The month of April has been designated as National Lineman Appreciation Month and April 18th is celebrated as National Lineman Appreciation Day in honor of the selfless efforts and bravery that our linemen practice daily to keep electricity flowing in our homes and businesses. Lineman Appreciation Day was officially designated by Congress in 2013 following the response of nearly 67,000 line workers to the devastating effects that Hurricane Sandy caused in 2012. Power was disrupted across twenty-four states causing an estimated $65 billion in damages when the natural disaster leveled power lines and wreaked havoc upon the grid. Line crews from across the country worked tirelessly to restore power to the vast area. The daily routine of a journeyman lineman is very demanding and often very dangerous. Safety is a top priority at all times. It has been referred to by author Alan Drew in his book, “The American Lineman,” as “One of the nation’s toughest, most admired professions.”

Some of the daily duties that are performed by NORA’s line crew include maintaining and repairing overhead distribution or transmission lines, installing and maintaining transformers and other equipment, trimming trees that have grown near and around transmission lines, and troubleshooting what action to take when calls come in for outages and other situations. Linemen are ultimately responsible for keeping the power on regardless of the weather conditions that exist. This is particularly challenging here in the mountains of northern New Mexico which are notorious for treacherous weather conditions year round. One of their most challenging tasks is responding to outages at night and in inclement weather. Even in the most ideal mild conditions, the job of a lineman carries extreme risk. Electricity is part of everything we do, and no one likes power outages. When outages do occur, our linemen work tirelessly to restore systems to working order and urgently return service. to all areas day or night. Although we work to keep outages from happening, please keep that in mind when there is one. Our entire crew greatly appreciates your patience and understanding.

NORA Electric Cooperative is very thankful for the services of its four dedicated linemen, Vicente Mercure, Brandon Cordova, Andrew Valdez, and Max Salazar. 

Vicente Mercure started at NORA as a meter reader 18 years                      Brandon Cordova, now a journeyman lineman, is from                     Andrew Valdez is from Canjilon, and he is a graduate

ago and shortly after that, he began training and advanced into                nearby Manassa, Colorado. He began at NORA as an                         of Escalante High School. He started at NORA in 2013 as

his role as a journeyman lineman. Next to Executive Vice President          apprentice lineman 15 years ago on Valentine’s Day in                       a meter reader. Then in 2020, he switched roles to apprentice lineman.         

and General Manager, Anthony Mercure, he is the second longest             2009. He enjoys watching basketball and rodeo in his free                  He enjoys hunting and fishing.        

running employee at NORA. He grew up in the local area and is a              time. Brandon is married to Jessica Cordova and he has

graduate of Escalante High School. Vicente has a daughter Zangela         three children, Caytlyn Valerio, who attends the University

who is 17, and his son Ransom who is 14,                                                     of New Mexico, Matthew Ulibarri, who is a junior at         

both of whom also attends Escalante.                                                            Escalante High School, and Ty Cordova who attends

                                                                                                                             Chama Valley Schools.

Max Salazar was born and raised in Tierra Amarilla.
He graduated from Escalante High School in 2019 and
began working at NORA in June 2020 as an accounting
clerk. Six months later, when a position for an apprentice
lineman opened up, he took the opportunity to try the
new role.