Sheriff’s Department, Jail Loses Power For 32 Hours

Crawford County Sheriff Darin Layman said his building lost power for 32 straight hours last week after power was shut off in Steelville, possibly causing a surge that blew a backup battery to the UPS system.

Layman described it as a “great training exercise”, but he’s investigating what went wrong. It created a difficult situation at the jail, forcing the department to use keys for everything.

The sheriff said he wasn’t notified that the city of Steelville would be shutting the power off. County Clerk John Martin said work was being done near Dairy Isle, located at 502 West Main Street.

“They’re not great at informing us when they do these things,” Martin said. “They didn’t think it would affect us.”

Read more on this story in the July 5 issue of the Independent News.