This Fourth of July, our country’s Great Experiment will be 250 years old.

The Declaration of Independence was accepted and signed by a group of men we call Founding Fathers. These men knew the cost of signing this document and risked their lives, reputations, wealth and families’ safety.

The statement in the Declaration that sets the standard for this experiment is as follows:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Samuel Adams was one of the men who signed the Declaration. Sadly, Adams is probably better known today for beer even though he was involved in organizing resistance to the British rule in Boston. Adams helped create the Sons of Liberty, a political organization active in the 13 American colonies. Secret meetings were held in the basement of the Green Dragon Tavern, which became known by historians as the headquarters of the Revolution. The Boston Tea Party was planned at this tavern. Adams and friends probably drank beer and ale while planning the Boston Tea Party, but he was not a brewmaster.

The British viewed him as one of the most dangerous revolutionaries in America. He could have been arrested or executed for treason. Knowing that possible outcome, I would have had a beer or two myself if I had been in there planning the Boston Tea Party. But the individuals at that time understood the necessary sacrifices.

During World War II, the people of the United States understood sacrifice because they knew their freedom could be lost. Today, you hear complaints about temporarily high gas prices due to trying to remove nuclear threats from a country that will use them against anyone who opposes them without discernment.

I believe God has blessed our country — not because our Declaration of Independence and Constitution are perfect documents, but because they provide hope that some of these imperfections could be worked out, giving its citizens life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Understanding the threats to the Great Experiment throughout our country’s history
will help you see why I believe God has blessed this country.

In the early days of the Revolutionary War, our commander, Gen. George Washington, was defeated in the battle of Brooklyn. Washington and 9,000 Continental troops had their backs up against the East River, and Washington ordered a nighttime evacuation with the British army only 600 yards away. At daybreak, thousands of troops were still waiting to cross, including Washington. Remarkably, a thick fog settled over Brooklyn and the East River, allowing the army to safely cross the river with supplies. If Washington and his army had been captured, he would have been killed. With no army and no supplies, the experiment would have been gone with the wind. The signers of the Declaration of Independence would have met the same fate as Washington.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan attacked the Hawaiian Islands. With the Pacific naval fleet crippled, Japan had open access to the West Coast of the United States. Such an invasion would have given them a strong foothold in our country. With our limited military at that time, turning them away would have been almost impossible. But, strangely, Japan not only turned away from the West Coast, they even turned away from the Hawaiian Islands.

With these two events, and there are more, is the United States just lucky? I don’t think so. I believe God has not only blessed this country but protected it as well.

After 9/11, President George W. Bush asked American musician and singer Michael W. Smith to write a song about the country. The song he wrote was “There She Stands.” It is about the American flag, the ultimate symbol of this Great Experiment. Here are some of the song’s lyrics:

“When the night seems to say/ All hope is lost, gone away/ But I know I’m not alone/ By the light she stands/ There she waves, faithful friend/ Shimmering stars, westward wind/ Show the way, carry me/ To the place she stands/ Just when you think it might be over/ Just when you think the fight is gone/ Someone will risk his life to raise her/ There she stands.”

God bless the USA until the Creator returns. Happy Fourth of July.

Manufactured homes are an affordable way to home ownership for many people.

But while modern manufactured homes may include energy-efficient features, older models may not, adding to your monthly costs to heat and cool your home.

South Alabama Electric Cooperative offers rebates to upgrade manufactured homes to energy-efficient heat pumps. SAEC members may qualify for rebates up to $400 per ton to convert their manufactured home to a heat pump system.

Older manufactured homes were often equipped with electric furnaces. SAEC’s rebate is designed to help cover the higher upfront costs to purchase a heat pump, which can be up to four times more efficient to operate than an electric furnace. And despite the name, heat pumps are efficient at both heating and cooling. Heat pumps work by moving heat from your inside home to the outdoors when set to cool and do the opposite when heating. Since heat pumps don’t generate heat, they are more efficient to run, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Members can save hundreds of dollars a year by upgrading to a heat pump.

The rebate is made possible with financial support from PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, says Andy Kimbro, vice president of member services for SAEC. As SAEC’s wholesale energy provider, PowerSouth has to provide enough capacity to meet the power demand among its co-op members. Rebates that improve operational efficiency even at a household level create cost savings for PowerSouth, SAEC and members.

For more information on the manufactured home rebate, contact SAEC’s member services team at 800-556-2060.

Kimbro says whatever heating and cooling system you currently have, it’s important to keep it maintained. Heating and cooling systems can account for roughly 50% of your monthly power bill.

Kimbro recommends having your system serviced once a year and changing the filter monthly to ensure it runs as efficiently as possible.

Opening of new Miracle League field delayed by tornado damage.

A few weeks before the Miracle League of Troy was set to debut a new baseball field at the Troy Sportsplex in 2025, the unthinkable happened. An EF2 tornado tore through the sportsplex, ripping part of the roof off the recreation center and damaging ballfields, bleachers and lighting.

Debris tossed by the tornado shredded the Miracle League’s new playing surface.
“It picked up one set of bleachers in particular and threw it into the chain link and backstop of the Miracle League field,” says Dan Smith, director of Troy Parks and Recreation. “The bleachers disintegrated but then kept going and just acted like box blades. It went across the surface of the brand-new Miracle League field that had never been played on.”

The diamond’s debut was delayed a year, but Miracle League athletes stepped onto their home field for the 2026 season with a new playing surface.

The Miracle League is a national organization that gives children and adults with disabilities the opportunity to play baseball. Today, there are chapters, sports complexes and teams across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Players are paired with volunteer buddies, who assist them during play. The fields and dugouts are wheelchair-accessible.

The first Miracle League field opened at the Troy Sportsplex in 2011.

“Our original surface was a rubber-coated safety surface that was installed in sheets and rolls, and it was beautiful when it was installed,” Smith says. “But over the years, the edges began to curl up on all of the seams, and it became not only unsightly but a hazard.”

The league sold T-shirts and sought donations from supporters to help cover the $200,000 cost of replacing the playing surface.

In 2024, South Alabama Electric Cooperative was among the contributors to the field restoration project, pledging $5,000. The cooperative’s wholesale energy provider, PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, pledged another $5,000. SAEC also submitted the project to the charitable program of one of its third-party lenders, CoBank, which put in another $5,000.

Each year, SAEC employees make a Miracle League donation as a Christmas gift to CEO David Bailey, whose grandson Kristian Prettyman played with the Troy Miracle League.

Smith says the generosity of sponsors, individuals and the city of Troy helped the Miracle League raise enough money to cover the field in a synthetic turf similar to what is used on college and professional football and baseball fields.

The new field was completed in February 2025. Then on March 15, the EF2 tornado tore through Troy and rural Pike County.

“It was a very proud day when we were finished with it, and then three weeks later, the tornado came through,” Smith says. “Because there was so much damage to so many of our other recreational facilities, it all just kind of blended into one challenge. We were, of course, discouraged, but at the same time we were enthusiastically motivated to get everything reopened.”

Everything at the Miracle League field had to be replaced — the playing surface, the bleachers and the chain-link fencing. All lighting had to be replaced at the Miracle League field as well as 11 other baseball and softball fields and the soccer complex. Upgrades were made as well, such as shades over bleachers and netting to catch foul balls.

While heartbreaking for all those who worked to raise money for the new Miracle League field, Smith says they were thankful nobody was hurt in the tornado. Insurance as well as a multimillion dollar bond issue by the city government covered the cost of repairs.

Baseball, softball and Miracle League games were played in 2025 at other locations, including Troy University’s baseball field, where the Miracle League has traditionally played its season-opening game.

The Miracle League of Troy’s Monday night games were packed during the 2026 season as the new playing surface made its debut.

“It’s just beautiful,” Smith says. “Everybody loves it, and it was just standing-room only — a lot of people in the bleachers and in lawn chairs.”

Brittany and Austin Steen had a vision for the farm life they wanted.

Hiccup Farm came by its name honestly.

When Austin and Brittany Steen purchased a fixer-upper home with 35 acres of pastureland in the Spring Hill community south of Troy, they knew they had their work cut out for them.

They spent about eight months on repairs and renovations. It seemed the more they did, the more new problems they uncovered. One day, a contractor friend working on repairs with them casually commented about how they had experienced “hiccup after hiccup.”

The name stuck.

“It was kind of a diamond in the rough,” Austin says. “I don’t think I actually saw it listed. I think I drove by and saw a real estate sign laying on the ground. It took a unique buyer for sure.”

Brittany admits she struggled initially to see beyond the house’s disrepair, abandoned chicken houses and barns. The floor in the home was a concrete slab. There were no appliances. Brittany’s father fashioned a sink for them to use. Two of the chicken houses had burned at some point. The livestock barn was filled with junk. Even the land required work. Fencing had to be added to the property if the Steens wanted to raise livestock.

“He had a vision for it, and it took a long time for me to get on board,” Brittany says. “I heard what he was saying. I heard his heart and the desire, and we did agree. We both wanted the same thing, but I had a hard time seeing how it would happen here.”

Planting the seeds

They persevered and moved onto the farm in 2021. They started with broiler chickens, and in 2023, they got their first flock of 16 Katahdin sheep, a hair sheep that naturally sheds its coat in the spring and is primarily raised for meat. Today, Hiccup Farm has around 50 ewes and finished another lambing season in March.

Austin and Brittany grew up in small communities, hearing stories from their parents and grandparents about growing up on farms. They both attended Troy University and married in 2017, buying a home in a Troy subdivision.

With the arrival of their first child, they became more focused on knowing where the food they fed their family comes from and how it is raised, whether produce or meat.

Raising sheep is not necessarily what the Steens thought they would end up doing. Based on their research, sheep seemed less intimidating than starting out with cattle.

They follow practices known as regenerative farming, which includes using few chemicals on the land and the animals. They also rotate their livestock regularly so no area of the pasture is overgrazed. Because he continues working as an accountant and teaches an accounting class at Troy University, Austin appreciates the low input and sustainability of regenerative farming, but the couple say there’s more to it for them.

“Once we got out here and really started getting our feet wet and farming, we started learning more and more about it — just about how God designed the Earth to renew itself and the nutrients poured into the soil in order to feed the grass, which feeds our animals, which feeds us,” Brittany says. “It’s just that whole circle.”

A growing business

Hiccup Farm has done most of its business by word of mouth and through Facebook, but it now sells its meat products at Troy’s Terra Cotta Garden Center, where a refrigerated case features lamb, beef and chicken. The farm built a following of repeat customers in the few years since starting business.

Today, Hiccup Farm includes both sheep and cattle. Processing the meat, the Steens say, has been the biggest challenge. Because they sell retail, meat has to be processed at a USDA-certified facility, and there isn’t one in Pike County. Dothan is the closest place for beef processors, but the Steens currently have their lamb processed nearly two hours away in Colquitt, Georgia. They’ve used six different lamb processors since starting up. Because of restrictions and risk of cross-contamination, many processors just don’t work with lamb, the Steens say.

What produce the Steens grow feeds their family, which now includes 5-year-old Mary Ella, 3-year-old Calvin and 1-year-old Darby, along with a team of farm dogs featuring a border collie, a spaniel, a Great Pyrenees and an Anatolian shepherd to help watch over the flock and herd.

And just as Austin and Brittany envisioned, their children excitedly run around the property, picking wildflowers and following their parents on farm tasks. Austin has been actively working to restore native plant species on the land, and one of Mary Ella’s favorite things is to go out and find the native flowers as they start to bloom.
When Brittany looks back at where they started, it’s with fondness despite the challenges.

“The hiccups, they were obstacles on our journey to getting to where we are now, but they didn’t stop us,” she says. “That just is a testament, I think, to the Lord’s hand in that. He will help you through it and he’ll sustain you even when there are hiccups.”

Who likes change?

If you were to ask this question to a majority of people, they would likely say, "I am for change, if it makes everything better." But when you want to change something, their true colors will surface.

For example, if the music director of a traditional Southern Baptist church replaced the Sunday church hymns with modern praise music without asking anybody, that change would not go over very well, trust me.

There is a saying often attributed to Christian author C.S. Lewis: "Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when we look back, everything is different?"

Electric cooperatives are not protected from the winds of change. There are around 900 electric cooperatives across the U.S. Within the next five years, over 40% of the CEOs of those cooperatives will be eligible for retirement. I am in that stat. This change in leadership is concerning as the electric industry faces so many challenges.

News channels report about the artificial intelligence revolution, stating the U.S. must win this AI race with China. There is a basic electric demand issue that needs to be addressed in the near future. The data centers that power AI will absorb a great amount of the electric demand capacity, and there are questions on who is going to pay for the generation needs that come with AI expansion.

With the normal residential and commercial growth within electric utilities, that question is easily answered. Those members pay for that growth. But AI growth may be different. Politicians are diving into the issue. They want data centers to pay for all the electric demand, generation and transmission costs up front or build their own generation and transmission assets.

I have not formed an opinion on data center companies being in the electric business, but I can see opportunities for us. Over the past few years, I have written in my monthly columns about various issues facing the cooperative world. We navigated the waters of a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, electric steel shortages, supply chain delays, labor shortages and the high cost of building electric generation plants and transmission and distribution lines.

While traveling through these rough and deep waters, the cooperative has maintained its focus on safety, reliability and reasonable cost of electricity.

During these times, Gary Smith served as the CEO of PowerSouth Energy Cooperative. He held this position for more than 26 years and had a PowerSouth career spanning over 37 years. Like myself, Gary is an accountant, but he attended law school and became a lawyer not a CPA. However, Gary's greatest asset as CEO was his ability to develop relationships.

These relationships ranged from PowerSouth member cooperatives -- which SAEC is one -- employees and trustees, leaders at Alabama Power Company, the Business Council of Alabama and electric industry leaders.

By the time you read this article, Gary will be retired. The native of Corinth, Mississippi, made a big splash in the electric industry world. But things do change.

Gary and I are "Roll Tide Roll" fans and old enough to remember the times when Alabama had to hire a new head football coach to follow the greatest college football coach ever! Now, I am not going to discuss which Bama head football coach is No. 1 or No. 2, but Paul "Bear" Bryant and Nick Saban are, without a doubt, the greatest. You do not replace those coaches, and you do not replace Gary Smith.

Like Alabama football, PowerSouth has high standards. Our new CEO starts June 1. Damon Morgan will continue to meet those high standards and lead the members through the continuing rough waters of the electric industry.

Damon has over 40 years of service at PowerSouth, mentoring under Gary for over half of those years. Damon has a great ship to sail, and I am confident he will not run that ship to ground.

As far as the country boy from Corinth, I'm going to miss Gary's leadership, knowledge and his friendship. Gary enters retirement with his wife, Debbi, three daughters and sons-in-law and eight grandchildren. As you can see, Gary can stay as busy as he wants to be with his family. Gary also has a boating and fishing companion -- his trusted yellow Lab, Yadi.

Gary, good luck on your next race. You have finished your race at PowerSouth, and like a true Alabama football fan, you finished your race as a champion!

SAEC awards scholarships to local seniors

South Alabama Electric Cooperative awarded 24 scholarships to 22 local high school seniors — 20 through the Electric Cooperative Foundation plus four from the SAEC Employee Scholarship Fund for children of cooperative employees. Two of this year’s scholarship recipients received one of each. Students awarded ECF scholarships received $1,000 each, while those receiving SAEC Employee scholarships were given $1,250 each.

2026 Montgomery Youth Tour offers attendees important lessons, new connections

South Alabama Electric Cooperative’s delegates attending the 2026 Montgomery Youth Tour learned a lot about leadership, communication, history, government and how electric cooperatives serve communities.

And they had fun while learning. “We’ve talked a lot about leadership and about public speaking,” says Sarah Sanders, 16, a student at Pike Liberal Arts School. “There’s been so many fun activities with each of the speakers. We learned how to be attentive with each other and how our body language says a lot about how we present ourselves to people.”

The Montgomery Youth Tour is an annual event bringing high school juniors from around the state to the Alabama capital. Selected by local electric cooperatives, the students visit historic sites, museums, government buildings and participate in team-building and leadership activities. The statewide event is sponsored by the Alabama Rural Electric Association of Cooperatives as well as the local co-ops.

In June, electric cooperatives will send students to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s Washington, D.C., Youth Tour to visit the nation’s capital.

Sanders and Hayden Duncan, 17, will represent SAEC during the 2026 Washington Youth Tour.

Duncan, who attends Zion Chapel High School, says she was sad to see the Montgomery Youth Tour end. Those in the SAEC group, she says, managed to become friends in just three days.

“We’ve made sure to send all of our pictures to each other, and I feel like we’ll definitely keep in touch,” Duncan says.

Being around people she doesn’t know can be a bit intimidating for Duncan, but she realized she likely wasn’t the only Youth Tour attendee who felt that way and decided to just be herself.

“It was kind of like everyone wanted to get to know everybody, and there was no fear,”

Duncan says. “I had nothing to be afraid of — everyone’s here for the same things, and we just all want to get to know each other.” Duncan says she got a lot from the experience, gaining skills and tools to help her in life and at school. One guest speaker used an interactive beach ball game to teach attendees about communicating and working together to reach a goal — in this instance, keeping a beach ball in the air, a task that wasn’t as easy as it looked until those involved started talking to each other.

“You have to talk to people,” Duncan says. “You have to be OK to hear an opinion other than your own and work with people.”

Sanders says the tips on public speaking, which she considers one of her weaknesses, really hit home for her. Like Duncan, Sanders says she realized delegates were all there to learn.

“I have met so many new friends like from places all over that I would have never known about before this trip,” Sanders says. “And, honestly, it’s such a rewarding experience.”

Along with the speakers and leadership activities, Youth Tour attendees visited the Alabama Statehouse as well as sites like the historic Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. served as pastor from 1954-60.

Both Duncan and Sanders say their eyes were opened by the trip to The Legacy Museum, which tracks the country’s history from the days of slavery to racial lynchings, Civil Rights and racial bias.

They say the museum’s exhibits taught the students history they had not learned in school.

“It was really an eye-opening experience, and a tour I went through slowly and just read as much as I could,” Sanders says.

The students are excited to visit Washington, D.C., in June and thrilled to travel together for the event that draws students from around the country. Duncan and Sanders sat with each other on the bus ride from Troy to Montgomery and got to know each other better.

Duncan says during the state trip she tried not to think about the Washington Youth Tour but just focus on the Montgomery trip and being herself.

“It kind of just helped me realize as long as you’re yourself, that’s all people want, and that will get you a lot further in life,” Duncan says.

Mothers matter. One day out of the year to acknowledge this hardly seems enough, especially considering the role they play in shaping our lives. A mother takes different forms — the woman who gave birth to a child, adopted a child as her own or someone who stepped up when a biological mother could not.

Sunday, May 10, is Mother’s Day, and we hope our residents are able to honor their moms on this special day even if an in-person celebration isn’t possible. Salute the work they do to care for us. Honor them for every skinned knee treated, meal provided and every day worked to feed, shelter and clothe us.

FROM MAYOR ISABELL BOYD AND THE BRUNDIDGE CITY COUNCIL, MAY ALL MOTHERS FEEL THE WARMTH AND RESPECT THEY DESERVE ON MOTHER’S DAY AND THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.

Lieutenant governor candidate Wes Allen sees electric co-ops as part of community foundations

Wes Allen feels connected to electric cooperatives.

Not only does he value the principles behind cooperatives, but he’s also a member of South Alabama Electric Cooperative.

“I know that South Alabama Electric is always looking to improve people’s lives and make our area more prosperous,” Allen says. “They’re looking for ways for economic growth. They’re looking for ways to serve the public and looking for ways to make sure that we have electricity and power that we can depend on.”

Allen is among the Republican candidates seeking his party’s endorsement in the May 19 primary to run for lieutenant governor. Alabama’s lieutenant governor — who is limited to two four-year terms — serves as the presiding officer for the state Senate as well as the successor to the governor. Governor and lieutenant governor candidates do not run on a single ticket. Rather, they are elected separately.

Allen became Alabama’s 54th secretary of state in January 2023, overseeing the state’s elections. He also served District 89 in the Alabama House of Representatives and as Pike County’s probate judge.

“The lieutenant governor’s role is very important, and it’s an important leadership position in our state,” Allen says. “We’ve got to continue with strong conservative leadership in that role, and there’s nobody better prepared with a more conservative record of accomplishments than me. My days in public service as a probate judge, as a state legislator and now serving as secretary of state have prepared me, through all of that experience, to use that experience in a very positive way and to use the relationships that I’ve been able to garner and to build through the state of Alabama to be a positive influence in the direction of our great state.

“Born and raised in Tuscaloosa County, Allen earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Alabama and played football for the Crimson Tide. While attending the University of Alabama, he met his wife, Cae, who was captain for the Million Dollar Band’s Crimsonette line. Allen received his master’s degree from Troy University. He and Cae have two children, Davis, a graduate of Troy University, and Dee, a student at the University of Alabama.

Allen and his family are members of First Baptist Church of Troy, where he is an ordained deacon and Sunday School leader. Allen says his faith is important to him.

“We’re actively involved in our church, and we love our local fellowship there, so that’s an important part of my life,” he says. Earlier this year, Allen was endorsed for lieutenant governor by the Electric Cooperatives of Alabama Political Action Committee (PAC), the political arm of the Alabama Rural Electric Association of Cooperatives. The PAC supports candidates who champion rural communities as well as sound energy policy and the mission of Alabama’s electric cooperatives.

Allen says he was honored to receive the endorsement. Electric cooperatives around the state, he says, are part of the foundations of the communities they serve, working to not only deliver electricity but improve communities in other ways, such as economic development projects.

“They’re plugged in in so many different ways,” Allen says. “All the members and the people that run these cooperatives are people we see at church, they’re people we see at Rotary and other civic groups. They’re individuals that are highly invested in their local community, and they’re one reason that our communities throughout the state of Alabama are strong.”

Allen says he’s blessed to be in the position he is in to serve in state office and wants to continue serving Alabama to ensure the state is the best it can be for future generations.

“I want to be a part of the leadership team that continues to push Alabama forward,” he says. “Alabama is a great state. It is my home state where I was born and reared, and I want it to be the best it can possibly be for my kids and my grandchildren. We want to make sure Alabama is still a special place to raise a family.

“Allen says his legislative experience will give him good insight to preside over the Alabama Senate as lieutenant governor and help the legislative process move smoothly and efficiently. His focus on cutting red tape and wasteful spending as secretary of state, he says, will carry over well if he’s elected lieutenant governor.

No matter where he travels on his campaign, Allen says he meets people who are proud of their state, communities, churches and families, and he wants to help give them reasons to continue to be proud of Alabama.

“I want to make sure that I represent them in a way that will never embarrass them, and that we will just work hard each and every day to keep Alabama a great place to call home.” Allen says

South Alabama Electric Cooperative is not yet powerful enough to stop outages from happening, but we make reporting those outages as easy as grabbing your smartphone and sending a text message.

You don’t have to leave a voice message or wait on hold. Just add our outage number — 800-556-2060 — in your phone’s contact list and use a few key words in your message.

Text “OUT” to report an outage at your service address.

Text “STATUS” to get an update on an outage.

If you are not currently enrolled in the text outage alert system, please text "SAEC" to 800-556-2060

The success of SAEC’s text-based outage management system, however, depends on correct information for each member. The automated system uses caller ID to match your phone to your account, which is why it’s important for members to keep their account information up to date. Having current information, especially cellphone numbers, ensures faster response to outages. The system automatically retrieves your service address and maps your location.

Members can also use the SAEC Connect app to report and monitor outages.

Visit southaec.com/outage-safety for more information on the text outage alert system, including details on how to update your account as well as a list of frequently asked questions and a link to enroll in the text outage alert system.