Subject: More on hurricane
Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 21:26:12 -0400 (EDT)
From: Sally Greene <sg5p@faraday.clas.virginia.edu>
To: Sarah Greene <Gilmer@dal.cleaf.com>

Momma,

Here's a Letter to the Editor or something for you--I am moved to write.

To the Editor:

Of all the items in the outstanding Sesquicentennial edition of The Gilmer
Mirror, I'm especially fond of the picture, sponsored by Upshur Rural
Electric Co-op, of co-op director Irvin Cobb throwing of the switch in
1938.  That's because, thanks to Hurricane Fran, we've just experienced
three days without electricity.

Three days is not long unless your child can't sleep without a light.  Not
long unless you work at home at a computer.  Not long unless your water
comes from a well with an electric pump.

And three days is not five, or ten, as some of our neighbors here and in
North Carolina are looking at.

But it's long enough to get your attention.

Despite Fran's "gender," I cannot agree with my brother Russ (loyal fans
will remember his column) that the worst hurricanes are "female."
Measured in economic loss suffered, Andrew still holds the record, by a
long shot, and Hugo is right up there.  What all of our area's downed
trees and flattened gardens (our own included) leave me wondering is why
these cataclysms have names at all--as if we could reason with them.

I remember the sixties, when the dream marketed by the power companies was
that each family should live in an all-electric ("Gold Medallion") home.
No thanks, I'll keep my hand-cranked can opener and my regular old
toothbrush.

But when it comes to hot coffee, cold milk, and a warm shower, I'll admit
it:  electricity is the staff of life.

Sally Greene
Earlysville, Va.
Customer of Central Virginia Electric Co-op