By CHRIS MEYERS
Staff writer

Residents of Tri-Lakes went to bed last night and woke up this morning with a fairly critical utility service out of commission after an alleged drunk driver wrecked into a gas main near the south shore of Shriner Lake.
Twenty-two-year-old Columbia City resident Austin L. Salesman was the driver of a Dodge Ram pickup truck that left the road and hit a gas main on Bair Road near the intersection with old state Route 102 across from Port Side Pizza.
Salesman was booked at the Whitley County Jail later in the evening and charged with operating while intoxicated and operating while intoxicated per se.
Sgt. Mike Engle of the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department said Salesman registered a blood alcohol content of 0.08 on a portable Breathalyzer test administered at the scene.
Engle said Salesman was going south on old state Route 102 when he tried to turn onto Bair Road at too fast a speed, oversteered and hit the regulator station. Salesman and two other occupants of the SUV were not injured.
Residents of the surrounding area were evacuated shortly after the leak occurred.
The sound of natural gas gushing from the pipe could be heard from a few hundred feet away and sent a plume of dirt and dust into the air around the vehicle, which had to remain on the severed line until the gas feed was shut off.
Thorncreek and Smith Township firefighters doused the SUV with at least two tanker trucks full of water to try to keep anything from igniting.
Initial reports indicated the repairs to the pipe and housing unit could cost as much as $30,000.
Representatives from Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) were not available for any details on how long it could take to repair the equipment and get service restored to the area.
NIPSCO workers were on site throughout the night and this morning working at the scene.