The Foundation for Rural Service (FRS), a non-profit organization dedicated to sustaining  and enhancing the quality of life throughout rural America by advancing an understanding of rural telecommunications issues, seeks applicants for its Summer Internship Program, which provides an educational opportunity and work experience for individuals who were raised in or currently reside in a rural community.

The Summer Intern will gain working knowledge of nonprofit business practices and FRS  programs as well as the rural telecommunications industry while working at the Foundation’s headquarters in suburban Washington, DC.

The Internship is a 12-week summer program from May/June through August/September, with flexible start and end dates.

Additional information and a downloadable application are available on the FRS Web site, www.frs.org.  Applications must be postmarked by April 27, 2012.

Pictured are Chris Hopp, Alpine; and Ashley Moyna, 2011 FRS Scholarship Recipient

The FRS college scholarship program awards twenty five scholarships in the amount of $2,500 to winning applicants across the nation. Eligibility requirements and the application can also be downloaded from FRS Website at www.frs.org. Completed applications must be returned to our office by February 15, 2012, so that we may complete the Sponsor Certification and forward the applications to FRS.

The RIITA college scholarship program will award one $2,500 to a winning applicant  receiving telecommunications services from a RIITA member (Alpine is a RIITA member) and is from a rural area. Eligibility requirements and the application can also be downloaded from the RIITA Website at www.riita.com. Completed applications must be returned to our office by March 1, 2012, so that we may sign the application and send it to RIITA.

The Alpine Communications scholarship program will award four $500 scholarships to winning applicants, one graduating Senior from Central, Valley, Clayton Ridge, and MFL  MarMac schools. Each school’s Dollars for Scholars program administrates the scholarship. Eligibility requirements and the application can be obtained from your guidance counselor’s office.

Contact Sara Hertrampf at Alpine for more information or assistance with applying for a scholarship.

Showcase your photographic talent on the cover of Alpine’s 2012-2013 telephone directory! For the past six years the Alpine directory, AKA the Northeast Iowa Regional Directory, has featured a local photo on the cover.  Once again this year we are holding a contest to give our customers a chance to show off their talents in a photo contest for the directory cover. We are seeking digital photos from amateur photographers that portray the natural beauty and scenic settings that surround us. Photographs must have been shot within the areas served by Alpine Communications and have been taken by the entrant within the past three years.

View 2012 Directory Photo Contest Entries

The winning photographer will receive a $50 gift certificate to the Alpine TEC Store.  The winning photograph(s) will be published on the cover of the 2012-2013 Northeast Iowa Regional Directory distributed by Alpine Communications. As a thank you, each person will receive one 5×7 print of one of their entries.

Contest Rules & Eligibility Requirements

• Entries are open to customers of all ages who are Alpine Communications customers
• Photos must have been shot within Alpine Communications’ serving areas
• Photos must have been shot within the past three years
• Digital photos must be high-resolution, at least 300 dpi, and formatted as a .jpg, .pdf, .bmp, .eps, .tif, .gif
• Relatives of Alpine Communications employees are not eligible to enter

How to Enter

• Send digital photos by the entry deadline of February 15, 2012
• Email photos to alpine@alpinecom.net
• Include name, address, telephone, description of photo, and where the photo was taken
• Limit two entries per household

Contact Sara Hertrampf, Alpine sales and marketing manager, at (563) 245-4000 with questions regarding the Directory Photo Contest.

We recently upgraded our Kodak Picture Maker kiosk providing many new enhancements  and tools. In addition to creating affordable Kodak-quality prints with faster image  processing, you also have access to these NEW premium features.

Social Networking Connectivity - You can print any of your online pictures from Facebook, Kodak Gallery, and Picasa Web Album!

Photo Books – Hard-cover photo books provide a fun, new way for you to use prints from your Picture Maker to make photo gifts or a keepsake of a special event. Books are available in 4×6, 6×8, or 8×10 sizes starting at $9.95/each.

Picture Movie DVDs - Use 40 to 60 of your own still images to create a unique, personalized remembrance of special events, complete with pan and zoom effects, music and titles. Kodak Picture Movie DVDs will play on any home or computer DVD player.

Facial Retouch - Now you can look your best with Facial Retouch. It automatically smoothes skin tones, removes or reduces facial blemishes and wrinkles.

Video Snapshots - No need to take video and stills of the same event. With Video  Snapshosts, you can easily pull still pictures from your digital videos to make prints,  collages, calendars, greeting cards, and more.

Pet Eye Retouch - The new easy-to-use editing tool will appeal to pet lovers. It removes  the flash glare from your pet’s eyes.

Visit the Alpine Digital Photo Center and save 10% when you make a donation to the Alpine Mitten Tree!

Pictured are Stacey Rentschler of Sweet Addictions Boutique in Elkader with Lanette and Tammy from Alpine accepting her donation of gorgeous hats, scarves, and mittens to the Alpine Mitten Tree.

Alpine Communications’ “Mitten Tree Program” is in full swing during the holiday season. The purpose of the “Mitten Tree Program” is to collect new or handmade hats, gloves, mittens and scarves for individuals within our community who are in need. This is an opportunity for individuals, families, groups and businesses to support this local program and help a child/children, adults and/or seniors to stay warm during the winter months.  The proceeds will go to families of Northeast Iowa.

Collection of new winter gear is underway now through December 31, 2011.  Donations can be dropped off or mailed to:

• Alpine Communications, PO Box 1008, 923 Humphrey St, Elkader, Iowa 52043
• The Guttenberg Press, 10 Schiller St, Guttenberg, Iowa 52052

In the spirit of giving, those who make a donation will receive a coupon for 10% off a purchase from the Alpine Communications Retail or Digital Photo Center.  Some restrictions apply.  Please contact Sara Hertrampf, Alpine sales and marketing manager, at (563) 245-4475 for details.

On November 9th at approximately 1:00 p.m. Central time, Alpine Communications in conjunction with U.S. Department of Homeland Security/FEMA will participate in a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS).

This test will last for approximately 30 seconds.

The National EAS is a public alert and warning system that enables the President of the United States to address the American public during extreme emergencies.

As the Federal, State, tribal, territorial and local governments prepare for and test their capabilities, this even serves as a reminder that everyone should establish an emergency preparedness kit and emergency plan for themselves, their families, communities, and businesses.

Visit http://www.fema.gov/emergency/ipaws/eas_info.shtm for more information.

High school athletic directors, coaches and sports reporters from around the state are encouraged to submit their “Player of the Week” nominations each week by 5:00 p.m. every Monday. Submissions can be sent to INSPlayeroftheWeek@RadioIowa.com. Each week, nominations will be reviewed and selected by class division. The “Player of the Week” award will be based on the athlete’s performance and overall sportsmanship. Weekly stats for the player must be included for the nomination to be considered.

Iowa Network Services and Alpine Communications congratulate this week’s winners. Together, we are proud to support Iowa’s athletes.

Iowa Network Services “Player of the Week” winners for the week of October 20: FOOTBALL

Class 4A: Louis DeFrieze, North Scott

The senior quarterback connected on 13-of-16 passes for 261 yards and four touchdowns in a victory over Burlington. He also rushed for 74 yards and a touchdown.

Class 3A: Josey Jewell, Decorah

The junior running back rushed for 113 yards and two touchdowns in a victory over Waverly-Shell Rock. On defense Jewell registered 23 tackles and an interception.

Class 2A: Michael Strautman, Carroll Kuemper

The senior running back rushed for 275 yards and five touchdowns in a victory over Jefferson-Scranton. Strautman averaged over 10 and a half yards per carry.

Class 1A: Spencer Halloran, West Fork

The sophomore quarterback passed for 285 yards and four touchdowns in a victory over Lake Mills. He also rushed for 165 yards and a score and on defense recorded 10 tackles.

Class A: Trevor Bouma, LeMars Gehlen

The senior running back carried the ball 27 times for 258 yards and four touchdowns in a victory over Marcus MMC. Bouma also had 11 tackles on defense and an interception.

Eight-man: Trent Flesher, Melcher-Dallas

The junior running back rushed for 275 yards and four touchdowns in a win over Meskwaki Settlement. Flesher also led the Saints on defense with 16 tackles, including two sacks.

In recent months, Alpine Communications and other rural telephone companies across the United States have experienced increasing problems with the completion of long distance calls. In addition to calls simply not completing, the quality of some of the calls, when they do complete, is very poor. For example, your phone may not ring yet you will later see a missed call on your Caller ID. Or, you will hear the phone ring and try to pick up the call but cannot hear the caller’s voice. Another scenario being reported is poor voice quality, such as static or echoes, which make it difficult to carry on a conversation. Alpine has also received more and more reports of troubles with sending or receiving faxes.

What is going on? Because of the reliability of the telephone network for years and years, we take it for granted that when someone in another city or state tries to call you or your business, the call will complete, your phone will ring and you will be able to carry on a conversation without any issues or poor call quality. The problems experienced by Alpine Communications and other local telephone providers are frustrating and costly to both you as our customer and to us as a business. These calling problems are not caused by Alpine, and cannot be “fixed” by Alpine. The problem calls, which move from one telephone network to a second network and perhaps a third or fourth network along the way, are not even reaching the Alpine network.

Alpine has actively participated in information gathering sessions with other local telephone companies as well as with national telephone associations. These issues have been presented to the Federal Communications Commission, urging them to investigate and find the cause of the long distance call completion issues. This is a growing epidemic and is causing great concern in the telephone industry.

If someone is attempting to call you, and experiences any issues with call completion or poor call quality, Alpine encourages you to gather as many details about the call as possible and call us to report these details. This information is very useful as we actively seek a solution to the call completion issues. If possible, we ask that you gather the following information for each problem call:

• The time the call was placed
• The phone number from which the call was originated
• The name of the caller’s long distance or wireless provider
• Details about what happened (my phone did not ring, I picked up the phone to answer a call and there was dead air, the caller could hear me but I could not hear the caller, etc.)

Please call (563) 245-4000 for the Customer Service.  They will log your call as well as the details related to the call completion issue. Thank you for your patience as Alpine Communications and other rural telephone providers work together to resolve the call completion problem.

Alpine Communications along with Iowa Network Services, Inc. is pleased to announce that Clayton County Sheriff’s Department is an award recipient of the Iowa Network Services Charity Grant program. Clayton County Sheriff’s Department was awarded $350 to help purchase an AED (Automated External Defibrillator).

Chris Hopp, Alpine Communications; Joe Craig, INS; and Kelly Marmann, Clayton County Sheriff’s Department

INS Created this charity grant program to increase its service and support to the communities it serves and to help bring INS closer to its customers. Click here to obtain a copy of the INS Charity Grant application.