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Reader Frank Davis comments, "Suspicious.
Industrial circular saws require power but the power was out.
Also this
name is not listed in the Social Security Death
Database."
Darwin thinks the story is true: she received multiple
submissions.
She asks for input from readers with additional
confirmation -or- evidence that it's not true.
Reader Jared researched this story, and things
aren't adding up. "1. There is a 'Richard Martinkovic' who is a
commissioner of public safety--but not in Pennsylvania; he works in
Sullivan City, NY. 2. Mieczyskaw Mil WAS a real person, but he was from
ridgewood, NY, which isn't in Sullivan County. 3. He died in 2008, not
2009, as evidenced by his findagrave.com
page."
Darwin says, "Things are not adding up for this
story. But one mistake was simply mine. The news reports indicate it
happened in New York, not Pennsylvania, so I changed that mistake. Now,
the epitaph on findagrave.com is identical to the news reports except for a
different year, so it could be just a typo. I am not aware of whether
findagrave.com is stringent about facts, but its mission is to help people
locate the gravesites of famous people--it's not a news source. I did
notice that one media reference (newsday.com)
is no longer available. However, a google News search reveals that this
story was definitely posted on the AP (Associated Press) service, so it
certainly has real news sources. Putting the question of its veracity
aside for a moment, we cannot figure out WHY the man took a saw to the
power line. This certainly is not going to restore his power. If the
story is true (which is dubious) then perhaps he's just a mentally
unbalanced old man. Methinks this story is not long for this world. I so
much appreciate your help, Frank and Jared." -wendy
Reader Robert writes, "I wonder if it could have been a gas powered
saw?"
Anonymous Reader writes, "I do not agree with your scepticism. Clearly
power has been partially restored to the area so it is no surprise that
some of the lines are electrified. Some industrial chain saws can use
power (perhaps from a neighbour, who now has power even though he still
does not?) but I would expect that it is a diesel powered chain saw."
Reader Bartosz Rakowski writes, "You state clearly that the
biggest question (and an obstacle to consider the story true) is Mieczyslaw
Mil's motivation behind his acts. Maybe I can help by sheding some new
light on this problem. Mieczyslaw's name suggests he's of Polish origin or
even a Polish citizen. There are similar variants in Russia, Czech,
Slovakia, but in this case the spelling is clearly Polish. Being Polish
myself, I clearly see one of our national traits in this story. He might
have considered the situation unfair - other streets had the energy supply
long restored, while he was there in the dark, with his frustration
growing. This national trait is a somewhat perverted sense of justice. It
might have seemed fair for him to revert the state of things to previous
one - with the WHOLE area out of electricity, including him and everyone
else. Beause, unfortunately, we tend to think that it's "fair" when
everyone else is doing as badly as we are. Lots of industrial saw models
operate on gasoline, so he might have been able to demonstrate his rage
withouth the electricity working."
Reader Stuart writes, ""I totally would believe it. Firstly it may have
been a cordless tool which is common in the trade insustry, at least in
Australia. Someone without knowledge of such tools could easily mistake a
large cordless circular saw for an industrial power saw or 'whatever' it
was claimed to be. Which brings me to my second point.
"I have worked as an arborist pruning and removing trees around power
lines. This is dangerous work. We recieve special training as to the
arcing distance of overhead powerlines. He may not have even used the saw,
but he still possibly got electrocuted because of arcing electricity,
especially in the rain near a 4800kv line. To take out 17,000 homes it
would have had to of been a high powered service line, and these have a
constant flow of power even if cut or broken. I'm not sure of the exact
process to shut off the power to them, but I think it involves actually
turning the power supply off altogether since the voltage and ampage is so
high in a service line it cannot be diverted like the common 240 volt
lines.
"We have a common 3000kv line around where I worked in my training; I was
informed these lines can arc 3-6m in dry condition, and in wet conditions,
upwards of 10 meters. In the rain we would not even go near them. In a
high voltage insulated elevated work platform truck with a grounding line,
even the 240volt lines would be precarious. Which brings me to my third
point.
"I also encountered some stranger than normal older europeans whilst I
carried out tree cutting work. I have seen old women ignoring three men
yelling, and safety barriers, to get pieces of fire wood...literally
dodging logs as they were being cut and dropped from 10m above. She didnt
care, she just wanted free firewood....but nuts people removing themselves
from the gene pool is what Darwin is all about! I totally believe he was
probably just some crazy old bastard that was missing his favourite extreme
right wing talk-back radio show, and he decided to go and fix the problem
of the radio not working himself, since everyone else that was supposed to
be fixing it was probably avoiding the area not getting electrocuted and
therefore seemingly standing around doing nothing. I like it, I can see how
it is possible!"
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