P. O. Box 319

Paoli, IN 47454

Did You Know... Christmas Style

“Don’t let wpat you cannot do interfere witp wpat you can do.”

- Jopn Wooden

According to wtop.com these are 15 little known facts about Christmas

~In 1836 Alabama became the first U.S. state to recognize Christmas as an official holiday.

~In 1907 Oklahoma became the last state to make it official.

~In 1926, the first singing jingle played over the radio airwaves on Christmas Eve. It was “Have you tried your

Wheaties.”

~A Jewish man wrote “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and a few other classic Christmas songs.

~The real St. Nicholas lived in Turkey where he was a bishop in the early 4th century.

~The Dutch turned the bishop into a Christmas gift-giving guy. When Dutch settlers migrated to the U.S. they

brought the St. Nick tradition with them. Eventually, he eventually became known at Santa Claus.

~President Theodore Roosevelt was a bit of a scrooge when it came to Christmas trees. As a conservationist he

banned Christmas trees in the White House. Some say his kids would sneak Christmas trees into their rooms,

against his wishes.

~Germany made the first artificial Christmas tree out of goose feathers dyed green.

~Electric lights for Christmas trees were first used in 1895.

~“It’s a Wonderful Life” appears on TV more often than any other holiday movie.

~Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was actually created by department store Montgomery Ward in the late 1930s

for a holiday promotion.

~The poinsettia plant was brought into the United States from Mexico by Joel Poinsett in the early 1800s.

~In Greek, X means Christ, which is how the word “X-mas” came to be.

~In Mexico, wearing red underwear on New Year’s Eve is said to bring new love in the upcoming year.

~And the saying really wasn’t “Bah Humbug.” It was “Bah Christmas.”

WTOP’s Kathy Stewart contributed to this report. Follow WTOP on Twitter.

1. Jingle Bells. 2. Caspar, Melchior, Balthazar 3.Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen 4. White Christmas 5. Six 6. 364 7. Chuck Berry 8. Bruce Springsteen

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ElectriCom

Connections

Kevin’s Corner

ElectriCom made a commitment in 2009 to dramatically improve

our safety culture. The frequency and severity of our accidents was

unacceptable and inconsistent with our “family-oriented values”

mission. We were not protecting our family. We had to change.

We developed a plan, committed time and resources, sought buy-in

from all our employees, and set a goal to have a significantly better

safety record than the industry.

In October, we hit a major milestone towards that goal. Our experience

rating, a measurement used to track our safety record over the prior three

years, came in at .96. Anything below 1.0 is considered very good. We’re not done. We are

still not “significantly” better than the industry, but given where we were six years ago, it shows

tremendous progress. I really feel good about what we’ve accomplished thus far because it was

a joint effort at all levels of our organization. Obviously, most of the credit goes to the

employees who made a commitment to work safer. I do think that one guy deserves special

recognition. We hired Matt Ory in July of 2011 as a safety professional. He is passionate about

ElectriCom providing the safest possible work environment. He has led our efforts on safety

awareness, and developed a connection with the field based on trust and respect.

Thanks Matt and congratulations to all. Keep up the good work.

Sam Leinart

Employee Outing

Paoli Peaks News

Win

ter

20

15

I bet you aren't as smart as you think! Answer these 8 questions (without the help of Google). Answers on back page.

Which popular Christmas song was actually first written for Thanksgiving?

What were the names of the Three Wise Men?

What were the names of the original eight reindeer? (Rudolph came later!)

What is the best-selling Christmas recording of all-time?

How many sides does a snowflake have?

If you received all of the gifts listed in “The Twelve Days of Christmas” song, how many presents would you get?

Who first recorded “Jingle Bell Rock” in 1957?

Who was ‘The Boss’ who sang ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town?’

So you think YOU know Christmas?

Sam Leinart Announces Retirement

Say it ain’t so, Sam

We are both delighted and disheartened to announce the retirement of Sam Leinart. His last

day will be December 31. Sam has been with ElectriCom for a total of 15 years. As Vice

President of Telecom and President of Electricom Right-of-Way, Sam’s asset to the

company has been immense. His presence will be missed as stated by President, Kevin Ma-

son. “ElectriCom has benefited greatly from Sam’s leadership and management skills during

his time with the company, but it’s his guidance and mentoring abilities that will be missed

the most. Sam provides a steadying influence and is a positive role model that we all have

benefited from.”

Sam began his role as controller for ElectriCom in 1977. He then became Vice President of

Communications. He parted from ElectriCom in 1980, only to then return in 2003. When he

returned to ElectriCom, his role was Contract Administrator. He then went on to become

Vice President again, followed by President of Right-of-Way when the entity began in 2006.

Things have changed significantly throughout Sam’s time with ElectriCom. Sam has seen

significant growth across the company in his time here. Upon first starting in 1977, there

were approximately 125 employee’s companywide. Our ElectriCom employee counts have

since grown to approximately 450, with 100 of those being in the Right-of-Way division alone.

During Sam’s time with ElectriCom he has made a lot of friendships, both in coworkers and in relationships outside of

business. Vice President of Right-of-Way, Rick Beaver, states “Sam has been a positive leader and a great source of

knowledge for everyone who has been associated with him. He has also been a good sounding board for me and others. Sam

will be greatly missed.”

“Fortunately, Sam will be continuing on in a consulting role going forward and will not be leaving us completely,” says Kevin

Mason. Through Sam’s reduced role, he will still be around and assisting the business as needed. Senior Director talked about

how Sam expanded his knowledge in telecom and molded his leadership skills. “Sam has taught me I can move forward in

business knowing no matter how mad someone may be, they can always chew me but they can never eat me. I’m so fortunate

to have been able to work under Sam for 5 years.”

Sam’s influence on the Telecom and Right-of-Way business within ElectriCom is evident. He will be greatly missed, but

we’re glad he will still be around in a consultant role.

Sam says, “This has been a wonderful place to work. I have made a lot of friends and business acquaintances over the years.

I’ve enjoyed my time with ElectriCom and am looking forward to helping when needed. It’s been a great place to finish my

career. Thank you all for your friendships and memories over the years.”

ElectriCom is pleased to announce a change to their corporate vacation policy beginning January 1, 2016. The change in vacation

policy is designed to help employees balance their work/life commitments, and also allows ElectriCom to track vacation accrual to

the appropriate job cost center.

Starting in January, vacation will be accrued each week and available to use on a more frequent basis. Vacation will still need to be

approved by the appropriate manager prior to the time being used. ElectriCom has also added a new tier to the schedule and will

allow 20 + years of service employees to accrue vacation at a rate of four (4) weeks per year. Recognizing our dedicated

employees is an on-going commitment from ElectriCom.

In addition to the vacation accrual change, ElectriCom will also award two (2) days of Personal Business (16 hours) to allow

employees to take care of personal matters that cannot be scheduled outside of normal business time. Reasons for this type of

leave might include mortgage applications, legal matters, or other personal items such as time away for funeral leave.

Additional information concerning the policy change and usage of vacation time will be distributed company-wide in the next

several weeks.

Vacation Policy Change for 2016

Employee Outing

Tony Jr and Becky

Pasquarello, along with big

sister Hadley, welcomed

Caden John into the world on

November 16th. Caden was

born at 10:41 am, weighed 7

lbs 9 ounces and was 19 1/4

inches long. He is so precious!

We’re so happy for the

Pasquarello’s. Congratulations,

Pasquarello family!

Chad and Katie Stroud

welcomed their newest

addition on November 25th

at 2:52 am. Benjamin

Elwood weighed 7 lbs 8

ounces and was 19 1/2 inches

long. Benjamin is so cute!

We’re so happy for the

Stroud’s! Congratulations,

Stroud family!

If you have a special event or accomplishment you would like to be featured in ElectriCom Connections, please email your submission to

afischer@electricominc.com or mail it to Allison Fischer, P.O. Box 319, Paoli, IN 47454. Share with us so your ElectriCom family can

celebrate with you! (We retain editorial rights on all submissions.)

Employee Corner

Midwest— The company had a picnic at Huber

Winery on October 24th. We had 302 in attendance.

That is a wonderful turnout! We hope you enjoyed it!

We look forward to doing a similar outing next year!

South—The south had a picnic on November 8th.

They also had a wonderful turnout with 107 in

attendance. Fun was had by all!

Southeast—The Carolina region had their picnic on

September 4th. They attended a Greenville baseball

game. They too had great time with approximately

40 in attendance. However, the game was a

washout so they didn't get to catch a homerun ball.

We appreciate all who are able to attend the company

outings. We love our family atmosphere and we enjoy

spending time together outside of work!