said. The funds will be used to extend the runway from 4,100 feet to 5,000 feet. A longer runway will raise the airport's classification to a B-II+ status, Dyess said, and would enhance both the safety and use by larger aircraft. He also said when the two neighboring regional commercial airports in Harrison and Mountain Home are closed for weather, the Marion County Regional Airport remains clear and open. With the additional runway footage, the airport at Flippin could provide an effective alternative destination, according to Dyess. "South Shore trustees are pleased to assist the airport at Flippin with this funding because we believe it will enhance the economic well-being of our area. We join the board of directors of the Marion County Regional Airport in working toward economic development," Trustee and NATCO Vice President Betty Barker Smith said. This is the second $10,000 grant awarded by the South Shore Foundation to the airport at Flippin. |
South Shore Trustees See Airport Work
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Six
Graduates Will Receive $1,000 Schools included are:
The South Shore Annual Academic Scholarship is funded by the charitable arm of NATCO. Each student receiving the $1,000 scholarship may use it at a college or university of his or her choice. NATCO Vice President and South Shore Foundation Trustee Betty Barker Smith attended end-of-year school awards programs at the schools to present the South Shore Academic Scholarships to each winner. Please for the list of winners in the next edition of Natco News. |
Memory Project Open House Held "Wait until you see what they've done," Flippin English teacher Sandie Melton writes on the South Shore Memory Project Web site bulletin board system. She is speaking of the Flippin students who have been busy conducting interviews with relatives and friends whom one might also term oldtimers. The students have enjoyed the assignment, writing notes saying the project is hard but "worth it" and describing interviews as everything from interesting to awesome. An open house and luncheon featuring the South Shore Memory Project was held May 6 at the Flippin High School Media Center. The special event recognized area residents who have been interviewed for the new local history project as well as Flippin students and teachers who are working on the project. Flippin Middle School and High School students in the gifted and talented program of Dianne Wade are involved in the South Shore Memory Project, as are 10th and 12th grade English students of Sandie Melton, and Flippin Public School Library Media Specialist Petra Pershall. Speakers for the program were Allen C. Benson of Arkansas State University Mountain Home, project director; Dr. Ed Coulter, chancellor of ASU Mountain Home; Dr. Steven Sanders, NATCO president; Dr. John Carey, Flippin High School principal; Dianne Wade, gifted and talented instructor; and a student speaker. Funded in part last summer with a nearly $25,000 grant from the South Shore Foundation, the local history project is now underway. Its aim is to create a computer-based library that preserves family histories of local people in text, images and sound. Students in the gifted and talented program have mastered hypertext markup language (HTML) to set up pages for the Internet-based program and have created maps of the area. At the same time, high school English students are interviewing relatives - such as grandparents - and longtime area residents to obtain materials to place in a demonstration project. Petra Pershall, Flippin High School library media specialist, very recently received the news that the Arkansas Department of Education has granted $95,000 to the Flippin School to build a multi-media lab at the Flippin school. Pershall, who will direct the effort, said the grant will continue the South Shore Memory Project. The funding came from the department's Technology Literacy Challenge Fund.
Benson said the project will develop so that the public can record their family history using the digitizing equipment such as digital camera, scanner for existing photographs and letters and computers. The histories, when uploaded, can then be copied to CD-RW (readable/writeable compact disks) for the family to keep. ASU will place the materials in a central archive and store it forever. The South Shore Memory Project was proposed by Arkansas State University Mountain Home. When established, the project will be one of the few digital libraries of local history in the nation. ASU's Benson has said the project has the potential to serve as a model for hundreds of archives, museums and university special collections in the future. To learn about the project, go to www.ozarkhistory.com where a lilting Ozarks musical greeting will welcome the visitor. Share the students' progress by visiting their own bbs link from the Web site. |
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A new Web site, recently uploaded for South Shore, Bull Shoals Lake, can be expected to draw interest from visitors and vacationers looking toward the Arkansas Ozarks. The site, www.southshore.com, has:
The South Shore Web site also has community information - including addresses and phone numbers for schools and colleges in the area, health care facilities, government offices, airports - and an area calendar of events. The beauty of the area is shown in color photographs, opening on the home page with a breathtaking view of Bull Shoals Lake and Dam and surrounding wooded countryside. Lakeside photos, summer water sports, spring scenery and attractions like Top 'O The Ozarks Tower and Bull Shoals Caverns are also featured. A unique feature is a local map of the area ranging from western Baxter County through western Boone County, reproduced to match the popular South Shore Driving Tour brochure. "So many people have wanted to obtain copies of this brochure that we put it on the Web site to assist future visitors in planning their trips to the area," said Steven Sanders, vice president of the parent company, Northern Arkansas Telephone Company. Local Web surfers may use the NATCO Online Yellow Pages which link local businesses with Web pages to the South Shore site. Personal Web pages may also be linked to the South Shore site. The links are free, but must be requested by using the online Link Request Form. "Our goal is to provide a central online directory for all active Web sites in the region," said Sanders. The Web site includes information on the South Shore Foundation, the charitable foundation of NATCO. Anyone seeking information about South Shore Foundation may find it on the Web site including an application for grants. The South Shore Foundation funds projects of nonprofit organizations and government agencies to promote telecommunications technology to further educational advancement, environmental preservation, community betterment and economic development. The Web site was designed and produced by Brooks-Jeffrey Marketing Inc. of Mountain Home, a full-service marketing agency since 1984. The marketing company has also redesigned the Web site of NATCO. The www.natconet.com Web site now features:
Rep. Hutchinson Posts Weekly Third District of Arkansas Congressman Asa Hutchinson (R) is now posting the schedule of the U.S. House of Representatives on his Web site each Monday. The schedule can be found at: www.house.gov/hutchinson . The schedule for each day is provided, including which bills are scheduled for debates and votes. Rep. Hutchinson's site links to THOMAS (Congress' legislative Web site) so users can look up additional information on any bill on the schedule, the text of the bill and any references to the bill recorded in the Congressional Record. May Joins NATCO Technologies
Larry May has joined NATCO Technologies as Internet Services Representative. May worked for 15 years with Motorola Inc. at Phoenix, Mesa, Tempe and Chandler, Ariz., as an electronics technician, then a senior systems analyst. May also has nearly two years of experience providing computer technical support to customers via telephone for Answer City, a subsidiary of Circuit City, helping customers to set up and operate new computers. At NATCO Technologies, May will work with Internet customers in person and on the telephone, answering questions and configuring their computer software when Internet service is initiated. Customers throughout the area may call Larry at toll-free numbers for their areas. In NATCO exchanges, the toll-free number is 453-8822. In Mountain Home, call 425-7325. In Yellville, call 449-5087. A graduate of Arizona State University at Tempe, May holds a bachelor of science degree in computer information systems. May began his studies at Mesa Community College and Utah Technical College at Salt Lake City, Utah, before enrolling at Arizona State University. He served in both the United States Air Force and the United States Army. May resides with his wife, Robbyn, and their youngest son outside Gainesville, Mo.; a married daughter lives nearby. Four sons are grown and live elsewhere. The Mays have nine grandchildren. May said he and his family find the area a peaceful and tranquil change from the Phoenix area. They first visited the area as vacationers. Both Larry and Robbyn May enjoy genealogy, she enjoys crafts and baking, and he enjoys golfing. Thrash Joins NATCO in Customer Service
Bill O. Thrash of Flippin has been named a customer service representative and projects coordinator at NATCO. Thrash comes to NATCO after 31 years of service with Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. Thrash will work with commercial customers of NATCO, with plant and customer services, and assisting with special projects, according to NATCO Vice President Betty Barker Smith. "Bill Thrash will become a primary contact person at NATCO for business accounts. He has the background to ensure their telephone systems meet their needs and will introduce the high tech telephone and telecommunications services that NATCO offers and businesses need." A resident of Flippin for five years, Thrash is originally from Hot Springs. He attended the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for two years and completed extensive Southwestern Bell technical training in telephone plant installation and maintenance. He served in the U.S. Air Force four years as a radar technician. Volunteer work Thrash has done includes Red Cross Disaster Relief, Kiwanis International (past secretary) and membership in Southwestern Bell Telephone Pioneers. He is a member of First Baptist Church of Flippin. His wife is Peggy, and he is the father of a son, Jarrod, and a daughter, Shea. Thrash enjoys running, golf and fishing and is a member of Rivercliff Golf Club. Thrash can be reached at 1-800-775-6682, ext. 216. Answers for Modem Connection Questions NATCO Internet customers with questions about modem connection speeds will find answers on the www.natconet.com FAQ page. The topic of modem speeds has been added to the Frequently Asked Questions page due to the volume of questions and the number of issues that are involved. NATCO President Steven G. Sanders also advises that customers may go to certain commercial Web sites for additional discussion of the issue and its many facets. Two sources of additional information are:
Typical questions discussed on these pages include: "How can I get my modem to report the true connect speed?" and "What's a good way to test actual modem performance?" and "Should I upgrade to a v.90?" As is the case whenever an Internet user leaves the www.natconet.com server and goes to another Web site on another server, NATCO cannot guarantee where these sites will lead you as they are not under our control. You may use the "back" button on your browser to come back to our site. As NATCO prepares for a total Internet services system upgrade in July, we strive to do our best to assist customers in their Internet service, and we encourage you to contact our Help Desk numbers toll free in each exchange listed:
You may also send your questions to NATCO at 301 E. Main St., Flippin, AR 72634. NATCO Offers Free Web Page Listings With business Web sites increasing daily, Northern Arkansas Telephone Company offers a new online "yellow pages" for area Web sites. Listings are voluntary and free. "Yellow Pages have long been associated with telephone companies and phone directories, so at Northern Arkansas Telephone Company, our forward-thinking team is offering Online Yellow Pages for those businesses that are now online," said Steven Sanders Jr., NATCO vice president and plant manager. To obtain an online listing, businesses of the area are asked to visit the NATCO Web site at www.natconet.com and complete the "Link Request." A short form, the Link Request asks the participating business to pick two categories for listing. The Link Request Form is a way of providing proof of permission to list the page on a directory such as the Online Yellow Pages. "We cannot create a directory without the permission of Web page owners," Sanders stated. Many business sites throughout the area are in place on the NATCO server, and the Online Yellow Pages listing will include them as well as business Web sites which are on other servers. As long as the business is located in the Baxter, Marion or Boone County region, it is eligible for inclusion on the free Online Yellow Pages NATCO is offering. Area residents who have personal home pages may also request a listing in the NATCO Online Yellow Pages under the "Personal" category field on the Link Request Form, Sanders stated. When the form is completed, the person filling out the form should follow the online directions for submitting the request. "There is absolutely no charge. We want the Online Yellow Pages to grow and to accurately reflect the great, dynamic area in which we live. As Web users know, people from all geographic areas of the nation and world visit Web sites. This is both an adventure and an opportunity to reach those near and far who enjoy the benefits of Web pages." The Link Request Form involves no advertising fee, Sanders emphasized, and no fees of any other kind. "This is a free service to showcase our area, and we encourage businesses with Web pages and individuals with personal home pages to request a listing."
Did you know the town of Bull Shoals was recently named one of the 50 best towns for outdoor sports in the United States? February's issue of Sports Afield declares Bull Shoals the Arkansas town that is the best for those who love the outdoors, primarily for fishing. Among the reasons are these:
Reporters and editors also give local businesses some good publicity: Bull Shoals Famous Floats, Mar-Mar Resort and Tackle Shop, Gaston's Resort, 178 Club and The Village Wheel. The town featured in the main text of the article is Ely, Minnesota, for its remote wilderness and walleye fishing in its Boundary Waters. Company Meets Public at Senior Fair
NATCO Technologies Internet partner Brooks-Jeffrey Marketing Inc. worked at the company booth during the KTLO Radio Senior Fair, held in conjunction with the Baxter County Regional Hospital Health Fair at the Baxter County Fairgrounds March 24-25. Shown are Mark Morris and Elizabeth Norell. Winners of free Internet service from NATCO Technologies, drawn from names of visitors to the booth, were: Gareth Bacon and Dominic J. Allivato, both of Mountain Home. They will each receive two months of free Internet service. NATCO Technologies thanks all who visited the booth. NATCO Technologies sent Brooks-Jeffrey Marketing Inc., its Mountain Home Internet partner, to the Twin Lakes Home Builders Show to meet and greet the public April 16-17. From among the many who registered for free Internet services, five winning names were drawn from the registration box. The winners were Connie Zonick, John Stepoh, Mattie McConnell, Retta Adams and Susan Lukas.
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| Customer Info | Northern
Arkansas Telephone Company | 301 East Main Street | Flippin, Arkansas,
72634
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07.25.2001bjm318FP98
To support educational
achievement, the South Shore Foundation is again giving a $1,000 scholarship to one
graduating senior at each school in our service area. 
