Public utilities provide electric, gas, water or telephone service to customers in a specified area. Utilities have a duty to provide safe and adequate service on reasonable terms to anyone who lives within the service area on without discriminating between customers. Because most utilities operate in near monopolistic conditions, they can be heavily regulated by local, state, and federal authorities. Generally, the local and state agencies are called Public Service Commissions (PSC) or Public Utility Commissions (PUC). Municipal Utilities and Rural Electric Cooperatives may be unregulated though.
Fagus is an unincorporated community in southeastern Butler County, Missouri. It is located on Route 51 about eighteen miles southeast of Poplar Bluff near the Arkansas state line. The community was founded by lumberman William N. Barron after the Latin word for "beech tree". Although he named it for the European beech native to his home country of England, he was surprised to actually find beeches growing here. Before it got its present name, Fagus was known as Slapout: the proprietor of the place was always "slap out" of meat..