Blown copper heist knocks power out

By ELLEN KOLMAN - Staff Writer - ekolman@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon

June 30, 2009 08:06 pm

— WAYNE TOWNSHIP — Lynne Morrow of Gane Road in Wayne Township is still cleaning up after the 45-minute hailstorm that occurred less than a week ago.
Now she has a new problem.
“I woke up Monday morning to no power, and some of my appliances are fried,” Morrow said. “My TVs , the Direct TV box, and the brand new dusk-to-dawn outside lights I just bought. I am batting a thousand over here.”
According to news reports, Trumbull County sheriff’s detectives said a man who was trying to steal copper wire from the Ohio Edison electrical substation at the intersection of Stoddard Hayes and Gardner Barkley Roads in Gustavus Township, was electrocuted early Monday morning. The man has not been identified.
Officials say the damage from the cut wires caused a power surge, which touched off more than a dozen small fires in homes and caused power outages in northern Trumbull County and southern Ashtabula County, according to news reports.
Ohio Edison officials said about 2,000 people in northern Trumbull County were without power for most of the morning. And many of those living in the area say several of their appliances may have been destroyed, according to news reports.
Lynn Schultz, a secretary of DLB Oil Co., on Route 322 in Wayne Township, said they lost their computer.
“The power went off here around 1 a.m. Monday morning and came back on at 6:30 a.m.,” Schultz said.
Ohio Edison officials say they continue to warn people to stay out of the substation areas, since they are highly dangerous.
Calls to Ohio Edison and the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Department were not returned Tuesday.