Utility Pole

The Q: Kathleen Chance wants to put an above-ground pool in the back of her Baltimore home, but she says that utility lines droop dangerously low through her yard. "The electrical line has been this way for 40 years and has prevented us from doing anything with our backyard," Chance said. "We have tried over the years to get this wire moved, but have failed. And not only does that electrical line cross over the backyard to the utility pole, but we also have four other wires that cross our backyard to that same pole from our neighbors' yards."

A 19-year-old Churchville woman was killed Thursday morning driving out of her neighborhood. Elizabeth Wald, of the 200 block of Whitefield Court, was declared dead at the scene of the crash at Rolling Road and Route 136, according to Sgt. Comer of the Maryland State Police at the Bel Air Barrack. Around 6 a.m., Ms. Wald tried to make a left from Rolling Road onto Route 136 and failed to yield the right-of-way to oncoming traffic. Her 2001 Saturn LS was T-boned by a 1999 Ford F450 landscaping truck, police said.

A driver on an Anne Arundel County road Wednesday evening lost control of his vehicle and struck a utility pole, leaving him and a female passenger with critical injuries at Maryland Shock Trauma, according to Anne Arundel police. A statement released by police officials Thursday said that at about 11:07 p.m. Wednesday, county police and fire departments responding to the area of Hammonds Ferry Road and Evelyn Road in Linthicum found a 1998 Chevrolet Corvette against a utility pole.

A driver on an Anne Arundel County road Wednesday evening lost control of his vehicle and struck a utility pole, leaving him and a female passenger with critical injuries at Maryland Shock Trauma, according to Anne Arundel police. A statement released by police officials Thursday said that at about 11:07 p.m. Wednesday, county police and fire departments responding to the area of Hammonds Ferry Road and Evelyn Road in Linthicum found a 1998 Chevrolet Corvette against a utility pole.

Two people were killed last night when the vehicle they were in struck a utility pole near Sparrows Point Country Club in southeastern Baltimore County, police said. Both were pronounced dead at the scene. Their names were withheld pending notification of family members, police said. Police said the vehicle was traveling in the 8600 block of Wise Ave. shortly after 10 p.m. when for an unknown reason it left the road near Country Club Road and crashed into a utility pole. The impact, authorities said, caused one of the occupants to be thrown from the vehicle, and the vehicle was torn apart after striking the pole.

When Phillip Reyes bought his home in the Orr Acres community 18 months ago, he figured that whoever owned the utility pole on his property would come and take it away.He was wrong.Mr. Reyes said the Polm Co., which developed Orr Acres, left the pole standing by his house, at Fort Smallwood and Whites Cove roads. Mr. Reyes also said the pole, once connected to a trailer that was on his property, is keeping him from building a fence around his house.The pole looks like an ordinary telephone pole and has a metal cable hanging to the ground.

A 30-year-old Baltimore man died yesterday after losing control of his motorcycle and striking a wooden utility pole, city police said.Joseph Earnest Lewis Jr. of the 700 block of Mount Holly Street was traveling east about 8 p.m. in the 3500 block of West Caton Avenue when he lost control of his 1982 Yamaha motorcycle and struck a light pole, police said. He was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead at 8:38 p.m.

A section of Route 97 north in Silver Run was closed for five and a half hours early Friday after a Pennsylvania woman apparently fell asleep at the wheel of her vehicle and struck a utility pole, said state police at the Westminster barracks.The area between Mayberry and Stone roads was closed at 3: 45 a.m. for the pole and wires to be replaced and reopened at 9: 15 a.m.Police said the 1994 Toyota four-wheel-drive vehicle was traveling north when the driver apparently fell asleep and struck the pole.

At least one person was trapped after a single vehicle accident in Churchville Tuesday morning that knocked out power to the area near the accident. At 8:44 a.m., Harford County Emergency Operations broadcast an accident with rescue on Route 136 and Kragl Drive in Churchville. Maryland State Police received the call about the crash at 8:38 a.m. for a single vehicle into a pole, Sgt. Yingling at the Maryland State Police Bel Air Barrack said. The accident occurred just south of the Routes 22, 136 and 155 intersection in Churchville during a driving rainstorm.

Police have reopened the 12900 block of Fork Road in Baldwin Tuesday morning after a several-hour closure caused by a car accident that brought down utility wires. Baltimore County Police Corporal John Wachter said Verizon repair crews are working between Cherry Hill Road and Abels Avenue, but traffic can now pass through. The motorist was driving on Fork Road at about 5:50 a.m. when he struck a utility pole, Wachter said. The motorist was not taken to the hospital, he said. No other cars were involved in the crash, Wachter said.

A 21-year-old woman was taken to a regional trauma center with serious injuries following a single vehicle accident in Joppa Friday night, according to the Joppa-Magnolia Volunteer Fire Company. Just after 10 p.m. Friday, units from fire company's Joppa, Joppatowne and Edgewood stations were dispatched to Route 7 (Philadelphia Road) and Joppa Farm Road for a motor vehicle collision, according to the fire company's public information officer. The first arriving unit reported a single vehicle accident with the driver still inside.

As traffic whizzed by on West Street, Nancy Patterson and her service dog, Mahler, rolled smoothly past homes and car dealerships until a utility pole jutted from the center of the brand-new sidewalk. Patterson negotiated her wheelchair around the pole, wincing as she got close to the road, and kept rolling, too excited to pay the obstacle much mind. "I haven't been able to walk on West Street, ever, before today," Patterson said. "It's a huge freedom for people with disabilities.

A driver who likely lost control Tuesday on a rain-soaked road on the city's west side had to be extricated from his car, fire officials said. Baltimore City fire and EMS units responded at 7:35 a.m. to the one-car accident in the 5400 hundred block of Frederick Avenue in the Westgate neighborhood. The unidentified man, who was conscious and alert, was taken to University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center with injuries that rescuers said were not life-threatening. The driver, who was traveling in the eastbound lane, lost control of the car and struck a utility pole.

Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith jogged by himself up and down the sideline Sunday night at M&T Bank Stadium, a solemn moment for him following the death of his younger brother. It was a solitary time for Smith shortly after rejoining his teammates four hours before kickoff against the New England Patriots. And it was less than 18 hours after Smith learned that his brother, Tevin Jones, had died when his motorcycle struck a utility pole in the Montross area of Virginia, Westmoreland County Sheriff C.O. Balderson told The Baltimore Sun. After wiping a tear away from his eye before the first quarter, Smith, who had traveled to Virginia early Sunday morning to be with his family prior to returning to Baltimore for the game, went to work on the Patriots' defense.

A 47-year-old Joppa resident died Wednesday night in a motorcycle accident on Old York Road, according to the Baltimore County police department. Larry Stephen Hicks Jr., of the 1900 block of Mountain Road in Joppa, was pronounced dead at the scene. According to the police department, officers responded around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday to a report of a motorcycle accident at Old York Road and Openshaw Road. Investigators determined that the 2008 Harley Davidson motorcycle operated by Hicks was traveling eastbound on Old York Road when it left the roadway and struck a utility pole.

Nature presents many truisms. Water doesn't flow uphill. Bears eat what they want, where they want. There's no such thing as a squirrel-proof bird feeder. If you need evidence of the latter, simply type the words "rube, Goldberg, squirrel" into your favorite Internet search engine and enjoy the videos of bright-eyed, bushy-tailed creatures making their way through the most mindless of obstacle courses to get to the nuts. While water doesn't flow uphill for reasons dictated by the laws of physics and we humans are inclined to impart human qualities such as persistence and ingenuity to squirrels and bears that defeat bird-feeders and garbage cans, the reason squirrels and bears win in the end is really more of a force of nature than any mental qualities they possess.