Back to 1885, for regions affected by storm

With Internet, GPS navigation, cellular phones, and four-wheel drive, it's easy to get complacent on the Golden Plains.

Complacent, that is, until Mother Nature reasserts herself.

"It's the middle of nowhere. You lose the power, you might as well be in 1885," Sgt. 1st Class Steve Segin told The Associated Press. "There's no cell phone, no lights, no contact."

Segin is part of the National Guard effort that is throwing hay out of helicopters to stranded cattle, carrying in food, water and medicine to marooned residents and flying out patients with emergency medical needs.

There's nowhere near the amount of snow old-timers remember from the blizzard of 1949, the New Year's weekend ice storm of 2006-07 will be remembered for the havoc it created to the region's power grid, leaving at least 29,000 Nebraska electrical customers without electricity, 21,000 in Western Kansas and 6,000 in Colorado and Oklahoma.

Crews are making steady progress in turning the power back on, but the Nebraska Public Power District reported more than 600 miles of high-voltage power lines out of service, thanks to wires, poles and towers down, plus damaged conductor. Of those, about 130 miles of lines were on the ground or severely damaged, the NPPD said.

Kearney seems is the largest community seriously affected, and residents seem to have responded to the utility's plea to cut back power usage. They've shut off enough switches that NPPD hasn't been forced to resort to "rolling blackouts" -- cutting power for six hours at a time to various parts of town to keep the entire electrical system from collapsing.

The University of Nebraska Kearney should be commended for telling students to stay home at least until Saturday so UNK buildings can stay dark, easing the burden on the rest of the community.

We're sure all of the unneeded generators that were manufactured for the Y2K scare are long gone by now, but if not, they are in high demand in the affected area.

The storm is a good reminder how dependent we are on those who provide the energy that we're used to consuming out here on the Golden Plains.

Perhaps it's also time to reassess our situation and consider possibilities of more energy independence, especially for the more isolated among us.

At the very least, it's time express our thanks to those who leave the warmth and safety of home, to go out into cold, icy conditions to make sure electricity keeps flowing to those of us who want to stay safe and warm at home.