
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 8, 1994                    TAG: 9406080653 
SECTION: LOCAL                     PAGE: D5    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: ISLE OF WIGHT 
DATELINE: 940608                                 LENGTH: Short

POWER LINE INJURES MAN

{LEAD} An Isle of Wight County farmhand was burned by 7,200 volts of electricity Tuesday when a metal pole he was using touched a Virginia Power line.

Kenneth Beasley, 44, of Carrollton, was flown by Nightingale helicopter to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital about 11 a.m. He was still in the emergency room late Tuesday afternoon.

{REST} Beasley was standing atop a 20-foot grain bin, using a 16-foot pole to start a piece of farm equipment that would move grain from a truck to the bin, said Katherine Taylor, owner of Taylor Farms.

The metal pole came into contact with the power line, which was about 10 feet away, said Hayes Griffin, an operations supervisor for Virginia Power.

Taylor's husband, Robert P. Taylor, was in the bin, but was not injured, his wife said.

Beasley, who had worked at the farm about four years, suffered burns on his hands and shoulders, Taylor said.

``My husband said it sounded like a shotgun going off,'' Taylor said. ``He said the inside of the bin lit up like a Christmas tree. He knew immediately what had happened.''

Taylor said the current went through Beasley, flashed into the grain bin and then hit the ground.

{KEYWORDS} ACCIDENT POWER LINE

by CNB