Posted on 10/28/2004 7:25:18 AM PDT by pwatson
A huge electrical tower with a severed leg triggered homeland security concerns Wednesday, but officials said they have found no evidence of terrorism or tampering. FBI agents and the Dallas police explosive ordnance squad scoured the area for evidence on how the damage occurred. A lawn-mowing crew was working in a parkland area near Walnut Hill Lane and Fair Oaks Avenue when it noticed that one of the tower's legs had been cut and then called police. FBI Special Agent Lori Bailey said investigators are not ruling out any possible causes, but she cautioned that the break in the 150-foot-tall tower could have been caused by natural stress.A TXU spokesman said that the break has not caused any extended power outages and that a maintenance crew would brace the tower to ensure its stability. The incident at Harry S. Moss Park quickly attracted attention from federal authorities after Dallas police received the 911 call about 11 a.m. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security was notified almost immediately through a communications network that collects reports of suspicious incidents related to infrastructure, department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said. FBI agents and members of the Dallas police explosive ordnance squad scoured the wooded area for evidence about how the damage occurred. About 2:15 p.m., Homeland Security received a message that Dallas police no longer suspect the damage could be terrorism-related and said that the tower was possibly broken from stress or "may have been cut by a torch some time ago." "At this point in time, we don't know," Agent Bailey said. "We're not ruling anything out." She said a foot-long metal piece had been broken off one of the support legs about six feet from the tower's base. The leg had been severed in two parts and the bottom appeared bent, she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
"A simple wrench that can be bought in any hardware store could have removed the bolts that caused the collapse of two 80–foot transmission towers in the Milwaukee suburb Oak Creek"
Tower Collapse Due to Sabotage - 10/09/04
high voltage ping
How the hell can there be an innocent explanation for this?
"I just needed a small piece for my pick-up. I didn't think it would hurt anything."
Well DUHHH!
This happed a few years ago in Mansfield, Texas and the guy knocked over one tower which pulled down five others with it.
Happened
saw a chopper hovering over there yesterday afternoon for a while. guess this is the reason...
Good call.
Your Profile Page is good. Over the head for non-natives.
High-voltage, non-eyesore, non-Bird-O-Matic ping.
We need more windmills!
Paragraphs are our friends.
The new terror threat tape states that America will mourn our dead in silence. Several of us speculated yesterday that implies a threat to the communication / power grid. There have been a LOT of tower events in the news lately. I hope these have not been practice runs.
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