BONNER SPRINGS, Kan. — A rodent almost ruined Thanksgiving for thousands of people in Bonner Springs, Kan.
More than 3,100 customers of Weststar Energy spent the morning without electricity, and no way to prepare their holiday meals.
The Inman residence in Bonner Springs is a home where the Thanksgiving turkey almost went cold. Donald Inman and his family say the lights went dark just past 9 a.m. and for three hours, they had no power to prepare their dinner.
For three hours, the turkey sat cold inside Inman’s oven, as the lights were snuffed out, and service from Weststar Energy was interrupted.
“We were just turning the parade on one of the channels,” Inman said. “It had just barely started when everything went dead.”
The Inman house was one of thousands in Bonner Springs that sat dark, while residents watched the clock. Weststar Spokesman Shane Batchelder says the trouble happened at a substation on Metropolitan Avenue, when a squirrel damaged some equipment.
“It’s disappointing,” Cathy Harding, Inman’s daughter, said. “It’s very disappointing.”
The Inmans were planning for an early Thanksgiving dinner at their daughter’s nearby home, but the power went out there too. The electricity didn’t come back on until 12:15 p.m. and by that time, everyone had to scramble to get dinners ready.
“I hope they have a lot of people trying to correct it,” Harding said. “It must be a big problem. I hope they have a lot of people trying to correct it. It’s ruining a lot of people’s Thanksgiving dinners.”
“I was disappointed,” Inman said. “I couldn’t get anything out of Weststar to tell me what (time service would be restored). The recording said 12:30 p.m. Whether that holds true or not, I don’t know.”
Until power was restored, the Inmans were faced with the options of ordering out, or going to eat with relatives. Instead, the power is back on, and dinner can be saved.
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