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.”
