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Show Hunters Believed Culprits in Garfield Power Outage Panguitch experienced a power outage late Sunday afternoon that lasted almost three hours before Utah Power and Light emergency crews repaired damage, believed caused by hunters' target practice. Boyd Warenski, division superintendent for UP&L at Richfield, reported that Panguitch UP&L employee Joe Davis began his search for the cause of the outage by walking the lines. Power was out from Junction south, so UP&L crews had to begin their search in the area south of Junction. Davis discovered the downed mid-span conductor just north of Bear Valley junction about 30 minutes after the power went off at 4:26 p.m. and notified the Richfield office for the necessary equipment to repair the problem. A bucket truck with a crew of three was sent to meet Davis with power restored to Circleville-Junction area at 5:36 p.m. and Panguitch at 8:04 p.m. Warenski pointed out the tremendous cost to consumers when such problems occur, since it is the consumer who ultimately pays all costs of maintenance and repair. He estimated the costs of repairs alone on Sunday's incident at close to $1,000 without counting the loss to UP&L of revenue for the period of time that the power outage lasted. Warenski noted that problems tend to increase during the hunting season and during the summer months when youngsters often get bored and try a little target practice on UP&L equipment. Occasionally such outages occur from stray bullets striking equipment, but Warenski said it is rare and usually man-caused damages are from target practice. Warenski said that UP&L has lost as high as 13 conductors in one night from vandalism keeping crews busy replacing the equipment. UP&L, and the consumer, absorbs the cost of repairs and loss of revenue, as well as the loss to private business and industry as a result of power outages. He said that the company welcomes reports of vandalism and will keep the identity of informants in confidence. Recently in Sanpete County, vandals who were caught were forced to make restitution in the amount of $5,000 for equipment damaged. UP&L does not have the staff to actively investigate vandalism, but seeks the support of the public and local law enforcement officers in trying to keep the situation under control. Mary Lou Pearson ran daily In Panguitch to train for last Saturday's St. George Dixie Marathon. The Panguitch mother of five took 12th place among women in the race with 1.740 entrants. |