Board Of Directors
Of Nine Men Handle
REA Policies, Work
The Board-«f, directors of the Piedmont Electric Member
jhip Cooperative consists of nine members, charged with the
duty of making plans and policies for the cooperative at month
ly meetings held in the office in Hillsboro. i
Eath director represents one of the nine districts’ of the co
operative. ' ' .
At the monthly meetings five members, which represent
i quorum oi me. uoaru, ujum ue
present in order for any business
to be transacted. According to F.
ft Joyner, manager of the co
operative, it is worthy to note
that not one meeting has been
postponed since 1941 because of
the lack of a quorum.
The board serves without pay,
receiving only a small^per diem to
take care of actual expenses in
cured in traveling fo the meeting
and in looking after the interests oJ
the cooperative in many different
ways during a year’s time.
Directly following each annual
members meeting, the newly elect
ed directors meet to elect the pres
ident, vice president, and treas
urer to serve for the ensuing year
The men nominated at district
meetings, held in December, and
who will be voted upon at the an
nual meeting Saturday are as fol
lows:
District 1. Quorum not present.
No candidates nominated. Will be
nominated from floor Saturday.
District 2. H. N. Blackwood, Mrs.
Winston Strayhom.
District 3. Julian G. Jobe, D. W.
Holmes.
District 4. C. P. Murphy, J. O.
Hawkins.
District 5. H. G. Laws, J. M.
Hawkins. sc c -
District 6. Clyde Roberts.
District 7. Clyde T. Satterfield,
James R. Morris.
District 8. A. P. Dabbs, D. O.
Chandler.
District 9. W. F. Shaw, S. T.
Allred.
Vice-President
Vlce-presinedt of the coopera
tive is W. F. Shaw of route 1»
Reldsville. A farmer, he lives
In the southwest section of Cas
well county. Shaw was first
elected to the board in 1938 and
has served continually since,
having been vice president since
1940.
A Message From
President Laws
H. G. Laws, president of the
cooperative, has been a mem
ber of the board of director^
since 1938, having been return
ed each year to the board in
the annual elections. He also
has served as president of the
board since 1938. Mr. Laws is
a merchant and farmer and
lives In the northern section of
Orange county at Hurdle Mills.
He Is also s member of the Or
ange county board of commis
sioners.
Deaf Member:
Every man who owns his own
farm or little rural business es
tablishment has a strong sense
of pride In what he has accom
plished. He works hard to main
tain certain standard^ on his
farm and In his business. So It
is with your Rural Electric Co
operative, for after all it Is your
business and it is operated to
honestly serve your needs and
not profit from your business.
• As you take- pcide ln the own-- .
ershlp of your farm, so you
should take equal pride in your
cooperative and attend its an
nual meetings. It is at this meet
ing that you receive reports of
the progress during the past
year and plans of the Board of
Directors, whom you elect, for
the coming year. Your comments
and suggestions are needed to
guide1 your directors and 'the
personnel in charge of your af
fairs.
As president of your Board
of Directors, I urge you to set
aside this day, February 1st,
1947, as an important one on
your calendar of special events
and attend this meeting with
your family and neighbors.
H. G. Laws
President. i
Scene of Annual Meeting
Pictured above is the front section of Hillsboro high school where the eighth annual meeting of the
Piedmont Electric Membership Corporation will convene Saturday morning at 10 a.m. The entire day's
proceedings will be held in the high school building.
12 Merchants Are Voluntary
Collection Agents For REA
Secretary
Zeb C. Burton, an Orange
county farmer and tobacco
warehousemen, lives in the Ce
dar Grove area of Orange coun
ty. He has been on the board
of directors since 1940, having
served as secretary since 1943.
History Of REA Movement
In Orange County Given
In 1932 Orange county had on
ly eighteen miles of rural electri
fication lines.
The first rural electrificatioi
project comnleted in r^rth C.r>r'n
lina under the old CWA and the
first in the whole United States wa;
a three mile line, from Char>el Hill
to Calvander on the Hillsboro
Road. ~~
Henry Hogan and his brothers,
together with George Lawrence
and County Agent, Don Matheson,
were largely instrumental in get
ting this line built. They worked
up this CWA project and when
money ran short the Hogan Broth
ers furnished 30 ft Cedar poles on
which to string the wires. This
was followed shortly by a ten mile
line from Calvander to Orange
Grove, financed jointly by the
FRRA and Orange county farmers
who put up a sum of $2,000 cash to
•upplement the government funds.
The Grange played an import
ant part in organizing this pro
v jtsci.' anortiy arter fee - cdttxu «*ci~
ion of these first lines, a sjjrvey
was made of the entire county un
der the leadership of County agent,
•ad George Lawrence. Archie Dav
who is now a well known archi
;n rtu’-ham was the entrin^er
employed to make the survey. The
w^s w^k^d un anri sub
mitted to the Federal Government
ir assistance in the constructic n
* aonrnximatelv 150 miles of lines.
The project received much favor-*
able comment in Washington, but
it was before the existence of the
Rural Electrification “Authority:
and, therefore, nothing definite was
done about, it.
The State Rural Electrification
Authority, with Dudley Baglay as
-hairman, then began work on the
Power Comoanies to have them
build these lines that had been pre
viously surveyed. Community after
community was organized, the
right of way signed up, and in
some cases supplementary money
paid by farmers on the line to in
duce the Power Companies to
build these extensions.
In 1936 and 1937 there were more
han one hundred miles built by
Ilclll uuc -- ■ * ,
By 1938 most of the more thick
By mosi uj. ...— ----—
r settled communities had been
cached by local power companies
nd only ten miles were built by
incm. *
Seeing that the Power Compan
ies were slowing down on their
construction program and realiz
ing that there were still a hundred
or more miles that needed to be
built, the County Agent and a
group of leading farmers met and
decided to invite the newly form
ed Rural Electrification Authori
Information was obtained from
Washington and working together
with Mr. Bagley and the State Ru
ral Electrification Authority, meet
ings were held in many different
communities in Orange and Cas
well Counties. The details were
explained and farmers were asked
to sign rifcht of way easements
and pay their $5.00 membership
fee. Before a line could be assured,
all the right of ways had to be sign
ed up, and while most farmers
| willingly allowed the lines to cross
I their property, in each community
there seemed to be one or two that
were hard to convince that it was
the right thing to do.
' Much credit has been given to
the untiring efforts by leading
See (HISTORY) on P«fle 3
Joyner Urges
Good Attendance
VVcii toiKs tne i.me nan air.v-U
for another annual members
meeting. Last year we had one
of the best meetings that we
have ever held. I feel confident
that this year’s meeting will
even be better. You members are
to elect your Directors and vote
on a minimum charge reduction.
jThe honorable Thad Eure, Sec
' retary of State, will be our prin
cipal speaker. The ladies of the
New Sharon Church will serve
a barbecue dinner and we will
have the largest number of val
uable free prizes to give away
that we have ever had. To you
members that have never at
tended an annual meeting, just
ask someone that has attended.
They will tell you just what you
have been missing. AH of the
time is not taken up with busi
ness. We have time to meet new
friends and talk with our old
friends.
As manager pf your Coopera
to be present Saturday, Febru
ary 1, at the Hillsboro high
school, Hillsboro. Come * and
bring your entire family and
let’s make this a meeting Ithat
we will long remember.
F. E. Joyner, Manager
New Sharon ladies
To Prepare Feed
The barbecue and brunswiel
stew, to be served to the mem
bers of the Piedmont EleetH'
Cooperative in Hillsboro at their
Saturday; will b.?,
prepared and served by the. ladier
of the New Sharon Methodist
Methodist church.
ITo facilitate the collection of
electric bill accounts, 12 merchants
located in different sections of the
county—all of them serving the
rural trade—agreed shortly after
the formation of the cooperative to
accept payment of the monthly
light bills.
The merchants agreed to per
form this service for the cooper
ative members at no charge, be
cause they realized that They
would be performing a service not
only for the cooperative but also
for the members served by the
cooperative’s fines.
One of the' members of the of
*ice staff calls on each merchant
very month and collects the ac
’ounts he has taken in. F. E. Joyn
er, manager of the cooperative, as
ures each merchant that they are
performing a valuable service for
he members of the cooperative
nd that this service is “highly ap
reciated.’’
Merchants who perform this ser
- ice are: Golf Club Service Sta
on, Mebane; Baynes Store, RFD,
lebane; Dabbs store, route 1.
Yanceyville, Miles Store, route 1,
| Yanceyville; Comptons Store, route
3, Mebane; Carver’s Store, route
3, Mebane; Warrcft^Store, Pros
pect Hill; Laws Store, route 1,
Huddle Mills; Russells Store, route
3, Roxboro; Newtons.xStore, Rouge
mcnt: and Lloyd-Ray Hardware
Co., Carrboro.
Treasurer
A resident of route 1, Hills
boro, Clyde Roberts has served
as trearurrr of th« moo-r-t've
since 1941, having been a mem
ber of the board of directors
since 1938. He is a well-known
farmer of Orange county.
Excellent Program
Planned For Members
At 8th Annual Meet
A well-rounded program has been planned for the members
of the Piedmont Electric Corporation attending the eighth r
annual meeting of the co-op in Hillsboro on Saturday, Febru
ary 1. The meeting will start at 10 a.m. in the high school audi
torium.
Feature'of the program will be the address by Hon. Thad
Eure, secretary of state of North Carolina. Eure’s topic has
not been announced.
H. G. Laws of Hurdle Mills, president of the co-op, in a
statement issued this week urged all members of the co-op to
attend. Reports will be made oh the progress of the organiza
tion and officers will be named to serve the organization dur
ing the coming year, Laws said.
Another feature of the program will be the drawing of
valuable prizes contributed by Hillsboro merchants and other
supply houses and merchants serving the REA members in the 1
territory. The drawing will be the last item of business before
adjournment, scheduled for 3:30 p.rn. Saturday afternoon.
The morning program will consist of reports by the various
officers and a talk by Eure. The afternoon program will in
clude election of officers, other business of the c®-op and the
drawing for the free prizes.
Program For Annual Meeting
10 a. m. — MORNING SESSION
President H. G. I>aws calls meeting to order.
Invocation ^
Secretary reports number members present
President declares quorum and opens meeting
Secretary reads minutes of,last meeting
Reports given by:
President
Secretary
Treasurer —*
Manager
Introduction of speaker
Address by Honorable Thad Eure, Secretary of State
Adjourn for barbecue at 12:30 p. m.
1:30 p. m. — AFTERNOON SESSION
Report on nominations from district meetings
Call for further nominations
Appointment of inspectors of election balloting
Other business
Report of inspectors of election'__
Drawing for free prizes s
Adjournment — 3:50 p.m.
Message From National Adnhustratw -
The following letter wae written by Claude R. Wlckard, National
REA Administrator, to H. G. Laws, president of the Piedmont Elec*
trie Membership Corporation on the occasion of the eighth annual
meeting.
Dear Mr. Lawsr_1 .
Please convey my greetings and good wishes to the-members
of thet Piedmont Electric Membership Corporation on the
occasion of your annual members’ meeting. - -— - — ■ -
All ofpresent members who have had an active part
in the steady growth and expansion of the co-op during the
five years o^/its existence must feel gratified at what has been
accomplished so far. Your local efforts and those of other
forward looking rural leaders in nearly 900 REA Co-ops across
the Nation are largely responsible for the fact that more than
one-half of all farms are now electrified. This is indeed a far
advance since the Degmmngot
the REA program, when only
one out of every ten farms hed
electricity.
lint your and our job is not
yet done—not until all rural
people in your area can enjoy
the same benefits of electric ser
vice which you have secured for
yourselves. It is evident that we
cannot look to the power com
panies for doing an area cov
erage job. That can be assured
only by the rural people them
selves, working with and
through their own co-ops. I
therefore appeal to your mem
_ support
to the co-op board and management in their ettorts- to that
I know that the task ahead of you is not an easy one. But if
you look back from the height of your present achievement to
the early days when co-op electricity was just an idea in the
minds of a few far-sighted community leaders, you will agree,
I am sure, that the goal can be reached. And we in REA stand
ready to assist you to the best of our ability.
As a final thought, I should like to surest that a little time
be devoted at your annual meeting to a discussion of the many
idvantages of cooperative ownership of your electric system.
Not the least of these, of course, is the fact that each member
■s building up a personal equity in the growing net worth ol
his co-op. It is my belief that an informed membership pro
end.
y
Sincerely, —““
Claude R. Widtard, Administrator