Letter to the Editor

Parke County REMC thanks customers for patience during storm outages

Sunday, February 6, 2011

To the Editor:

Just as our mothers taught us to write thank you notes when we were children, Parke County REMC believes businesses should say thank you as well.

After Mother Nature's visit to the hilly, wooded and rural areas of Parke County this week, more than 7,500 REMC members were dealing with snow, ice and cold temperatures, but were doing so without electricity.

The storm affected the co-op's entire service territory.

"I can't say it enough," Parke County REMC CEO Greg Ternet said. "The patience shown by our member-owners this week is so gratifying. We understand how inconvenient and uncomfortable is can be to lose power, especially in the midst of a winter storm.

"I speak on behalf of all our employees and directors when I say thank you to our members for their support as we worked to restore power after such a devastating storm."

With co-op employees pitching in to take on whatever jobs needed to be done, and with line crews from neighboring REMCs coming to lend a hand, power has now been restored to all members, just before another predicted storm moves in early next week.

"When a storm like this affects a co-op, everyone steps up to lend a hand," Ternet added. "We have mutual-aid agreements with other electric cooperatives, so we help one another whenever it's needed. In addition, we have people on staff who simply take on the more mundane tasks -- like cooking and delivering meals to our crews.

"Our crews work long hours in tough weather conditions, so it's important that we keep them warm and well-fed."

Line crews from Boone, Hendricks, Jasper, Tipmont and White County REMCs as well as Parke Professional services, the Town of Rockville and Electricom brought a total number of line crews to 21.

Parke County REMC