During the storm that blew through Vicksburg last Friday, a tree fell near my home knocking out a power line.

The resulting power outage was small and only affected those close to the damaged lines.

Entergy was pretty much Johnny-on-the spot, and electricity was returned during the wee hours of the morning.

However, crews returned the following morning.

I guess they needed to ensure everything was safe and in working order.

There were trucks from the local cable company working as well. Their customers must have been affected, too.

In an effort to keep the workers safe, orange traffic cones were used to block traffic on Porters Chapel Road.

I was not bothered that I had to divert through an adjoining neighborhood on my way back from an errand.

The fact electricity was flowing back into my home outweighed any type of detour, and this one was minor.

When I reached the four way stop that allowed me to get back to my house, I noticed there were deep tire marks at the entrance to Cherrybark Lane.

This is the neighborhood where many of my extended family members live, and when I saw the damage to the lawn at the entrance, I just assumed it had been a driver caught in the storm.

The rain came down in a torrent, and with the power out and no streetlights, a driver could have lost control of the vehicle.

But that was not the case.

To my dismay, my mother told me it had been a Vicksburg Video truck that had caused all the damage. Apparently, the driver had been too darn lazy to get out of the truck and move the orange cones that were placed on the road blocking non-essential drivers, so he just drove through the grass.

What a louse!

My sister-in-law has spent hours investing sweat equity in keeping that entrance lovely, and this fellow, just because he claimed he saw an Entergy truck drive through first, followed suit.

Monkey see, monkey do, I suppose.

A few months ago, there was a water leak on my street.

The city of Vicksburg sent crews to repair the damaged line, but in the process,the crew used a large piece of machinery to dig up the road and parked the machine in my yard.  The broken pipe was in the street, not my yard, but they drove through my grass anyway.

It too, like the entrance to Cherrybark Lane, sustained damage with large ruts from the tires.  And to this day, no one has offered to repair my yard.

I certainly do not want to throw all of our utility crews under the bus because I am thankful to the men and women who perform the jobs of repairing power lines, cable lines and water lines.

But like my sister-in-law, many of us also work hard to make our yards and neighborhoods attractive.

Please, I implore you, would you make the effort to respect the homeowners’ property.  Avoid unnecessary trips through the lawn.

When I was a Girl Scout, we were taught to always leave a campsite cleaner than we found it.

Maybe this could be a message for all.
Terri Cowart Frazier is a staff writer for The Vicksburg Post. You can reach her at terri.frazier@vicksburgpost.com.