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Sept. 16, 2002
JEA's "electric cowboys" among best in the world
Two JEA apprentice line maintainers placed in the top five in the world in the 19th Annual International Lineman's Rodeo held Sept. 12, 13, 14 in Kansas City, MO.
"Placing in the top five when competing with the best line maintainers in the world is an outstanding achievement and we're proud of our whole team," said Walt Bussells, JEA CEO.
Kenneth Lockwood placed fourth in the "Hurtman Rescue," which tests safety-related skills. Tracy Haas placed fourth in the "Cross Arm Cross Over" competition, which was a "mystery competition" revealed to competitors just before the competition. Judges look for skills and proper techniques in performing a task routinely faced by line maintainers in their daily work. Other JEA team members included Tony Fowler, James Carnell, Pat Banks, Jim Flores, Joe Howard, Greg Johnson and Lee Nichols.
The competition was held Saturday, Sept. 14, when more than 220 teams and 250 apprentices gathered at the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame rodeo fairgrounds to compete in events based on traditional lineman tasks. Competitors came from all over the U.S., and from places like Ireland, Jamaica and Canada.
The intention of the International Lineman's Rodeo is to recognize the profession of line work, as well as to demonstrate the safety, skill and education of electric linemen. Members of JEA's teams find opportunities to learn different techniques, and see how well new equipment really works. They bring their learning back to their coworkers at JEA to help make our line maintainers even better at what they do.
There are JEA line maintainers working 24 hours a day to keep the lights on in Northeast Florida. They work in good weather and bad on neighborhood electric lines that carry up to 26,000 volts of electricity. Safety, skill, experience, and a certain can-do attitude about their work are essential - kind of like the "other" cowboys.
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