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They've got the power to be tough
By LOUIS HAU, Times Staff Writer There are tough guys, and then there are Florida Power Corp. linemen. These are the 750 men (but no women) who regularly handle high-voltage power lines to perform repairs and routine maintenance. The St. Petersburg utility's linemen have recently found some high-profile venues to strut their stuff. On Wednesday, a Florida Power transmission crew from Orlando appeared on the first episode of the Learning Channel's new Beyond Tough program to demonstrate some routine work on an energized 69-kilovolt line. (Other tough-guy types featured in the episode: bail bondsmen, alligator wrestlers, marine inspectors and fireworks technicians.) As the unflappable Floridians went about their work, they seemed to make quite an impression on the show's host -- rapper, actor and tough talker Ice-T. "That's 69,000 volts up there, that's why I stayed down here, where it's nice for Ice," he said. "I'm going to keep it grounded. Ya'll can go up there. I'm not messing around because that's 'Beyond Tough,' baby." A few days earlier, Florida Power lineman Tom Littles of Inverness snared first place in the apprentice division of the 19th annual International Lineman's Rodeo in Bonner Springs, Kan. This rodeo gauged work-related skills, such as climbing a utility pole, completing the simulated rescue of an injured colleague and changing the insulator on a live power line. So why aren't there linewomen? Florida Power spokesman Aaron Perlut said only that the company chooses linemen from a pool of members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. But he noted that Sarah Rogers, the company's vice president of transmission, is the boss of some of the linemen.
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From the Times Business report
From the AP
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