Joplin Mayor Jon Tupper made a statement to the public on TV, saying the problem with the downed power lines was not with Empire, but with the homeowners’ failure to properly prune trees on their property. The problem occurred because Empire’s management failed to act on the problem of trees under its power lines.

Empire’s upper management failed to act even after the storm in January. It failed to act by not bringing in the necessary repairmen before the storm hit. They need an area-wide emergency declared, once this is declared, money will be distributed to cover the cost of repairs to, Empire, for one and the city of Joplin for another.

Had Empire and the other utility distributors taken preventive measures to clean the trees under their lines they would not have had the power failure that occurred. Granted this was a severe ice storm of which we will all suffer for months and years to come because of the tree damage.

I take my hat off to the linemen who worked day and night to restore power. We lost power from Sunday to Sunday and some lost power longer. Had preventive maintenance been done and the city and Empire done their jobs to police these lines, this would not have occurred. Mayor Tupper, an apology from you for you statement blaming homeowners should be on its way.

Empire’s upper management needs to focus on prevention, rather than fixing the problem after it occurs. Upper management needs to listen to middle management and the linemen. They are the people who solve the problems. I am not any employee, nor am I associated with Empire or the city of Joplin. I’m just an ordinary citizen.

Bob Heitz

Joplin