Friday, June 10, 2005

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Truck accidents cripples city for two days

By JOHN THOMPSON
jthompson@TheCitizenNews.com

Senoia residents and commuters got back to their normal lives Thursday, after a freak accident Tuesday morning nearly shut the city down.

The accident occurred a little before 2 a.m. Tuesday when a truck driven by a Locust Grove man hit a power line at the intersection of Ga. Highway 16 and Luther Bailey Road and pulled down four utility poles, said Police Chief Ollita Bennett.

“His truck height was not violating any laws. It appeared the wires may have been sagging,” she added.

Phillip Stewart, 45, was not charged, but his mishap sent the small eastern Coweta city into a tailspin. Residents awoke Tuesday morning to discover that Bank of Coweta, along with Crook’s Hit and Run convenience store, had no power. Many residents had no power, phone or cable service and were also directed away from the scene on their way to work Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.

“We directed traffic for quite a few hours until we just set up barricades around the scene,” Bennett added.

On Thursday morning, some residents were still without phone service. The accident knocked out phone service as far away as Hollonville. Bennett said at the height of the situation, more than 1,000 residents did not have any phone service.

As the barricades came down, Bennett breathed a sigh of relief.

“We survived it, and our officers did a wonderful job.”