Questions are being raised regarding the amount of time it is taking to get the power restored to the millions who were left without electricity after Hurricane Irene. According to the Pioneer Press, 9.6 million people were left without power after the storm raged through several eastern states; as of the time of printing of the linked story, 1.3 million were still without power. No mention is being made of the fact that over 8 million people have had their power restored in less than a week. Only complaints that it hasn't been completely restored to all who lost power, even with the floods that ravaged communities, breaking up roads and dismantling bridges in their wake. Do people not understand that in order for the power to be restored, the linemen need to be able to reach the communities - without roads and bridges, how are they to do so?
My husband is one of the thousands of linemen who left their families to travel to the Northeast and restore power to the stricken communities. He has called me daily and told me about the kinds of obstacles they are facing with each restoration. His stories include having to drive miles out of the way just to find a road through to a community without power, waiting for "bird-dogs" (safety/EPA people) to show up (as much as 5 hours late) to sign off on jobs, getting lost on winding roads in the Catskill Mountains in Upstate New York, walking several miles of line to find the tree that had fallen and cut off power to many homes, and most recently, sitting in traffic on Long Island while trying to reach his destination where he would be fed and have to endure a long meeting with the utility company execs who would be explaining to the crews what they could and couldn't do while replacing poles and lines. The rules he faces include being unable to use an auger to dig holes for the power-poles - each pole hole must be HAND DUG before the pole is set. According to the information given to him, there are at least 100,000 people still without power on Long Island alone, with hundreds of crews trying to restore the grid and get these communities up and running again. How quickly do you think the power will be restored when each pole has to have a hand-dug hole? This is quite frustrating for the crews who are there, attempting to do their jobs, but are inhibited by regulations put in place either by Federal, State, Local or Union entities.
If you or your loved ones are without power, please understand that the crews are doing their best to restore it for you. When Ike hit Texas, some people went without power for weeks. With a storm of the magnitude of Irene and the millions affected, we should applaud the hard work of the crews who have restored power to more than 8 million people already - this in itself is amazing.
MNHOCKEYMAMA You've entered our world now; unless otherwise noted, all posts are my thoughts/opinions/musings; callin' it like I see it.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
Mobs at WI State Fair - what does it mean?
I listened with disbelief this morning as Glenn Beck talked about what had happened at the Wisconsin State Fair yesterday. I say with disbelief, because about 5 or 6 years ago, as my husband and I drove onto the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in St. Paul, MN (only the 2nd largest State Fair in the country; over 100,000 people a day visit during the 10 day fair), I was struck by how little security was instituted on the fairgrounds. Thousands of cars a day drive directly onto the grounds to the parking lots located around the fair; people with animals and farm equipment access the Fair daily. Feed, fertilizer and any number of items are transferred onto the grounds daily. With little or no security. There are entrances used by the workers and volunteers that are not staffed by anyone, or if they are staffed, it is minimal. 4-H kids sleep in dorms above the barns or in the hay with their animals; people stay in the adjacent RV lots for the entire 10 days. On the busiest days - weekends and Labor Day - it is nearly impossible for any type of vehicle to get through the masses of people on the grounds. I've watched ambulances attempt to make their way up Dan Patch Avenue and am amazed at the inability for pedestrians to yield to the emergency vehicles. That day, as we slowly made our way to a lot behind the Grandstand, I was struck by the amount of chaos a group of people could cause in an attack on the Fair. The vision hit me like watching a movie - strategically placed weapons/devices throughout the Fair, mid-afternoon on a weekend could cause massive chaos in a matter of seconds. Chaos that would only be made worse by the fact that emergency vehicles wouldn't be able to get in and people wouldn't be able to get out (the Fairgrounds are enclosed by a chain-link fence). An attack of that kind would literally be like attacking the heartland itself - after 9/11 everyone was worried about an attack on Mall of America - but I fear that they looked to the wrong place. In the years past, I've seen no stepping-up of security on the Fairgrounds. Anyone can still get in at anytime with anything in their vehicles or on their person. It's like they've buried their heads in the belief that it couldn't happen here.
To add to this, my husband is a High Voltage Power Lineman. Recently, we had storms move through the state and thousands were without power. When he goes on "Storm" he knows he will be working at least 16 hour days until the power is restored. He does this willingly, since this is something for which he signed up when he joined the apprenticeship many years ago. He's worked after Ike in Texas (helped rebuild the massive powerlines between Galveston and Houston), in Parkersburg, IA after it was completely devastated by a tornado and smaller storms in between. The other day, while he was in North Minneapolis attempting to restore power, the residents of the area came out and started harassing him and his co-workers, swearing at them and accusing of leaving their neighborhood for last because of the high black population it contains. He was mystified by their behavior - he has NEVER been attacked like that in all his years as a lineman. He talked to some other linemen from other companies who experienced the same thing in the area. In fact, when N Mpls was hit by a tornado this last spring, the looting began BEFORE THE TORNADO HAD LEFT THE GROUND, and the linemen who went to restore power there also were accosted by the people of the neighborhood who not only accused them of waiting too long before restoring power but, as they cleaned the rims of their cars, told the linemen that they needed to be clearing the trees after they finished restoring the power!!!!!!!!! These guys have worked all over the country - they were in New Orleans after Katrina even - and had NEVER been treated like that by anyone in their lives! One of the things that my husband likes about his job is "lighting up a town" after they've been without power and being able to knock on the doors of the people affected to tell them to try to turn their lights on - the joy expressed by most people makes his job a pleasure. But these ingrates in N Mpls made him feel like he should have had a police escort (something that was necessary in certain areas of Houston after Ike, but only because w/o the police, the line trucks were stripped of all the copper they carried), and many of the linemen he's talked to feel the same way.
Mpls/St. Paul have some of the highest Somali populations in the country. The administration, with its class/race warfare is perpetuating the likelihood that more incidences like the one in Milwaukee will happen in other places. It confirmed my fear that I had years ago and that I continue to have every time I visit the Fair. Combined with the people in areas near the Fairgrounds and their attitudes toward the workers attempting to HELP them, I can see the exact thing and worse happening here. Texas has the largest State Fair in the country - I wouldn't be surprised if something happens there except for the fact that more people, unlike in Progressive MN, actually carry. Minnesota does have conceal/carry laws, but it is getting more and more difficult to get those permits.
With the Presidential elections around the corner, and those candidates visiting major events like State Fairs in the near future, I wouldn't be surprised to see more incidences like what happened in Milwaukee occur. A lot of people dismiss me as a conspiracy theorist or fear-monger, so I've stopped trying to warn those who refuse to use their eyes to see and their ears to hear. It might be my crazy imagination running wild, but there have been many events that have occurred that I knew would occur before they happened - not the details, certainly, but an idea or a gut feeling - for this reason, I cannot discount those feelings or concerns. I know that if it is God's will that America survives the craziness that we are in the midst of, that we will survive, but if it is His plan that we don't, I just pray for the safety of my family, friends and children.
To add to this, my husband is a High Voltage Power Lineman. Recently, we had storms move through the state and thousands were without power. When he goes on "Storm" he knows he will be working at least 16 hour days until the power is restored. He does this willingly, since this is something for which he signed up when he joined the apprenticeship many years ago. He's worked after Ike in Texas (helped rebuild the massive powerlines between Galveston and Houston), in Parkersburg, IA after it was completely devastated by a tornado and smaller storms in between. The other day, while he was in North Minneapolis attempting to restore power, the residents of the area came out and started harassing him and his co-workers, swearing at them and accusing of leaving their neighborhood for last because of the high black population it contains. He was mystified by their behavior - he has NEVER been attacked like that in all his years as a lineman. He talked to some other linemen from other companies who experienced the same thing in the area. In fact, when N Mpls was hit by a tornado this last spring, the looting began BEFORE THE TORNADO HAD LEFT THE GROUND, and the linemen who went to restore power there also were accosted by the people of the neighborhood who not only accused them of waiting too long before restoring power but, as they cleaned the rims of their cars, told the linemen that they needed to be clearing the trees after they finished restoring the power!!!!!!!!! These guys have worked all over the country - they were in New Orleans after Katrina even - and had NEVER been treated like that by anyone in their lives! One of the things that my husband likes about his job is "lighting up a town" after they've been without power and being able to knock on the doors of the people affected to tell them to try to turn their lights on - the joy expressed by most people makes his job a pleasure. But these ingrates in N Mpls made him feel like he should have had a police escort (something that was necessary in certain areas of Houston after Ike, but only because w/o the police, the line trucks were stripped of all the copper they carried), and many of the linemen he's talked to feel the same way.
Mpls/St. Paul have some of the highest Somali populations in the country. The administration, with its class/race warfare is perpetuating the likelihood that more incidences like the one in Milwaukee will happen in other places. It confirmed my fear that I had years ago and that I continue to have every time I visit the Fair. Combined with the people in areas near the Fairgrounds and their attitudes toward the workers attempting to HELP them, I can see the exact thing and worse happening here. Texas has the largest State Fair in the country - I wouldn't be surprised if something happens there except for the fact that more people, unlike in Progressive MN, actually carry. Minnesota does have conceal/carry laws, but it is getting more and more difficult to get those permits.
With the Presidential elections around the corner, and those candidates visiting major events like State Fairs in the near future, I wouldn't be surprised to see more incidences like what happened in Milwaukee occur. A lot of people dismiss me as a conspiracy theorist or fear-monger, so I've stopped trying to warn those who refuse to use their eyes to see and their ears to hear. It might be my crazy imagination running wild, but there have been many events that have occurred that I knew would occur before they happened - not the details, certainly, but an idea or a gut feeling - for this reason, I cannot discount those feelings or concerns. I know that if it is God's will that America survives the craziness that we are in the midst of, that we will survive, but if it is His plan that we don't, I just pray for the safety of my family, friends and children.
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