It’s all about families, said Roy Bain, North Itasca Electric director. With his wife Toni and granddaughter, Bain made an unusual journey last month.

The three made a journey in a covered wagon from Deer River to Effie, ending at the rodeo grounds in time for the North Star Stampede.

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For those of you who haven’t heard, North Itasca Electric offers N.I.C.E. Long distance service at the best rates in town. Our rates haven’t changed! They are still at 7.9 cents a minute if you are calling out of the state and 8.9 cents a minute if you are calling within the state.

There is no monthly fee and no restrictions on when you have to call to get those rates. We have an 18 second minimum connection fee and then 6 second increment billing after that. We do not round up to the next minute. If you don’t make any calls you will not receive a bill. We do not charge you anything to sign up, but your local phone company will charge a onetime switching fee which is normally around $5, but can be a little more or less depending on the company.

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Visitors to the Cut Foot Sioux Visitor Center on Highway 46 might have an extra bonus during August.

Turtle babies.

Each year a snapping turtle lays her eggs close to a fire ring on the nearby beach, and those eggs are collected and incubated in warm sand at the Visitor Center. When the eggs hatch they can be kept for about a day, said Naturalist Nicole Swanson, because there is a food sac attached for the babies’ first meal. Then they are released back into Cut Foot Sioux Lake.

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North Itasca Electric Cooperative will be at the Koochiching County Fair in Northome on August 11, promoting energy saving through installing CFL light bulbs.

Either drop off a canned good or donate $1.00 for the Food Shelves and receive one CFL light bulb per each donation. These bulbs will save you much more in energy than the cost of the donation.

Take into account:

• CFL light bulbs last 10 times longer than incandescent light bulbs at 10,000 hours.
• CFl light bulbs use 75% less energy, saving you money.
• CFL light bulbs reduce the need to produce or purchase additional power, reducing the emission of carbonates into the atmosphere.

It is the right thing to do.

Please Note: CFLs do contain mercury which is harmful to the environment. Beginning October 1, 2006 it has been illegal in Minnesota to place them in the garbage. Although CFLs do vastly outlast incandescent bulbs, they don’t last forever. When they wear out, recycle them by bringing them to North Itasca Electric Cooperative for disposal or take them to another disposal facility.