Shelbyville Times-Gazette: Local News: Hunters' shots caused extensive Charter outage (09/08/10)

Errant shots by dove hunters near Wartrace during the late afternoon of Labor Day knocked out Charter Communications services in Bedford County, cable officials and a Bedford County Sheriff's Department report said Tuesday.

The company says most of the damage was repaired by midnight Monday, and promised that crews will work into today on "a more permanent repair." Charter's cable TV, Internet and telephone services were back up for many users Tuesday.

Charter service technicians checking lines near Wartrace early Monday night told Deputy Jimmy Rhodes they saw four to five men carrying shotguns in a field off Knob Creek Road.

One of the technicians said after initially not seeing a problem, he realized the line may have been shot. He told Rhodes he returned and discovered the fiber optic cable had been shot in at least two places. Bird feathers were on one cable near the gunshot damage, Rhodes was told.

Approximately 500 feet or more of fiber optic cable will have to be replaced and, combined with number of man hours worked, will cost Charter over $10,000, the representative told Rhodes.

Two trucks which the hunters were believed to have arrived in were gone when workers returned. They told Rhodes they had been more focused on finding the source of the outage than noticing vehicle descriptions.

An e-mail received Tuesday afternoon from Charter spokesman John R. Miller included this statement:

"Customers in the Shelbyville, Bell Buckle and Wartrace area experienced intermittent Charter service interruptions Monday evening when Charter's main fiber optic lines in the area were severely damaged. Charter is working with area law enforcement to determine circumstances surrounding the damage to our lines. Charter crews responded immediately and temporarily restored most services by approximately midnight Monday and will continue to work throughout Tuesday and early Wednesday to affect a more permanent repair and assure that all service issues are completely resolved. An exact number of customers impacted is not available at this time."

Charter is the county's primary cable television provider and also offers high-speed Internet and telephone services in many areas. AT&T recently announced plans to bring its competing television service, U-verse, to Bedford County, but the company won't reveal how many people have access to it now.