Delores Johnson, of 3308 W. Congress Pkwy., knew what was up when the television her nephew was watching went silent Saturday morning.
She glanced at a dead clock and the lights that had gone off, and guessed power outage-the third in two months.
”I think it`s ridiculous for something like this to keep happening in such a short amount of time,” Johnson said as she angrily stood in the doorway of her darkened home.
”My mother is diabetic and her insulin should be stored at a certain temperature,” she said. ”They ought to keep checking their equipment to keep this from happening.”
Other West Side residents and merchants echoed her concern, some with anger and many with shrugs, at the outage that this time was a nettlesome nuisance.
”We`re missing our favorite cartoons,” said Enita Williams, 8, of 3316 W. Congress Pkwy., as she helped her mother, Carol, varnish their new porch.
A sign on the Little Village Medical Center said: ”The clinic is closed because of power shortage. Go Home!”
”We`ve been here for 44 years and we`ve never, never endured such a happening,” said Micky Davis, owner of the A-1 Quality Fish Market on 26th Street, as news of the power outage crackled over a transistor radio.
Davis lost nearly $2,000 worth of the store`s octopus, lobster, frog legs and fish after the first blackout, which kept his fish off ice for two days. Losses from the last two outages have been minimal, he said.
”Cars break down, trucks, machinery-people break down after a certain time,” he said, raising his arms to the heavens. ”They just better try their best, their darndest, not to let it happen again . . . please.”
Joong Do Hur, owner of Sunty Discount, an electronics store, was up in arms. ”I`m real, real, mad. Everybody in this area-we are going to sue.”
Phyllis McShan, of 3343 W. Monroe St., was ”watching something stupid on cable TV, and everything went out. I went out to the car to listen to the radio to see what was going on.
”I was prepared this time,” she said.
”After the last one, I went out and bought candles galore, and four flashlights.”
James Kidd, of 3500 W. Van Buren, said he was unfazed by the outage. He simply went back to sleep because he couldn`t do anything around the house without lights.
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”I don`t get mad at things like that,” he said. ”I just take it in stride.”
But he said he did hope the utility company`s promise to have power restored by 3 p.m., were correct. ”That way I can watch the football game.”