Subject:  Damages Awarded for Stray Voltage (Hanson)..
Date:     Sun, 28 May 2000 161357 -0500 (CDT)
From:     "Roy L. Beavers" 
To:       emfguru 
--------------------------------------------------


........Of course, the suggestion below that the "stray voltage"
(ground current) affects only the animals -- and not the people --
is a dubious one......

Roy Beavers (EMFguru)           You gotta SHOWME -- I'm from Missouri....
roy@emfguru.com

.....It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.....
                    NEW!!! Website... http://emfguru.com
...................People are more important than profits.................


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 28 May 2000 15:57:39 -0500 (CDT)
From: ELCSK@webtv.net
To: cen21697@centurytel.net
Cc: rbeavers@llion.org
Subject: Damages Awarded for Stray Voltage

This article was in "The Country Today" May 17, 2000.

Transcribed from the specific article as I could not get the website in
time:

"Jury awards damages in stray-voltage case

WAUPACA - New London dairy farmers were awarded $1.24 million for
damages inflicted on their herd by stray voltage from a Wisconsin
Electric Power Co. line.

Jurors in the monthlong trial found the utility negligent in providing
electrical service to the Allan and Bev Hoffmann farm and concluded that
it caused the dairy operation to suffer.  The jury also concluded the
stray voltage constituted a nuisance.

"A courtroom like this is one of the few places people like the
Hoffmanns are represented.  They aren't represented in the board rooms
at WEPCO," Lynn Laufenberg, an attorney for the Hoffmanns, said May 12
after the verdict was read in Waupaca County Circuit Court.

Stray voltage refers to small amounts of electricity that can leak from
power lines into barns and animal watering stations, causing problems
for animal health and milk production.

The causes of elevated levels of stray voltage are often difficult to
locate and differ from farm to farm.

Attorneys for the Hoffmanns said a deteriorating power line near the
farm fed stray voltage into the farm's buildings.  The underground line
was installed in 1977, shortly after Allan Hoffmann bought the farm.

The Hoffmanns contended milk production went down and breeding their
herd became difficult around 1988.

Attorneys for Wisconsin Electric said there was no evidence the line was
corroded or that current had been transmitted through the afflicted
cows.  The utility will likely appeal the decision, a WEPCO attorney
said.

Attorneys for the Hoffmanns said they would file an injuncltion to force
the removal and replacement of WEPCO's power line and may file willful
negligence charges against WEPCO.

Regulators say Wisconsin utilities have spent $100 million in the past
decade trying to resolve stray-voltage problems.

Associated Press"





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