News
HTC Crews Get to Work in Kentucky
February 10, 2009
HTC crews arrived in Mayfield, Kentucky Sunday night at approximately 6 p.m. central time and immediately started working on Monday morning to help West Kentucky Rural Telephone Cooperative with repairs after the deadly Kentucky ice storm, January 26 and 27. HTC sent two full aerial cable crews and bucket trucks to join West Kentucky crews, National Guard troops, and other utility crews in the recovery efforts following the storm.
“HTC crews arrived in Mayfield, Kentucky Sunday evening and got started early Monday morning as planned. Everything is going well so far,” said Scott Everett, HTC Chief of Plant Operations.
During the recovery efforts, West Kentucky Rural Telephone has provided generator power to all of their remote network equipment without electricity. HTC, along with other out of town crews, are working 24 hours a day to restore service for subscribers as quickly and as safely as possible.
“It is hard to describe the amount of devastation and damage that the ice storm caused in just two short days, two weeks ago. There are trees down everywhere, electrical lines down, and sections where wires are across the roads,” said Craig Johnson, HTC Construction Supervisor.
“Our company, like many other cooperatives, has been in business for 50 to 100 years, and what I am finding from this experience is that the mission of cooperatives is alive and well,” said Trevor Bonnstetter, Chief Executive Officer of West Kentucky Rural Telephone Cooperative.
“When people are without power and wireless services are not operable because of that, it’s plain old telephone service that is most dependable and provides what the people need. When emergencies happen, like this ice storm, our people need home phone service to call emergency personnel. And, thanks to crews from HTC and others, we are in a much better position to have services back up and running in a matter of a few weeks versus several months.”
“The weather in Mayfield right now is around 65 degrees with 25 to 30 mph winds and the working conditions are considered good for crews providing extra help in the aftermath of the storm,” continued Johnson.
HTC crew members include Craig Johnson, HTC Construction Supervisor; Forrest Graham, HTC Construction Worker; Peter Rabon, HTC Senior Construction Worker; and Chris Cox, HTC Plant Operations Supervisor. For more information about HTC’s trip to Mayfield, Kentucky, please contact Nicole Hyman, HTC Senior Marketing Coordinator, at 843-369-8498, 843-902-3838 or nicole.hyman@htcinc.net. To find out more about the specific work HTC crews and others are providing, please contact Ellen K Thomas, West Kentucky Human Resources Manager, at 270-856-1000.
