PINE BLUFF, Ark. — For many in Pine Bluff, it's been an annoying few months as they have dealt with ongoing copper wire thefts. For Jesse Turner, it has felt like an eternity.
"Not only frustrating, but it makes you upset, makes you angry," he said. "To be typing something that's important, and then the internet goes out."
Internet issues have continued to be a problem, as someone continually cuts AT&T's internet lines. Crews have had to come out multiple times to repair the damage, but thieves haven't stopped.
Now, the city is addressing the issue head-on.
"It's just basic needs, we need our internet, we need our services," Lanette Frazier, city councilwoman, said.
Now, though, something is being done.
"Never to the level that we're dealing with this copper theft issue here in Pine Bluff," Ronnie Dedman said. "I think here in Pine Bluff, it's reached epidemic proportions for us."
Dedman worked for AT&T for nearly 50 years and now works as a consultant. He knows how expensive repairs can get.
"The past 90 days, it's cost AT&T, just in material, not including labor or anything else, just in material, almost a quarter of a million dollars," Dedman described.
So instead of repairing above-ground lines, they have opted to bury them.
"We can report today that most of that cable has been put underground, and that's a good positive," Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington said. "That's what AT&T will be doing as they move forward."
There's also a $5,000 reward being offered for information that leads to the arrest of whoever has been doing this.
Turner still wants more done, including having a permit to sell copper. However, he said that anything that helps is a step in the right direction.
"There needs to be an ordinance or state law to deal with what's happening to the people here in Pine Bluff and across the state," he said.
Any information about who is behind the thefts can be directed to the Pine Bluff Police Department.