Electric League News

Scholarship Winners

The Electric League Foundation is pleased to announce its “Class of 2002” scholarship recipients. The committee was faced with a daunting task to select recipients, as all the applicants were outstanding.

Recipients are selected through a “blind” process, with the committees being presented only with transcripts, essays and other pertinent information Ä all with no identifying information. This keeps the process completely impartial, with scholars being selected on their own merits, and not on the basis of “who they are.”

This year's recipients are:

Ø Samantha Kelble - John McDermott Memorial Scholarship

Ø Brandon Tiesing

Ø Julie McGough

Ø Andrea Stoneback

Ø Parker Tuley

Congratulations to the recipients and their families. Remember, members of the Electric League and employees of member companies are eligible for the scholarship program. That means children and grandchildren can submit applications if they are attending a four-year university pursuing a degree in any field of study. Applications will be available for 2003 at the Electric League Holiday Luncheon and on the Electric League web site in January 2003.

Let's Go Bowling!

The Electric League is considering reviving the Electric League Bowling League with league play beginning in the fall. The Electric League is asking for your opinion of this idea on the enclosed survey. The survey allows members to give feedback on times, places, session length, as well as several other questions related to forming an Electric League Bowling League. The Bowling League is intended for participation by all staff members of Electric League companies. We encourage company principals to circulate the survey throughout their companies in order to generate interest among all staff for the Bowling League. Surveys should be returned to the Electric League by June 3.

Fax completed surveys back to the Electric League office by Monday, June 3 at 816-561-1991.

Estate Tax Up for Vote

Senate Republicans recently got their wish for a vote by the end of June on making the repeal of inheritance taxes permanent. Democrats, on the other hand, said they were confident they could defeat the effort despite concerns about political consequences. “It's a touchy political issue,” said Sen. John Breaux, D-La. “It's going to be tough.”

Repeal of the estate tax, like the rest of President Bush's $1.35 trillion tax cut, expires at the end of 2010 under current law. That means the estate tax would gradually be phased down, disappear for one year and then return full force in 2011 with a top tax rate of 55 percent.

Estate tax repeal in the Senate requires 60 votes to make the repeal permanent and your help is needed to secure those votes. This vote in the Senate will be the only true vote on estate tax repeal for the rest of this Congress. The exact time of this vote is unknown at the time of this writing. Small business owners and employees of small businesses need to contact their Senators and urge them to vote in favor of permanent repeal of the estate tax.

With a House of Representatives, a President, and at least 50 percent of Senators currently supporting its repeal, we have an incredibly important opportunity to kill this thing once and for all. We can ensure this will happen with the support of 60 Senators. Please tell your Senators to support the Gramm/Kyl Amendment to HR8, and that they vote in favor of final passage.

Small business groups all say the uncertainty about repeal of what they call the “death tax” is wreaking havoc with estate planning and that failure to make repeal permanent amounts to a huge future tax increase. United States Senators (Carnahan and Bond from Missouri - Brownback and Roberts from Kansas) can be reached in their Washington offices at 202-224-3121.

What happens if Gramm/Kyl and repeal passes? The House leadership is expected to accept the Senate bill `with amendment' (that is, if Gramm/Kyl is the amendment) and without changes - this means there will be NO conference committee - and they will submit it immediately to the President. President Bush has indicated that he will sign it as soon as he receives it.

Workplace Injuries

The leading cause of disabling injuries in the workplace is not getting the most attention from employers, according to the Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. research. Workplace injuries associated with overexertion, those associated with excessive lifting, pushing, pulling, holding, carrying or throwing of an object, cost employers more than any other cause of injury, as printed in Business Insurance.

Overexertion injuries nationwide cost $10.3 billion in wage and medical payments in 1999 or 25.5 percent of the estimated $40.1 billion in total direct cost from all workers compensation injuries that year, the latest for which data is available, according to Liberty Mutual. Even though overexertion is the costliest workplace injury from a wage and medical expense standpoint, most employers are focusing their attention and resources on other less costly injuries, according to the insurer reports.

In Liberty Mutual's 2001 Executive Survey of Workplace Safety, released last fall, employers ranked repetitive motion injuries as the most important source of workplace accidents and they would focus most of their safety resources on these injuries.

But, despite the employers concerns about repetitive motion, in 1999 causes of injury ranked repetitive motion as number six - overexertion being number one, the Workplace Safety Index found. The direct costs associated with repetitive motion injuries represented $2.7 billion, or 6.7 percent of the total direct costs of all workers comp accidents in 1999.

To produce its Workplace Safety Index, Liberty Mutual identified the top 10 leading causes of disabling workplace injuries and their associated direct costs using its own claims and data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Academy of Social Insurance, a Washington-based nonprofit and nonpartisan research company. After overexertion, “falls on the same level” was the second most costly workplace injury in 1999, with estimated direct costs of $4.6 billion nationwide, or 11.5 percent of the total direct costs of workplace injuries nationwide.

Outside Sales Position

Electrical Supply Company

French Gerleman has immediate openings for Outside Sales - Industrial and Construction at their Lenexa, Kansas facility. The positions report directly to the Branch Manager and has responsibility for developing and maintaining a successful sales territory. Successful candidates should have outside sales experience in the electrical industry. This is a great opportunity for someone seeking growth and increasing responsibility. Excellent base salary, commissions, and benefits are offered. Send confidential resume to:

Mr. Glenn Crawford
French Gerleman
9735 Commerce Parkway
Lenexa, KS 66219-2403

Member Spotlight

Keith Albarelli, Heartland Electric

Keith Albarelli and Bob Fisher are co-owners of Heartland Electric - an electrical contracting company based in Belton, Missouri. The firm was established in 1990 and currently has approximately 36 employees. According to Albarelli, one of the company's areas of expertise is in back-up power systems, generators and uninterruptable power supplies (UPS) for data and call systems. “Until very recently we also did a considerable amount of work with structured wiring systems in the data, voice and video market. Right now this market is somewhat depressed, but we look for it to come back,”Albarelli added.

The firm also works on commercial projects in the design/build market in the Kansas City metropolitan area. “To date we have worked on five or six MRI machine or CAT scan machine installation projects around the Kansas City area. We never really intended to make this a niche area for the company, but with the complexity of these projects we have developed an expertise with this equipment that is getting recognized,” Keith remarked. With the purchase of Metro Electric two months ago, Heartland is now involved in more school district bid projects. “We are currently involved in a major electrical project for the Raytown School District. This was a job that Metro Electric had gotten before we purchased the company.”

The People Column

Our condolences to Richard Sheldrake of Mark One Electric on the recent loss of his sister. Our thoughts are with you.

Happy May birthday to Scott Bailey of C&O Electrical Sales. Graduation congratulations to Cindy, daughter of Doug McGough of C&O.

Wedding bells are ringing for Debbie and Mike at Rexel Glasco who tied the knot near the end of April. Also, for Donnie at CED/Rensenhouse in Lenexa who's about to say, “I Do.” Best wishes to all of the newlyweds.

See you next time - keep your news items coming. You can e-mail your news to: peoplecolumn@electricleague.org

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