PUD not a bastion of dark intrigue

Lou Marzeles
News Editor     

     Going to the Klickitat PUD last week to interview General Manager Winston Low felt a little like visiting the Wizard of Oz - not that Low was either imperious or phony in the least. Quite the contrary.      He was pleasant and articulate, with a quaint south Texas accent that dissolved the letter "g" (e. g., "recognize" comes out "reconize"). Moreover, he spoke with clear passion and fervor for his work and for the pride he wants PUD employees to take in themselves and their work. In my line, over a few decades, you acquire a fairly reliable sense of who's for real and who's a taco short of a combination platter. Low is for real.
     This statement may be quite consternating to some, which leads me back to my original comment, about feeling a little like going off to Oz. The Oz-like aura came from the mystique of hearsay and innuedo I'd heard since I first pulled into town in April. There were vaguely dire warnings of untoward goings-on down the utility, though, what I could gather, contentions seemed to be mostly based on personal encounters rather than on substantiated fact. The PUD had acquired, in some (small) circles, an intrigue that suggested intractable secrecy, doings among a few designed to keep its consumers in the dark even as it provided them light for their homes.
     The reality is vastly different. Low put it better than I can after I'd shut off my recorder and was walking out the door of his office. "I wish people would just come up and ask what the truth is," he said. "If they'd just ask, I'd tell them. There isn't a thing to hide here. It's far better to just be open and honest with people than to try to keep things secret."
     That doesn't really sound like the paranoia typical of secretive people doing things they want to keep hidden.