[December 10, 2009] Phone, Internet services cut in Goshen Tweet Dec 10, 2009 (Goshen News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Blustery winter weather and a six-hour interruption in telephone service Wednesday caused concern for some Goshen area residents and businesses. A fiber optic cable was apparently cut about 2 p.m. Wednesday and the mishap disrupted telephone and Internet service for portions of Goshen. Service was restored just before 8 p.m. Workers at the 911 emergency dispatch center notified Verizon of a problem with the high speed fiber optic connection between the old jail complex in Goshen and the new 911 center Wednesday afternoon. "We have redundant systems, but when a cable is cut, you're out of business," said Egbert Dijkstra, director of the county 911 center. "It was a major outage." Dijkstra reported the problem to the telephone officials, but said the 911 center's service was not affected. "These days," he said, "you can use your cell phone." Phones were affected at Goshen City Hall and at the city police headquarters on Jefferson Street. No phones were ringing in the late afternoon at City Hall and only some incoming calls were received by city police staff. But patrol officers had radio contact with the dispatch center and many officers, detectives and administration have the use of cell phones, explained Assistant Chief Mike McCloughen. The outage affected service at Goshen General Hospital for a time Wednesday afternoon, but a spokesperson said some service was restored about 3 p.m. Downtown business also felt the bite of the outage. While bitter cold winds blew across Main Street, business was brisk at The Electric Brew Wednesday evening. However, the telephone outage prevented customers from using credit and debit cards at The Brew. Also, WiFi service did not work, but it did not seem to affect business, said barista Diann Miller. She said the Comcast cable service at the building did not work Wednesday, either. Menno Travel Service on Main Street had 13 quiet telephone lines during Wednesday's outage. "It really hurts (business)," said Geof Landis, Menno Travel co-owner. "We are receiving a lot of e-mail and our corporate people can use e-mail. Our computers are working and we can receive e-mail." He said he had communicated with people at Mennonite Mutual Aid and that complex was only able to receive local calls but not long distance. In his other calling, Landis said he learned that the Goshen Birthing Center was out, along with the RV facilities at Keystone and Dutchmen south of the city. While businesses were dealing with the phone and Internet outages, others in the community were battling the strong wind and snow. Elkhart County highway workers were out spreading salt and sand Wednesday and have been patrolling at night since Monday, said Jeff Taylor, highway manager. "It's not too bad," he said Wednesday afternoon. He explained that five trees were reported down in Wednesday's high wind, but highway crews cleaned them up without incident. Temperatures dropped all day Wednesday after an early morning high of 39 degrees. It was 21 at 7 p.m., but a low of 9 to 10 degrees was expected, according to Sara Weisser, meteorologist at the National Weather station at North Webster. But the high wind predicted today may affect people outdoors or driving. Weisser said winds of 20 to 30 miles per hour are expected today with gusts to 40. The wind chill will be zero or below and there were expected off and on snow showers, she said. There may be issues for drivers, as the cold wind may freeze any wet roads. Weisser said the lake-effect snow should stay in Michigan, but there may be snow showers in northern Indiana. She added that temperatures this weekend are expected to be in the 30s for highs and lows in the 20s. But there may be more snow on Monday, she said. To see more of the Goshen News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.goshennews.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, Goshen News, Ind. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]