unearthed - March 2006

Governor Charlie Crist declared this month Call Before You Dig Month in Florida to help spread statewide awareness of a homeowner’s and excavator’s legal requirement to call Sunshine State One Call of Florida at (800) 432-4770 two full business days before digging so utility companies can locate and mark their buried utility lines. SSOCOF has produced a number of items available free to you to help educate your contractors, sub-contractors and your customers on the importance of calling before digging. Available to you are a news release, radio commercial for your phone system, an awareness poster and television commercial. Click here to see what is available to you free of charge.

Win a Harley!
SSOCOF annual golf tournament May 18
May 18, 2007 marks SSOCOF's annual golf tournament, being held this year at Victoria Hill Country Club in DeLand. Once again, Arena Advertising is sponsoring a hole-in-one contest with a Harley Davidson Fat Boy going to the golfer with the lucky shot! Golfing giveaways and fabulous door prizes are also on the venue for this fun-filled day.

The $65 registration fee includes continental breakfast, 18-holes, cart and awards luncheon. Help support this event with a sponsorship of $175 that also includes a round of golf. Registration deadline is Friday, May 12, 2007. Click here for your registration form.

If Sunshine State One Call is not in your email address book, your Internet browser's automatic SPAM filter may be blocking locate tickets and other important SSOCOF information. The two addresses that should appear in your mailbox are: irth@callsunshine.com and irthnet@callsunshine.com .

You receive copies of your locate tickets and positive response updates from the irth@callsunshine.com address. Email from irthnet@callsunshine.com comes directly from SSOCOF members and often contains additional information about the locate ticket you requested. For instance, it could be a question about the locate description or a request for more information.

Chapter 556.105(1)(a)(2) Florida Statutes, requires excavators to provide a valid electronic address if available or a phone number to receive positive response updates. Excavators who do not provide that information will not be notified when positive responses are received. Rather, they are required to check the positive response system before beginning excavation, 556.105(9)(b) and (c). For more information about positive response, click here.

Annual meeting, elections occur this May
SSOCOF's annual membership meeting and board elections are scheduled for May 17, 2007. Anyone interested in running for an open seat on the board of directors should submit a letter on company letterhead stating your intentions and your company's willingness to endorse you as a candidate, and submit by email or mail to Mark Sweet, Executive Director, 11 Plantation Rd., DeBary, FL 32713. For your convenience, you may use our standard letter to indicate your desire to run.

Locate rodeo returns
Attention all locator supervisors! Register your best locators to compete in our NO BULL RODEO CHALLENGE. Winners receive $300 cash and travel to Atlanta for the International Locate Rodeo in August. Deadline for entries is April 14, 2007. Click here for the whole scoop.


Click here to view our website		April 2006

	SSOCOF celebrates Call Before You Dig Month Governor Charlie Crist declared this month Call Before You Dig Month in Florida to help spread statewide awareness of a homeowner’s and excavator’s legal requirement to call Sunshine State One Call of Florida at (800) 432-4770 two full business days before digging so utility companies can locate and mark their buried utility lines. SSOCOF has produced a number of items available free to you to help educate your contractors, sub-contractors and your customers on the importance of calling before digging. Available to you are a news release, radio commercial for your phone system, an awareness poster and television commercial. Click here to see what is available to you free of charge. Win a Harley! SSOCOF annual golf tournament May 18 May 18, 2007 marks SSOCOF's annual golf tournament, being held this year at Victoria Hill Country Club in DeLand. Once again, Arena Advertising is sponsoring a hole-in-one contest with a Harley Davidson Fat Boy going to the golfer with the lucky shot! Golfing giveaways and fabulous door prizes are also on the venue for this fun-filled day. The $65 registration fee includes continental breakfast, 18-holes, cart and awards luncheon. Help support this event with a sponsorship of $175 that also includes a round of golf. Registration deadline is Friday, May 12, 2007. Click here for your registration form. SPAM filter gets blame for missing emails If Sunshine State One Call is not in your email address book, your Internet browser's automatic SPAM filter may be blocking locate tickets and other important SSOCOF information. The two addresses that should appear in your mailbox are: irth@callsunshine.com and irthnet@callsunshine.com . You receive copies of your locate tickets and positive response updates from the irth@callsunshine.com address. Email from irthnet@callsunshine.com comes directly from SSOCOF members and often contains additional information about the locate ticket you requested. For instance, it could be a question about the locate description or a request for more information. Chapter 556.105(1)(a)(2) Florida Statutes, requires excavators to provide a valid electronic address if available or a phone number to receive positive response updates. Excavators who do not provide that information will not be notified when positive responses are received. Rather, they are required to check the positive response system before beginning excavation, 556.105(9)(b) and (c). For more information about positive response, click here. SSOCOF advises all excavators to add irth@callsunshine.com and irthnet@callsunshine.com to their email address books for uninterrupted service. New call before you dig number launches May 1 A national awareness campaign promoting the new call before you dig number, 811, is set to launch May 1, 2007 in Washington D.C. Created by the Common Ground Alliance and issued by the Federal Communications Commission, 811 will eliminate confusion over multiple "Call Before You Dig" numbers across the country - especially helpful for those areas within Florida that typically draw contractors from other states to conduct hurricane repairs and clean up. A recent national survey revealed that roughly half of Americans are active diggers who have done (or are planning to do) some type of digging project at home, yet only a third have called or will call to get their utility lines marked. The 811 awareness campaign is designed to increase awareness of this new number, demonstrate its relevance and promote a change to call before digging. While the toll-free number will continue to function, it will be visually phased out from advertising and promotional item artwork. For more information about 811, please visit www.811-cga.com. Annual meeting, elections occur this May SSOCOF's annual membership meeting and board elections are scheduled for May 17, 2007. Anyone interested in running for an open seat on the board of directors should submit a letter on company letterhead stating your intentions and your company's willingness to endorse you as a candidate, and submit by email or mail to Mark Sweet, Executive Director, 11 Plantation Rd., DeBary, FL 32713. For your convenience, you may use our standard letter to indicate your desire to run. Information on a director's duties. Locate rodeo returns Attention all locator supervisors! Register your best locators to compete in our NO BULL RODEO CHALLENGE. Winners receive $300 cash and travel to Atlanta for the International Locate Rodeo in August. Deadline for entries is April 14, 2007. Click here for the whole scoop.	IMPORTANT DATES April Call Before You Dig Month Help promote Call Before You Dig Month by publishing our news release, playing our radio commercials on your phone system, hanging our poster, or running our commercial/PSA on your cable station. Don't forget to stop by your local Publix store for a Kyle Busch poster. April 11 Regional Partner Meeting Park Plaza Hotel, Tallahassee April 25 Regional Partner Meeting Signature Grand, Ft. Lauderdale May 28 Call center closed for Memorial Day. ITE available for ticket entry. CALENDAR Keep in touch with what's happening at Sunshine State One Call. Visit our calendar for events, meetings and holiday closings and more information on the dates listed above. QUICK LINKS Enter the No Bull Locate Rodeo today, represent Florida at International Locate Rodeo in Georgia VISIT OUR NEW ONLINE STORE FOR YOUR FREE PROMOTIONAL ITEMS View the 2005-06 annual report SAFETY TRAINING NOW OFFERED IN SPANISH If you would like to offer a class to your Spanish speaking employees, contact Sergio Clavijo to schedule today. REPORT DAMAGES The Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT) is available for anyone to use to report damages to underground facilities. For more information on how to use DIRT and sharing information with SSOCOF, click here. Contact us.
	Survey helps improve service to callers SSOCOF offers a customer satisfaction survey for its callers to use to rate the service received while requesting a locate ticket over the phone and it gives them an opportunity to suggest any improvements. The surveys are reviewed by management and responded to as necessary. Complete a survey by clicking here. We thank you in advance for helping SSOCOF continue to be the best one call center in the nation
	Sunshine State One Call of Florida is a private, not-for-profit, corporation created by Florida legislature in 1993. Its purpose is to educate excavators and homeowners on the requirement to Call Before You Dig and provide a free system for the excavating public to notify owners of pending excavation activity near underground utilities. Last year, SSOCOF received more than 1.8 million notices of proposed excavation in Florida. SSOCOF offers free educational sessions to professional excavators and homeowners. For more information on free classes and other SSOCOF services, visit www.callsunshine.com.


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