Vehicle Rams Pole, Knocking Out Power

[January 02, 2008]  About 600 Lincoln residents started the new year in the dark and chilled. The unfortunate circumstances began not long into the new year for 60-80 Lincoln residents when they lost power when a car struck a pole on North Union Street.

Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital doors were opened for a warming center, and the outage was widened midmorning for 2 1/2 to three hours in order for Cilco to make repairs. One or two poles had to be replaced. The 600 homes and businesses affected were northwest of Lincoln. There were still some isolated outages in the afternoon, but no further outages were reported by late evening.

The driver of the offending vehicle that led to this inconvenience, maybe misery for some, was seen driving away a moment after hitting the pole. Lincoln police went to the scene and were able to follow the vehicle tracks in the snow and found the vehicle. The driver was found after knocking on several doors. He had not driven home but was visiting at the home of friends.

In a gesture of New Year kindness, he will remain unnamed here. Consulting Assistant Police Chief Harley Mullins said that the 28-year-old was ticketed for driving under the influence, failure to reduce speed and failure to report an accident.

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