CARLTON FLETCHER: Singing the praises of a real ‘flipping hero’

The Wichita lineman is still on the line.

— Glenn Campbell

I told myself I wasn’t going to use this space again to write about the storm … OK, let’s go ahead and elevate this nasty bit of business to its proper place … THE STORM.

It’s not that I don’t empathize with the people who are still trying to get their lives in order in the wake if this bastard of a weather event. And it’s not that I think that, at two weeks and counting, THE STORM is old news. I drove through the avenues, by Tift Park, past the lime sink this weekend. No way is that ever going to be old news.

No, I had decided not to write about THE STORM in this space again because I think the majority of people, even the nice ones who’d never say so to our faces, are tired of being told how to feel about THE STORM by the local media. If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a dozen times and counting as local media outlets tell their version of what you need to know about THE STORM: What (STORM subject A or B or C) is going through is nothing compared to what I’ve been through.

And they’re usually right.

See, we local media types will tell you STORM victims’ stories, we’ll tug at your heart as we relay the struggles that this person or that person has been through. But, truth be told, we’re only telling you about the people who reach out to tell us about themselves or their neighbor or their relative or a woman in their church.

Nobody’s out there knocking on doors, asking victims to share their stories.

But we will keep on telling them, because one grandmother’s tragic story is the same or very similar to dozens of other grandmothers’ who’ve been through similar circumstances. And we’ll show you the pictures and the video footage that, as so many people have pointed out, doesn’t even begin to touch on the total devastation that this community is enduring. Because, even if there are hundreds and even thousands whose stories are worse, the telling of these tales of courage is cathartic.

It’s how we heal.

I say all that to point out that I am writing one more story about THE STORM, not because I think I have the scoop(!), the story that no one’s told yet, but because I want to emphasize something City Manager Sharon Subadan told me Saturday. Distressed at the bickering and sniping that had become a byproduct of THE STORM, the city manager said one of her concerns is that “No one is calling Jimmy Norman a flipping hero.”

If you don’t know Jimmy Norman, I’m not surprised. He’s the good ol’ dude, director of city utility operations who’s in that position not because he learned the fine art of kissing up over his career as a lineman’s lineman, but because he worked his butt off to become as good as he could possibly be in a profession that’s ingrained in his family, embedded in its DNA.

One of my favorite photos I’ve seen in my time on this job is one Jimmy showed me recently of the generations of Normans, linemen all, tethered to the same utility pole. Many of those Normans have been here in Albany with Jimmy, even though they’re not all from here, working with their kin to get the power back on in his city.

I had the longest conversation I’ve ever had with Jimmy, who is a man of few words, not given to self-promotion, a few years back when he and a crew of Albany linemen came back from New York and New Jersey after having volunteered to help that area recover in the wake of Super Storm Sandy. It was during that conversation that I learned how brightly the fire of this proud profession burned in this man who has, thankfully, had his hard work rewarded with a position that allows him to have a say in things electric, things that he knows better than anyone around him.

Subadan was absolutely right. Jimmy Norman … and all the other brave linemen, local and out-of-town volunteers who have worked countless hours to rebuild the electrical infrastructure of this city … are flipping heroes. And our community is in the act of recovery primarily because of that fact.

Email Carlton Fletcher at [email protected]. Follow @ABH_Fletcher on Twitter.