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Salyersville Independent

Local News

COPPER THEFTS LEAD TO OUTAGES

MAGOFFIN/JOHNSON COUNTIES – Copper thefts have resulted in several Foothills Communications outages recently, with the company reminding the public that the crime is extremely dangerous and very likely not even profitable.

Ruth Conley, with Foothills Communications, told the Independent that they had two copper thefts in the Denver area of Johnson County on January 20, with the lines cut in both places, resulting in crews having to work late into the night in bitter cold temperatures.

On February 5 another line was cut on Lick Creek in Magoffin County, and two days later another line was cut in the River area in Johnson.

“It’s hard work,” Conley said. “If they cut the wrong wire, they can be electrocuted. The wire is really heavy and when they cut it, it could get into the power lines and someone could really get hurt. It would be a tough job and really dangerous.”

Conley said they’ve checked to see if copper prices had increased to spur the recent thefts, but there’s been no notable price hikes to cause it. More importantly, it’s illegal for scrap yards to accept the utility’s copper wire without documentation from company, meaning even after stealing the metal, the person more than likely won’t be able to sell it.

While Foothills will definitely prosecute anyone caught cutting the lines and stealing copper, Conley said so far they have no solid proof of the culprit, asking the community to keep an eye out.

“It would certainly be too dangerous to approach them, so we’re not asking that, but if you see someone messing with the lines who is not in one of our white trucks with a Foothills logo on it or the power company, report it,” Conley said. “What they’re doing is extremely dangerous and can result in widespread outages.”

If you think someone is illegally tampering with phone, cable or electric lines, call 911 and/or contact the utility.

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