I recently visited my Mom in Kentucky for the Christmas holidays. As soon as I arrived on December 19th, I heard about the snow storm and the power going out in Eastern KY. I was dumbfounded when I saw the rumored "7 inches" of snow was nothing but a small throw of snow on the ground by the time I arrived. This was not what I expected when I hear of a "snow storm". Yet surprisingly the electric was off and stayed off for a week and even more for some others in Jackson, KY.
Needless to say I and the others around me were not happy, especially when we didn't see anyone working on the power lines anywhere. Furthermore, on a trip to Jackson one day, we saw a couple of electric men sitting in their warm cozy truck drinking coffee and reading the paper. My anger truly got the best of me that day as I approached them and gave them a piece of my mind. We had electric by that evening. Many thanks to a wonderful gentleman whom we had met the day before who was the only electric man around that seemed the most concerned. Of course the lady smiles and pleas from us all, me, my cousin Christianne, and Mommy, may have helped.
After all this ordeal and seeing the struggles with crummy uncaring businesses that my family has to dea withl on a day to day basis, made me very angry. I decided to write to the KY Power Company, the KY Governor Breshear, the Secretary of State, the Eastern KY District Representative Hal Rogers, as well as to the Lietuant Governor. I let them know the disappointment and the struggles the people of Eastern KY has with KY Power. I wouldn't be surprised to see nothing done as usual. It seems that no one listens or cares for the people of the Appalachians, leaving them powerless, even over their own voice.
It was a struggle growing up in an environment where you have no voice, no right to an opinion while living in fear of being retaliated against for trying to stand up for yourself and others. You grow up belieiving that your opinion doesn't matter and that you are worthless. I can't blame these struggles on just my home life and my family. It is part of the society in Eastern KY - the schools, the businesses, and of course the city government who pockets tons of money that should be used to help those who are trying to help themselves.
Many people of this country speak about discrimination against minorities. Yet they have no idea about the discrimination that the people in Eastern KY have lived with for decades.
- Can you imagine a low class neighborhood in a major city being without power for week and nothing said or done about it?
- Can you imagine a low class neighborhood in a major city being shut in because their streets are damaged and they have no way of getting out? How long would that last before the government done something about it?
- Can you imagine a low class neighborhood in a major city being without water for a week with no one assisting them? How long would that last before the government and policitians helped them?
All I can say is, where is the Power when you feel you have none?
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