Inquirer: Something's rotting on Auburn Avenue

An anonymous friend, and I seem to have more than my share of those, wrote in to report a potentially dangerous situation on Auburn Avenue.

He was out on a walk when he spotted a utility pole in the 2600 block that caught his attention.

"I shot these photos today while walking. This power/telephone pole seems to be rotting right at the ground. I am no expert, but this seems to be a bad situation waiting to happen."

Well, I'm no expert either, but I know one in the utility pole sector, and he had just called and emailed me on another issue (see below). Before I called him, I decided to go take a look and maybe my own photos of the pole.

Sure enough, the pole seems to be rotting away at ground level. Which makes sense, I guess. Where else would it be rotting?

The bad news is that it appears that if a car were to hit this pole it would snap off like a twig and do all sorts of mayhem on the way down. The good news is that it's planted about three feet above street lev

el behind a concrete retaining wall, so you'd have to be an extraordinarily bad driver to hit it.

So I called my Georgia Power Co. friend Robert Watkins, even though I suspect the pole is not one of theirs. If you're ever wondering who a utility pole belongs to, and I'm sure you ponder that sort of thing often, you just look for the little metal tag nailed to it. Georgia Power's tag is football shaped, and this pole had no such tag.

Watkins said it might not be one of their poles, but he would still send someone out to check it out.

Meanwhile, if you want to learn more about utility poles (and who doesn't?) you can go to www.woodpoles.org, the website for the North American Wood Pole Council. (No, I am not making that up. But if you'd like to make up your own inappropriate comment, feel free to do so.)

Update

Watkins also told me about a program Georgia Power has that might apply to last week's column about the tree on Ogletree Street that had been severely trimmed back to keep it away from power lines.

Whenever Georgia Power has to cut back a tree that severely (and they have no choice but to keep the power lines clear), they will, if asked, take the tree down and grind up the limbs.

Then the city will take down the main trunk and grind the stump. Then when it's planting season, the property owner can choose another tree, but a lower-growing species, and the city will plant it for them and Georgia Power will pick up the tab.

Sounds like that could be the ticket for the ugly situation on Ogletree Street.

Seen something that needs attention? Contact me at 706-571-8570 or mowen@ledger-enquirer.com.

This story was originally published October 11, 2015 at 10:44 PM with the headline "Inquirer: Something's rotting on Auburn Avenue ."