Local 104 member pursues whitetail on national TV
A wind power technician and member of UWUA Local 104, Jordan Winans, services wind-driven turbines high above the earth to help keep the lights on in homes across the grid. When his boots are on the ground, Winans spends as much time as possible pursuing largemouth bass and walleyes, but his favorite pastime is scouting and bowhunting Michigan’s whitetail deer.
In early 2018, Winans was chosen by the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA) to appear on its national outdoor TV series, “Brotherhood Outdoors.” Last fall, he traveled to the legendary bluff country of Buffalo County, WI, and Winona County, MN, to fulfill his dream of matching wits with a monster buck.
Nestled in the rugged yet fertile Driftless Region untouched by glaciers in the last Ice Age, the counties are famous for producing record-book bucks. The breathtaking terrain where Winans’ adventure occurs is unlike anywhere he’s hunted in his home state, and the bluffland bucks are considerably older and wiser, too. With the aid of his Schuhter’s Outpost host, he sets out in search of a giant.
After the whitetail hunt, the cameras follow Winans back home to Michigan where he and his father host a military veteran during the annual Walleyes for Warriors fishing event on Saginaw Bay.
Did you miss Winans’ episode on Sportsman Channel? Watch “Brotherhood Outdoors” and the best outdoor TV anytime at MyOutdoorTV.com. Plus, watch your fellow union brothers and sisters each week on “Brotherhood Outdoors” on Sundays at 11 a.m. ET on Sportsman Channel.
Want to be a guest on the show? Apply today at www.brotherhoodoutdoors.tv/apply.
Local 335 member receives conservation steward of the year award
The USA awarded the 2019 Utility Workers Conservation Steward of the Year Award to Allan Bathon, president of UWUA Local 335, for his exemplary commitment to conservation and community service.
Bathon, of Florissant, MO, championed the revitalization of public access to the Meramec River at Minnie Ha Ha Park in Sunset Hills, MO. The effort began in 2017 when Bathon spearheaded a USA Work Boots on the Ground project in which union volunteers from Missouri American Water and UWUA Local 335 tore out and replaced the original ramp, which was in poor condition.
When catastrophic flooding damaged 90 percent of new structure, Bathon helped devise a new design to stand up to future flood waters and rallied union volunteers to rebuild the ramp. In all, volunteers donated more than 500 hours of labor to make the new ramp a reality.
Funded through a $35,000 grant from the American Water Charitable Foundation, the new facility was named the Ron Schneider Boat Ramp to honor a longtime UWUA member who aided the initial rebuild. Bathon also organized the ramp’s official dedication celebration in April of 2018, which included a family outdoors day that drew more than 250 participants.
Bathon explained that creating opportunities for community members to enjoy the outdoors was a major motivation for he and other union volunteers. “We’re blessed with natural resources like the Meramec, Mississippi and Missouri rivers in our area, but work needs to be done for people to access them,” he said. “We decided to step up our game and start making it happen.”
“I am honored to receive this award,” Bathon said. “But it’s not my honor alone. It belongs to everyone who put in a lot of hard work on this project.”