Rash of phone cable theft and vandalism in Longview-Kelso area

KELSO, Wash. — A rash of telephone cable theft and vandalism has hit Qwest Telecommunications in the Longview-Kelso area in recent days, including one that cut long-distance service to 20,000 customers.

The most recent theft cut phone service to about 30 customers Tuesday morning north of Kelso, Cowlitz County sheriff's Capt. Mark S. Nelson said.

The damage is caused largely by thieves looking for copper wire, but they often mistakenly cut fiber-optic cable, which is mostly glass, Nelson said.

"It's pretty bold, pretty brazen, for people to be climbing a pole and to be cutting these phone wires down," he added. "If you see somebody up a pole and there isn't a Qwest truck around, probably a phone call would be in order."

On Monday morning, Qwest reported that about 300 feet of 22-gauge phone wire was cut from an overhead line in Castle Rock, causing damage estimated at about $1,400.

Qwest workers spent most of Friday repairing vandalism to about 6,200 feet of fiber-optic cable that was cut in Kelso, and as they were headed home about 12:30 a.m. Saturday they were dispatched to handle another outage that cut long-distance service to 20,000 customers in Pacific and western Wahkiakum counties in Washington and Clatsop County, Ore.

Damage in the incident Friday was estimated at more than $25,000, including the cost of material and repairs. Qwest officials said the damage discovered Saturday will be more costly.