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ARNOLD LEE PRESTRIDGE...Supervisor of Water and Sewer Departments for The Gty Of NederlandQuick. Think of someone »ho has worked hard and deserves to he employee of the week. Think hard. The hardest working person you can think of....One answer to that question has just got to he Arnold Lee Prcstridge. Foreman over the water and sewer Departments for the city of Nederland. But that doesn't really describe everything that Prcstridge does.Prcstridge has been in that position for the past four years, but has been employed by the city of Nederland for the last 17 years. He started work on July IS. 195.3 doing • annus jobs and spent 13 years as backhoc operatorAs foreman, Prcstridge is responsible for the men in the field, who handle the city water and sewer taps, leaks, and line repairs. Since the heat wave began in the middle of last May. Prcstridge and his men have taken care of 112 water leaks in the city of NederlandThat docs not mean an 8 to S job. Prcstridge said he’d come home, the phone would ring, and he'd go out again, some times until 2 nr .3 a m. and hack to work fhc neat day at 8 Most of the breaks Prestridgc and his men took .are of were 8 inch pipe breaks caused hy (he ground drsing up.With the coming of ram. Prcstrtdgc’s job may not be smooth sailing, because with the rainfall, the dried up ground has to come up and may break again It's a cycle. Prestridgc captained, until ihe rainfall stabilises Repairing broken pipes during a heat wave is not bv any means the extent of Prcstndgc’s job. As foreman. Prcstridge and his 24 men handle dif fcref\t departments for the city, that covers the water plant, sewer plant, five mem on the field for leaks and raps, three men in-the meter department, and four in the city parks department Most of Pre st ridge's men know what to do without being given a joh assignment in ibe morning, because I hoc have worked Io-gclhcr so longcity water superintendent. who docs most of the paper work.When breaks arc called in. Prcstridge would be called out to check on it If it was not a had break, he would do it in the morning, hut the worse ones would have to be taken care ofimmediately.Lately his job has been long, hard hours Prcstridge agreed that all my men have been working just about day and night. The job could he a matter of digging the hole and putting a damp on it, or the tap or plug might need to he blown out. or it might require a jack-hammct to bust up the concrete road. Sometimes the police get called out to assist, as in the major break neat First Baptist Church on Nederland Avenue.Prcstridge's job indudes the water and sewer taps for the Allen Meadow subdivision, and his men keep up the parks, the windmill andIhe Heritage Post, grass cut. ami the pools main-Prcstridge is responsible to John Bernard, thetaincd That can mount up during Heritage Festivallime.He had an interesting experience while operating the backhoc A Gulf service station near the Tidclands Motor Inn had been held up. during the big flood Police Chief Billy Neal tailed Prcst ridge and thcv took off after the robber, across the swamp level waters riding in Prestrulge's backhoc.Floods don't cause as much problem as the heat spells do. Prcstridge ex plained, because Ncder land has good drainage. High water hacks up and stops up the sewers, but there is not much to do about that until the water level receeds.What would Prcstridge like to change ab-uit his joh’ Not much He likes his work. Bui he would like to sec a das when everything ran smooth, everybody did his job. and ihcre were no problems Prcslridgc said “We have i good group of men working together, and there are few problems. VS'c all work well together and we do good work. By law. the men arc not required to work overOur Hat of nomination, forfor emplo-c an employeegrowing abort. If you have! employee of the week,'write a letter stalingof the week la you would like toytror reasons, and address H to The Chronicle-Review, PO Box 68, Port Nechea, 77651. CnBa will also be accepted for nomination.. Please Include the nominee', name, place of employment, address and phone number. All nominations should be signed bv the person submitting It. All nomination, will be held In •trictest of confidence.ARNOLD LEE PRESTRIDGE.-.romm him The CWef and the title .tuck.started tsffinglime, but his crew has been putting in 25 hours of overtime a week and Prcstridge speaks highly of them.If you cornered Prcstridge about it. he would also tell you he likes the gtrts at city hall City Secretary Alta Fletcher would do just about anvthing for Prcstridge. On his birthday, one of ihe ladies gave him a card with beans on 8 that said this Is what you’re full iif. and good humor filled the day. ;Prestridgc arid his men have also helped out at the senior cili/cn's Service Center, painting it and fixing 1 up. and thcv check wuh Barbara Newberry at the Nederland library at least once a week Prestridgc goes three times u day to Beaumont to pick up parts and itemsYou might call him the jack of all trades for the city of Nederland Most people call him the Chief. It started with Jerry McNeill and Homer Taylor and just stuck Other jobs in Prcst-time along with his fathcr-in law remodeling and rebuilding. with extra rooms and wooden cabinets. A lot of carpentryvork went into fixing up• livndge's past include one's at Dav...THE CHIEF Is a Juck uf aB tnOm for the city of Nedertuud mid recently hr ud hi. crow repaired over 1)2 broken water line, during the heal wave..vis Funeral Home, the Gulf States Power Plant at Bridge City. M.W. Kellng Construe tion Company, and a job at the Texaco PlantPrcstridge was one ol the survivors of the blast .( the plant that killed nine men on January 28. 1976 The men were on a platform that broke. He doesn't recall what happened, but they found him clinging m j welding • able and pulled him up In ihe ta* walk Thar was his last dav jl lexaeoWhen not working lor ihe iitv. on Ills days oil. Ptcstnlgc is still working. even while on vacation He ami lus lanulv ate in the process ol musing, which is a major undertaking His wile. Sue. his son Will, age 12. and his daughter Tara, age live, have been living on Avenue I. in Nederland, in a home that I’resirutai- silent a lot n(ihe house they have lived in for Ihe last 17 years. They added dressing areas. greenhouses,patios, and dens, to fix it up. But the Prcstndges's have an acre of land in Beauxan Garden, and were offered cash for their home, so they arc in the middle of moving out and building a new home.Meantime, they will stay at Sue's parents. The new home construction work will be contracted out Prcstridge said I’ve done all the building I'm going to do.The moving situation happened very quickly and Sue Prcstridge is still adjusting to everything ihat has to be done. The children are excited over the move because of their activities at Beaxart Garden Baptist ChurchWherever Prestridge and his family move, and whatever his job entails for the city of Nederland, anyone who knows Arnold lee. The Chief. and his wife. Sue. know somemighty fine people.Mike Delgado, actingcity manager, commented that Prcstridge was one of the city's most depend able and hardest workers, and that everyone feels he has done an excellent job Delgado said he hangs in there and he ccunes through.”Ihe Prcstridge\ neigh boes on Avc. L are surprised and sorry to see them moving And Prcst ridge's wife Sue sounds like she is a story ill her ownBar B Que Crabs
Newspaper Details
Port Neches Midcounty Sunday Chronicle Review
Port Neches, Texas, US
Sun, Aug 03, 1980
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
TX, USA 07 May 2017
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