Have you ever crossed a river on a fallen tree? It’s delicate business. If the tree is wide and just a bit above a narrow stream, then it’s no big deal, right? Now imagine a skinny log bridge high above a raging torrent. That’s a lot scarier, because the stakes of failure are much higher. [...]
Craig Borr is President/CEO of the Michigan Electric Cooperative Association (MECA) As the US Presidential primary heads into Super Tuesday, it reminds us of the importance of the political process and how our country picks its political leaders. Electric cooperatives in Michigan and throughout the country have developed our own Political Action Committee [...]
My wife Sue loves roller coasters. When we dated in college, she dragged me to Ohio’s Cedar Point to “enjoy” some of the biggest, baddest roller coasters on the planet. The challenge for me, though, was that roller coasters terrified me! I remember approaching the top of the coaster, my stress level ratcheting up with [...]
Tony Anderson is General Manager of Cherryland Electric Cooperative. In my 32 years in the cooperative family, I have worked at distribution cooperatives served by 3 different G&Ts - Tri-State, Basin and Wolverine. (I also had a power supply contract with an IOU, Wisconsin Public Service while working for a co-op in the [...]
I just returned from Tucson after a long week. To be sure, I enjoyed seeing the sun for a few days (because it’s January and in case you’ve forgotten, the sun is this warm ball in the sky that shines on your face) and I didn’t look forward to driving in another snowstorm to get [...]
When I was younger I bristled with annoyance about all the talk of New Year’s resolutions. Why make changes only at the New Year? Why not change immediately when you realize something needs changing? As I’ve gotten older, though, I’ve softened my views on New Year’s resolutions, and I better understand their attraction. The New [...]
I cherished the Christmas season as I grew up in Cadillac. I remember walking downtown with my sisters to shop with the meager spending money we earned from babysitting, shoveling, or raking leaves for the neighbors. A local bank would offer free hot cider and donuts on the downtown sidewalk, and Christmas music played continuously [...]
Thanksgiving. A day much like Christmas, which gets gobbled up (pun intended) by travel, business and retail obsessions. Yet at its core, is the simple premise — let us set aside one special day to pause and give thanks. My memories of Thanksgiving sit among my favorites. Family, food, laughter — perhaps the three strongest [...]
Hesperia is a little village in west Michigan, like many others. Its roots go back to the logging boom of the 1800s, but the only remnant of that era is the White River running through it, which powered the lumber mills of yesteryear. Hesperia is quiet like many of Michigan’s former logging towns, and it’s [...]
On Wednesday of this week, I traveled north with Klint Weaver to observe the Grawn, Chanda Yard, and Atlanta crews change out a bad transmission pole near Boyne City. The pole tested bad in Wolverine’s eight-year test cycle, so we needed to replace it. Adding to the pole change-out risk was the fact that the [...]