BY MARY JANE FARMER

HERALD DEMOCRAT

SHERMAN -- When a dump truck struck a power pole on Wednesday on a motel parking lot on the 600 block of South Sam Rayburn Freeway, it caused a power outage that halted production on Thursday morning's edition of the Herald Democrat for several hours.

About 5:30 p.m., the truck backed into the pole, snapping it at almost a 90-degree angle. Wires were pulled from it to a pole across Austin Street, which also bent slightly with the motion, and fuses at a nearby box blew out. This combination left much of the area without electricity. The Herald Democrat office was among those left powerless.

Sherman Fire Department and police officers secured the area, and that included shutting down portions of Austin Street to protect passing motorists should the wires that stretched across the roadway snap.

Once Oncor Electric arrived, the crew stabilized the poles and shut off electricity to the sagging lines, then quickly identified the immediate source of the problem, the blown fuse, got that replaced, restored power, then set out replacing the damaged poles and wires.

This was the second time in less than a week that a vehicle struck a power pole along Austin Street and left the Herald Democrat, other businesses and homes in the area without electricity.