At RTC, our number one priority is you—our members. Since 1951, we have been committed to keeping our members connected. Now more than ever, it is also our duty to keep you safe. Due to the continued increase in COVID-19 cases in our region, RTC has closed our lobbies once again to protect our members, employees, and communities.
We are taking extra measures to ensure that you and your families can stay safe and connected throughout this pandemic. Our techs are continuing to install new services and make maintenance calls. Prior to visiting your home, COVID-19 screening questions will be asked and, if necessary, we will work with you for a contactless install or maintenance. If it is safe for our employees to enter your home, you can expect to see them wearing appropriate Personal Protective Equipment, or PPE, when they arrive, and we would appreciate it if you would respect our employees’ safety by wearing a mask when we enter your home.
We are also offering several safe options for making payments. You can pay via our online portal, SmartHub, by clicking “Pay Bill” at
the top of the page on our website (www.RTC.coop); by phone by calling 1-844-829-1960; or by delivering your payment to one of our drop box locations: RTC Offices in Parshall, Watford City and New Town, the Garrison City Auditor’s Office, and the Kenmare City Auditor’s Office.
Finally, we have launched our new Wi-Fi app (myRTCnet) to keep you more connected than ever before. This app is a free and easy way to manage your home’s Wi-Fi, all from the palm of your hand. You can learn more at rtc.coop/myrtcnet/.
Almost eight months have passed since we first closed our lobby doors to stop the spread of COVID-19. I understand that this is a difficult time for all of us, and I encourage everyone to continue taking steps to protect yourself and those around you.
While we may not be able to catch up with you over a cup of coffee in our offices, RTC is here for you. You can contact us via phone, email, or live chat on our website anytime. During these days of social distancing and isolation, we would be happy to hear from you.
Thank you for your continued trust and support of RTC.
Shane Hart
Shane Hart, CEO/General Manager
Jessie’s Story COMING HOME, STAYING CONNECTED
How local musician Jessie Veeder Scofield built a successful career from her family’s ranch in western North Dakota
At just seven years old, Jessie Veeder Scofield took to the stage in a cowboy hat and Garth Brooks-inspired brushpopper shirt, buttoned to the top. Accompanied by her father on guitar, she belted the classics—John Prine, EmmyLou Harris, Bruce Springsteen—at art fairs and trade shows across North Dakota.
Today, Jessie Veeder Scofield is a legend of Midwestern music. And after years on the road, she has returned to the family ranch where she discovered a love for music, an appreciation for the rugged landscape of the Dakotas, and admiration for the people who call this place home.
Jessie’s journey has been far from easy—especially this year, as a rare cancer diagnosis upended life as she
knew it—but despite it all, she continues to make her music and count her blessings.
Life on the Road
The Veeder Ranch is a 3,000-acre cattle ranch overlooking the western North Dakota badlands.
It’s where Jessie grew up, exploring the wide-open spaces and listening to her father’s folk tunes. It was the place and the people she met there that inspired her to write and record her first album, “This Road,” at the young age of 16.
“Rural living has definitely been an inspiration for my music since I was a young kid,” Jessie said. “It was the people that surrounded me: the cowboys, the ranchers, the women that were raising these ranch families and taking care of each other. I saw a lot of heart and spirit, and I was always fascinated by
their stories. What their ancestors went through, how they’re impacted by the landscape. That’s always been what I’ve written about.”
Jessie’s soulful melodies and heartwrenching lyrics on “This Road” caught the attention of a booking agency in Nashville and landed her a job performing around the country. She continued to tour up and down the Midwest while attending the University of North Dakota and recorded her second original album, “A Place to Belong,” in 2005.
While touring, Jessie was often urged to move to Nashville or Los Angeles, somewhere with a more prominent music scene. But Jessie’s mind was always somewhere else.
“I never wanted to live in those places. They didn’t inspire me when I was on the road,” Jessie said. “Where I wanted to be was the ranch in western North Dakota.
That’s where I’ve always wanted to work and perform and be inspired. There’s something in my DNA. I think it was just born into me that I wanted to be out there. ”
goal to continue pursuing my career, the internet was a huge thing.”
Jessie knew that she was taking a risk by continuing her career from such a rural location. Fortunately, in the time she had been away from home, RTC had expanded its internet services to reach the Veeder ranch.
But when COVID-19 hit in the spring of 2020, Jessie and her team once again relied on RTC internet to bring art to the community.
Rural internet access from RTC made it so
I can
work from anywhere—even the middle of nowhere. “ “
Coming Home, Staying Connected
In 2010, Jessie and her husband finally came home. Back on the ranch, she released three more albums: ”Jessie Veeder Live” in 2010, “Nothing’s Forever” in 2012, and “Northern Lights” in 2015, a project that brought her to Nashville to record with legendary producer Bill Warner.
Jessie continued to write and record music when she moved back to North Dakota. But she had other plans, too— plans that required a high-speed internet connection.
“I didn’t grow up out at the ranch with access to the internet,” Jessie said. “Coming back as a grown woman with a
In 2010, Jessie used that connection to start a blog, “Meanwhile, back at the ranch…”, where she promotes her music and shares stories of her life in Western North Dakota.
“Suddenly I had fans from all over the world, from Australia to Mexico, reading what life was like in Western North Dakota, all because I could take pictures of it. I could write about it. I could put it online and I could reach people,” Jessie said. “Rural internet access from RTC made it so I can work from anywhere— even the middle of nowhere.”
And in 2014, Jessie helped found the Long X Arts Foundation in Watford City to create opportunities for art, entertainment, and culture in rural North Dakota. In a typical year, the foundation offers art classes, live concerts, and other in-person events.
“If I’m working with a client, developing a concept with the foundation, or working with the North Dakota Council on the Arts, I can have a Zoom meeting with them and we can work the details out while I’m still on the ranch,” Jessie said. “Without internet at the ranch, that wouldn’t be possible.”
She has also stayed connected to her fans during this time through virtual concerts. With high-speed internet, Jessie is able to share her music with fans from around the world, all from the comfort and safety of her home on the ranch.
“I always thought that if you live in the middle of nowhere, you can’t be who you want to be,” Jessie said. “I wasn’t always told that, but it was an assumption. But I’ve learned that when you grow up in a rural community, you don’t have to go somewhere else to be something.”
In the Rearview Mirror
Jessie Veeder is an acclaimed musician, prolific writer, passionate arts advocate, and most importantly, mother to two beautiful girls, Edie and Rosie. And in 2020, Jessie gained another title: cancer patient.
She was in the midst of recording her sixth studio album, “Playing Favorites,” when she began to feel ill. What began
in November 2019 as a cold that “just wouldn’t go away” turned into a persistent wheezing; it often felt like she could only catch a real breath when she was singing. She saw doctor after doctor, but it wasn’t until May 2020 that a specialist identified a blockage in her airway: a tumor that was blocking her entire right lung and 90 percent of her left.
Her diagnosis sent Jessie to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota for a series of surgeries to remove the tumor. Throughout her treatment, Jessie pushed to release the album, a collection of songs she grew up listening to and singing with her father. More than any of
her previous works, it is an homage to the people and places that shaped her. With only 10 percent of her lung capacity, Jessie recorded and released her sixth album. Today, “Playing Favorites” is available for purchase and streaming on all platforms. The tumor has been removed from Jessie’s airway, and while she will continue to be screened for the rest of her life, she is currently cancerfree.
“Cancer will always be a part of my life,” Jessie said. “Hopefully now I can put this in my rearview mirror.”
Throughout her diagnosis and treatment, and every other challenge that life has
thrown her way, Jessie has remained grateful. Grateful for the musicians who have inspired her since she was just a kid, the friends, family, and fans who have supported her on her journey, for the North Dakota air in her lungs, and for the ability to do what she loves from the place that she loves.
“I’m just grateful for each day I’m given, because we just don’t know,” Jessie said. “I know that sounds cliche, but it’s hard to remember that sometimes. I know now that everything can be taken away from you at any minute.”
#myRTC Internet COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
Staying Safe, Keeping Connected
When COVID-19 spread across our state this spring, access to high-speed, reliable Internet became more important than ever before. It wasn’t a luxury anymore; It was the only way to stay connected to friends and family, keep ourselves inspired and entertained, and for many local students, to even attend school.
We asked our RTC community to share how they’ve used the Internet to get through these difficult months, and were inspired by the responses we received. Check them out!
Going Back to “School”
This year’s back-to-school season was unlike any other. Schools across the region began the year virtually, and with many parents still working from home due to COVID-19,
houses that would typically stand empty from 9 to 5 were suddenly packed. Dining rooms doubled as home offices, and playrooms were partitioned into classrooms.
Every parent has had to adapt to this new kind of school year, but some, like Michelle Hoff, have taken on an extra challenge: creating a distance learning set-up for their own children and their neighbors’.
Michelle, President of the Parshall School Board, has three children of her own: Logan (5th grade), Laken (3rd grade), and Boden (Pre-K). When her district announced that the first
Friends Zoom, family Zoom time, and now most importantly Google Meets for my kids’ classes. “ “
- Michelle Hoff
two weeks of school would be held virtually, Michelle set up shop—literally.
“I held ‘shop school’ for the first two weeks to help out friends in our district that were tied up with work during the school day,” Michelle said. “We live on a farm and have a shop on the farmstead. The farming crew was out farming, so the shop was available to set up tables.”
Nine students, from second graders to a high school
freshman, attended Michelle’s makeshift shop school. At the beginning of every day, each student would connect with their teacher and receive instruction. They were given
the same time.”
Thank you, Michelle, for helping keep our local students in school during this difficult time! We asked other members of our RTC community to
RTC made sure we had a great connection in the shop, which is located near the house. “ “
- Michelle Hoff
breaks throughout the day to stretch or step away from their computers, and at lunch, Michelle would distribute meals supplied by their schools.
Michelle had the space to accommodate all nine students in her shop; the challenge was to arrange the shop school in a way that was both safe for students and conducive to their learning.
“We had to spread the tables out from each other so they didn’t get distracted from each other, or hear the other teachers,” Michelle said. “Some students wore headphones, others chose not to and still were able to listen and hear.”
One challenge that Michelle didn’t have to worry about was providing a stable Internet connection for her shop school students.
“RTC made sure we had a great connection in the shop, which is located near the house,” Michelle said. “And we made sure our bandwidth could handle 10 or more devices going at
share their advice for creating a space where families can be comfortable and productive while working and learning from home. Here’s what they said!
Getting Creative in Quarantine
From mastering the art of sourdough to Marie Kondo-ing our closets, people around the world have found countless ways to get creative during quarantine. We asked members of our RTC community to share how they have used the Internet to pick up new skills and hobbies during this unusual time.
Staying Connected through COVID
When COVID-19 hit this spring, we quickly learned that social distancing was one of the most important things we could do to keep our friends, families, and communities safe. But it also came with a downside: keeping a safe distance from our loved ones turned out to be isolating and downright lonely.
Fortunately, with RTC Internet, we are all connected—even when we have to be apart. We asked our customers how they have stayed in touch with friends and family during COVID-19.
“My
I
“Trying new Cricut projects!”
Cheyannea Hart
Gretchen Edwards
“We planted a big garden. I had to Google every step.” Jesse Amber Carter
Welcome to myRTCnet!
Manage your Wi-Fi network from the palm of your hand with myRTCnet. The myRTCnet app is FREE to download for all RTC Wi-Fi customers and gives you an instant snapshot of your home or small business network. If you are looking for network security and total control (including parental controls), sign up for the RTC BLAST Total Experience Wi-Fi package today!
Introducing the FREE myRTCnet app!
Download the FREE app today to see all the features available to all myRTCnet users. These features include:
• Basic Parental Controls - providing the ability to set profiles, add devices to those profiles, and turn Wi-Fi on/ off to devices
• Ability to set up Guest Networks and receive alerts when new devices are connected to your networks. (Don’t recognize a device? Kick them off your network!)
• Device List - showing all connected devices by category
Additional features available when you have RTC BLAST and upgrade your Wi-Fi package.
• Network Usage - showing how much bandwidth each drive in your network is using
• True Bandwidth Test from your RTC BLAST to the world wide web
• Enhanced Parental Controls:
- Abilitiy to set profiles
- Assign devices
- Schedule offline time
- Ability to block specific content, apps and websites
- View profile/device usage
• Network Security: Network level protection from malware, viruses and malicious websites, keeping your network and devices safe from cyberattacks. Covers devices in your home that do not come with built-in or purchased protections (doorbells, cameras, smart lightbulbs, etc.).
Thanks to everyone who participated in our Calendar Photo Contest! We received so many beautiful pictures, it will be tough for our employees to decide on the winning photos to be included in the
RTC calendar.
You can pick up your free calendar after Thanksgiving at our offices in Parshall, New Town, and Watford City, or City Auditor’s offices in Kenmare and Garrison. They’ll be available while supplies last.
INFORMATION ON 2021 COLLEGE
THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING IN THE Scholarships
RTC will again offer two college scholarship programs to area high school seniors.
• Four RTC scholarships, each in the amount of $2,500
• Several scholarships from the Foundation for Rural Service (FRS) to help further higher education among rural youth
More information on these scholarships will be available at www.RTC.coop in November
DO YOU LIKE TO
Plan ahead?
With SmartHub you can manage your RTC account anywhere, anytime using your mobile device.
Until November 30, 2020
All SmartHub users will be entered into a drawing for one of the three holiday wreaths from local flower shops!
*Must have an active SmartHub account. All accounts will be entered automatically.
OCTOBER WAS
Co-op Month!
This year looked a little different with no in-person Co-op Month events.
We had close to 500 members participate virtually and we gave away 40 prizes!
Lucky winners received:
* A FREE month of RTC Internet
* A FREE Amazon Fire TV Stick with FREE installation of myRTCtv
* Various local gift cards.
While we missed seeing everyone in person it was important to us to celebrate safely this year.
We look forward to 2021 where we hope to celebrate Co-op Month face-to-face again.
EMPLOYEE IN New Position
Eric Jaeger TECHNOLOGY SPECIALIST COORDINATOR
HOLIDAY Hours
RTC will be closed on: Wednesday, November 11 - Veterans Day Thursday, November 26 - Thanksgiving Day Thursday, December 24 - Christmas Eve Friday, December 25 - Christmas Day Friday, January 1 - New Year’s Day
24 Main Street North, PO Box 68, Parshall, ND 58770
www.RTC.coop, RTC@restel.com
www.facebook.com/RTC.coop
Customer Service: 0811 (within RTC exchanges) or 888.862.3115
Repair Service: 0611 (within RTC exchanges) or 800.822.3311
24/7
Help Desk: 0211 (within RTC exchanges) or 800.497.2151
Headquarters: 24 Main St N • Parshall, ND 58770
New Town Office: 202 College Drive • New Town, ND 58763
Watford City Office: 701 14th St SW • Watford City, ND 58854
READERS Contest
Congratulations to these Summer 2020 Communicator “Readers’ Contest” winners. They will receive a $10 credit on their RTC bill:
For your chance to be entered in the drawing to win a $10 credit on your bill, correctly answer the questions at the right and include with your RTC bill. You can also submit your answers on our website at RTC.coop/readerscontest or email your answers to RTCteam@restel.com
NAME
& WARM Hands WA RM Hearts
RTC is collecting new and gently used hats, mittens and gloves for children in need for the 13th annual Warm Hands and Warm Hearts project. Donated items will be distributed to the elementary schools in our service area when the weather is coldest and the need is greatest.
Please help us keep the children warm this winter by dropping off your items
Olga Hovet Watford City Exchange
Sheryl Krueger Garrison Exchange
Colin & Susan Vachal Ross Exchange
at any of the following locations now through January 6, 2021:
• RTC Headquarters in Parshall
• RTC Watford City Office
• Kenmare City Auditor’s Office
• RTC New Town Office
• Garrison City Auditor’s Office
• Latte Da (both Watford City locations)
• Wild Flour Café and Bakery (Alexander)
• Door 204 (Watford City)
Kevin & Jackie Sullivan Keene Exchange
New Town United Church of Christ New Town Exchange
PHONE
1. What quarantine hobbies dicussed above have you picked up during quarantine?
2. What is Jessie Veeder Scofield’s most recent album name?
3.What is the new RTC app called that allows you to manage your Wi-Fi network?
