48-Hour Storm
Lashes Region
(Continued from page 1)
former and “service” conections
gave out, residents were obliged
to pile on the bed clothing. There
were outages up to 12 hours.
C. E. A. Johnson, manager of
the O’Neill district, explained
the failure this way:
, “The cause of this interruption
■was due to a system failure on the
'Cd-kv Omaha Public Power dis
trict line when it came down
across the 69-kv Bellevue feeder
line between the Omaha Public
Power district and the Nebraska
Public Power system substation.
“We do not know the cause
of the Oipaha line coming down,
but the effect was it took the
Bellevue steam plants off the
line that were pulling 90.000
kw, at the time.
‘The balance of the plants in the
state were unable to hold the
load so that the NPPS dumped
the load to hold the system to
gether. After engines ha picked
up the load, the secnd tie cir
cuit went down from the Belle
vue plant, probably due from
damage of the first burning down,
so that the plant again went off
the line and it was necessary to
again take off load until the
Bellevue units could be put back
on the system.
“It was certainly unfortunate
that during this bad storm, we
had to have the system failure
along with our own minor trou
bls, but we felt our customers
would want to know why we
were in the dark on the night of
February 20.”
Damage to the Consumers mar
quee, which buckled under the
weight of snow, is estimated at
six hundred dollars.
The 50-ft. aluminum canopy,
which hung horizontally, was
damaged extensively, but the
show windows, which are mount
ed on an angle, remained intact.
Damage to the neon sign, ' the
city*s largest, is $50.
The collapse came during'the
height of Friday’s storm. There
were no pedestrians on the
street, otherwise the accident
might have been fatal.
Consumers owns the building,
formerly known as the Scott
block.
Snow Removal Crews
Unsung Heroes—
Among the unsung heroes of
last week’s blizzard were the
state highway department em
ployees, whose all - out effort
against the elements began even
before the storm had subsided.
Those who man the snow-re
moval machines by day readied
their equipment Friday and ven
tured out the moment the resi
dent engineer, John D. Osen
baugh, was satisfied the lives of
the operators were not in peril
and work they could accomplish
would not be undone by fresh
wind and snow.
Mechanics who readied the .
equipment were Leo Carney, I
Frank Eppenbach, Gene Porter
and Dewayne Philbrick. On the
administrative staff, at the state
highway department headquar
ters here, is James Carney in ad
dition to Oeenbaugh.
Night crew workers were La
vern Stevens, Alvin Ott, Clyde
McKenzie, jr., and Leonard Mil
ler. Setting out with the lone ro
tary plow even before the storm
had subsided, Stevens and Ott
worked around the clock until
9 a.m., Saturday, when they
were relieved by day crew mem
bers — Maurice Cavanaugh, jr.,
and Richard Minton. Other day
crew workers were Gilbert Win
chell, William Hinze, George
Van Every, Carl Colfack and
Harold Colfack.
Stevens compared the snow
to the hard, sugar-fine stuff that
became ice during the Recurring
Blizzards four years ago.
“This year’s snow was softer.
She was still loose when we
went after her and didn’t give
it a chance to settle,” he explain
ed.
Niobrara Reports
Record Snowfall—
NIOBRARA—Older residents
of Niobrara claim that there was
more snow piled on Main street
here following Thursday’s and
Friday’s blizzard than they have
even seen there before.
Equipment of the .state high
way department and bulldozers
had to be called on before traf
fic could move at all, and it
will be several days before the
snow can be hauled away to
provide normal traffic conditions.
Several “storm incidents” oc
curred here.
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Halvorsen
became parents of a son Thurs
day night at their home while
the storm raged. Dr. S. R. Neal,
attending physician, managed to
get to the place by using a tractor.
The mother and baby are reported
doing well.
Louis Quie suffered a heart at
tack early Saturday while shovel
ing snow, but later was reported
to be in satisfactory condition.
Funeral services for Albert
Kounovsky, scheduled for Friday
afternoon at Verdel, were post
poned to 2 p.m. Monday.
Several salesmen and truckers
were stranded here during the
storm. There was no school Fri
day.
World day of prayer services
-.were postponed from Friday un
til next Friday.
Chambers Digs
Out After Storm—
CHAMBERS — Residents of
Chambers were busy Saturday
digging out after the worst bliz
zard to strike this community in
at least three years.
The storm abated arly Saturday
after raging about 48 hours. Huge ]
drifts, many 5 to 6 feet high and I
some higher, were piled every
where.
Some residents who had only j
south or east exits from their
homes were unable to get out
until liberated by neighbors.
o
Johnson, Schmidt, Kufahl . . . trouble shooters.
_ ____. ' . ■ , . 0 HI ■ ■ I— ' I l l ' .■ . .***' " " "
All business houses were closed
here Friday and the community
virtually “stood still”
It s estimated that 12 inches of
snow, on the level, fell here.
*BuiT Again Has
Trouble—
The Burlington railroad took
no chances of getting its shiny
new diesel engine involved in a
situation like that which proved
so costly during the Recurring
Blizzards.
Four years ago a steam double
header pushing a V-type wedge
plow plowed into a deep cut near
Haypoint, east of O’Neill. The
locomotives tore up some track,
turned over on their side and
reposed there for five weeks de
spite all efforts to clear the line
and free them.
A South Sioux City-to-O’Neill
bound train pulled into O’Neill
last Thursday at 3:15 p.m., clear
ing some snow as it breezed
along with its half-million dollar
| locomotive which had been in
' service only a few weeks.
Upon arrival at O’Neill the
trainmen were ordered to sit
tight instead of turn around and
head for home base at Ferry
Junction, outside South Sioux.
There was no traffic on the
line until a snowplow arrived
here at 8:26 p.m., Monday. The
plow was laden with snow and
gave evidence of having en
countered plenty of it enroute.
At 1 a.m., the diesel-powered
“Burl” got back in business.
Page Digs Out
from Deep Snow—
PAGE — Page residents are
making recovery from a sagging
snowstorm of late last week—the
worst blizzard here since the win
ter of 1948-’49.
Saturday was a clear day and
much progress was made in clear
ing streets and sidewalks of drifts.
The side roads in this vicinity
are “no roads at all,” although
main highways are open. Some
snow fell here last Wednesday
night, accompanied by high wind.
Thursday morning more snow and
stronger winds forced closing of
several rural schools.
The wind velocity and snow
continued through Friday mak
ing travel almost impossible.
School was dismissed here Fri
day, there was no mail and at in
tervals there was no electric cur
rent.
——— I
All Activities
Halt at Ewing—
EWING—All social affairs and
many business trips were post
poned over the weekend due to
the blizzard which hit Ewing
last Thursday evening, continu
ing until Friday evening. About
12 ihches of snow fell, the high
winds caused roads to be block
ed and drifts about town served
as a reminder of those during
the winter of the deep snows in
1948 and ’49. Many of the streets
have one-way traffic.
A good job shoveling side
walks has been done.
Temperatures again reached
the zero mark, but the warm sun
on Sunday brought the spring
like temperatures back again
with a temperature in the high
30’s.
Orchard Digs Out
from 12 Inches—
ORCHARD—Orchard and vi
cinity are slowly digging out af
ter the worst snowstorm of the
season. Ten to 12 inches of snow
fell Thursday night and Friday
and was swept into huge drifts, 10
to 20 feet high.
Visibility was at zero Friday.
No business places were open
and traffic was at a standstill. It
was still light Saturday. •
The snow was melting some
under bright sunshine Sunday.
Storm Rem'niscent
of 1948-’49—
INMAN—Inman was buffeted
Thursday and Friday by the most
severe blizzard of the year, and
residents-were struggling to dig
out from under huge drifts.
About 5 inches of snow fell
here and 55 to 60 mile winds
raged here in gusts.
The public school was closed
both Thursday and Fridhy.
The huge drifts reminded resi
dents of those of the big bliz
zards of 1948-’49.
No lass of livestock has been
reported as yet.
Trouble-Shooters
Sleepless 30 Hours
Mending ‘Hot’ Wires
No Picnic
The three-man trouble-shoot
ing crew for Consumers Public
Power district, whose responsi
bility it is to keep things on an
even keel in O’Neill, Page, In
man and Emmet, consists of Ron
(Rahe) Johnson, Henry Kufahl
and Ed Schmidt. f
During the course of Friday’s
blizzard they were marooned
most of Friday at Emmet. The
service there had been intermit
tent for some patrons and mend
ing troubles with “hot” wires
while a man-sized storm rages
is no picnic. Upon returning to
O'Neill at 2:30 a.m., Saturday,
they were obliged to repair
“outages” in the northeast sec
tion of the city where some
homes had been out of power
(and heat) for eight or 10 hours.
The firs! problem in tackl
ing an "outage" is to determine
where the trouble is. This re
quires hours of searching and
probing, sometimes with snow
shoes. The district's weasel iJ
broke down—ran-off a track—
a few minutes after it was pul
into action.
First trouble developed in the
northeast section where a trans
former blew out Friday morning
at 9:15. Service was restored for
several dozen families at 9:35
p.m..
Those who worked on this
trouble job were Jack Dailey,
Dewayne Landis and Don Kel
ner—assisted by Boyd Ressel of
the REA
Robert Kurtz, who heads the
district’s construction crew, was
marooned during most of Fri
day’s storm at Valentine, man
aged to get back to O’Neill on
the heels of a snowplow.
From here they went to
Page where "outages" had cre
ated considerable discomfort
for persons who relied on elec
trically-controlled heal. Kurtz's
crew includes Leo Brill, Glenn
Gettert and John Vitt.
Ed Wilson, manager of the
REA headquarters here, had no
“outages” reported during the
storm, except for the general
blackout that was caused by
trouble in the Omaha-Bellevue
area.
H. E. Asher, Consumer’s pow
er plant maintenance expert,
was tied up at Ericson which
was isolated and without power
for many hours. A water short
age periled that town for many
hours because there was no
source of power to pump munici
pal water. Ericson is in the
Kearney district.
Ben Johnson’s crew went with
out sleep for 30 hours in trying
to stay on top of trouble-spots.
The standby power plant on
the north edge of the city, which
might have alleviated some of
the discomfort during the three
hour blackout, was not in condi
tion to go. Without power for
water supply the cooling tower
could not be put in operation.
The O’Neill firemen were sum
moned Friday night to try to
provide water for the tower,
but the power was restored be
fore the job was done.
Newton Plows Snow
for 35 Hours—
Howard Newton, municipal em
ployee, turned in an iron man
performance aboard the city’s
snow plow during the storm. He
went to work Friday, even before
the storm had subsided, and
opened principal streets to one
way traffic. He was accompanied
by Art Holz, who spotted fire-hy
drants and snow-covered auto
mobiles to avoid any incident
that might stall operations.
Next day Holz, Lloyd Brittell
and City Councilman Norbert
Uhl rode as copilots. Uhl said
drifts up to 18 feet deep were
encountered. Deepest were in
the northeast section of the citv
in the vicinity of Mrs. Mildred
Wyant’s home on East Benton.
The plow and ’dozer were kept
busy continuously from Friday
night until Sunday night.
Meanwhile, City Supt. L. C.
Anderson directed snow-removal
operations from the business dis
trict, commenced early Sunday
morning. Levi Fuller, O’Neill con
tractor, extensively used his trac
tor loader outfit whicn is credited
with moving most of the snow on
to six trucks.
Church Beils, Siren
Announce Start
In O’Neill the church bells will
ring and the fire alarm will
sound signalling the start of the
annual membership and fund
raising drive in behalf of the
American Red Cross.
The kickoff is scheduled for 7
p.m., Monday, March 2.
Scores of housewives will set
out on a door-to-door solicitation
in helping to gather O’Neill’s |
share of the county goal—$3,098.
Mrs. Harry Sullivan of O’Neill, |
Holt drive chairman, says the
quota is necessarily higher this |
year.
“But this increase reflects only
an increase in human needs '
which our organization is de
signed to meet,” she explained. I
“Your board of ^governors is not
unmindful of the greater burden I
placed upop chapter volunteers
by their acceptance of the gam- {
ma globulin aspect of the blood
program. Gamma globulin, a by- i
product of blood, has been dem- \
onstrated as effective treatment i
of paralysis that often accompan- I
ies polio. Of the national portion \
of our goal, $7,'000,000 is ear- I
marked for gamma globulin, thus j
creating an increase of about 20
percent over the national portion
of the 1952 goal.”
The office of defense mobiliz
ation, at whose request the pro
ject was undertaken, will plan
with appropriate groups for al
location and distribution o? gam
ma globulin. The American Red J
Cross serves as the collection 1
agency, and finances the process- J
ing and packaging of this by- I
product, thus bridging the gap .
between those who need and I
those who wish to help, Mrs.
Sullivan added. |
Activities intended to accom
plish the same purpose are being |
planned in other Holt commun- '
ities. 1
The county chapter has sent i
hundreds of direct mail letters '
to rural residents. i
“The need for financial help I
was never greater,” an American t
Red Cross field representative I
told volunteer workers in a ! .
meeting here last week. {
Rock Falls News
Dale Curran came out to the
James Curran home Monday to
take Judy and Randy Joe back
to town. They had been snowed
m since last week.
Guests at Albert Stern’s Sun
day evening were Mr. and Mrs.
Lyle Vequist and children and
John Richardson.
Guests at Roy Margritz’s on
Tuesday, February 17, for sup
per were Mr. and Mrs. Albert
Sterns and Mr. and Mrs. Lyle
Vequist and family. Mr. and
Mrs. Francis Curran and girls
came for the evening.
Wesley Taylor drove his team
and wagon to Lyle Vequist’s on
Saturday morning.
Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur Smith
and sons were guests at Henry
Vequist’s Sunday evening.
Rita Vequist stayed at Henry
Vequist’s from last Thursday
until Tuesday. Miss Leah Serck
was also snowbound there over
the weekend.
Don Breiner was a dinner
guest Tuesday at Louis Brown’s.
Mr. and Mrs. Don Hynes and
Lynda were supper guests at
Louis Brown’s Tuesday evening.
Delia Ernst left James Cur
ran’s Tuesday to visit relatives
at Amelia.
Mr. and Mrs. John Schultz and
girls rode horseback over to
Floyd Johnson’s Tuesday. 1
R-ay Johnson was a guest at *
Louis Brown’s Monday afternoon i
and evening. \
Mr. and Mrs. George Calkins 1
were guests at Don Hynes’ Tues- \
day, February 17. i
Mrs. Floyd Johnson and Linda 1
walked (or waded) over to John ,
Schultz’s Monday. 11
Don Breiner was a dinner j ,
guest at Floyd Johnson’s Wed- I
nesday. 1
Two men from Broken Bow j
purchased a pup from Floyd 1
Johnson Wednesday. i
The weather had a surprise 1
party for everyone last week and i
the card games have been con- i
fined to mostly home folks since.
However, folks are getting dug
or shoveled out again now. There
was a lot of snow here abouts.
U S. highway 20 west of Or
chard was the last major stretch
of road to be opened by the
plows. This was accomplished
about 4 p.m., Saturday.
COMPLETES BASIC
Pvt. and Mrs. Daryl Beckwith
arrived here Sunday morning
from Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo., to
visit their parents, Mr. and Mrs.
Guy Beckwith and Mrs. Fran
ces Malcom. Private Beckwith
has just completed his basic
training as a mechanical engi
neer. At the end of his 13-day
furlough, he will report to Camp
Stoneman, Calif.
]— “ HET NEWS
Robert Fox of O’Neill, formerly
of Emmet, is now in the air corps
stationed near Oakland, Calif.
Bud and Robert Cole bought
a second hand caterpillar tractor
at Atkinson on Saturday.
Miss Doris Pierson of 0JNeill
spent this week staying with Mr.
and Mrs. Frank Foreman and
family while practice teaching.
Miss SNorma Lou Foreman, a
senior normal training student at
O’Neill high school, will do prac
tice teaching under the supervi
sion of Mrs. Alvin Kloppenborg
this week at her school north
west of Emmet.
Misses Mary Lou Conard and
Jeanne Cole were house guests
at the D. C. Schaffer home in
O’Neill Friday and Saturday due
to the Btorm.
Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence (“Lar
ry”) Tenborg and son, Gregory,
went to Grand Island on Tues
day, February 17, where Mr.
Tenborg plans to work in the ord
nance plant.
1 II BOUND
j STEAK
I T-BONE
| STEAK
I RIB
{STEAK LB
CUDAHY’S SLICED
H anil G
WHITING
2 lbs....■._.29c
10-LB. BOX_ 1.39
" ^ ^ m m m
LUSHUS
CHERRIES
2 can!_39c
ARMOUR’S
MILK
2Caas 25c
I
GIANT
TIDE
Pkg...69c
I---1
I FANCY
SALMON
2 cans 79c
—————
CUDAHY’S
Table Ready
OLEO
5 Lbs....... 98c
SWANSDOWN
CAKE MIX.3 pkgs. 79c
VANILLA or ORANGE
FROSTEE.2 pkgs. 29°
BAKER'S
Chocolate CHIPS 2 pkgs. 43c
SYRUP.5-lb. can 55c
MAZOLA
01L . Pint 37c
STARCH.2 pkgs. 25c
COCONUT
BON BONS.Lb. pkg. 33c
VAN CAMP'c;
SPANISH RICE. .. 2 cans 35c
OMAR EOUR 3.49
LOAArinArumnji
1 POTATOES 2.99 I
I CARROTS 2 ^ 19c I
% WHITE or PINK ■
j GRAPEFRUIT 39c j
I SUNKIST I
| ORANGES I
(2°: 29c}
LENTEN SPECIALS
TASTE GOOD
CHEESE.2-lb. pkg.77c
FANCY
TUNA FISH.... 2 earn 39c
KRAFT
DINNERS.2 Pkgs. 29c
FANCY
HERRING J/2-gal. 1.49
SALAD WAFER
CRACKERS.Lb. 21c
MEADOW GOLD
BUTTER
n. .67 c
CHASE & SANBORN
COFFEE
Lb. 79c
CRISCO i
3 cIn_83c !
VAN CAMP I
PORK & BEANS I
5 No. 2\ Cans $ 1 1