Busted pole knocks out power, delays the Record

The Odessa Record was delayed Wednesday morning when electrical power was knocked out at about 8:15 a.m. A truck was said to have backed into a power pole located on the property of the Grange Supply Company of Odessa-Harrington. The impact shattered the wooden pole, leaving a pile of kindling on the ground and the cross bars dangling from the wires. The oil-filled transformers also hit the ground, where a pool of oil spread out and mixed with the snow and gravel.

Local Avista representative Sam Mullins was called, and he quickly began the task of restoring power. Initial reports coming into The Record's office indicated that power would likely not be restored until noon, but shortly after 10 a.m. the lights came back on and stayed on.

The time during which The Record's staff was "dead in the water," however, made us late for our date with the printer. That, in turn, made us late for the post office. It is unfortunate that our post office has to close so early. We know that some of our rural customers would like to be able to get shopping information earlier in the week than Friday or Saturday.

Our first week back from the holiday break found us all in a bit of disarray. To have a two-hour power outage on top of everything else threw us all into a frenzy. We can only hope that things will calm down and be more predictable next week.

It is amazing how much a power outage affects our modern lifestyle. Nearly everything we depend on requires electricity.