This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

Page 2
Rene & Butch...
Rene Acker and Clarence “Butch Sprouse, the men with the City’s longest public works service record have given a combined 40+ years of hard work to the citizens of Bay St. Louis. Rene has worked under four Mayors and five department directors; Butch only one less. They are part of the Public Works utility team of six that includes Clyde Saucier, Ronnie Jones, Kirk Edmondson, and supervisor Bill Raney.
“We have to be flexible. There are only so many of us to go around.” Butch Sprouse
They’ve been partners on the job since Butch joined the city three years after Rene. When Butch left to serve with his National Guard unit during Desert Storm, Rene wasn’t happy. “You bet I missed him. I had to do all the work myself. They put someone else with me from water, but he didn’t much like sewer work.”
Utility employees are now cross-trained and work on all three underground utilities - water, sewer and natural gas. “I wish we had more employees cross - trained; then when Butch and I start a job, we wouldn’t have to leave it to repair a line the street crew or builders may have broken in their work,” said Rene.
“We have to be flexible,” explained Butch. “There are only so many of us to go around, and the project list changes while we’re in the field. Sometimes it’s frustrating to not finish a job we start without having to stop and go to another emergency hot spot.”
When asked to describe a typical day, both Butch and Rene responded that there’s no such thing. “A typical day is starting a job and hoping you get to finish it,” Rene added.
On-the-job safety is a big issue for both men. “The public probably doesn’t understand why they see one of our workers just standing around watching everybody else,” Acker stated. “But that guy is supposed to watch us. He’s there to
“Yeah, that was about 12-14 years ago, we had to beat the ice out of hoses to get the water going,” remembers Butch.
When asked about changes in the City over the last decade, they both started talking at once, both agree-
V ,4 ..
♦ * • ' •
:Rene Acker (1) and'Butch; Sprouse (r.);have spent over 40 years: with Bay St. Louis' Public Works Department. They are part of the six man utility team including Clyde Saucier, Ronnie Jones, Kirk Edmondson and Supervisor Bill Raney.
..... Photo by Jimmy Loiacano
make sure that the walls of an eight-foot hole don’t collapse while one of us is in the bottom of it making a repair. We need that guy. He could save our lives — especially with some of the sandy soil we have in Bay St. Louis and the quick sand we’ve run into on deep job sites. Telescopic work is making our job safer, but it still takes a man and a shovel to solve most problems.”
For an outdoor worker, weather is a big issue. “I hate August,” said Butch, “it always has the hottest days. Working on heavy equipment or being in the trenches makes it even hotter. Some days there is no way to cool off.” While Butch is talking, Rene is slapping his arm saying, “Remember when the water tank in Waveland froze, how cold we were? It seemed like every line in town was breaking.”
ing that construction is heating up again. They agree that many changes are the result of the opening of Casino Magic, but Rene takes a more personal, neighborhood view.
“When I was 18-19 years old all my friends couldn’t leave town fast enough for Chicago, New York and the big cities; but one by one they’re coming home, building houses and raising their families in a slower paced, safer town.”
While talking to the men, you see a lot of bravado and posturing, the typical slap and jive of construction workers, about their jobs and the City, but you quickly realize that they really love their work.
continued page 3