Some cities are learning they need to think more carefully about material specifications. Tupelo Miss., yes, where Elvis was born, has light and utility poles made of wood. Now Tupelo, can you sing ?EUR??,,????'??Return to Sender,?EUR??,,????'?? is replacing those 6,855 city-owned poles with sturdy steel-and-concrete types.

Seems the wooden ones are rotting and falling over whenever strong winds blow. A city superintendent asserts the wood is failing since the fed put restrictions on Creosote, a common wood preservative. While there must be other wood preservatives, the point is, Tupelo has given up on wood. Of course, Tupelo doesn?EUR??,,????'???t have the wherewithal to replace them en masse. The city will change 75-100 out each year. Let?EUR??,,????'???s see, move the decimal point over two places ?EUR??,,????'??? it will take Tupelo 68 years to replace them (or 91 years @ 75 per annum).

Steel-and-concrete is a good choice. Just try and blow those poles over! They are a tad expensive?EUR??,,????'??+$1,800 vs. $500 for wood. They could go with aluminum, of course, but you might recall that in Baltimore in Nov. 2005 some 130 aluminum light poles (30 ft. tall and weighing 250 pounds) were sawed off and hauled away during the day and night from roads, parkways, by grass medians, in poor areas, in affluent neighborhoods ?EUR??,,????'??? and sold for scrap. The thieves dressed as construction workers. All they left behind were metal stubs and wiring neatly tied and wrapped in electrical tape.

Even if the poles are sturdy, there are other considerations. In the last six months the Orlando Utilities Commission has fallen victim to thieves dressed as construction workers (have the Baltimore guys moved south?) opening panels connected to a dozen utility poles and pulling our thousands of feet of wire from underground piping worth about $2,300.