Contractor
can’t make it to Year 99
According
to The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Herre
Bros. Inc., a mechanical and electrical contracting company based in Enola,
Pa. will soon close its doors. The company tells The Patriot-News that
the company is shutting down due to “a combination of factors that includes the
economic downturn, losses on jobs, customers not paying their bills, and the
company’s inability to control its labor costs.”
Founded
in 1913, the union contractor reportedly employed around 200 people in 2008.
The newspaper reported that Herre “was one of several companies caught up in
the failed Capitol View Commerce Center,” a Harrisburg project which has left
“all the contractors who worked on the property” holding the bag – for millions
of dollars in billings.
For
Herre Bros., the unpaid bill on that project was reported as $1.4 million.
Bad
News Roundup
Copper
& other thefts
- Michigan: The
Herald-Palladium called the situation in the southwest part of the state a “cat-and-mouse game.”
The newspaper says, “While scrap metal dealers and police have become more
sophisticated in their approaches, the thieves have turned to newer, bolder
techniques.”
Thieves are going to foreclosed properties in broad daylight “and giving property owners stories
in case they're spotted.”
- Connecticut: According to a local newspaper, someone burglarized an unidentified
business in Norwich in mid-July. The alleged thief took wire, switches,
electrical boxes, and carbon monoxide and smoke detectors.
- North Carolina: Why not cut into a high-voltage
power line? That’s what a thief in Kingston thought. His efforts put nearly
4,000 utility customers into the dark in late-June. When Progress Energy
employees came to find the problem, The Free Press of Kingston says they
found “burnt clothing, a charred hat, and a pair of bolt cutters.”
An official with the Lenoir County sheriff’s
office said, “I was absolutely surprised to hear that a body was not found at
the substation.”
The alleged thief did turn up when he went to
a regional hospital for treatment of his burns.
- Texas: Thieves who cut into a fence at
a substation of the Sam Houston Electric Cooperative left 3,000 customers in
the dark earlier this month. According to a police report, the thieves took
copper by cutting ground wires.
- United Kingdom: A row house explosion that was caught
on camera and posted to Gizmodo.com, was reportedly caused by copper
thief “who cut a nearby overhead line.”
Electricity
& people = bad intersection
- Africa still has lightning
problems: Some 259 years after Ben Franklin invented the
lightning rod, it’s still not used in all areas – including, unfortunately, a school in
northwest Uganda. According to a late-June report, a bolt of lighting
killed 23 people (a teacher and 22 students) and injured 51 others. The students
who died or were injured were all between the ages seven and 16.
- Cable TV worker shocked: According to a July 5, 2011,
article in The Wichita Eagle, an apparent electrical shock sent a Cox Cable
contractor to the hospital. The victim, said to be in his 40s, was found
“hanging from a utility pole by his safety belt.” The hospital listed the
victim in good condition.
- Howard Industries was cited by OSHA for 17 safety
and health violations in connection with the electrocution death of a
29-year-old technician. According to Fairwarning.org, the technician was killed
while testing electrical transformers.
- Linemen injured: Three linemen working for a unit
of Quanta Services were injured while working on a job for Pacific Gas &
Electric. According to the Record Searchlight of Redding, Calif., the linemen
were injured “when an insulator fell, causing power lines to arc and spark
three wildfires that charred about 30 acres.”
Money
- Embezzlement
suspected: According
to the Des Moines Register, a former employee of an Iowa electrical
contracting company “is under investigation for allegedly embezzling $100,000
from the company.” The unidentified person was said to have worked as an
executive for the company from March 2006 until February 2011.
- Misuse
of funds: An
indictment in Lenawee County District Court in Michigan was brought against an electrical
contractor “for allegedly misusing more than $80,000 in funds during the
rebuilding of a dialysis center in Adrian three years ago.” According to a July
20, 2011, article in The Daily Telegram of Adrian, Mich., the
man is accused of pocketing the money instead of paying for electrical
equipment used in the building.
- Tax evasion: A 51-year-old woman who owns two
electrical contracting companies in Arlington, Wash. drew a six-month federal
prison sentence “for failure to pay more than $370,000 in taxes,” according to an article
on komonews.com.
© 2012 The Electrical Distributor. All rights reserved.