UPDATE: Around midnight Monday the Houghton County Sheriff's Office faxed a statement saying its phones were back in service. Problems with a fiber-optic line appear to be the cause of the outage and have since been repaired.
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HOUGHTON, MI-- The Houghton County's Sheriff's Department has lost its phone service, but 911 lines are continuing to work.
In a statement faxed about 4:30 p.m. Sunday from the Houghton Police Department, the Sheriff's Office says its staffers are unable to make outgoing calls or receive incoming ones.
The statement says county residents who need to reach the department should call the Negaunee Regional Emergency Dispatch Center at 906-337-2211 or dial 911 in case of emergencies.
Regional Dispatch says the phone outage began about 3:30 p.m. Sunday at the Sheriff's Department and Houghton County Courthouse and says normal service might not return until Monday.
