The Telescope 45.05

Page 1

An electrical storm lit up San Diego County on Sept. 26. Rsidents of Escondido saw this light show looking west towards San Marcos. The stormy weather has since given way to a Santa Ana condition with temperatures in the low lOOs and air quality in the moderate to unhealthful range, according to county air pollution officials•

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The Telesco Friday, October 4, 1991

Palomar College. 1 140 West Mission Road. San Marcos CA 92069-1487

Volume 45, Number 5

Classes cancelled after second power outage Construction worker nearly electrocuted after hitting underground power line Wednesday morning By Sara Skol Staff Writer

Michael Bagstad/Phorography Editor

A shaken Allan Rodriguez after his close brush with death Tuesday morning at Palomar.

Construction worker Allan Rodriguez narrowly escaped electrocution Tuesday. At exactly 7:50a.m., Rodriguez's digging bar hit a 12,000 volt power cable, shutting down power all over the campus. Most classes were cancelled until 6 p.m. "The thought I'd never see my children or wife again went through my mind," said the badly shaken Rodriguez. "What saved me was the water in the conduit which grounded the electricity- otherwise (the electricity) would have traveled up the metal bar to me." Rodriguez is foreman of the A.M. Ortega Construction Company, contracted to build a storm drain system in conjunction with the widening of Mission Road at Los Posas Ave. Phones, computers and lights on campus were off all morning. While most classes were cancelled, some teachers such as Tom Humphrey and Larry Williams in the business department said that neither of their voices "ran on electricity," so students should show up for their classes. Students and teachers milled around in the 100 degree plus temperature. Some students and teachers braved the heat and held classes out doors. The cafeteria closed as did the the Frozen Yogurt shop and Pepe' s Mexican Cuisine. Soft drink machines were not operating. Cindy Shand, food service supervisor, said, "We lost about three-fourths of a day's business." She added that the food service staff packed the food in $195 worth of dried ice. No food was lost, she said. Mike Norton, director of public information, said a back-up battery run system kept the phones operating until about 10 a.m. He said cancellation of day classes was announced on the radio. "The last time we had

CAMPUS SHUT¡DOWN: A photo essay about the outage is featured on page 7. a major power outage which disrupted the campus was Jan. II during spring registration. The computers were down and all student appointments had to be rescheduled," Norton added. "That guy (Rodriguez) was lucky," said Mike Ellis, director of facilities. "It was a miracle he wasn't fried," said Ellis. Ellis is not sure what saved Rodriguez but theorized that he "hit the concentric ground wires which took a majority of the shock." He added that insulated boots and gloves probably helped saved Rodriguez. When the power went out Ellis directed his crew to shut down equipment such as the air conditioning which carries the heaviest electrical load. Electricity returned at 12:55 p.m., but most students and staff had gone home. Evening classes were held as scheduled.

Co111ets 111al<e history Football tramples champion Riverside

Sports/ Page 10


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