I’ve been in the electric cooperative business for a long time. It’s a business that runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Maybe that’s the reason I sometimes get tunnel vision and take other industries for granted.
This past Saturday, I had the privilege of speaking to members of the Texas Logging Council at their state meeting. Earlier in the week, someone asked why I would drive two hours to Center, Texas, on my own time to speak to loggers about power line safety. I gave these reasons.
- I’ve lived in Texas timber country my entire life. As a boy, I learned to appreciate and respect the logging industry’s contribution to our history and economy. I admired hard working people who logged the East Texas Piney Woods. They seemed larger than life to me.
- On every list of the most dangerous jobs, logging is at, or very near, the top.
- If, through my power line safety presentation, the logging community is safer, my time was well spent.
In the audience were 100 loggers and family members, another generation of industrious hard-working men and women, carrying on the rich legacy of the East Texas logging industry. They listened to what I had to say. They asked questions and offered comments. And I came away with an even deeper respect for the people who are Texas loggers.
As I was leaving, a logging operation owner from Liberty County said, “That was a good presentation,” he said. “You seem to really care.”
“Thanks,” I replied. “I do.”
Posted by: Keith Stapleton, Chief Communications Officer