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Ollie's unfortunate adventure

On Tuesday, Jan. 13, I was taking my granddog, Ollie, for his regular morning walk.

Editor:

On Tuesday, Jan. 13, I was taking my granddog, Ollie, for his regular morning walk.

That morning we took a different route and went from Second Avenue up Sixth Street.

We had just turned the corner when Ollie let out a terrible yelp and swung around as if something had hit him.

I thought maybe I had stepped on his foot as his reaction was so intense and scared the heck out of me.

I stopped and looked around and realized that just before his outburst he, as most dogs do, had sniffed the light pole.

I went back to my shop and got a volt meter then went back and checked the pole. There were 50 volts leaking from it.

I called the City Public Works Department and told them about the problem. They sent an electrician out in short order.

He checked the pole and came back to say he could find no problems but would check again.

The electrician came back again in a short while with a sort of grin on his face.

He said he got zapped twice through his rubber gloves, his volt meter was getting a reading of 80 volts.

He repaired the problem immediately.

Later, my granddaugther and I noticed that poor Ollie’s fur was burnt on his snout.

Apparently, the same thing happened on the Second Avenue bridge but this time the poor dog was having a pee on the pole.

Ouch, that must have hurt!

My granddog and I have discussed what happened and have decided that maybe we should sue the City of Prince Rupert for a bag of dog treats from Leanne’s Pet Shop.

Gary Weick & Ollie

Prince Rupert

Editor’s Note: We passed along Mr. Weick’s comments to the City of Prince Rupert. Here is their reply:

On Jan. 12, 2016 at approximately 10 a.m., the Public Works Department was notified that a dog was sniffing a lamp standard and received a shock.  An electrician was called immediately to rectify the situation, and two lamp standards were repaired on Fifth Street shortly after the call was received.

The City was informed that the cause of this was a faulty ballast and failed grounding. We would like to extend our apologies to the resident and his dog. We believe this to be an isolated incident.

If the public becomes aware of any further hazards in relation to City lamp standards or any other public infrastructure, please feel free to call the Public Works Department at (250) 624-6795. For after hours or weekend emergencies, call (250) 624-3000, and to report any further streetlights which require repair, call (250) 627-0988.

Our Public Works department informed me that the poles were on Fifth street (up from Subway), not Sixth, and this was double-checked with the electrician.

Veronika Stewart

City of Prince Rupert

Communications manager