UPDATE, 8:52 p.m.: Statement from Wendy Purnell, Suddenlink’s local director of operations:

“Suddenlink fiber-optic cable was cut in multiple locations early this morning in what appear to be further acts of vandalism.  We have again contacted the Sheriff’s Department and are offering a $5,000 reward leading to the arrest and conviction of the responsible individuals. Our technicians have been dispatched to the damaged areas and are in the process of restoring service. The cuts affected service for about 10,000 customers in Trinidad, Big Lagoon, McKinleyville, Fieldbrook and parts of Arcata.  We’re sorry for the inconvenience, are working to restore service as soon as possible, and are supporting local law enforcement in their efforts to stop these crimes.”

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UPDATE, 7:48 a.m.: Suddenlink confirms that this morning’s outage is, in fact, due to vandalized cable. More outage reports coming in from Trinidad, Arcata, Fieldbrook.

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KHUM and your Lost Coast Outpost have received a large number of reports telling us that Suddenlink service is out again this morning in McKinleyville, Blue Lake and perhaps the surrounding areas. The localized nature of the outage would suggest that whoever has been ritually slicing up the company’s fiber optic cable struck again last night, but that has not been confirmed.

The stories from LoCO scene reporters are consistent: Service went down at around 11:30 p.m. last night and is still down.

The company is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the vandals who have been hitting their lines.