A representative of Cable ONE came before the Leflore County Board of Supervisors on Monday, saying county workers must be cautious about where they dig and try to avoid cutting lines.
James Duck of Cable ONE said he was there to clarify issues with a line along County Road 542 that was cut on Aug. 20, 2009. The resulting outage lasted six to eight hours.
Duck said he had talked with County Administrator Sam Abraham, and the company would not be pursuing any legal action.
District 2 Supervisor Robert Moore told Duck he opposed allowing the shared right-of-way between Leflore County and Cable ONE.
“We leaned over backwards to let you allow you to put this in there,” Moore said. “Now we’re talking about court, and I know who’s going to lose if we go to court.”
Duck told Moore he was “just glad we didn’t end up there.”
Moore said he didn’t support the shared right of way from the beginning.
“You folks were leaning on us trying to convince us that this really was a good thing to do,” he said. “And I was trying to convince you all that this really isn’t a good thing to do. And I still don’t think it’s a good idea even though the cable is there and on our right of way.”
Duck said that because the business of cable has expanded into Internet and phone service, the implications go beyond people losing access to television programming.
He said the August cut affected a lot of people, and he came to the board only to ensure a smooth working relationship with the county in the future.
Legally, before any entity begins a project involving a dig, Mississippi One Call must be contacted to prevent damage to underground infrastructure. Any operators in Mississippi with underground facilities or utility lines must be members of One Call.
“One thing that we ask is that you guys give us a call or use One Call if you are going to be doing any digging in the county so that we have prior notification so that we can ensure our cables aren’t damaged,” Duck said.
Road Manager Lennon Powell said often lines are cut because they are not buried deep enough.
“Is there any way you all could come out there and locate that line where we can see it?” Moore asked Duck. “Because a lot of times you say that’s where it is, but it may not be but a foot under the ground.”
Duck said much of the line that has already been laid down was purchased from Cable South. He said Cable ONE has found that many of the lines are not deep enough, and some are even too deep for them to reach.
“I can’t tell you how deep they put it in,” he told Powell.
Abraham said the lines were supposed to be under the main flow of the ditch so as not to be affected.
He said the county already has a policy in place to call before they dig, and he believes that policy is being followed.
“We call, and they put those markers in, and we still cut it. That’s a different problem,” he said. “We should be calling anyway, and I think we are.”
Moore said he was not sure how the cable was cut the day before a locator was supposed to mark the line. “It certainly wasn’t a deliberate action on anybody’s part,” he said.
Duck said he didn’t come to the meeting to argue about why the line was cut. “I just wanted to come over here and let you guys know that we do appreciate working with you and all that we ask is that you call us so we can get it located,” he said.
To reach Mississippi One Call, call Mississippi 811.
Board President Wayne Self also raised questions concerning cable in Itta Bena, including the missing Mississippi Valley State University channel.
He said there was “a lot of dissatisfaction over there.”
Duck said updates have been made in the system.
“We’ve just redone our complete channel line to make it compatible with cable online,” he said. “There’s been some channels moved around. We’ve added 28 channels of HD — high definition — and 34 channels of digital. They did lose some off their basic lineup, yes.”
Also on Monday:
- The board approved a warrant to transfer $9,937.81 from the county general fund to the Leflore County Civic Center fund. The money was for paving work in the parking lot, which went above the $400,000 loan amount. District 3 Supervisor Preston Ratliff voted against the warrant.
- The board approved travel for Staff Attorney Angela Kimbrough,Youth Court Public Defender Whitman Moun-ger, Division of Youth Services Counselor Kathy Jones, Causie Clay, and Judge Kevin Adams to go to Portland, Ore. The group will travel with representatives of the attorney general's office to participate in a site visit of a program implementing alternatives to youth detention. Adams said the attorney general's office will be covering major expenses, and is only requesting the county pay minor, unforeseen incidental costs.
