On again, off again

KELLOGG — Suddenlink customers across the Silver Valley certainly got heated over the weekend when their cable and internet service was interrupted for an extended period of time.

Intermittent outages can be a common occurrence in Shoshone County due to our rural area, but this particular instance was no accident.

The Kellogg Police Department (KPD) confirmed on Monday that the Suddenlink lines that provide service to our area were vandalized at least twice over the weekend.

David Wuolle, Kellogg Police Chief, told the News-Press that the first instance was sometime on Friday and the second was around 11 a.m. on Sunday.

Both occurred at the same place in a rural area south of the Bunker Hill Mine where the line is above ground.

Wuolle was told by Suddenlink employee, Sam Richardson, that when repair crews responded on Friday to fix the issue, they found the line’s casing had been damaged, but the wiring itself was mostly intact.

It was not until Sunday’s incident, when crews had to come back, that they found the wire completely cut.

Wuolle explains that due to the nature of the damage and crime, KPD believes that the perpetrator was possibly attempting to look for copper wiring to steal.

Regardless of their motivations, whoever is responsible for the vandalism certainly angered many in the community.

A popular Facebook group with Shoshone County residents called “Rants and Raves of the Silver Valley,” became abuzz with livid Suddenlink customers.

“What do you know suddenlink is out again,” Zyra Lande posted on Sunday.

Stycee Kinkelmann wrote Saturday, “Whoever keeps vandalizing sudden links fiber optic line you are really screwing with my homework!!!”

Chuck Roberts, a disgruntled football fan, even shared his thoughts on the Shoshone News-Press (SNP) post regarding the incidents.

“Someone needs a ass whooping. I missed the packer game because of this.”

As far as who is responsible, Wuolle said Monday morning that KPD has a person of interest, but are continuing investigate and conduct follow up interviews with potential witnesses.

SNP attempted to reach out to Sam Richardson with Suddenlink for more information, but did not receive a response before press time.