The Company reported net income of $3.1 million. Premium income decreased by 8.7 percent to $224.4 million. Life Insurance in force exceeded $13.0 billion in the year 2011.

At the meeting, shareholders elected directors Craig W. Concklin, Hinsdale, Illinois; and Daniel V. Connell and A. Richard Kriegsman, both of Pekin, Illinois, to three year terms to expire in May 2015.

Other directors whose terms continue are: Steven R. Anderson, Loves Park, Illinois; Byron A. Dodd, Anna, Illinois; Scott A. Martin, Peoria, Illinois; Thomas C. Hornstein and Christine A. Schwartz, both of Pekin, Illinois; and Gordon M. Walker, Groveland, Illinois.

On April 18, 2012, Pekin Life Insurance Company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.03 per share payable June 1, 2012, to shareholders of record April 30, 2012. The Company has paid dividends each year since June 1, 1976.

Pekin Life Insurance Company is an integral part of the Pekin Insurance® group of companies.

Pekin Life Insurance Company stock trades under the symbol “PKIN” and is listed on the OTCQB. Wells Fargo Advisors makes a market in the stock.

If you happen to die prematurely, you can bet that one of the first things that will happen is that the bank will call your business loan or ask that the credit line be paid off. They don’t know what the future of your business will hold with you no longer there, so they want their money. Unfortunately, most businesses don’t have that kind of money sitting around; that’s why they have the business loan or line of credit in the first place. With a Business Loan Insurance Plan, your business (and your family) is protected.

Under a Business Loan Insurance Plan, you or your business purchases a life insurance policy on your life approximately equal to the amount of the outstanding loan or line of credit. The premiums on the policy are nondeductible. The business can be named as beneficiary, or you can name a personal beneficiary, depending on who owns the policy. The bank is protected under a collateral assignment of the policy for their interests as they may appear. In this way, the bank only receives the actual payoff of your loan or line of credit, not the entire policy proceeds, which might be higher than the loan payoff at the time.

Should you die prematurely, the income tax-free policy proceeds are first used to repay the outstanding loan or line of credit plus any interest due. The balance, if any, then goes to the named beneficiary—either the business or your personal beneficiary—to be used to satisfy any other financial needs that arise at your death. The business can move forward with one less debt to worry about, and your family can rest easy knowing that you were looking out for their interests.

For more information about how easy it is to set up a Business Loan Insurance Plan and how inexpensive it can be, contact your Pekin Insurance Agent.

Gary Tiffany, MSFS, CLU, ChFC, LUTCF
Advanced Sales Representative

The Full Circle Agency Award was given in recognition of exceptionally high standards of service to an agency’s customers and community. As our top award, the Full Circle Agency Award is given only to an agency which has demonstrated outstanding professional performance in both the Property/Casualty and Life and Health lines of insurance.

The Underwriter of Merit Award was presented to those agencies who demonstrated professional skill and knowledge in the field of property/casualty insurance, which was the foundation for agencies to earn the award.

The company’s Gold and Silver Key Awards annually honor those individual agents who displayed superiority in the sales of life and health insurance.

Membership in the Inner Circle Club was achieved by those agents who earned a Gold Key Award and produced excellent performance levels in the sales of life and health insurance and who also excelled beyond that to be among the top 5% of producers for Pekin Life Insurance Company.

The coveted Robert T. Tebben Agency of the Year Award was presented to one agency in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, and Wisconsin. This coveted award honors the late Robert T. Tebben, who in his over 50 years of service to the company, contributed more than any other single individual to the present success of Pekin Insurance. He believed that all Pekin Insurance agencies should strive to be Full Circle Service Agencies which provide a full range of services to their customers. The winners of this astute award were as follows: Midland Insurance Agency in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois; Myers and Hayden Insurance, Inc., in Fort Wayne, Indiana; First Gabrielson Agency in Belmond, Thornton, and Clear Lake, Iowa; Williamson Insurance Services of Zanesville, Inc., in Zanesville, Ohio; and Bock Insurance Agency, Inc., in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

It is a true privilege for Pekin Insurance to celebrate the accomplishments of their outstanding agents and agencies at Award and Appreciation Banquets each year.

Pekin Insurance has been in business since 1921 and is one of the leading insurers in the state of Illinois, providing multiple lines of insurance. Pekin Insurance offers insurance coverage in Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, and Wisconsin through its growing agency force which now totals 1,210 independent agencies and 7,518 insurance producers in the six- state area. The company is headquartered in Pekin, Illinois, with service offices at Champaign, Moline, Mount Vernon, Rockford, and Warrenville, Illinois; Indianapolis and Warsaw, Indiana; Des Moines, Iowa; Columbus, Ohio; and Appleton and Waukesha, Wisconsin.

To learn more about Pekin Insurance, visit www.pekininsurance.com.

• For large projects that require tools and equipment to be left at a jobsite, storing these items in locked trailers is not enough of a deterrent for a would-be thief. Many times, burglars will cut the padlocks or door hinges off to gain access. Parking vehicles or other large machinery next to the trailers (boxing the access doors in) increases the difficulty of gaining access to the trailer. The harder it is for thieves to break in to your trailer, the more likely it is that they will look somewhere else for something that is easier to break in to.
• Store equipment/trailers in well-lit areas. Again, the more illuminated an area is, the harder it will be for a thief to go unnoticed.
• Take note of any distinct marks or damage on your equipment. I handled a claim where the insured’s skid steer was stolen from a Hurricane Katrina damage site. The insured knew the skid steer had damage to the cab on the top right corner from a prior incident. A year later in Oklahoma he was working and spotted a skid steer with the same type of damage as his stolen one at another job site. The serial number was scratched off on the exterior, but this model of skid steer (and all others) has the serial number stamped on the engine block on the back side of the motor. The insured knew his machine inside and out, which ultimately led to the recovery of the stolen unit.
• Disable vehicles/larger equipment by removing spark plugs, keys, etc. when leaving for the weekend.
• Complete periodic inventory checks and store tools/equipment so that it will be obvious if something is missing.
• Talk to other contractors working at the jobsite. Have they had problems with theft or heard of any other thefts? Mark your tools with a die stamp or engraver on two spots: one hidden and one obvious.
• For smaller jobs, take the time to pack up the tools/equipment at the end of the day/week. The extra few minutes it takes to load the items up will save you hours of filing police reports/insurance claims and purchasing replacements, which will ultimately delay you from completing the project on time.

Josh Aberle, CPCU, AIC
Property Supervisor, Claim

First and foremost, it is true that chocolate is not only dangerous but can be fatal to dogs. The danger lies within a naturally occurring component of chocolate, theobromine, to be specific. Theobromine is part of the cocoa bean. This substance affects a dog’s central nervous system and heart. The signs of chocolate poisoning will start to show up within a few hours of ingestion. These symptoms can range from the very mild, like increased urination and panting, to the much more serious, like epileptic seizures and death. The degree of symptoms depends on how much of the theobromine was ingested.

Different types of chocolate have different levels of theobromine. Baker’s chocolate and dark chocolate have the largest concentration of theobromine while milk chocolate has the lowest levels. The amount of chocolate that will cause harm will depend on the type of chocolate ingested and the weight of the dog. The smaller the dog, the smaller the amount of chocolate needed to do damage.

Luckily for Hayley, the chocolate she ate was milk chocolate. Don’t get me wrong, chocolate is not good for dogs, period. However, since she ate milk chocolate, the theobromine was present in a much lower concentration. I watched Hayley the whole night like a worried parent, so scared that she was going to be sick. She made it through the chocolate binge of 2009, but after that, I always make sure to keep any chocolate-containing treat out of reach of my 4-legged friends. Also, this was such an important learning experience for me. The vet told me that in addition to chocolate, dogs should never eat onions, macadamia nuts, grapes, raisins, and sugar-free candy.

Pets are such an important part of our lives; they are our best friends, companions, and part of our family. As such, it is so easy to forget that they are very different from humans and can’t eat the things that we eat. It is important as part of our pets’ well-being to become familiar with animal food safety to ensure our pets are with us for the long haul! Oh, and keep the chocolate out of reach!

William Bosch, CPCU, AIC
Commercial Claim Representative

The law will require most employers to obtain workers compensation insurance or permission to self insure. Other requirements include posting notice in the workplace explaining workers rights under the law and listing the insurance carrier, not passing the cost of the insurance on to the employees, and not discriminating against those who file a claim.

There are three key workers compensation benefits: medical, lost wages, and permanent partial disability.

Medical care that is reasonable and necessary to treat the injury is covered. This could include first aid, emergency care, surgery, and physical therapy. The injured worker is not required to pay co-payments or deductibles. The covered reasonable and necessary charges are paid directly to the medical provider by the employer or the insurance carrier.

Lost wages or temporary total disability (TTD) are paid for the time period the employee is unable to return to work as indicated by a doctor. All states have a waiting period or required number of days off before TTD is owed. Further, the TTD benefit is typically 66 2/3% of the employee’s average weekly wages, subject to minimum and maximum limits allowed per state law.

Permanent partial disability (PPD) is a bit more complicated. It varies greatly based on the type of injury, recovery time, and the laws of the state where the accident took place. A PPD determination is usually not made until an employee has reached medical maximum improvement for the injury. In Illinois, when employees are unable to do things they were able to do before the injury, they can be entitled to this benefit.

It should be noted that not all workplace accidents and injuries result in or guarantee all three benefits. An employee can sustain an injury that results in just medical benefits or one that results in both medical and TTD benefits but not PPD benefits.

Most states have detailed websites covering their workers compensation law, and links to a few are below.

Arizona – http://www.ica.state.az.us/
Illinois – http://www.iwcc.il.gov/index.htm
Indiana – http://www.in.gov/wcb/index.htm
Iowa – http://www.iowaworkforce.org/wc/
Wisconsin – http://dwd.wisconsin.gov/wc/

Arron Hampton, CPCU, CWCP, INS
Workers Compensation Claim Manager

The following directors were elected for three year terms: Craig W. Concklin, Hinsdale, Illinois; and Daniel V. Connell and A. Richard Kriegsman, both of Pekin, Illinois.

Subscribers elected Craig W. Concklin, Hinsdale, Illinois; and A. Richard Kriegsman, Pekin, Illinois, to the Advisory Committee.
Pekin Insurance officers elected included: Gordon M. Walker, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer; Steven R. Anderson, Vice Chairman of the Board; Scott A. Martin, President; Daniel V. Connell, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Secretary; Todd A. Clark, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; Brian K. Lee, Senior Vice President; Stephen H. Nunan, Senior Vice President – Underwriting; Peggy S. Collins, Vice President – Group and Claim Services; Curtis A. Eeten, Vice President – Claims; Gregory L. Feller, Vice President – Sales; Joel M. Jackson, Vice President – Marketing; Rodney L. McKimson, Vice President – Information Technology; Edward A. Mulvey, Vice President – Personal Lines Underwriting and Assistant Secretary; Joseph C. Ricigliano, Vice President – Commercial Lines Underwriting and Assistant Secretary; Diane K. Steiner, Vice President – Life Underwriting and Assistant Secretary; Michael A. Zabinski, Vice President – Controller; G. Christine McGann, Assistant Treasurer; Michele E. Ginther, Assistant Treasurer; Aaron Z. Potacki, Assistant Secretary; and Michael L. Norton, Assistant Secretary.

Pekin Insurance is a group name adopted to designate the combined operation of The Farmers Automobile Insurance Association, Pekin Insurance Company, PAC, Inc., and Pekin Life Insurance Company.

Pekin Insurance has been in business since 1921, and is one of the leading insurers in the State of Illinois, providing multiple lines of insurance. Pekin Insurance offers insurance coverage in Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, and Wisconsin through its growing agency force which now totals 1,210 independent agencies and 7,518 insurance producers in the six state area. The company is headquartered in Pekin, Illinois, with service offices at Champaign, Moline, Mount Vernon, Rockford, and Warrenville, Illinois; Indianapolis and Warsaw, Indiana; Des Moines, Iowa; Columbus, Ohio; and Appleton and Waukesha, Wisconsin.

An article that I read was about the new case law that now deals with other-than-biting issues. The new issue is “dog fright.” This includes incidents in which the behavior of the dog causes a reasonable person to take defensive action which results in that person’s injury.

These types of “dog fright” cases are ones in which the dog displays aggressive action. An example is if your dog is at your fence or on a leash and appears aggressive toward another dog or anyone who is walking in the general area. Another example is if a person is riding a bike and the dog causes the rider to make a sudden movement that results in an injury to the bike rider.

As pet owners, we need to look into the statutes of our states to see what the wording is. Some states use the word “bite,” and other states use the word “injury.”

We know our dogs, and we know that they would not hurt anyone. But how our dogs are perceived by someone else is the issue. There are people who have a great fear of large dogs or specific breeds like German shepherds or Doberman pinschers, and then there are people who are afraid of little yappy, bouncy dogs.

If you would like to read more about this issue, go to http://dogbitelaw.com/liability-for-non-bite-injuries/liability-for-non-bite-injuries.html.

Barbara Adams
Senior Personal Lines Claim Representative

In her younger puppy years, she loved spending time outside with us in the yard. I would tell her to run like the wind, and off she went with a glance back to make sure that I was still there watching her. She loved sleeping in bed with us at night. Snuggling in between us, she would let out a huge sigh right before she went to sleep. Moments like these will always stay with us. She truly left her pawprints on our hearts.

She sat beside my husband nearly all day seemingly protecting him from any problems he might face. If I was feeling down or sick, she always seemed to know, and I could sense her caring in her eyes and the tilt of her head. She never required much from us; a bowl of food, a bowl of water, and someplace warm to sleep was what made her satisfied. But, she gave us all her love and was a best friend that never challenged anything that we did.

One of her absolute favorite activities to do was ride in the car with my husband. All he had to say was “car” and she came bounding off her bed ready for an adventure in the car. She seemed to know when she wasn’t allowed to go on an outing and would go back to her bed and pout. We are certain that there are open car windows in doggie Heaven so she can hang her head out and feel the coolness and thrill of the wind on her head!

Our veterinary clinic took a mold of her pawprint after she was gone, and it hangs on a hook in our kitchen. It’s a reminder of the treasured pet that we once had. The clinic also sent us a
sympathy card, and everyone in the clinic signed it. The vet wrote that we had been such good parents to Sadie. Those two gestures meant so much to us, and we appreciated the caring that they showed to us at our time of loss.

It has not been easy writing this blog. The sadness of letting go will remain with us forever. We lost a treasured companion, but it does help to recall the special times that we did share with her. She nuzzled our souls and we will never forget Sadie!

Fran Stroemer, FLMI, ACS
Creative Director

I was reviewing web sites for help in understanding what to look for in a reputable contractor and came across the following which might be of help. Good luck with your project!

1. Get a referral from someone you know. People love updating their homes so you should have no trouble coming up with a list of contractors to call.

2. Hire a contractor who specializes in the type of work you need done. Someone you hire to install wood flooring or to build a deck should be a carpentry contractor, while someone you hire to install recessed lighting in your kitchen should be an electrician. There are many different trade certifications, so be sure to check the title on your contractor’s certification to make sure he or she is a specialist.

3. Check licenses and insurance with your city’s Contractors Licensing Board. Ask the tradesman for copies of the following documents: Contractor’s Certification, Worker’s Compensation status and Liability Insurance certificate. A reputable contractor will have no problem providing copies of these documents.
- Get at least three references for your contractor and call them. The contractor will likely give you references who had positive experiences, so be sure to ask them specific questions about workmanship that are important to you. You might be concerned about whether the contractor cleaned up his work area and kept to his time line or whether the final invoice matched the estimate.

4. Check with the Better Business Bureau to find out if complaints have ever been filed or are outstanding against the contractor.

5. Request a written estimate. Any contractor who does not provide you with a written estimate should be crossed off your list immediately. Get at least three estimates and then compare prices with what is included. Remember the lowest bidder is not always the best.

6. Sign a written contract. The contract should clearly spell out all the steps the contractor will take from beginning to end of your job, what supplies are included, the payment schedule and the time line for the project.

Things you will need:

• Referrals

• Copies of Contractor’s Certification, Worker’s Compensation status, and Liability Insurance certificate

• References

• Written estimate

• Contract

Tips & Warnings

• Hire a contractor who shows up on time for the estimate and seems professional and knowledgeable.

• Check with the building department about whether a permit is required for the work to be done. If a permit is required, the liability is on the owner of the property to procure the permit or authorize the contractor to pull the permit.

• Make sure you hire someone with a large crew if time frame is important.

• Deposit 30 to 50 percent of the total price to initiate your contract. It will cover the contractor’s large expenses like construction materials, flooring, fixtures and crew to start your project.

• Check your local phone book government pages to find the County Licensing Board. They can educate you about licenses, permits and trades, as well as answer any questions you may have about your project or a contractor licensed in your county.

• Don’t hire unlicensed contractors to do the job. If you do, you will have no recourse should you be unhappy with the job or should you have code or permit violations cited by your county.

Mike Sloter, CPCU
Director of Commercial Lines Underwriting