Honor Flight to fly Korean War veterans; company sponsors Honor Flight DVD production

Stars and Stripes Honor Flight is transitioning its mission in 2013 to fly Korean War veterans to see their memorial in Washington, D.C.

"These Korean War veterans are often known as the 'forgotten ones from the forgotten war.' Well, they are forgotten no longer," said Joe Dean, chairman of Stars and Stripes Honor Flight.

According to Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, 40,000 Korean War-era veterans live in Wisconsin.

Stars and Stripes Honor Flight continues to fly WWII veterans to Washington, D.C. The wait list for WWII veterans is 150. Flights are scheduled for April 27 and June 8. Korean War veterans could fly as early as the June 8 flight.

Korean War veterans interested in taking an Honor Flight should fill out the application found at the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight website under the ‘Applications’ tab.

Stars and Stripes Honor Flight also announced a limited-edition DVD of the documentary film Honor Flight. We Energies is underwriting the production and packaging. The movie will be sold in limited quantities in advance of its nationwide retail release this May. The DVD is available for purchase online now through March 10 only. Ordering information is available online. The DVD is $19.99 and ships March 15.

“Thanks to the generous support of We Energies for underwriting the production costs of the DVD, the purchase of each DVD goes even further in supporting the mission of Honor Flight to fly as many veterans as possible to Washington, D.C.,” said Dean.

Honor Flight, the film, features four Milwaukee-area World War II veterans and the local volunteers of the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight chapter. Honor Flight hubs across the country are using the film to heighten awareness of the program and raise funds to fly veterans to Washington, D.C., from their communities.

Honor Flight also holds the Guinness World Record for the largest film screening ever when it premiered at Miller Park on Aug. 11, 2012, for a crowd of 28,442. The event was sponsored by the Wisconsin Energy Foundation, a long-time supporter of the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight.

Flashback Friday: Baking cookie samples

The Public Service Building's model kitchen in 1931. Home economists at our predecessor company, The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Co., baked sample cookies in the model kitchen at the Public Service Building in downtown Milwaukee in 1931. The company invited garden clubs, church groups and lodge auxiliaries to spend afternoons watching Home Service Bureau demonstrations in a effort to expand acceptance and use of electric appliances.

Are you hungry for more holiday cookies? So are we!

Although our annual Cookie Book is released around the holidays, planning for the book is a year-round project. It’s mid-January and we’re already looking for recipes for our next book.

Customers of We Energies are again being asked to submit recipes for the company’s 2013 Cookie Book. Original recipes can be submitted online. Recipes will be considered for the 2013 Cookie Book and possibly future editions.

The We Energies Cookie Book dates back to 1928, featuring hundreds of delicious recipes passed down from generation to generation. Past issues featured recipes from former and current employees -- until last year, when customer recipes were included for the first time. The response was great, and the company is again asking customers to submit their family favorites. Customers also are encouraged to share the history behind their recipes.

Submit recipe

The 2013 We Energies Cookie Book will be unveiled in November, with major distribution events at Miller Park in Milwaukee and Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium (Timber Rattlers stadium) in Appleton. Customers who submit recipes will be notified in advance if their recipe is selected for this year’s book.

Fox6 report

Flashback Friday: 1890s electric streetcar

Beginning in the 1860s, horse-drawn streetcars moved people around Milwaukee, but on April 3, 1890, the Wells-Wisconsin line of the West Side Railroad Co. became the city's first line to use electric streetcars.

West Side Railroad later merged into the Milwaukee Street Railway Co., which became The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Co. in 1896. The company was a predecessor of Wisconsin Electric Power Co. -- now doing business as We Energies.

Flashback Friday: Freezing fires

In 1945, we added a mobile carbon dioxide fire extinguisher to our power plant safety equipment.

The extinguisher contained 750 pounds of carbon dioxide that created a smothering effect at very low temperature. When the container was opened, the carbon dioxide expanded to form a gas in the atmosphere. Because the gas was heavier than oxygen, it created a "blanket" around the burning fuel and displaced the oxygen surrounding the fuel to extinguish a fire.

Carbon dioxide fire extinguishers were invented by the Walter Kidde Co. in 1924 and are still used today.

Flashback Friday: Women join workforce in WWI

World War I opened many nontraditional jobs for women. Between 1914 and 1917, more than 600 "Electric Company" employees entered the military. Most of their jobs were filled by women.

Across the U.S., about 1.6 million women joined the workforce between 1914 and 1918, filling positions in government, transportation, factories, post offices, businesses and agriculture. Many worked in munitions factories, which employed as many as 950,000 women.

While many women worked to provide for their families while their men were at war, others worked just to help the nation succeed in the war. Women also bought Liberty bonds, and observed days for conserving food, as well as abiding by numerous laws to aid the war effort.

Pipeline inspection project reaches milestone

We recently completed a major milestone in a natural gas pipeline inspection project, having inspected nearly 139 miles of high-pressure pipeline in the our most populated, urban service areas.

Mandated by the federal government in 2004, owners of natural gas pipelines are required to assess the integrity of their pipelines in areas where a rupture to the line could cause the most harm, endangering customer safety and disrupting system reliability. We met the mandate’s deadline – to complete and report on the assessments by Dec. 17, 2012.

The federal mandate was issued prior to the natural gas-related explosion in 2010 in San Bruno, Calif.

“While we have consistently performed leak surveys and other safety checks on our system, the work associated with this requirement is much more comprehensive as we dig up and physically look at the pipeline,” said Russ Ackerman, supervising engineer – gas operations. “Developing and executing a proactive plan to meet the requirement helps us identify potential problems and address them immediately.”

Use of “smart pig” technology greatly aided the inspection process. The pigs – large pieces of equipment that move along the inside of a pipeline at about 3 to 5 mph – check the physical condition of a pipeline for corrosion, debris and geometric shape. The smart pigs were used to inspect nearly 25 percent of our gas transmission mains as part of the integrity management program.

As a result of the comprehensive inspection project, various components in the natural gas pipeline system were replaced and improved. Throughout the multiyear process, customer service was not disrupted.