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Duke and Spectrum remove snapped pole after WCPO - 9 On Your Side report

Residents waited 2 months for fix
Posted at 10:20 PM, Oct 19, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-20 15:36:13-04

SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- When Paula Dalton told WCPO about the snapped pole that's been an eyesore -- and a hazard -- on her residential Springfield Township street for the past two months, we went looking for answers.

The morning after our 11 p.m. report, Spectrum and Duke Energy were on Sarbrook Drive cleaning up the mess.

"They are working on the pole now!!" Cara Wilson, Dalton's neighbor, said via text on Friday morning. "Thank you sooooo much for coming out and doing the story!!! We appreciate your help!!!"

A driver crashed into a power pole on Sarbrook Drive in August, forcing police to swaddle the scene in tape and block off the street, Dalton said. On Thursday, Oct. 19, the tape was still there, the pole was still split in two pieces, and Dalton was still waiting.

"It's not very sturdy," she said of the still-leaning pole. "When it gets very windy or it rains a lot, you can hear it groaning."

On Thursday, Wilson said she thought the pole could be dangerous for trick-or-treaters.

"With Halloween coming up and it getting dark and these kids trick or treating and running across the street, God forbid one of them run into that," she said.

Duke Energy representatives originally told Dalton that because the pole had been knocked askew and snapped nearly in half did not mean it was technically down, and therefore they couldn't replace it.

Compounding the tangle was the presence of underlying wires owned by Spectrum and Cincinnati Bell, which Duke could not move without those companies' permission. 

"I've called the township, I've called Spectrum, I've called Cincinnati Bell," Dalton said. "Everybody blames somebody else."

Spectrum and Cincinnati Bell did not respond to requests for comment.

Duke said they could begin the removal process could begin as early as Friday, but pole removal was pending while Spectrum and Cincinnati Bell wires remained entangled in the pole.

Wilson said Spectrum came to their street Friday morning to remove their wires. Soon after, Duke removed the pole.