ConnectionConnectionA Monthly Newsletter

for the GBT Communities and Patrons

May 2016Vol. 21, No. 5

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Rush Center OfficeP.O. Box 229 • 103 Lincoln

Rush Center, KS 67575800.432.7965 • 785.372.4236

Hours:7:30 am - 5:00 pm

Monday through Friday

Ness City Office114 W. Main

Ness City, KS 67560800.966.5186 • 785.798.3100

Hours:8:00 am - 5:00 pm

Monday through Friday

Ellis Office101 W. 9th

Ellis, KS 67637800.966.5183 • 785.726.3200

Hours:Noon - 6:00 pm

Monday through ThursdayNoon - 5:00 pm

Friday

Larned Office122 W. 5th

Larned, KS 67550800.432.7965 • 620.910.7676

Hours:9:00 am - 3:00 pm

Mon., Tues., Thurs., & Fri.Noon - 6:00 pm

Wednesday

www.gbta.netHelp Desk: 800.432.7965

Mother nature ended up putting some smiles on our faces toward the end of the month with some much needed April showers and hopefully your May flowers bloom in full swing. This month is usually very busy for most people traveling to Graduations and for Mother’s Day. If you are looking for that perfect gift for your graduate and maybe for yourself, check out this month’s promo on page 2 and save up to $600. All GBT offices will be closed on Monday, May 30th in observance of Memorial Day.

This Memorial Day let’s remember all the members of the Armed Forces and especially those that lost their lives fighting for our freedom. Below is a list of local American Legion and VFW Posts throughout the GBT area. Please check with your local Post to find out any Memorial Day

events in your area and support them if you can.

VFW locationsPost 9139 Ellis Memorial Post / Ellis / (785) 726-4514

Post 3147 Rush County Post / La Crosse / (785)-222-6748Post 7271 Jack Krieger Post / Larned / (620)-285-6036

Post 7972 Ransom Post / Ransom / (785)731-2414Post 7519 Metz-Harter-Culbreath Post / Saint John / (620)549-6276

Post 1235 Amos C Sherrill Post / Stafford / 620-234-6027

American Legion locationsOlin Cole Post 392 / Bazine

Sunley-Squier Post 382 / BrownellFrederick A. Browne Post 280 / Burdett

Tony Asher Post 300 / GarfieldGlen S.T. Van De Veer Post 33 / La Crosse

Walter S. Chears Post 106 / LarnedThomas E. Wilder Post 52 / Macksville

West-Burch Post 59 / Mc CrackenFrank Stull Post 152 / Ness City

Courtney M. Long Post 53 / Saint JohnChristopher L. Stockwell Post 131 / Stafford

Mc Kinstry-Jones Post 380 / Utica

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ALBERTAaron Koochel 923-4208

ALEXANDERAlexander Wind Farm LLC 343-2591Alexander Wind Farm LLC 343-2592Alexander Wind Farm LLC 343-2593

BAZINETina Harris 398-2103

BROWNELLApril & Richie Braun 398-2149

BURDETTLarrry Hamrick 525-6633

ELLISMike & Vanessa Keller 726-3233Scott Pfannenstiel 726-3763Kiana Springfield 726-2410

GARFIELDHaley Broz 569-2430

NESS CITYJerry & Linda Byrd 798-2588Dr Monica Rein-Moore Optometrist 798-3736Maryann Pavlu 798-2250Lindsay Rolo 798-2089

Quentin Rolo 798-2348Sheridan Schaben 798-2980Kristi Schneider 798-2274Ashley Snyder 798-2287Lindsey Tacha 798-2154

OTISDennis Hewitt 387-2229Tasha Keith 387-2248

ROZELFelicia Ward 527-4208

UTICAClayton Johnson 391-2300

Directory UpdatesMay

A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. - Joseph CampbellA hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. - Joseph Campbell

S A V Ero v e $ 6 0 0 00

Pick your bundle!

*Exact makes and models will be determined at the time of purchase, but will be of similar features. This bundle is for residences only, and is not available in all areas. Certain conditions apply, see store for details. Offer expires May 31, 2016.

Desktop HP EliteDesk 705 4GB Ram 500GB Hard drive DVD+RW Windows10Laptop HP 455 4GB Ram 500GB Hard Drive DVD+RW Windows 10 15.6" HD ScreenIpad Pro 9.7” 32GBIpad Mini 4 64GBPlaystation 4

Ultra-Fast 16 Mb/1 Mb Internet Connection. Not only do you get these two bundled services but receive residential phone and unlimited long-distance all for $113.15 per month. Seem to have bad luck with computers? Let us put your worries to rest with 2 computer clean-ups at half the price.

Pair it with

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

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Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

*Upcoming Community Events

May

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

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*KSRE (Contact your local extension office for more information or to register.) April 3-June 30 / Story Walk / LaCrosse / Story walk is a story placed along a walking path for parents and children to read. The trail in La Crosse begins at the Library and continues counter-clockwise around the grade school. May 6 / Barn Quilts / Ness City May 7 / Barn Quilts / Ness City May 12 / Knowledge at Noon / Gluten and Your Gut’s Good Health / LaCrosse Extension Office May 12 / Wheat Plot Tours / All 3 Counties / Rush 8:30am, Ness 2:30pm, Lane 6:00pm This is a district tour starting in Rush county and ending with a dinner in Lane county. You can join and leave at your discretion. *Barbed Wire Festival 50th Anniversary LaCrosse / May 5th-7th / LaCrosse City Auditorium / County Wide Garage Sales / Vendor Booths and more / For more information please visit www.rushcounty.org/wireshow *Rush County Health Department Lab Screening 6:30am-9:00am / 611 Peace Street- La Crosse / No appointment necessary, first come first serve/Fasting required but water and medications are allowed for lab screening/For more information please call 785-222-3427*4th Annual Family Fun Kite Fly Larned / Santa Fe Trail Center Museum / 10am to 2pm / For more information contact Becca Hiller at director@santafetrailcenter.org*Walnut Valley Potato Bar 11am-1pm / Walnut Valley Senior Center / Rush Center*Babysitting Clinic (Contact your local extension office for more information or to register.) Open to boys and girls 12 years and older that are interested in learning skills to be a babysitter, for a summer job or just watching your younger siblings. / Cost is $10.00 / Class is from 10am to 3pm

We are pleased to serve our local communities and would like to

include your community event in our newsletter. Submission for this section is due by the 10th

of the previous month. Please mail items to: GBT-Attn: Marketing

PO Box 229Rush Center, KS 67575

Call 800.432.7965 or Email: marketing@gbtlive.com

*KSRE*Rush County Lab Screening*Barbed Wire Festival

GBT Night at Larned Theatre

*Babysitting Clinic - Rush

GBT Offices Closed

*See details below

Heart of Kansas Camp registration due

*Barbed Wire Festival

*KSRE*Barbed Wire FestivalUtica May Day Parade*4th Annual Kite Fly

*KSRE 4-Clover Camp Registration Deadline

*Babysitting Clinic - Ness City

Memorial Day

Mother's Day*Walnut Valley Potato Bar

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Our March Photo Contest winner was Debbie Stiawalt of Beeler with this great

picture of the Ness County night sky.

It’s time to count... throughout this issue of the Connection there are many black graduation hats. Can

you count them? When you find them all, e-mail marketing@gbtlive.com with the total number of black graduation hats and you will be entered into a drawing to win a $10 GBT bill credit on your next GBT bill!

Butterfly Hunting WinnerMary Steitz-La Crosse - April’s Newsletter had a total of

21 black Butterflies! Mary won a $10 bill credit from GBT just for playing!

March Photo Contest

Graduation Hat Hunting

March Mania Winners

Count this one too!

Find Your Digits

Congrats to our April “Find Your Digits” winner

Ada Outlaw - Otis

GBT is pleased to announce the winners of the Pick-It March Mania college basketball contest. Out of over 288 participants in the community, Emily

Cable from Ness City earned the most points in the contest and was awarded a $100 Visa

Gift Card. Andrew Flax from Ness City came in second place and received a $50 Visa Gift Card, and Lonnie

Stieben from Bazine finished in third and won a Gift Basket.

Contest participants were invited to pick who they predicted to win the NCAA men’s college basketball championship tournament games

a n d e a r n e d points for each game they picked

c o r r e c t l y . T h e contest was conducted online and sponsored by GBT. The

March Mania contest ended Monday night after the Villanova Wildcats beat the North Carolina Tarheels to win the championship game. Pictured is Emily Cable

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GBT Website has a Fresh Look

GBT Named Certified Gig-Capable Provider by NTCA - The Rural

Broadband AssociationWe are very excited to announce the launch of our newly designed website. The site’s homepage features bright colors and an uncluttered design along with our newly designed logo and icons. We wanted to make the new website faster, easier to navigate, and more user-friendly. As a technology leader, it’s important for us to make information regarding solutions, services and trends easily accessible for our current and prospective customers.

One main new feature that we are very excited about is our ability to offer Live Technical Assistance right from the website with just one click. Our customers and local businesses that utilize our Community Channel 3 and 6 will enjoy the new online advertising form. GBT strives to support our local communities which is our main reason for adding an online Donation/Sponsorship form. In the About Us section you can read our GBT History, check out our Mission statement, and meet our GBT Board of Directors. Here you can also get information about being a part of the GBT team in our Employment section, and view our Locations and learn how to Contact Us. See all the Business Solutions GBT has to offer under the new Business Services tab. Our GBT team has worked hard to put together this website, rich in information, to be used as a resource. We pride ourselves on being a thought leader in the technology field and look forward to hearing any feedback from you.

If you experience any problems using the new website or if you have any questions, please contact us at marketing@GBTLive.com

Arlington, Va., April 13th, 2016 – GBT was today recognized by NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association, the premier association representing nearly 900 independent, community-based telecommunications companies that are leading innovation in rural and small-town America, as a Certified Gig-Capable Provider for delivering gigabit broadband speeds and enabling technological innovation in the Timken and Alexander communities.

As a Certified Gig-Capable Provider, GBT joins a national campaign to build awareness and industry recognition of community-based telecom providers that have built communications networks capable of delivering Internet speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second, which is 100 times faster than those currently available in many U.S. households. GBT also received tools to promote itself as a Gig-Capable Provider in the Timken and Alexander communities and will be recognized in NTCA media, on the NTCA website, and during association conferences and events.

“I applaud GBT for its commitment to delivering the Internet’s fastest speeds – an accomplishment worthy of much praise considering the unique and challenging circumstances small, community-based telecommunications providers operate under every day in serving some of our country’s most rural and remote communities,” said NTCA Chief Executive Officer Shirley Bloomfield. “By building a gigabit-capable network, GBT has not only overcome these challenges, but also shattered conventional benchmarks for broadband speed to enable cutting-edge technologies that drive innovation and promote economic development in their communities, region and nationwide.”

To achieve certification, telecommunications companies must show that gigabit technology is currently commercially available within 95% of one or more exchanges within its serving territory and that such service can be provided without new trenching or stringing new aerial facilities. This statement must be confirmed by a letter from an engineering firm or other independent source involved in thecompany ’s ne twork planning, deployment or operation.

More information aboutthe NTCA Gig-CapableP r o v i d e r c e r t i f i c a t i o nprogram is available at www.ntca.org/gigcertified.

Ingredients:1 - Package Boneless Chicken Breast (Cooked) Brown Sugar1 - Package Bacon (Cut in half) Chili Powder

Directions:Cut Chicken into 1-2 inch slices, take a piece of Bacon and wrap it around the chicken slice. Spray your baking sheet with Pam, then place the Bacon wrapped Chicken on the pan. Once pan is full, sprinkle brown sugar across all pieces of chicken, then top with chili powder according to taste. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

If you have questions or comments about this newsletter or any of our services,

please email us at marketing@gbtlive.comKelly Baalmann, Editor

Kyle Bahr, EditorVerda Flinn, Graphic Designer 6

Bacon Wrapped Chicken BreastSubmitted by Kelly Baalmann - LaCrosse

If you have a favorite r e c i p e y o u w o u l d like to share to be f e a t u r e d i n an upcoming newsletter, send them to marketing@gbtlive.com.

SEEKING

On March 28th our GBT Annual Meeting was held at Ellis High School. Entertainment before the meeting was provided by the Ellis High School choir who gave a great performance. The meeting started at 7:00pm when members heard of the past year’s company business in several reports. Office Manager, Debra Tuzicka, gave the financial report, followed by a report from General Manager, Beau Rebel. Mr. Rebel discussed several items happening in the industry today and how those will affect GBT and its members. He continued his report with some of the year’s highlights including the upgrade to the Timken and Alexander exchanges to fiber with over 87 miles of new fiber being placed in the ground. Turning up the Stafford cable system was also a major highlight and project for GBT in 2015.

Mr. Rebel introduced the members of the board and employees. He also recognized and thanked Board Member Cinda Flax

for 15 years of service and employee Bryan Foos for 20 years of service.

All attendees received door prizes in addition to several drawings. Winners of a $100 credit on their bill were: Ellis Public Library, Gerald Washburn, Ellis Credit Union and Holy Trinity Catholic Church. The following

customers received Free Set Top Box rental for one year: Roger Scott, Doris Flax and David Seibel. And the winners of the gift baskets were Norma Brack, Ransom Senior Center, and Craig Blockstone who won two baskets!

At the end of the meeting, it was announced that the current board members, Cinda Flax, James Jecha, and Brian Hammeke had been re-elected to another term as trustees. We want to thank everyone who attended the 57th GBT Annual Meeting and we look forward to seeing you next year.

Annual Meeting Recap