Your Electrical Connection

November, 2014

Volume 12, Issue 11

Inside this issue:

Roger’s World 2

Cookbook Update 2

Newton WelcomesTwo New Employees

4

And They Are Off andWalking

5

Congratulations DeanEdrington

7

Dan Ritz Retires With36 Yrs. Of Service

7

Familiar Faces 8

Wellness Corner 9

Upcoming Events 9

December Anniver-saries & Birthdays

9

Safety Highlights 3

Mike Walker—AnAmazing Man

6

The Master’s Hands 5

All Employee Meeting 3

Number of Days Since Last...

First Aid 7

Recordable 146

Lost Time 480

* Numbers based on No-vember 19, 2014.

Safety Stats:

Another Challenging Week in Coal Yard…Rick Wolford

On Monday, October 27, it was discovered that the tail pulley assembly on the 1A1 conveyorwas out of position and had almost slid out from the (2) supporting pillow block bearings. As theconveyor could not be used to unload coal with the tail pulley in this condition, it was immediate-ly removed from service for repairs. Mechanical Maintenance began repairs at 1300 hours thatsame day. Once the 25,000# counterweight was lifted and restrained to take tension off of thebelt, the bearings were disassembled and cleaned for bearing and shaft inspection. Inspectionfound that the bearing housings were not re-usable and that the shaft had been damaged to theextent that it was more than 0.010” too small for proper fit to the bearings. So, now, not onlywere new bearings going to be required but a new shaft would be required also. While the re-pairmen commenced with the removal of the damaged shaft from the tail pulley, the machiniststhen set up and began fabrication of a new shaft assembly. Using an 8” diameter piece of barstock that was on site, they worked around the clock to manufacture a new shaft. By the timethe new shaft was completed, the old shaft had been removed from the pulley. The tail pulleyassembly was then rebuilt, the counterweight lowered and the belt was ready for tracking andservice. The belt was released for service at 1100 hours on Thursday.During the time that the conveyor was down, the units had to be filled via the stacker/reclaimeror up ‘1C’ conveyor. This provided for additional challenges as both the boom conveyor on thestacker/reclaimer and the 1C conveyor had issues requiring I/E resources to troubleshoot andrepair the issues to help maintain safe bunker levels.With the 1A1 conveyor out of service, the station has no ability to dump trains. So, during thetime that this conveyor was down, three fully loaded trains had backed-up on site and a fourthtrain was in route (less than a day away). If the fourth train had arrived, it would have blockedthe way out for any trains that had been emptied. Not a good situation. So, once the conveyorwas released on Thursday at 1100 hours, the Fuel Handling group then took the ball and start-ed dumping the train cars. By 0800 hours the next day, they had dumped over 300 cars andwere able to release 2 of the train sets that were on site.While these events provided a few nervous moments and many challenging moments for theweek, everyone involved stayed committed to ensuring the units remained fueled, returning theconveyor to service as quickly as possible and ensuring the work was done safely. Thanks fora JOB WELL DONE!

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Roger’s World...Roger Bass

· “Life literally abounds in comedy if you just look aroundyou.”

· “The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassi-nation from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy,indifference, and undernourishment.”“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”Maya Angelou, Robert Maynard Hutchins, General GeorgeS. Patton, Robert Frost, Mel Brooks, Albert Einstein, Abra-ham Lincoln, Kermit the Frog, Robert Frost, Alphonse Karr,Will Rogers, Stephen HawkingIf you couldn’t figure out any of the above, maybe this onewill be easy.“Westful wetweat – Bawoney! I”ll show you. Take that youwascally wabbit.”Some of the above quotes were from the nineteenth century,and they still hold true today. There are a couple of quotesthat I had heard before and had to check the internet to findout who said them. If you think about it, they all make sense.And it also shows that even some really smart people have asense of humor. By the way, the names are not in the orderof the quotes. If you can’t figure out who said the last quote,then you never watched Bugs Bunny cartoons.

Till next time, please be safe

I always like to listen to what other people say. That’swhy I like to look up quotes from people. Some I findthought provoking and some I find humorous. I thoughtthis month I would put down some of those quotes. Youmay have seen these quotes before and know who saidthem. A couple may be obvious. I will put the names atthe end of the article and maybe you can figure it out.

· “Don’t fight a battle if you don’t gain anything by win-ning.”

· “It’s better to keep one’s mouth shut and be thoughta fool rather than open it and resolve all doubt.”

· "With good friends, you can’t lose.”

· “Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until youcan find a rock.”

· “I've learned that people will forget what you said,people will forget what you did, but people will never for-get how you made them feel.”

· “Don’t ever take a fence down until you know why itwas put up.”

· “Keeping an active mind has been vital to my surviv-al, as has been maintaining a sense of humor.”

· “If A equals success, then the formula is A equals Xplus Y plus Z, where X is work, Y is play and Z is keepingyour mouth shut.”

Cookbook Update...Twyla Harvey

A HUGE thank you goes out to everyone who made ourcookbook project a big success. At the time the cookbookwent to the printers we had orders for 380 books and decid-ed to order 450, thinking we could sell the extra 70. As ofnow, we have 7 out of the extra 70 left to sell.I would like to give a special thank you to Curt Collins; itwas his idea to make the cookbook as well as using theprofits for our future hospice projects. I would also like tothank John Heaton, “Speedy” for providing us a great pic-ture for the cover. Also, a special thank you goes out toLocal 702 Union Hall for supporting the project by purchas-ing 50 books. Thank you to Rachel Casey, for helping topromote this project at the Collinsville Office; as well as allthe people at that office who purchased cookbooks.Thanks to all present and past employees who contributedrecipes; obviously, this project would not have been possi-ble without all of you.When we finish selling the last of the cookbooks, together

with the money we raised this summer, we will have$2,560.00 to use for hospice projects.Everyone’s willingness to help support this project trulyamazes me; what a great group of people. I’m proud to be apart of Newton Power Station……….THANK YOU ALL SOVERY MUCH!

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The Safety Committee met on November 4 at 1000 hours.We had an unusual meeting time this month because wewere joined by Dan Thompson, VP Plant Operations. Due tothe change in meeting time, we had a light turnout, but it wasgood for the committee to be able to visit with Dan and sharesome of the safety issues we have been working through.The committee reviewed the year to date safety stats. Thestation is doing very well with 3 first aids, 1 hearing thresholdshift recordable, and 0 lost time accidents. Contractors havehad 8 first aids with 0 recordables and lost times. Due to thenumber of contractor first aids and near misses this year, itwas felt that something needed to be done. Therefore, theEngineering and Safety Departments are leading an initiativeto get our contractor orientation program updated to givefolks a good first impression of our safety expectations. Alongwith this, the PLT is attempting to meet with all contractors tofurther convey safety expectations.Safety Committee and plant goals were reviewed. There wasgood discussion around housekeeping and how it continuesto improve. We are still fighting dust and are looking at a po-tential Unit 1 external boiler wash. There was also considera-ble discussion around coal dust in cable trays and how weplan to manage through this. We all know that performing thiswork safely and effectively is very difficult with many issues toconsider. Good suggestions are welcome. It was recognizedthat we are still slightly behind on our safety walkdown goal

Safety Highlights...Kent Schafer

so please continue to perform your walkdowns.As expected, winter preparedness was a main topic forthe meeting. Most probably aren’t thrilled that winter ishere this early, but it definitely is. Do not forget to use icecleats when conditions warrant. We stock a low profilecleat in stores and we have some with a little longer cleatin my office. There are also insulated gloves in my office.The station expected to perform some asphalt work tominimize puddling and ice; however, the early winter hasshut down the asphalt work for the year.A few action items that have been completed to allow youto perform your work safer and more efficiently include: apower broom and weather enclosure for the skid steer, a13,800# fork truck with hydraulic fork adjusters, and a JLGscissor lift. Please make sure you are trained prior to us-ing this new equipment.Our November safety slogan is “Safety is a full-time job;don’t make it a part-time practice!”. I feel we do a good jobof this at Newton keeping safety at the forefront of ourminds every day. As the holidays near and distractionscreep in, please take the same approach to safety while atwork, travel, and home.

A delicious meal was enjoyed by employees on Tuesday, November 4. Plant Manager, John Cooley, talked about safety andthe importance of always being at the top of your game. He then turned the meeting over to Steve Fox, who talked about aNear Miss he recently experienced and Steve stressed the importance of ALWAYS reading tags. John then turned the meet-ing over to Dan Thompson. Dan gave us an update on how the plant was doing in regard to safety, performance and budget.He then gave us a company update. Dan is the VP of Plant Operations. The meeting was very informative.

All Employee Meeting...Twyla Harvey

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We are pleased to welcome Mike Cureton to Newton Power Sta-tion. Mike joined our Newton team as a Maintenance Supervisoron October 20.Before coming to NPS, Mike was in the navy for 25 years; he justretired on October 1, 2014. He was a nuclear engineer in the navyand has a nuclear engineering degree.Mike grew up in Greenville, IL, and during the past 25 years hehas lived on both coasts, and several states between the twocoasts.Mike and his wife, Amy, live in Effingham and have one child,Seth, who is 2 ½ years old.When I asked Mike what he liked to do in his spare time, he saidhe was an avid Harley rider and has ridden over 200,000 milesand ridden through 44 states. He loves the outdoors; however, hisfavorite past time is chasing after his little boy.Welcome to NPS, Mike, we are glad to have you here.

We are also pleased to welcome Jesse Beard to NPS. Jessejoined our Newton team as an Utilityman 1st 6 Months on Novem-ber 17.

Before coming to NPS, Jesse was a Boilermaker out of Local 363.In the 8 years he was a boilermaker, he worked in Alaska, Minne-sota, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri and Illinois. Jesse said he want-ed to work at Newton so he could be home every night to be withhis family.

Jesse and his wife, Ashley, live in Olney and have 3 children.Daughters, Mackenzie, (13), and Adysen (2) and a new baby boy,Jackson (12 days old).

Jesse said when he isn’t working he likes to drive his 1974 Plym-outh Duster, coon hunt, fish and spend time with his wife and chil-dren.

We are glad to have you here at NPS, Jesse.

Newton Welcomes Two New Employees...Twyla Harvey

Mike Cureton

CONGRATULATIONS ZACH GRAVES ON YOURNEW POSITION AS OPERATOR HELPER

Jesse Beard

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The Master’s Hands...Twyla Harvey

In the October newsletter I asked for suggests of charities tocontribute to this holiday season. Since I didn’t get a re-sponse from anyone, I am picking The Master’s Hands inNewton.The Master’s Hands started the end of April, 2013. It is aChristian base coffee shop that is open Monday thru Fridayfrom 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. They serve coffee, tea, soda andsnacks at no cost to anyone that walks through the door. Fora lot of people that come in every day, it’s an opportunity forthem to have a warm place to have a cup of coffee and apleasant conversation; without The Master’s Hands a lot ofthese people might not get to interact with anyone for days.On Monday morning they have a ladies’ Bible study as wellas a separate men’s Bible study. These are available to any-one that wants to attend but certainly are not a requirementfor those having free coffee and snacks.Tuesday is a big day at The Master’s Hands – it is food distri-bution day from 9:00 to 11:45 and again from 2:00 to 4:00.They have 442 families they serve each month. Each familycan come one Tuesday a month to pick up food. There is anincome guideline for those getting food and another require-ment is they have to be from Jasper County. The first timethey get food, they have to verify their name, address andthe members of their family.The food they get to feed these 442 families come from twofood banks; one in Urbana and one in Bloomington. One iscompletely free and the other they have to buy the food at areduced cost. Also, they have started getting calls fromsome truck drivers when their “load” is refused. It could berefused for something as simple as having a truck load ofwatermelons with seeds when the store is expecting seed-less watermelons. That truck driver has to get rid of whatev-er he is hauling if it is refused. They have gotten eggs, pota-toes, salad ingredients and right now have an abundance ofcranberries; this is usually all perishable items. Since theyare perishable and they have a short life span, anyone cancome in and pick up whatever they have….no income limit.They just want to get rid of the food before it goes bad.

And They Are Off and Walking...Julie Matson

We are currently 18 days into our “Just Keep Moving” con-test. The results for the first seven days of information col-lected are as follows:Team #1 = 86,043Team #2 = 78,769Team #3 = 60, 964Team #4 = 88,212Team #5 = 68,881

Team #6 = 60,590Team #7 = 54,771The numbers listed are team averages.The walker of the week is John Ingram who has a total of144,602 steps for the first seven days of the contest. Wehave had a few people fall below the goal of 5,000 steps perday; but there is plenty of time left to get your average up.Remember…”just keep moving”!

They are also part of the “Feed America Program” and everyFriday they go to Wal-Mart at Robinson and pick up free foodfrom a lot of different departments. It’s food that needs to bemoved out of the store because of the short shelf life.On Tuesday evening the “PULL” group meets…..that standsfor “Papas utilizing life’s lessons”. It is for any man, whetherhe is a dad or not, just men that need a little extra help in life;kind of like a mentoring program.On Wednesday there has been a knitting and crochetinggroup started.Also, another ladies’ Bible study has been started on Thurs-day mornings.Everyone that is a part of The Master’s Hands, are volun-teers, no one is paid. There are people that volunteer frommost every church in Newton. Each morning the coffee shophas to have 2 volunteers to serve the people that come in.Also, Tuesday, food distribution day, is a huge day for volun-teers. Fridays are another big day for volunteers, as theyhave to unload everything they get from the Robinson Wal-Mart. One of our retirees, Jack Brown, and his wife, Nancy,volunteer each week.Sherry and Mark Anderson started The Master’s Hands, andwhen I asked Sherry what we could do to help, she said cashdonations are great – they help pay the electric, gas andwater bills, as well as help pay for the food that isn’t free.She said food donations are great, too, as it can be part ofthe food distribution on Tuesdays.This holiday season, when all of us here at NPS are ex-tremely blessed, let us help the people that aren’t as fortu-nate as we are. If you would like to make a cash donation,that can be turned into any of us girls in the office and if youwould like to bring in food donations, you can bring them tothe office as well. We will be collecting both cash and fooddonations until our Christmas lunch on Tuesday, December16. Please find it in your heart to give to those less fortu-nate.

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Mike Walker—An Amazing Man...Twyla Harvey/Mike Walker

A couple of months ago, I was talking to Jim Grunloh in re-gard to writing the “Scrubber Update” for our newsletter.Mike Walker was on vacation and Jim was trying to fill hisshoes. Jim began to tell me about some of Mike’s accom-plishments and I was amazed….what a successful, humbleman Mike is, when he has so much to be proud of. Immedi-ately I thought, if I didn’t know about Mike’s success story, Iwas sure a lot of other people didn’t either. I thought what agreat article for our newsletter…..to give everyone a chanceto really get to know Mike’s background/successes. Here isMike’s history.I graduated from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor ofScience degree in electrical engineering. My two areas ofconcentrated study while in school were power and comput-er science. During my junior year at the University of IllinoisI applied for and was accepted into General Electric’s work /study program. After graduating from college I went to workfor General Electric. My first project with General Electricwas at a small coal fired power plant in Southern Illinois. Iremained at this project for the duration of construction andcommissioning. After the project was over, I found that Iwas “hooked” on engineering and field construction. I leftGeneral Electric at the end of this project and went to workfor the mechanical/electrical contractor who was responsiblefor constructing the power plant. This company specializedin small industrial steam power plants and power plantmaintenance. This was a tremendous learning experiencefor a young engineer. But I had the desire to work on largerand more diverse projects. I left this company after 4 yearsand went to work for a larger mechanical/electrical contrac-tor that did new construction on much larger projects acrossthe U.S. I spent the next 22 years of my career at this com-pany. During this time period I worked my way up the com-pany ladder from producing CAD engineering drawings, toproject design engineer, to project costing engineer, to pro-ject manager, and finally to vice-president of the company.I worked on job sites from Indiana to California in the U.S.,and even had the opportunity to work at a jobsite in Austria.During this time period, I continued studying and stayingcurrent with my second career interest which was computerscience. In the early 1990’s I started devoting a lot of mystudy time to what was then a little known acronym calledTCP (transmission control protocol). I became obsessedwith this new technology. To the point that in 1994, a groupof four people (one engineer, one computer science major,and two entrepreneurs) decided to start an Internet dialupservice. This changed my life. The company slowly startedto acquire a customer base. But then, something astonish-ing happened to the economy. It was called the “dot com”bubble. The company grew beyond our wildest dreams.Due to insatiable public demand, we began to both acquireand establish “pop” sites from Pennsylvania to California. In1998 the company’s board asked me to become the compa-ny’s CEO. After much deliberation (by this time I was aver-

aging being home one day per month), I accepted. Thecompany continued acquiring smaller companies. Late in1998, the company which I was CEO of, was approached bya venture capital firm in New York City. My company waseventually offered both money and shares of stock for thepurchase of the company. Their offer was accepted by themajority of the company’s board. The venture capital com-pany rolled my company into another large dial-up internetprovider and then took that new company public on theNASDAQ in early 1999. In early 2000, this NASDAQ “dotcom” company was purchased by a leading and still well-known internet service provider. In a matter of seven yearswe had grown from four employees to 930 employees (at thetime I departed).By the end of 2000, I wanted two things. To depart the inter-net business and to sleep (I was wore out). I took sixmonths off. My wife and I traveled in both the U.S. and Eu-rope. My wife and I also offered to support any of our neph-ews and nieces (in addition to our daughter) who wanted togo to college or vocational school. That was my best lifetime investment. This offer produced one pediatric cardiolo-gist (graduated cum laude from a leading medical school),one doctor of veterinary medicine, one nurse, and threeteachers (two with master’s degrees). I went on to purchaseanother small company which grew from 15 employees to 90employees. We sold that company in mid-2007. In a meet-ing with Joe Mansker in late 2007 we discussed the DynegyDFGD projects. The rest, as they say, is history. I am nowon my fifth scrubber project with Dynegy. I went full circleback to engineering and construction and enjoy every mi-nute of it.As Dynegy Project Manager for the Newton WFGD projectmy current responsibilities are to both keep the project onschedule and to ensure the project stays within its yearlycapital spend budget.As far as hobbies….my wife and I recently built a new homein Homer, Alaska. We enjoy the company of our daughter,son-in-law, and two grandchildren who have lived in Homerfor the last nine years. Both grandchildren are now attend-ing college (University of Alaska). When I do get an oppor-tunity to return to our Alaskan home, I enjoy taking photos ofthe breath taking Alaskan scenery (we live on the KenaiPeninsula which opens into the Gulf of Alaska/PacificOcean) and going hunting with my grandson. My wife and Iwill make our Alaskan home our retirement site.You are only limited by the size of your dream,Mike Walker, P.E.

Thank you, Mike, for letting us get to know you a little bitbetter; what a fascinating life you have led.

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Dan Ritz Retires With 36 Years of Service...Twyla Harvey

Dan Ritz bid farewell to Newton Power Station at a cakeand coffee held in his honor on November 12; with anofficial retirement date of December 31, 2014.

Dan started at Newton on September 29, 1978, as atemporary; he was hired as a permanent employee onFebruary 1, 1979, as an Utility Man 1st 6 Months. Laterin 1979, he bid into Operations as an Operator Helper.Shortly thereafter, Dan went to the scrubber as a PO3and worked his way up to POI. On May 24, 1987, Danbecame an Assistant Shift Supervisor in the scrubber.Later he moved into the plant as an Ass’t. SS when thescrubber was torn down. Since 2009 Dan has been theCoal Yard Supervisor.

Dan and his wife, Ellen, live in rural Effingham, and have4 children, James and Neil, both in college, Brian in highschool and Taylor in grade school.

Congratulations Dan! You and your unique sense ofhumor will be missed here at NPS. Thank you for your36 years of service and we wish you all the best in yourretirement.

Congratulations Dean Edrington...Twyla Harvey

Dean Edrington celebrated his 30 years of service on November 13, with a lunch along with his fellow maintenance workers.

Dean started at Newton on June 30, 1997, as an Instrument Technician and on September 19, 2004, his title was changed toInstrument Electrical Computer Tech. Newton transferred from Hutsonville Power Station where he started on October 29,1984, as an Instrument Man.

Dean and his wife, Kim, live in Robinson and have 2 daughters, Stephanie and Sarah. Dean has 3 grandchildren, 2 grand-sons and a granddaughter. His youngest grandson is a day old.

Dean it’s a pleasure to have you here at Newton; thank you for all your work and for all the times you have “saved a unit”.

IE Team-Bottom Row L-R: David Bough,Gaylon Seagraves, Kirk Hutchings, JeffTegelerBack Row L-R: Roger Beck, Mark Wil-liams, Guest of Honor, Dean Edrington,Roger Bass, Bob Rohr, Alan Talbert, AlanWilliams, Ron Holmes, Don Upton andJohn Ingram

Production Manag-er, Paul Hardiekcongratulates Danon his retirement.

Retirees—bottom row: Jack Brown, Mark Coad, Harry Hop-kins, Lindell Wenthe, Jim Hackett. Back row: Glen Clapp,Jeff Carter, Scott Laugel, Cecil Piper, Bill Williams, DickBaltzell, and Guest of Honor and newly retired, Dan Ritz.

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Familiar Faces...Twyla Harvey

On Saturday, October 18, a retiree dinner was held at the Newton KC Hall. Lee Webb and Harry Hopkins planned the eventand Lee was kind enough to take pictures and I thought a lot of you would be glad to see how some of our retirees are doing.

Randall Weck, Instrument Man, and RichSwearingen, Repairman

Ray Sherwood, Shift Supervisor

Gene Ochs, Repairman and Dave Ash, Shift Supv. Jack Ellis, Unit Operator

Vern Apke, Repairman, and Joe Kirk, MachinistLarry Collins and Tom Lawler, Unit Operators,talking with Dave Ash, SS

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* Any omissions in this section areentirely unintentional.

12/03 Bob Rohr12/16 Brian Reich12/16 Randy Johnson12/16 Steve Fox12/18 Randy Ebeling12/24 Chris Collins12/29 Shannon Baker12/31 Kirk Hutchings

Upcoming Events December Anniversaries & Birthdays

Nov. 27 & 28 Thanksgiving HolidaysDec. 11 Blood DriveDec. 16 Christmas Lunch

12/12 35 Yrs. Mark Oliver

Wellness Corner...Wellness Committee

I recently read an interesting article that said “more than half of the cancer deaths in the US are preventable.” This came out inan annual report released by the American Association of Cancer Research.

The report lists some notable points about cancer prevention, including the following:

· Tobacco use is responsible for almost 30% of cancer deaths in the US· Ultraviolet radiation from the sun and indoor tanning devices causes the majority of skin cancers.· Developing a personalized cancer-screening plan with your physicians is part of a healthy approach to living.· About 1 in 5 cancer diagnoses worldwide is attributable to persistent infection with a pathogen. Infection with many known

cancer-causing pathogens can be prevented by vaccination or treatment with medicines.· Up to 1/3 of all new cancer diagnoses in the US is related to being overweight or obese, physical inactivity and/or poor

dietary habits.

The report went on to say that stressing that so many cancers are preventable, is not to blame the victim, but to try and per-suade people to adopt healthier lifestyles. “No one should take away from this that you have cancer as a result of your ownbehaviors; we are only talking about 50% of deaths; people are still going to get cancer.”

Lifestyle changes such as eating more healthily, exercising regularly, and not smoking could reduce the development of cancerfor more than half of the 585,000 cancer-related deaths projected for this year. It also noted that, in 2015, nearly 200,000 peo-ple will die of cancers related to tobacco use –and that, despite the health issues known to be connected with tobacco, nearly800,000 people start smoking or otherwise using tobacco each year.

Why not do all we can to lessen our chances of getting this deadly disease?

Safety is a full-time job; don’t make it a part-time practice!