Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 17, 1993 TAG: 9301170174
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
SUDDENLY, A CANDLELIT SATURDAY
Lyndia Miller and Dwayne Murray weren't planning a candlelight wedding.But a hastily arranged set of candles at Penn Forest Church of God Saturday night was one of many results of a power outage in Roanoke's southern suburbs.
Nearly 3,500 homes and other buildings lost power beginning about 2:15 p.m., and a few customers still were without it about six hours later.
The outage stretched along Electric Road, south along Starkey and Buck Mountain roads and into Hunting Hills, Penn Forest and other large residential developments. Tanglewood Mall lost power in midafternoon, regained it for a while and then lost it again Saturday night, perhaps because of the mall's own electrical system.
Appalachian Power spokeswoman Victoria Ratcliff said the area outage apparently was caused by equipment failure at Apco's station on Starkey Road.
About 400 phone lines in some of the same areas also failed for a while Saturday because of trouble with equipment that normally restores phone lines after a power outage, according to C&P Telephone spokesman Don Reid.
K&W Cafeteria at Tanglewood Mall made the best of it when power first went off Saturday. The restaurant had 300 people in its dining room. "We put candles around," said a manager. "They liked the atmosphere a little bit."
At Mac & Maggie's, a restaurant near the mall, a manager said their stock of prepared food, not hot-off-the-grill dishes, kept customers happy for a while. But "people only want iced tea and baked potatoes for so long, and they wanted ribs."
The Food Lion on Starkey Road could have done a bang-up business in candles, but they don't sell them, said one employee. She said they sold plenty of flashlights and batteries, though.
Candles glowed from inside darkened homes along Buck Mountain Road Saturday night.
Fred and Camille Iwan and their sons, Neal, 10, and Grant, 6, brought a battery-powered boom box to their candlelit dining room table Saturday night as they prepared to heat Chinese food on their outdoor grill.
"We're from Ohio; we're used to it," said Camille Iwan of power failures. Their electricity was restored at 8:05 p.m.
County fire crews reported no fires but plenty of security system alarms triggered by the outage.
Outside Penn Forest Church of God, a large, modern brick building on Buck Mountain Road, the parking lot and surrounding streets were dark. But candles shone from deep within rooms on the first floor.
Down a long, dark hall, friends of the bridal couple struggled under the pale candlelight to prepare the wedding cake and decorate the fellowship hall with blue and white balloons and matching tablecloths.
Just about wedding time, the lights flickered on, then out again, as they had for hours as Apco crews tried to return power. Once more, the wedding party was back to candlelight. It couldn't be learned Saturday night if the ceremony proceeded without Apco's illumination.