Update: Emporians Lose Electricity
By John Giffin (Contact)
Originally published 01:52 p.m., January 24, 2012
Updated 02:51 p.m., January 24, 2012
A squirrel caused 2,800 customers to be without electricity Tuesday in the early afternoon. The outage was because of a squirrel, which damaged equipment and caused an equipment failure to the 30th Avenue and Prairie Street electrical substation in Emporia. According to Nick Bundy, media relations representative for Westar Energy, wildlife is a regular cause of equipment failure. Many times, repair crews can restore power by the flip of a breaker, but this time there was damage to the substation equipment
The power outage started at 12:43 p.m. and included Westar customers in Northwest Emporia. At 1:35 p.m., 1,249 customers had electricity restored in north to west central Empoira, including the Becker addition, the Lincoln Trailer Park and West Country Club. At total of 407 customers had power restored at 1:44 p.m. in north-central Emporia, including Kansas Highway 99 and north Rural Street. Another 643 customers had power restored in northwest Emporia from Prairie Street to the Flinthills Mall at 1:54 p.m.
At 2:08 p.m. the last 379 customers from Northwest Emporia Crestview, Westview and Deerbrook additions should have power restored.
2:52 p.m. - Westar is reporting that all customers have had service restored in Lyon County.
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
Boy this was fun.
Came home to no garage door opener, fumbled with keys for the front door which I've never used before. finally got in the house to be greeted by frantic dogs and every smoke detector going off, (one in every room, 8 of them.)
After wrestling the ladder and oxygen tank on my shoulder for 30 minutes got the smoke detectors stopped, then the power came back on 10 minutes ago.
Hope this does'nt happen again soon.
January 24, 2012 at 2 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jasper007 (anonymous) says...
Open season on squirrels. Seems they do more damage then anything else.
Pats on the back to Westar for getting it fixed quickly....
January 24, 2012 at 3:32 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
hometownkid (anonymous) says...
Does anyone know what the rules are for ....reducing the squirrel population inside the city limits??? trap and release? Or are other methods permissible? If you know what I mean.
January 24, 2012 at 3:53 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
I know what you mean, hometownkid, but sorry, we can't shoot them or anything like that. You can trap them and release elsewhere, but that really makes no sense because according to the biologist at K- State, when you release a squirrel to a place far from his own neighborhood, those squirrels in the new place kill him. He represents competition for food. It's nature's way. So the law about trapping and release is silly if animal lovers want to protect the little critter.
January 24, 2012 at 4:53 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Poor Steve. What a nightmare for you. Sorry. I'd have to fumble for front door keys too since I always depend on my garage door and enter at a side door. Something to think about.
January 24, 2012 at 4:55 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
booker5m (anonymous) says...
Ours was out for bout 2hrs. Seems like 2 or 3 times a year this happens
January 24, 2012 at 5:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
scarlett01_98 (anonymous) says...
are there any good squirrel stew recipies? dang things....
January 24, 2012 at 6:52 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
scarlett,
Getting close to Mardi Gras. They say squirrel gumbo is really good.
I wonder if we can trap and release into a cast iron skillet?
January 25, 2012 at 7:56 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
scarlett01_98 (anonymous) says...
great idea create! why can't we?
i couldn't find my grandmothers recipie. but i did find this.
dr rollerskate also makes squirrel stew, maybe he could share his recipie.
SQUIRREL STEW
3 squirrels
2 cans tomatoes
2 lg. onions
Juice of 1 lemon
Dash of hot sauce
1/2 stick butter
2 to 3 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 c. catsup
1 can yellow corn
Salt & pepper to taste
Dress 3 young squirrels and let soak in salt water several hours. Remove and put in pot and simmer until tender. Pull meat from bones and strain liquid to avoid small bones. Add 2 cans tomatoes and 2 large onions. Cook slowly for 1 hour. Add to liquid juice of 1 lemon, dash of hot sauce, 1/2 stick butter, 2 to 3 tablespoons of Worcestershire, 1 cup catsup, salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer for 30 minutes. Add 1 can yellow corn and simmer about 10 minutes, stirring to keep it from sticking.
January 25, 2012 at 1:21 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
scarlett01_98 (anonymous) says...
while i was a resident at sterling house,i met loi west . loi west, from admire, said her mother fried squirrel like chicken for dinner. hmm cast iron skillet anyone?
January 25, 2012 at 1:28 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Glitterbird (anonymous) says...
Crockpots are handy too. But nothing slows em down like a cast iron skillet over the head.
Are there just more of them this year? We are having problems with them in the attic.
January 25, 2012 at 1:35 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Ohhhh boy, Glitterbird, I feel for you. Look for their entry holes during the daylight hours when they are outdoors feeding. Then plug them with metal sheeting or heavy gauge hardware cloth.
Sorry to worry you, but February is breeding time and if they have babies in your attic, those babies will keep the memory of their birthplace for 3 years and they will continue to return there year after year. You must trap them. Those black sunflower seeds work real well as bait. The foregoing information was provided me by the K-State biologist back when I had a similar problem. I trapped them all and hauled their little furry butts away. I would have liked to have put them out of the misery they were facing at their new location, but I didn't want to get arrested for killing the little marauders.
Whatever you do, don't poison them because if they die in your attic, eeeeek, the smell will be awful.
January 25, 2012 at 3:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Glitterbird (anonymous) says...
Thanks Create - we had stuffed old screen wire in the holes but they found a new way in, we have to cut all the tree limbs off that they are using to get on to the house. It's like a highway system up there. They can travel 2 blocks away and never touch the ground.
January 25, 2012 at 3:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
scarlett01_98 (anonymous) says...
create,
i saw this article on yahoo this morning. a purple squirrel! too funny. the couple took pictures and everything!
http://www.brenhambanner.com/news/pur...
February 10, 2012 at 1:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
giggles (anonymous) says...
Sorry to hijack the posts, but does anyone know if there is someone willing to come pick up a dog believed to be dumped? Animal control is off today and he/she is going to get hit by a car, or just plain freeze tonight. Had this same problem about 2 weeks ago, different dog, same circumstance. We can't seem to get the city to act on it.
February 10, 2012 at 2:36 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
scarlett01_98 (anonymous) says...
can you take the dog to the east emporia vet? why is animal control off today? its friday....
February 10, 2012 at 2:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
giggles (anonymous) says...
I wish I knew scarlett01_98. Doesn't make any sense to me. I don't think I would be able to as I have to be at my second job after I leave this one soon. We thought the last one was going to starve to death because the animal control officer missed it each time it came by here a couple of weeks ago. I just wish I knew who they belonged to. I'd give them a piece of my mind...
February 10, 2012 at 3:10 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
I wish I had seen this post earlier today, but it's after 5 already. Anyway, the animal control and the shelter is the Chief of Police, Gary Smith's concern. He is in charge of that. Call him and you will get something done. If you just call the city, rarely if anything will get done.
February 10, 2012 at 5:22 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
scarlett01_98 (anonymous) says...
create,
but can you fry up an orange squirrel?
February 10, 2012 at 7:04 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
An orange squirrel? I just finished being amazed at that purple one you told us about, now an orange one? I'm afraid these little marauding tree rats have begun to form some kind of rainbow coalition.
February 11, 2012 at 8:30 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
scarlett01_98 (anonymous) says...
ummm, my mistake. it was a purple one.
quick question, would you have any interest in building an "international bridge"? if you're not interested thats ok. you would be the perfect person for this "bridge".......
February 11, 2012 at 3:07 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
What is an international bridge? I see you have it in quotes for some reason. I'm not much of a builder, however. Words are my forte.
February 11, 2012 at 8:57 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
scarlett01_98 (anonymous) says...
ummm, that's the point. words, english words...
no hammers needed ; )
February 12, 2012 at 1:42 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
ahhhhhhhhh...
Sometimes, words can become hammers.
:)
February 12, 2012 at 4 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
scarlett01_98 (anonymous) says...
create,
laughing, somehow i just knew you were going to say that.
however, this is building a "bridge" thru understanding and learning english. along with understanding emporia america.
if you want to nail something, how about english words? i hear you are a great english teacher... :)
February 12, 2012 at 6:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Someday you'll have to tell me more. I've never taught English to non-English speakers. I'm guessing non-English speakers are interested in conversational English and not grammar which can be extremely daunting. English is the most difficult language in the world to learn, even more difficult than Mandarin.
February 13, 2012 at 9:45 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
scarlett01_98 (anonymous) says...
create, can you email me at your conveince?
scarlett01_98@yahoo.com
February 14, 2012 at 12:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )