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NEWS BRIEFS
Outage leaves thousands in dark
Patrons stand outside the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center on 4th Avenue in Huntington on Monday, March 15, 2010, during a power outage that delayed the Marshall Artists Series' presentation of Mozart's "Don Giovanni." The lights came back on shortly after 8 p.m., and the show went on as planned.
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HUNTINGTON -- Minutes before 7 p.m. Monday, a powerline at the Appalachian Power substation in the 1800 block of 2nd Avenue blew, knocking power out to thousands in the downtown region and in the Highlawn neighborhood.
The cause of the downed line wasn't known, but AEP workers from Ashland had to be called in to repair it. The outage was mostly contained between Hal Greer Boulevard and 8th Street and 3rd through 5th avenues. It also affected traffic signals, but no accidents were reported as a result of the outage.
Electricity was spotty on the Marshall University campus, with the outage affecting Old Main, Drinko Library and Marshall Commons.
Farther east, much of the Highlawn neighborhood also was in the dark.
At its peak, the outage affected 2,181 customers, according to the AEP Web site. At about 8 p.m., power was restored to downtown, but more than 1,700 customers were still without power in the east part of town as of 9:15 p.m. By 10:30 p.m., the number was down to 519.
Phil Moye, spokesperson for Appalachian Power, said the wire that came down -- the one that affected downtown -- fell onto a distribution line, affecting the east end of town.
"When that line fell onto the distribution line, it caused the protective circuit to operate and knocked out power," Moye said of the safety mechanism.
The outage nearly canceled the Marshall Artists Series performance of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" at the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center. Hundreds of patrons for the show stood outside the dark theater for about an hour wondering what was going to happen.
The outage also affected the opera's pre-show VIP party at the Touma Medical Museum, located at 314 9th St. Doug Korstanje, the public relations manager for St. Mary's Medical Center, got stuck in the elevator with his parents. Firefighters responded and got them out.
David Tyson, co-president of the Keith-Albee Foundation, was patrolling outside the Keith-Albee entrance chatting with some people about the plan to reschedule for another date if power wasn't restored by 8 p.m.
"(AEP) was telling me 10:30 p.m. or 11 p.m.," added Penny Watkins, executive director of the Marshall Artists Series. "And as soon as I closed my phone, the power came on."
Outside, cheers and sighs of relief erupted when 4th Avenue came alive. It was certainly refreshing for Dick and Marge Schoening, who drove in from Charleston to attend the show with their son. They were having dinner at a nearby restaurant when the power went out.
"We finished dinner in the dark," Dick Schoening said. "Luckily I had enough cash to pay for it."
