Montgomery County Farm Bureau
102 North main Street
Hillsboro, Illinois 62049


Dear Montgomery County Farm Bureau Members:

It is our pleasure to make you aware of the life Line Screening in our Community.

Where: Montgomery County Farm Bureau Building
When: Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Call 1-800-679-5192 for an appointment (pre-registration is required)

Over 5 million people have participated in Life Line Screening’s ultrasound tests for stroke caused by carotid artery disease, abdominal aortic aneurysms and other vascular diseases. Cardiovascular disease is the #1 killer in the United States of both men and women and a leading cause of permanent disability.

Consider these statistics:
• Stroke is the number one cause of nursing home admission
• Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States

You may think that your physician would order these screenings if they were necessary. However, insurance companies typically will not pay for screenings unless a person has suffered symptoms. Unfortunately, 50% of stroke victims have no symptoms. That is why having a Life Line Screening is so important to keep you and loved ones healthy and independent.

We encourage you to talk to your physician about Life Line Screening. We are confident that he or she will agree with the hundred of hospitals that have partnered with Life Line Screening and suggest that you participate in this health event.

Wishing you the Best Health,

Montgomery County
Farm Bureau

P.S. Click above on "Tests That Can Help Save Your Life" for tests and cost to perform them.

My name is Jeff Carron and I am one of the Illinois Farm Bureau county manager trainees. I will be training in Montgomery County for the next couple weeks and would like to tell everyone a little bit about myself.
I was born and raised in the town of Raymond, IL. Throughout my childhood I have been very involved in production agriculture and have always loved the agriculture industry. From the time I was a young boy, I was a proud member of 4-H and that inspired me to join FFA throughout the high school years. I was in FFA for 4 years, 2 of which were spent as a chapter officer at Lincolnwood High School.
After graduating high school in 2004 from Lincolnwood, I attended Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield, IL. During my career at Lincoln Land, I was an officer on the Lincoln Land Livestock Evaluation Team, a member of the Lincoln Land Meat Evaluation Team, a Student Senator on the Student Government Association, and a member of Ag Club.
Upon graduating with an Associates at Lincoln Land in 2006, I transferred to Illinois State University in Bloomington/Normal, IL double majoring in Ag Business and Ag Science with a focus on Agronomy. During my two years at ISU, I was a member of Alpha Zeta honors fraternity and an officer for two years on the ISU Trap and Skeet Club.
After graduating ISU in May of 2008, Illinois Farm Bureau offered me a position as a county manager trainee, and for that I am grateful. I have always had a great passion for agriculture, and am very excited to have to opportunity to work with the agriculturalists throughout Illinois. I strongly believe Illinois Farm Bureau is a great organization and I am joyful to have the opportunity to start a career here. The members of Farm Bureau have made all of this possible, and I would like to extend appreciation and gratitude to all of those in the Farm Bureau family.

Come meet Jeff Carron. Jeff is a young man from Raymond that is working as a Manager Trainee for the next four weeks here in Montgomery County. Jeff is a Spring Graduate of ISU in Bloomington.
Lyndell Wernsing our director from Raymond called me early last May and said that he would like to send a young man down to speak to me about Illinois Farm Bureau and job opportunities with IFB. After visiting with Jeff for about an hour, I called home office to see how we could get him on the training program. After graduating in late May, Jeff was hired and started his training in Bloomington for three weeks with the staff. For the past three weeks he has been in Washington and Perry Counties.
Last week my Regional Manager called to see if I would be interested having Jeff for two or three weeks. IFB wanted to place him close to home so he wouldn’t have to live out of his suitcase..
If you get a chance, come in to hello.

1 Bois D'Arc 175.5
2 Pitmann 189.8
3 Harvel 206.9
4 Zanesville 158.0
5 Raymond 184.6
6 Rountree 163.5
7 Nokomis 181.3
8 Audubon 188.8
9 N. Litchfield 175.3
10 Butler Grove 175.0
11 Irving 153.8
12 Witt 170.3
13 S. Litchfield 134.8
14 Hillsboro 135.8
15 East Fork 147.1
16 Fillmore 158.5
17 Walshville 150.8
18 Grishan 126.3
19 S. Fillmore 183.0


166.27 b/pa

The week of August 18 will be a mad house around our building. Hillsboro will be celebrating their annual Old Settlers home coming. Main Street will be closed from late Tuesday evening through late Thursday night. Our office will close at noon on Wednesday, August 20 and will be closed all day on Thursday, August 21. We will reopen on Friday, August 22.

I went to the Illinois State Fair yesterday and had a very enjoyable time. I can not remember being there on such a nice day. Usually it's hot and humid but not this year. I went up to watch our Young Leaders participate in the Quiz Bowl contest. Although they didn't do too well this year they had a lot fun. Wait until next year!

While at the state fair I went by to see one of our directors who is at the fair showing mules. I didn't realize he had so many. It was very intersting to hear him talk about his mules while he was showing them to us.

I have attached an article about him and his mules. Just double click on State Fair to see the article. I hope you enjoy reading it.

Blowin' In The Wind
by Mike Plunkett

"The bottom line is it hasn't caused us any problems," Randy Lloyd of the McLean County Extension office told a bus load of Montgomery County Farm Bureau members visiting the Twin Groves Wind Farm east of Bloomington on Tuesday.

The farm bureau planned the informational trip north after Dominion announced in April its plans to build a 150-200 turbine wind farm in southwest Christian and northern Montgomery counties.

The farm bureau also invited members of the county board and the public on the tour. The charter bus was full, and three carloads drove separately.

Tourists first met with Ryan Gammelgard, office of the general counsel for the Illinois Agricultural Association, who advised landowners on points to consider before signing a lease with a wind energy company, and gave county board members suggestions for a wind turbine citing ordinance. The county board is currently considering such an ordinance in committee.

The 240 Twin Groves turbines stretch across three townships in McLean County, east of Bloomington. Each turbine stands 263 feet high and generates 1.65 megawatts of power. Rotor blades are 135 feet long and turn at 20 rotations per minutes. They turn at a constant speed, regardless of wind speed, provided the wind is blowing between nine and 55 mph.

Lloyd said he is paid $20,000 per year for the wind turbines on his property ($5000 each for four), plus an annual cost of living increase. Payments are made quarterly.


In total, he lost four and a half acres of farmland to the turbines and access roads. Tax bills for that ground goes directly to the wind farm.

Tourists were particularly interested in noise generated by a turbine.

"Walk up and see," Lloyd said. "The only noise is a whooshing sound as the blade passes. Studies have shown that a wind turbine produces less than 50 decibels. A typical wind turbine approximately 1000 feet away is only a little noisier than a reading room of a library.

"For comparison," he added, "the typical home has a decibel level of 50; a bedroom is 40."

Turbine paint is designed to repel ice, and the color helps them blend into the sky.

"In sunshine, the towers appear white, while in shade they appear almost a battleship gray," Lloyd said.

Operating turbines turn into the wind. When the wind speed gets above 55 mph, the turbines shut down and the blades "feather" 90 degrees to let high winds slip by.

Each turbine is inspected daily, and all of the turbine sites are kept under 24-hour security protection, "a fact that has increased the level of safety and security of the entire neighborhood," Lloyd added.

After the construction process, oil and chip township and county roads were rebuilt with asphalt by the wind farm, some with curbs and gutters. Each turbine cost about $1 million to build and generates substantial tax revenue.

"It's been good for our farm, good for our roads, good for our schools, and good for our environment," Lloyd summed.

The biggest downside?

"The six-month construction process was a mess. But in the end, they did what they said they would do."

Gammelgard encouraged landowners to consult with family members before signing a lease, ask for better terms in exchange for longer leases, spell out what will happen when turbines are no longer in use, avoid confidentiality clauses, record any lease or agreement, and address any construction phase concerns in the lease.

"There is going to be a construction crew on your land for six to 12 months that isn't necessarily going to have your best interests in mind," Gammelgard said.

Lloyd said Twin Groves did not negotiate separate contracts-terms were the same for everyone. They did, however, encourage landowners to take the lease to their own attorneys for review, and the wind farm paid for those attorney fees.

Dominion anticipates beginning construction on their proposed Prairie Fork project in 2011.

But before that, Rural Electric Convenience Cooperative, based in Auburn, is building a lone wind turbine on the reclaimed mine site east of Farmersville. Construction on that project has recently begun.

I want to thank everyone that went on the Wind Farm Tour yesterday (8-5-08). We certainly lucked out with the weather. When I planned the trip I was afraid the weather was going to be hot and humid. 100 degree weather was predicted with high humidity for yesterday, but it was actually a very nice day.

It was cloudy when we left Hillsboro. When we arrived at the outskirts of Bloomington it sprinkled on us. However, it stop by the time we arrived at the Extension Office. It thundered, lightened and rained while we were holding our meeting with General Counsel Attorney Ryan Gammelgard.

The skies cleared so we could walk to and from lunch. It could have been terrible even though lunch was just across from the street. The temperature was 73 degrees when we left the Extension Office at 11:30.


The skies stayed cloudy while we were out at the turbines. But as soon as we got back on the bus the sun came out and when we passed a bank at 2:45 p.m. that had a thermometer on it, the temperature read 96 degrees.

Be sure and check the “Hot Topic” section of this website. I will have pictures and other information about the tour in the coming days.

Again, I want to thank everyone who went that made it a successful trip.

The bus leaves tomorrow morning (8-5-08) at 7:45 a.m. from in front of the FB Building to tour the Twin Groves Wind Turbine Farm in McLean County.