Inquirer: Even utility poles get stressed out sometimes

Concerned Reader Jeremy and his dog have noticed in their walks around the Winchester neighborhood a utility pole that has seen much better days.

"If you follow Woodruff Road toward Arnold Middle School, there is a crazy intersection with 51st Street in front of said school," he noted. "I walk my dog there at the school frequently and have noticed a telephone/power pole that is broken and being held up strictly by the tension cables and the wires that it is supposed to support.

"I would think this would be a priority being in front of a heavy foot traffic area due to school children."

I'm all about protecting school children, especially when they're threatened by hundreds of pounds of precarious pine soaked in creosote.

I checked out the pole that's right there on school property and, while I don't think it's being held up only by the utility lines, it's pretty bad.

It's kinked near the bottom, giving it a substantial pitch to one side. It also has some odd kind of metal brace-like contraption nailed to it where it's kinked. Looking up the pole, it has more curves than a Rubens nude. (Google it. But not at work.)

The pole has the Georgia Power football-shaped tag on it, so I called my friend Robert Watkins at the utility and asked him about it. He sent someone out to inspect it, then called to say the pole has apparently been warped over the years from all the stresses from the different utility lines.

He said they would change the pole out with a fresh new straight one, but it might take a few days because of underground utilities in the immediate area that have to be located and marked. But it should be up this week, he said.

"We appreciate you and your readers letting us know about it," Watkins said.

We are, if nothing else, servant leaders here at Inquirer Central.

Update

Regarding last week's ugly fence, I made a little headway this week, but there are still some questions to answer. The fence, on commercial property on West Britt David Road between Sowege Road and Airport Thruway (the spelling of which never fails to annoy me), is falling apart.

Drale Short, head honcho at Special Enforcement for the city, said her department doesn't do such fences.

That's for Inspections and Code, depending on where the fence is and whether it's required by city ordinance to be there.

However, the sections of the fence that have actually fallen over and are on the ground are her department's business because it's now technically become solid waste and must be cleaned up. The fence owners have been notified of that, she said.

This story was originally published August 2, 2015 at 10:07 PM with the headline "Inquirer: Even utility poles get stressed out sometimes."