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Damage from Dunmore Crash Remains

A bizarre crash involving a dump truck almost two months ago in Lackawanna County is still not entirely cleaned up. Borough officials in Dunmore said the cleanu...

A bizarre crash involving a dump truck almost two months ago in Lackawanna County is still not entirely cleaned up.

Borough officials in Dunmore said the cleanup is out of their hands but that the problem is potentially dangerous.

In February, police said a suspected drunk driver behind the wheel of a stolen dump truck drove up Drinker Street in Dunmore with such force that he took out two utility poles.

Now, drivers can still see the remains of that bizarre crash. What's left of those utility poles still dangle there.

People who drive past every day, like the folks at Brandon's Garage, said the longer the poles stay there, the more pressure they put on the arm of the traffic lights next to it.

"I'm not satisfied with it. I don't know, is PPL sleeping on the job or what?" asked Joe Straub, owner of Brandon's Garage.

PPL crews came in and replaced the poles the day of the crash, and moved the power lines over. Officials said that is all they were obligated to do.

"The pole hanging there, one of these days it's going to fall down on somebody. They should come up and fix it the right way," said Joe Celano of Dunmore.

Officials with the Borough of Dunmore said the remaining lines are phone lines that belong to Verizon and that they haven't gotten a clear answer from Verizon on when the lines will be moved over.

As the traffic lights continue to dangerously lean, all borough officials can do is wait.

The traffic lights belong to the borough while the phone lines and the broken poles belong to Verizon.

Dunmore's borough secretary said the borough shouldn't have to take on the cost if one of the poles, or the traffic lights come tumbling down, but he said they will pay for emergency repairs if necessary.

For now, drivers said they will cross their fingers when driving through.

"They should've done it when they put the new poles in. It should be done, finished business," added Straub.

Borough officials said Verizon has assured them their crews will move the lines over, but haven't given them a timeline.

Newswatch 16 tried to contact Verizon officials today, but were not able to reach anyone.

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