What do you remember about the movie, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”? The five-note song? The mashed potato sculpture? I, for one, forgot that the hero is an outside lineman. Roy Neary, played by Richard Dreyfuss, goes out to investigate a mysterious power outage. He gets zapped in his truck and becomes obsessed with UFOs. (I watched it recently and it is much creepier that I recalled.)
This issue of LINE CONTRACTOR is not creepy at all. We start out celebrating the 40th annual International Lineman’s Rodeo. Read about the history of the event and what’s going on this year. “Best of the Best” by Susan Bloom is on page 2. Of course, there is still time to get there; it is happening Oct. 16–19.
“Network Planning with BEAD” is about the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program. There is plenty of engineering, make-ready work needed as well as permitting. Electrical contractors not doing fiber optics are leaving money on the table. Susan DeGrane interviews several experts on page 6. There is more on BEAD in ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR magazine, which came in the same plastic
bag as this.
Our final feature is about distributed energy resource management systems. We have touched on this topic before, but not on how artificial intelligence affects it. Chuck Ross explains that some utilities are using A.I. for everyday operations. Learn more on page 12 in “One Ring To Rule Them All.”
Also in this issue, we bring you a tailboard talk about fatigue, introduce you to the director of helicopter operations at an electrical construction company and much more. On the ground, on a line or in the air, as the pilot/safety director says, “The challenge has become to better understand the human elements and behaviors that drive our daily lives, and to find ways to enhance our organizational culture.”
While you’re thinking about it, can you recommend any other movies featuring lineworkers? I’m always looking to learn more about the line work profession. Of course, this magazine is my favorite source. Still, please send questions, concerns and movie recommendations to [email protected].
About The Author
Julie Mazur
Managing Editor, Electrical Contractor magazineJulie Mazur is the managing editor of ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR, Safety Leader and Line Contractor magazines. Before coming to ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR, she was an editor at Knight-Ridder/Tribune newspapers and the Los Angeles Times and taught English as a foreign language in Egypt and Japan. As managing editor, Julie oversees the whole publishing arc. She plans and assigns the stories for every issue, works with writers and designers and interacts with the printing plant. She has a mass communications B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. Go Bears!
Permanently retired from ziplining, Julie is an enthusiastic sports spectator and radio listener. She likes to read, exercise and cook.
