So far, the power has not gone off at my place, but much of Crittenden County remains under a sheet of ice thanks to a second winter storm that hit us Thursday morning. Temperatures have stayed below freezing since then, preventing any thawing relief.While some sporadic power outages have resulted from this storm, there has been no widespread loss of electricity such as the week before. Some of those earlier victims, however, are still without lights, even inside the City of Marion. Those problems are largely due to bureaucratic red tape based on the state's inspection policies. So you know, if the power line to your home is knocked down, the electric company cannot, by law, hook it back up and turn your power on until you have paid a certified electrician to properly reinstall the line and have a state-certified inspector come to your home and approve the electrician's work. Kenergy or Kentucky Utilities is free to restore juice to your home only after an inspector leaves a green sticker on the side of your house to verify the work.
This week's storm has had its victims. One was former Peoples Bank president Gordon Guess. Guess, now heading up an effort to bring semi-pro baseball to Marion, fell on the ice this week and broke his left femur. He took the tumble on an icy Main Street curb in front of the Dollar General Store. He underwent surgery at Regional Medical Center in Madisonville and is expected to make a full recovery. However, Guess will be hobbled for a while and that will make his inaugural season as general manager of the Marion Bobcats baseball team a trying one.
The inset photograph was taken Saturday morning on our place near Mexico in rural Crittenden County. It shows how the storm is taking its toll on non-native species of trees. The long-leaf pine is one that does much better in southern climates. Ice had broken the tops out of many of them and bent over the rest. Maybe they'll bounce back like the entire community has after this especially troublesome winter. Schools have already missed 10.5 days and will be in class until early June unless they make up some days during spring break or other ways.
