Island Richards

So, last night at about 5:30 Dad calls…someone had hit the power pole down at the Hitching Post and knocked it completely over, and knocked the Hitching Post into a blackout. I headed down to help if I could, and found deputies and firefighters all over keeping traffic away from the downed power line. There was a semi parked in the lot, and the power pole was laying on the ground next to it. It was about 2 degrees outside, and the snow was blowing.

Dad went out and asked the driver to come in and give him his information, which he did, sort of. He gave Dad his name, and the name of his leasing company, but when Dad asked who his insurance company was, he said, “Well, um, er, that be, uh, that er uh, that there Pro-gress-ive.” First bad clue. When Dad asked him if he had a lease contract with the company he said he leased to, he said, “No. We just all kind of work together.” Second bad clue. After a few more words, the Deputy poked his head in the door and asked the driver to come outside with him.

I watched the deputies speak to the driver for a while, and then one of them walked around the semi looking at it with the help of his flashlight. About then, a highway patrolman pulled up and the deputies escorted the driver over to the patrolman’s car and put him in the passenger seat. I went outside to look around and one of the deputies came over smiling and shook my hand, “How are you tonight?”

“Not bad,” I answered, “What a pain this is. Tell me this guy has insurance.”

“Nope,” he laughed, “Suspended driver’s license, too. He’s going to jail tonight.”

Another deputy came over then, and said to the first, “The plate on the trailer is coming back as a house trailer, and the other is expired.”

“You’re kidding?”

“Nice,” I said laughing, “I’m going inside and getting out of the cold.”

We later learned that the driver had a suspended CDL from another state.

The power company came and we agreed to let them start their repairs the next day. We figured there wasn’t any sense in making them come out at night in the freezing cold, so we locked the place up and headed out. Before we left though, I went out to talk to the deputies, who were handcuffing the driver and putting him in one of their vehicles. I got the case card from the remaining deputy, who shut down the semi and took the keys with him, and then headed home.

This morning, the semi was gone, and there was a car parked in front of the store taking up two parking spots. It also had expired plates. After checking with the Sheriff’s Office, Dad had it towed off. It apparently belonged to the driver’s wife, who must have came after we all left and took the semi. Warco Pump brought a big generator and Evergreen electric got it hooked in and got us powered back up.

A little bit later, the locating service showed up marked the utilities, and the power company got to work drilling a hole to put the new pole in. They promptly cut a 600 pair phone cable (the locate was wrong by about two feet), and had to stop work until the phone lines get fixed. As of 6:00pm tonight, Qwest was still there working on the phone lines, and all the power company guys were gone. Maybe they’ll get it done tomorrow.

The lesson is, if you’re an idiot, don’t drive. If you’re going to do something, do it right. Have the right licenses. Have the right insurance. Have the right equipment. Know how to operate it. One bad decision leads to more, and eventually it will always catch up to you, and when it does, it’s probably not just yourself that will get hurt.