Power outage…

An accident involving a Van Wert City Schools bus and a pole knocked out power to sizable portion of Van Wert Monday morning. According to Police Chief Doug Weigle, a bus was attempting to back out of a parking lot in the 400 block of Center St. when it backed into the pole. Van Wert City Schools Superintendent Mark Bagley said no students were on the bus at the time. The bus driver was not injured. AEP Ohio crews were on the scene shortly after the mishap and after the company gave an initial estimate of 12 p.m., had power fully restored by late morning. More than 2,800 customers were affected by the outage. The bus driver was cited for failure to use vigilance while backing. Scott Truxell/Van Wert independent