By By Adam Prestridge
Someone approached me the other day and asked me if I was mad because my front yard was recently torn up to work on public utilities.
I simply replied, 'Nope, the work has to be done.'
The person who asked me this, what I thought was a ridiculous question, looked at me with a confused, dazed look on their face. I don't know if I offended them or shocked them, but it was one of those looks. You know what kind of look I'm referring to.
I don't believe there was a more appropriate, more true statement than what I answered. Some of Atmore's natural gas pipes are old and deteriorating and some of the sewer pipes are cracking. And just like you replace batteries in a television remote, sometimes you have to replace underground utilities. Fortunately for Atmore Utilities Board manager Tom Wolfe and the board members, this type of work isn't needed as often as changing batteries in your remote. The work is expensive, but needed.
I applaud the work performed by the Utilities Board in making sure the utilities in Atmore are safe and efficient. Even though contractors were hired to perform the work, local utilities workers were out in full force answering calls of concern, and yes, some complaints from Atmore residents.
In fact, there were a few problems at my house following the work, but the Utilities Board made sure that the problems were fixed and I, the customer, was happy.
Work like this is not something the workers want to do and not something they want to tell homeowners they are about to do. Sure, it will make most homeowners mad at first, but when they learn what the purpose of the work is, they can't really argue with it.
The old cliche is, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Well, a lot of the pipes were broken and a lot had to be fixed and the workers with the Atmore Utilities Board did a fantastic job rising to the occasion and getting the work done, day and night.
Adam Prestridge is publisher of The Atmore Advance. He can be reached at 368-2123.