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Show Vandalism Costs Ma Bell, Patrons Money Vandalism and theft costs the telephone company and its customers in Utah thousands of dollars each year and can result in the interruption in-terruption of existing service or a delay in establishing new service, according to Mountain Moun-tain Bells security chief. A. Perry Soderberg, security supervisor for the Utah division of Mountain Bell, stated that malicious vandalism and theft of equipment accounts for a significant loss to the telephone company and its customers each year. "Customers have a big stake in trying to reduce such losses," He explained, "because every time vandalism van-dalism occurs, it's the customer who suffers the most." He estimated losses this year to date from vandalism and theft have exceeded $40,000. More important, however, than the dollar loss incurred a cost which must ultimately be shouldered by the consumer is the interruption in-terruption of service or the delay in establishing new service. Soderberg cited an example in the Payson area when a junction terminal box was blown apart by a homemade bomb. "It was probably just a prank to those involved." he said, "but to the 100 subscribers sub-scribers who were left without service for a time, it could have been much more serious if an emergency had arisen." Such vandalism is not only a violation of local and state law, but often breaks federal law in which case the Federal . Bureau of Investigation (FBI) immediately becomes involved. in-volved. "Damage to lines serving federal agencies or interstate lines always involve the FBI because of the possibility of sabotage," Soderberg explained. The large increase in building permits issued in Utah County over the last serveral months had put tremendous demands upon the telephone company for new service. Over the Labor Day weekend, a large reel of 900 pair cable was rendered completely useless after vandals van-dals peppered it with .22 rifle shots from their automobile. The destruction was compounded com-pounded because much of the cable was laid before the bullet holes were discovered so it had to be pulled out and new cable reordered. People who rightfully expected ex-pected telephone service in early September, were forced to wait an additional six weeks because of the vandalism. van-dalism. Much of the destruction is senseless. Near Logan, two men poured gasoline over a telephone company tractor parked near the roadside and set fire to it. The two were eventually caught, but the damage was done. Copper telephone wire is an attractive target for thieves, especially in remote areas. While Mountain Bell has an ongoing program to recover and recycle the wire, thieves sometimes beat the company to it. Thanks to close cooperation between law enforcement agencies and company security personnel, wire thieves were caught, convicted convic-ted and fined for wire theft. To keep service delays at a minium, Soderberg explained that Mountain Bell puts top priority to restoring damaged services and equipment. "Employees often work overtime over-time in order to ensure customer's telephones are working properly," he explained. ex-plained. While vandalism is usually directed at equipment, it can result in the loss of productive produc-tive work time for company crews. One morning, for example, a crew of employees in the Salt Lake Valley found their tractor had been hotwired hot-wired and driven into a 20-foot 20-foot trench containing four feet of water. "Not only was the tractor damaged, but an entire days work for several men was lost," he said. Service interruptions and costs resulting from vandalism van-dalism have caused Mountain i Bell to revise its present equipment policies. Soderberg Soder-berg said that the telephone company has increased its precautionary measures in ! order to protect equipment and materials, i "We're doing- everything j possible that we, as a com-J com-J pany, can do to reduce losses due to vandlism and theft," I he said. "Public awareness oi I the problem and its I cooperation in reporting acts such as these would make our job a lot easier." ! In addition to possible federal penalties, under Utah law persons caught inten- tionally destroying public I utility property are subject to I a $1,000 fine and one-year ! imprisonment, Soderberg I pointed out. I |