JULY 2015

124260

Published monthly for customers of SkyLine Membership Corporation and SkyBest Communications

www.SkyLine.orgwww.SkyBest.com

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Friday, July 3SkyLine Customer Centers

to Close for Holiday

American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life

Ashe CountyFriday, July 17

Westwood ElementarySchool

Avery CountyFriday, July 24

Avery County High School

STAFF:Jimmy Blevins

Chief Executive OfficerKim Shepherd

Executive Director of CustomerOperationsAngie Poe

Customer Service ManagerJamey Jenkins

Retail Sales ManagerKaren P. Powell

Public Relations Administrator & Editor

SkyLine/SkyBest Supports LMC Summer Theatre

SkyLine/SkyBest is pleased to be a corporate sponsorof the Lees-McRae Summer Theatre program again thisyear. This season, LMC Summer Theatre will present comedy and musicals beginning with Oliver whichopened on June 26 and ends with a matinee on July 3,followed by Lend Me a Tenor which opens on July 15and The Denim King which opens on August 1.

Oliver, the beloved musical based onCharles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, has won numerous awards including the Tony forBest Musical and Academy Award for Best Picture. SkyLine is pleased to be thepresenting corporate sponsor of this show,

a must see for children and adults.The comedy, Lend Me a Tenor, won

the Tony for Best Play and Best Revival ofa Play, and The New York Times says it is“one of the two great farces by a livingwriter.”

Several years ago, the Blue RidgeParkway Foundation commissioned JanetSpeer and John Thomas Oaks to write amusical about the Cone Dynasty and FlatTop Manor, the Cone mansion that residesalong the Parkway in Blowing Rock, NC.

The Denim King was produced at the Blowing Rock StageCompany and became their best attended production.This fascinating show tells the story of how Moses Coneand his brother Ceasar developed textiles– particularlydenim. 

For ticket and complete schedule information, visitwww.lmc.edu/summertheatre.

SkyLine Wins National AwardSkyLine received national recognition during the

NTCA PR and Marketing Conference in Austin, Texas, in late April.

The national organization honors the year’s best workin rural independent telco marketing and public relationsthrough its annual TeleChoice Awards program, recogniz-ing excellence in NTCA member company annual re-ports, customer newsletters, print publications, marketingcampaigns, websites and local video content.

SkyLine was honored for the third time in this cate-gory in recent years when it received a 2015 First-PlaceAward for Annual Reports among companies with accesslines of 10,000 or more. The entry was judged in the production category “outsourced,” where the creative aspect was implemented with assistance from a consult-ant or outside firm (Kemp Advertising & Marketing). Annual Reports are judged on design and graphical elements, writing and effective presentation of finances.

The 2014 Report is featured on SkyLine’s websiteunder the About SkyLine tab and on the company profile page.

SkyBest Among Sponsors of An Appalachian Summer Festival’s

Popular SeriesSkyBest Communications will be among the Popular

Series sponsors at An Appalachian Summer Festival, the monthlong summer arts program that features a vari-ety of music, theatre, film and dance on the campus ofAppalachian State University in Boone. Debuting in 1984as a chamber music festival, it has developed over theyears to become one of the nation's largest regionalmulti-arts festivals with over 26,000 people in attendanceeach year. Presented by the Appalachian State UniversityOffice of Arts & Cultural Programs, the annual arts cele-bration is held every July, and corporate sponsorshipshelp to keep ticket prices affordable for area residents.

Dubbed “The Last Leading Man” byThe New York Times, Tony Award-win-ning Brian Stokes Mitchell has enjoyeda rich and varied career on Broadway, tel-evision and film, along with appearancesin the great American concert halls. BrianStokes Mitchell will perform with theWinston-Salem Symphony on July 11.

David Grisman revolutionizedacoustic string music. Bryan Sut-ton is one of the most sought afteracoustic guitarists on the planet.The David Grisman Sextet andspecial guests, the Bryan SuttonBand, will perform on July 17.

The Beach Boys havebirthed a torrent of hit sin-gles and sold albums by thetens of millions. But theband’s greater significancelies in the fact that itchanged the musical land-

scape so profoundly that every pop act since has been inits debt. The Beach Boys will perform at the Holmes Con-vention Center on July 18.

Lisa Fischer has been a back-upsinger for Luther Vandross and TinaTurner, and has toured with The RollingStones. Along with Darlene Love, MerryClayton, Patti Austin and Judith Hill, she'sfeatured in Morgan Neville’s documen-tary film Twenty Feet from Stardom. LisaFischer and Grand Baton will perform on July 23.

Scott Bradlee, pianist,arranger, and composer,and Postmodern Jukeboxhave been viewed onYouTube well over a hun-dred million times. The

band covers recent pop songs with jazz or other genrevariations. Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox will perform on July 31.

SkyLine By-Laws Summarized for Director Elections at

Annual MeetingSkyLine’s 59th Annual Meeting is scheduled for

Saturday, September 26, at Ashe County High School in West Jefferson. The three-year terms of the followingdirectors will expire as of this meeting: James L. Shep-herd (Alleghany); Jerry Roten (Ashe) and Tommy JoeWard (Watauga).

A summary of SkyLine Membership Corporation’sBy-Laws pertaining to director qualifications and nomi-nations is provided below (Article VI, Section 4).Section 4.3 A Director    • Is a bona fide citizen and full-time resident of the area to be

served by the Cooperative.• Is NOT an employee, present or retired, of the Cooperative,

and is not in any way employed by or financially interested ina competing enterprise or business engaged in selling com-munication services or communication supplies or construct-ing or maintaining telephone facilities, other than a businessoperating on a cooperative non-profit basis for the purposeof furthering rural telephony.

• Is NOT closely related to an incumbent director or employeeof the Cooperative.

Section 4.4 Nominations• It shall be the responsibility of the Board to appoint a commit-

tee on nominations not less than forty (40) nor more than seventy (70) days prior to the date of the Annual Meeting.

• The nominating committee shall consist of not less than five(5) nor more than eleven (11) members who shall be selectedfrom different geographic areas so as to insure equitable representation.

• A list of nominations for directors will be posted at the princi-pal office of the Cooperative at least twenty (20) days prior tothe Annual Meeting.

• Nominations by petition may be made by any one hundred(100) or more members acting together at least twenty (20)days prior to the Annual Meeting. Such nominations shall beposted by the Secretary where the list of nominations madeby the committee is posted.

• The Secretary shall mail the notice of the number of directorsto be elected and the names and addresses of the candi-dates, specifying separately, nominations by petition, if any, atleast twenty (20) days prior to the Annual Meeting. The ballotshall list the names of the candidates nominated by petition.

Members of the Nominating Committee will be appointed and a meeting date will be set for this committee at the August meeting of the SkyLine Boardof Directors. Notice of the Nominating CommitteeMeeting will be posted on SkyLine’s website (www.skyline.org).

Recipe of the Month

Lite Dump CakeIngredients:1 can Lite pie filling (any flavor)1 box cake mix (any flavor)1 20-ounce bottle diet 7-Up

Instructions:In 9 x13 baking pan, layer ingredients in order listed. DO NOT MIX! Bake at 350-375° for 35-40 min.Recipe submitted by Sandra Hoyle ofWatauga County.

KATIE ALVAREZUNC–Charlotte

Parents: Felix & SaraAlvarez

JEREMY DIXONWingate University

Parents: Ricky Dixon& Deborah Deck

MADISON MURPHY

Surry CommunityCollege

Parents: Jon & EroraMurphy

ALLEGHANYCOUNTY

TAMERON RUSSGardner-Webb

UniversityParents: Rob &

Susan Russ

AUSTIN DANIELSMayland Community

CollegeParents: Bill & Valerie Daniels

SAVANNAHCOPELANDEast Carolina

UniversityParents: Kristin &Theo Copeland

ANDREA HOWELL

Gardner-Webb University

Parents: Timothy &Melody Howell

MICHELLE SNYDER

East TennesseeState University

Parents: Stanley &Betty Snyder

CHLOE ELLERNortheast StateComm. College

Parents: Richard &Melissa Eller

AVERY COUNTY

Area Students Named Winnersof Frank James-SkyLine

ScholarshipEleven area high school seniors have been

named recipients of the 2015 Frank James – Sky-Line Scholarship. The scholarships honor the mem-ory of longtime director and former SkyLinePresident Frank James and are awarded to childrenof SkyLine/SkyBest customers who reside in ourfive-county service area. The awards were an-nounced at area high schools’ Awards Day pro-grams, and will be officially presented to thestudents at SkyLine’s Annual Meeting in September.

Annually, SkyLine awards $1,000 scholarships,renewable for up to four years, to students pursuinga four-year college degree and $500 scholarships,renewable for up to two years, to students pursuinga community/technical college degree or vocationalprogram.

ALLEGHANYCOUNTY

ALLEGHANYCOUNTY

KRISTEN HUFFMAN

East Carolina University

Parent: Jennifer Huffman

CARTER CALHOUN

Wilkes CommunityCollege

Parents: Greg &Gina Calhoun

ASHE COUNTY ASHE COUNTY

AVERY COUNTY WATAUGA COUNTY

WATAUGA COUNTY

JOHNSON COUNTY JOHNSON COUNTY

Thank You!A huge thanks to SkyLine

member, Lee Francis, an AsheCounty native who has been paint-ing most of his life. Mr. Francis recently used his artistic talent tocapture a SkyLine crew hard at work.