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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 1997)
a war zone Ike Johanns Iowa, from their Chicago home. Her brother was somewhere between Lawrence, Kan., and Lincoln. “My whole family is stranded.” Mark and Anita Schaepe left their house earlier that morning after their transformer exploded in a “big, blue puff,” leaving them without electrici ty. Mark Schaepe estimated the dam age caused by falling limbs on his property to be about $500. “This is the worst I’ve ever seen,” he said, adding that it could take more than six months to clean up after the storm. Schaepe has been on storm clean up before as an employee for a tree service and snow removal business. Ironically^ tree limbs blocked the entrance to the business and there was no way to get the equipment out. “We had people calling us at midnight saying, ‘We have limbs down. Can you help us?’” he said. One caller wanted them to take care of a “2,000-pound” pine tree that was ready to topple. Johanns and other city officials pleaded with Lincoln residents to be patient with electricity and road work. The mayor said it could be several days before the cleanup is close to finished. “This is not going to be a situation where we can solve things quickly and eas ily,” Johanns said. “There has just been too much damage.” Daily Nebraskan staff members Erin Gibson, Joshua Gillin, Amy Keller, Paula Lavigne, Chad Lorenz and Matthew Waite contributed to this report. _aM— i—i n i :_ ABOVE LEFT: LINCOLN’S LARRY IRWIN cuts up the tree limbs that fell on his mother-in-law’s house and lawn. Irwin, like many Lincoln residents, was having to deal with the damage that the heavy, wet snow caused. LOWER LEFT: LINCOLN PARKS AND RECREATION employee Tom Wheeler cuts off broken limbs from a tree on the corner of 14th and M streets. City officials have estimated that millions of dollars of damage was done to trees throughout the city. TOP: JERRY JONES, a senior mechanical engineering major, trudges through the snow on Vine Street to his job at the First Plymouth Congregational Church, 20th and D streets. ABOVE, FROM LEFT: EAST OF SELLECK HALL, Tai Ming Schiun takes a picture of Lichung Hua’s first experience with snow. Both students are from Taiwan. Shelters house record numbers By Chad Lorenz Senior Editor Dave Schreiner has a lot on his mind. He abandoned his house with his three young sons Sunday afternoon to spend the night in a temporary Red Cross shelter in the Nebraska Wesleyan Knight Field House, 54th and Huntington streets. His house at 2741 R St. was with out power since 12:30 a.m. Sunday. When he left, it was below 50 degrees in his home. “It makes it real hard when you’ve got three kids,” Schreiner said. “I’ve got a lot of problems.” He brought his boys - ages 11,9 and 7 - because they were getting too cold. One is schizophrenic. Another has attention deficit-hyperactive dis order. Schreiner himself is diabetic, has heart disease and has high blood pressure. Before he left, he wasn’t able to get to the drug store for more medication. The Red Cross and city of Lincoln set up three other shelters across the city Sunday to help those who were without heat or electricity. They are: Christ's Place Church. 1111 Old Cheney Road; the Red Cross Headquarters, 220 Oak Creek Drive; and Pershing Auditorium, 226 S. Centennial Mall. More than 250 people went to the shelters Sunday night, said Randy Jones, Red Cross public relations director. Each shelter provided food, blankets and a cot. “This is the most people we’ve sheltered in history,” Jones said. Staff tried to gather as many cots as possible, Jones said, but they prob ably won’t have enough for everyone. At least 110 people were at the field house. Nicky Turner, a Red Cross disaster relief team member, said the ages of people ranged from 3 to 90. At the field house, people were given sandwiches, cookies, hot cocoa and coffee. Turner said Wesleyan students had come to help serve food and comfort people. Some helped elderly and disabled people trudge through the dark, slip pery streets to the doors. “They've been doing OK so far,” Turner said. But Sclireiner said his boys were getting restless. The two oldest start ed fighting over a small box of raisins and dad had to break it up - by giving them his own. “They hav en't had anything to eat since 9 last night,” he said. All his appliances are electric, he said, and no nearby restaurants were open. He said he would stay at the shel ter until power was back on at his home, but hadn't contacted Lincoln Electric System officials to tell them his power line was down. He hoped the day care center would be open Monday so he could go back to his new job at Pizza Hut. He’s worked there only one day. “If I end up not being able to get to work (today), I’m afraid I’ll lose my job,” he said. Schreiner, like others, got to the shelter with help from police. Gayle Glantz, her sister Connie and her mother, Katherine, came to the shelter after neighbors called police to help them. A fallen tree limb blocked the only door to their home at 3470 Richmond Road. “It was scary,” Gayle Glantz said. “Especially when there’s no way to get out.” At the shelter, children played while adults slumped on their cots and talked quietly. After breaking up fights and calming his boys, Schreiner lay down and sighed, saying he didn't know when they would get to go home. “It's all bevond my control.”
