Sounds like the Squirrel King's been at it again...

[Fair use for educational purposes.]

http://www.dotplanet.com/news/article.asp?aid=78423

"Reward offered in Y2K tower tipping" "PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 7 (UPI) -- The Bonneville Power Authority is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to a conviction in the toppling of a support tower on a major electricity transmission line in Oregon on the night before New Year's Eve."

"The downing of the tower for the 1 million volt DC line running from Oregon to the Los Angeles area didn't cause any power outages, but it did come at a time when the United States was on alert for both Y2K power outages and acts terrorism or sabotage linked to the arrival of the year 2000."

"Investigators, including the FBI, determined that the two-legged tower fell over after someone loosened the supporting guy wires, and decided that the culprits were likely local vandals rather than terrorists. The BPA said, however, it was anxious to see those responsible brought to justice."

"The tower sustained minimal damage and the line itself was not permanently damaged,'' Mike Berg, a BPA security specialist, said in a release Friday. ``Nevertheless, significant costs were incurred in responding to this emergency."

"This is the first time in over 20 years that someone has deliberately disabled one of our towers," Berg said. "It was obviously an attempt to cause mayhem on the Northwest power system and that is why we are taking this criminal act so seriously and offering a $10,000 reward."

"The incident occurred the night of Dec. 30 near where the transmission line crosses U.S. Highway 20, about 37 miles southeast of Bend, Oregon."

"The BPA said tips could be phoned in to the FBI, Oregon State Police or the Deschutes County Sheriff."

"-- Copyright 2000 by United Press International. All rights reserved. --"

-- Deb M. (vmcclell@columbus.rr.com), January 08, 2000

Answers

A million volt line! Good grief! I'm very cautious around a 120 volt line to which the juice has been shut off. A million volts, would sizzle your gizzards in a nano second.

Some prank!

-- Mark Hillyard (foster@inreach.com), January 09, 2000.