VOL. 52, ISSUE 24 | APRIL 22, 2011
Mace & Crown Student newspaper of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, since 1930
www.maceandcrown.com
Elliot Fisher Mace & Crown A truck flipped over on Hampton Boulevard causing power outages throughout campus.
Down goes ODU Truck accident takes out power on majority of campus by
Christian Ernst News Editor
Just after 1 p.m. on March 13, lights all over campus shut off. Computers went down. Soon the Internet was shut down. Students all over campus were released from classes, which made the scene outside of Spong Hall even larger. Students gathered to see a flipped truck, lying through a utility pole, which had caused all the commotion. The truck flipped as it was traveling down Hampton Boulevard near Bolling Avenue, when it unexplainably tipped and struck the pole. While many students rejoiced over the cancellation of classes, others gathered at the scene to see what had happened. Power was down for more than an hour, affecting more than 4,500 Dominion power consumers, including students. The power outage affected buildings across campus, as far as 41st Street and
Powhatan Avenue. Webb Center lost power for over an hour, but had emergency lighting in several places, including the University Center. Power remained out longer for the area near the accident, including the intersection of Hampton Boulevard and 49th Street. Fewer than 50 customers remained without power until nearly 3 a.m. on March 14, according to Bonita Harris of Dominion Power’s comment to the Virginian-Pilot. This canceled classes from when the power went out until 4 p.m. that day for most students. Students in the Health Sciences buildings had classes canceled until 7 p.m., and Spong had no classes for the rest of the day. Student Matthew Bradley was in Spong when the accident occurred. “We were sitting in the [computer] lab, and all the computers shut down,” said Bradley. “It felt like an earthquake. That’s what we thought it was.” Bradley, along with several other students, then proceeded outside where he saw the accident scene. Police officers cleared the field in front of the building, moving everyone far enough from the scene to be safe.
While some students saw the scene first hand, others were unsure of why the power was out. Student Jolandie DeClerck was in her apartment when the power went out, and was unsure of what had occurred. “My roommate texted me saying that one of the construction workers that is working on the library hit a power cable,” said DeClerck. “Then my best friend texted me a picture of the truck which I then sent to my roommate.” Other students heard rumors as well. Fred Tugas was in the Office of Student Activities and Leadership when the power went out. Soon, he heard rumor that a terrorist attack had occurred, because of the ground shaking and large boom caused by the accident. Student Matthew Blaszak was running near and around campus when the accident occurred. When he came into Webb Center, he saw everything was dark, when he asked another student what had occurred. While power was quickly restored after the accident, the shutdown was a break for students as the end of the semester soon approaches.