Thousands Enter Seventh Day Without Power

By Christina Hager, WBZ-TV

November 4, 2011 11:40 PM

Reporting Christina Hager

Filed under

Local, News, Seen On WBZ-TV, Syndicated Local, Watch + Listen

STURBRIDGE (CBS) – Some Massachusetts residents are facing a seventh day in a row without heat or lights.

“It went off Saturday night. In fact I was watching WBZ at the time,” says Nathan Abbott, as he stokes the flames in his fireplace in Sturbridge.

“My wife is getting a little antsy about it, but what can you do?”

WBZ-TV’s Christina Hager reports

In Worcester, City Manager Michael O’Brien says the last jobs are the most complicated.

“These sites are difficult hills, there may be streams, brush. They have to hand-carry all the material in, poles, wires, transformers…it takes a long time.”

Police are warning people to be careful clearing debris from their property as power is slowly restored. They’re reminding people not to touch branches that could be sitting on live wires.

Thousands Enter Seventh Day Without Power

CJ Holland

The State going to investage…yea, ok…there’s a joke in there somewhere. What will it be like when winter really hits or another nasty ice storm where there will plenty of warning..but rest assure, your bill will arrive on time.
gramps

“No power yet”?……Blame ‘Beacon Hill’ & the DPU, not the Utilities!….

Ever notice those ‘double poles & the partial poles suspended in the air?Our ‘Pol’s in concert with the DPU have been looking the ‘other way’ for decades as far as enforcing pole removal regulations!

There was a time, not so long ago, that when a pole needed replacement…..It was replaced, completely!

The utilities had a work force large enough for it’s work load….So, when a storm hit these crews were put on restoring service to the ‘customer’…

The ‘utilities’ slowly started to reduce their work force by cutting the # of ‘recon crews’, which intern, improved their ‘bottom line’……

“THEY REPLACED THEIR SKILLED, SERVICE PROVIDING WORKERS, WITH BEACON HILL LOBBYISTS”!

Making the utilities do the ‘whole job’ by completely removing old infrastructure will bring their workforce back up to ‘snuff’ so we won’t need to depend on Alabama, West Virginia et al for service!

Rate Payers are not just paying for the out of state crews to restore their service but also their hotel/motel rooms plus 3 squares a day!….Just so these “Utilities can increase the return to stockholders”.

If ‘Deval’ wants answers, he only has to look in the mirror blame himself & the ‘POL’s of yesteryear.

Don’t let them ‘cut & kick’ a pole for more than 30 days!

gramps
Jared06

No power?
Plenty of people in this world don’t have power.
When I was in Iraq we had to learn how to adjust to no power for months.
Spoiled bunch of kids we are here in America.

Willow

Jared06, you’re absolutely correct. There are always others worse off then we are. Glad you are home, and thank you for your service.

emom

So glad it’s not the dead of winter, 4 feet of snow, temperatures below freezing, and people being judgemental of folks . Be thankful, because shelters would be over flowing with people and then what,…. They have a right to be very upset. What would happen if it lasted longer, Or maybe there was another crisis that affected everyone.
We would sure be screaming then. If it was your, and you left it to stay warm , to have a hot meal or even a shower, just think of those that were turned away because there was no room. Not everyone is privileged to have what others might have.. I feel sorry for them ,,,,,

tsal

emom – if you happen to have a chance, pick up the nov/dec issue of Yankee magazine. There is a story about Waterbury VT and how its residents coped with the loss of a great deal of the town after flooding from Irene. They – along with most in VT – were basically ignored by the media because the larger areas like NY were affected so greatly. It wasn’t just power – it was their homes – their lives – everything. They didn’t whine. They didn’t complain. They simply rolled up their sleeves and started to work together. Volunteers came from all over. My youngest read the story and made a statement that resonated with me. In their quest to find a big story (NY or CT or big cities), the news media missed the biggest story of them all.

Then think even harder about the post from Jared above – and all of the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Power? Cold? they are incredibly trivial on the scale of things and easy to deal with if people, as I’ve said, put half as much effort into dealing with it as they do whining.

Most important of all – Jarad – thank you for what you have given to this country. We are incredibly proud of you.