Eyewitness reports on aged pole replacement

Linemen for the county?

Well, not exactly. When the Pedrozas and their neighbor on S. Second Street noticed the power pole outside their house was looking suspect in mid-March, Rene called Puget Sound Energy. Upon closer inspection, PSE decided the pole needed to be replaced. By March 22, contractor Potelco Inc. had dropped off a bright shiny new black pole beside the Pedroza and Eitner homes.

The next Monday morning, shortly after the crack of dawn, the crew arrived with their lift, boom and equipment trucks. As Kelly Cook noted, it was obviously not their first rodeo. Travis, Dave, Mike and Cameron looked like a finely tuned machine as they readied the hole, unhooked residential electric, phone and cable connections, lifted the new pole, unhooked old hot wires c a r e f u l l y, took down the old transformer, worked both from the boom truck and also by climbing the pole "logging style," hoisted up the new equipment and reconnected everything.

They lopped off the top of the old pole several feet down to avoid any electrical mishap when the telephone and cable crews come to move their wires. The whole time these guys were talking each other through every step, demonstrating amazing teamwork!

After telephone and cable company crews move their wires, this team will return to take out the old pole, which, according to those in the know, is one of the oldest poles left in town, dating from the 1950s.

Traffic continued smoothly on Second Street in spite of the gawkers and rubberneckers! All in all, it was an exciting day in the old town!

Longtime Second Street resident Madeleine Roozen watched the whole thing from her porch.