Wake Forest to host symposium on community control of public utilities

The free symposium is open to the public and will run from 3-5 p.m. in Room 1308 at the Worrell Professional Center.

“Hotly contested legal and political battles have erupted from California to Florida between communities seeking cheaper, more reliable electric sources and the entrenched power companies defending their monopoly control over communities,” said Tom Roberts, professor of law at Wake Forest and co-organizer of the symposium. “Community success is due to historical research into contracts entered into between municipalities and utilities in the 1930s.”

“The symposium blends legal, historical, political and engineering viewpoints that focus on the issues and legal processes involved when a community acquires the local power monopoly,” said co-organizer J. Howell Smith, professor of history.

Tom Cloud, an attorney who has worked with several Florida cities to help them take back control of local electric utilities, will be the primary speaker. Cloud is an attorney with Gray, Harris and Robinson in Orlando. Other presenters will include Gerald Hartman with Hartman and Associates in Orlando and Greg Booth with Booth and Associates in Raleigh.

Presentations will include the use of courtroom materials, exhibits, studies and historical/legal evidence used in actual cases.

The symposium is sponsored by Wake Forest School of Law, the history department and the pre-law program.

For more information, call 758-5724 or 758-5502.