Baldwin County linemen ‘Light Up Navajo' with something they have never had before: electricity

BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. (WKRG) — We take it for granted, but a simple flip of a switch is changing lives — not only for the Navajo people in Chinle, Arizona, but in the lives of those responsible for making it happen right here at home.
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'Smiles from ear to ear — happiness. They knew the day was coming, but it was still not the same as the moment that it happens,' Riviera Utilities lineman Bryan Cook said, describing the moment the lights came on for one family for the first time.
Richard Sanspree is a lineman with Riveria Utilities and heard about an initiative called 'Light Up Navajo,' where utilities and co-ops volunteer their time to string line, put up poles, and connect the Navajo Nation with something many have never had, electricity.
'I just couldn't believe that there were people in the United States with no power,' Cook said. 'That just hit me hard, and it still hits me hard. I got chills now.'
'Here, everybody would be freaking out. The apocalypse,' said lineman Hunter Wilson. 'But there, it's just normal life. They don't think anything of it.'
For 10 days, nine Riviera linemen traveled to and worked in the Arizona desert, 12 to 14 hours a day.
'It's a different environment,' Cook said. 'And at the end of the day, it's helping people because none of us knew that nobody had power.'
'They were just as excited as we were to build it to see it built,' veteran lineman Paul Shoenight said.
It was hard work. The equipment used to dig through rock is different, and the terrain is unlike anything they had ever encountered.
'It is a wide open area and the homes are so far out from town that it takes an hour or so to get to one residence,' Shoenight said.
Light Up Navajo began in 2019 with 15 thousand families living without electricity. Now, almost five thousand have power, but there is still a lot of work left to do, according to Shoenight.
'The Navajo Nation people are the nicest, humble people I have ever met in my life, and I would love to go back,' he said.
By the end of the trip, nine families had electricity for the first time.
'It was actually emotional and hard,' Sanspree said. 'I wish we could have stayed another week.'
'The first thing they said, 'We are going to buy an a/c and a refrigerator,'' Wilson laughed.
While the Riviera crew was able to 'light up' at least part of the Navajo Nation, what they got in return will stay with them forever.
'It was an experience of a lifetime,' Shoenight said. 'It was more than I thought it was.'
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Making a difference just by flipping a switch.
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