Telephone lines still out in Perry Township
PERRY TWP. – Verizon repair crews worked throughout the day Wednesday to try and restore telephone service to 178 Perry Township residents without phone service. The residents have been without phone service for five days after copper thieves stole two 700-foot sections of wire from telephone poles on Cemetery Road Friday night or Saturday morning.
Officials said that the thieves climbed the poles to remove the wires and added that three poles fell down as a result of the theft.
Perry Township Supervisor A.J. Boni said that while he is happy that crews are now working diligently to restore phone service to affected residents, he is unhappy the work has yet to be completed.
“This has definitely created a safety issue,” Boni said Wednesday as he worked alongside Verizon crews repairing the lines.
“I’m not happy that we are in our fifth day of no phone service. I’m not blaming the guys here. They are doing their job and working when they are told to, but in an emergency situation, you have to keep working until it is completed.”
Boni said that while the phone lines were down earlier this week, one resident had a fire at her home and had to run to the neighbor’s home to use a cellular phone to call the fire department.
“Verizon did install seven or eight emergency only lines to some houses, but situations like the fire are bad with the lines down,” Boni said. “That could have ended up a lot worse than it did.”
He said that the only way to repair the stolen cable is to splice 1,400 individual copper wires by hand – a task he said is tedious and time consuming.
To make matters worse, Boni said windy weather Tuesday night caused trees to fall and several additional poles were downed as a result.
Boni said that anyone who has any information regarding the thefts should call the state police at 724-929-6262.
Boni also urged area residents to report any suspicious activity to police or the township.
Verizon is offering up to a $50,000 reward for information leading to a conviction in the theft.
According to Boni, crews hope to have service restored to all affected homes by today.