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Rain and Wistrom Pansy power October 28,1997
NU senior defensive end Grant Wistorm said he World-seasoned travelers Pansy Division locally
enjoys playing in rainy weather, which might performs its brand of pop rock tonight at Duffy's CLEANUP CONTINUES
explain his performance against KU. PAGE 7 Tavern. PAGE 9 Mostly sunny, high 46. Partly cloudy tonight, low 27.
VOL. 97 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 46
Matt Miller/DN
SENIOR SEAN MORRISON, left, senior Matt Siglinger, background, and alumnus Ben Bare play a board game to help
pass the time Sunday night. The house has been without heat or electricity since Saturday night, and the temper
ature in the house has dipped below 45 degrees, Bare said.
7,000 residents still lack power
By Erin Gibson
and Ted Taylor
Senior Reporters
More than 36 hours after a record
breaking snowstorm ravaged the
Lincoln landscape, more than 7,000
residents remained without electricity.
Another 3,000 residents had no
telephone service Monday night, and
others suffered from a water shortage
in Air Park and the Highlands.
Police report scam artists have
begun to prey on storm victims.
The disaster resulted in 512 emer
gency calls to report fires, crimes and
I
medical emergencies in Lincoln
within 36 hours.
It could be as late as Friday before
power is restored in some areas,
Lincoln Electric Systems
Administrator Terry Bundy said.
Bundy said as of about 3 p.m.
Monday, 7,000 to 8,000 Lincoln resi
dents scattered citywide remained
without electric power.
All major eleftric lines were
repaired by Monday afternoon.
The excessive tree damage to the
area has crippled the Lincoln utility
company in its efforts to restore resi
dential electric service, Bundy said.
Most service will be restored by
I
Wednesday, but those with major tree
damage could wait until Friday.
Many people - mostly in older
areas where larger trees have fallen -
have been without power or heat
since Sunday night.
“It's been very slow,” Bundy said.
Lela Kelahur, Aliant
Communications spokeswoman, said
about 30,000 homes in southeast
Lincoln suffered a major phone ser
vice outage Monday morning after a
generator failed.
Aliant restored service to that
area by noon, but about 3,000 indi
Please see LINCOLN on 2
■■
Bad conditions
cancel classes
for second day
By Erin Gibson
and Josh Funk
Daily Nebraskan Reporters
For the first time on record, the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln will
cancel classes for the second day in a
row today because of dangerous con
ditions on campus.
Students should stay off campus,
where the weekend’s unprecedented,
early season snowstorm snapped hun
dreds of trees and turned once green,
leafy branches into snarling hazards.
But the university will officially
remain open, and all faculty members
and staff should come to work,
Chancellor James Moeser said.
“I’m a firm opponent of closing
school. 1 said I would never close it,
but I think it's the right thing to do,” he
said. “Campus isn't safe for people to
walk around.”
Thirteen inches of snow blanketed
Lincoln Saturday night and early
Sunday. Its weight tore down power
lines citywide and ripped branches off
broadleaf trees - some more than 100
years old - that still held their summer
leaves.
Monday night, many limbs still
clung tenuously to the trees, threaten
ing to fall at the first gust of wind.
Damages reach into the millions of
dollars in Lincoln and several hundred
thousand dollars on the UNL campus.
“It looks like a tornado flattened
the whole city,” Moeser said.
Landscape Services employees
worked until dusk Sunday removing
•m
66 —
I'm a firm
opponent of closing
school. I said I
would never close it,
but I think its the
right thing to do."
James Moeser
UNL chancellor
fallen tree branches. They began again
at 4 a.m. Monday so they could plow
snow from the streets and sidewalks of
the university.
The monumental task of cleaning
campus after the storm could take
three years, they said.
Right now the priority for
Landscape Services is to clear the
sidewalks and thoroughfares of both
City and East campuses for classes.
East Campus Landscaping Manager
Jeff Culbertson said.
University police have barricaded
the most dangerous areas, said UNL
Police Chief Ken Cauble.
Several officers were injured by
icy sidewalk^ and debris in the after
storm efforts,jCauble said.
Landscape officials asked students
Sunday to avoid similar injury by
Please see CLOSING on 2
m •m m
Snowed-out Lincolnites,
travelers storm motels
By Amanda Schindler
Staff Reporter
The weekend's sudden snow
storm brought more than just snow
- with it came an unexpected
surge of visitors to area motels.
Nearly all were without vacancy
by Sunday afternoon.
Large amounts of snow, freez
ing temperatures and a loss of
power in much of the city were the
circumstances that provoked the
wave of visitors.
Although most motels did not
keep track of how many people
were turned away, Melissa Mohr,
desk clerk at the Super 8 Motel at
2635 W. O St., said more than 200
people were denied rooms tnere
Sunday.
Most people who are staying at
the hotels are Lincoln residents
without heat or electricity in their
homes, but many Interstate 80
travelers became stranded and
were forced to seek rooms as well,
hotel and motel employees said.
Despite the obvious downside
to the situation, all the hotels have
agreed that the economic results
have been positive.
“It's sad to see so many people
without electricity," said Chad
Sellers, manager at the Days Inn.
2920 N.W. 12th St. "But it's defi-'
nitely good for business”
Please see LODGING on 3
uutage leaves greets in dart
■ Six houses were still
without heat, electricity,
hot water and telephone
services Monday night.
By Ieva Augstums
Staff Reporter
Many members of the greek sys
tem spent their weekend and day off
from school bundled up in layers of
clothing, scrounging around for non
spoiled food and begging their
friends to let them to spend the night.
About 600 fraternity and sorority
members have been without heat,
electricity, hot water and telephone
services in their chapter houses at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
since late Saturday evening.
“I was in my room when we lost
power on Saturday,” said Sara
Spence, a junior horticulture major
and Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority
member. “All I heard was a big boom,
and 1 saw a bright flash. Then we had
no power or heat.”
Kappa Alpha Theta is one of six
greek houses that are still known to
be w'ithout heat, electricity, hot water
and telephone services Monday
evening. Alpha Omicron Pi, Alpha
Phi and Gamma Phi Beta sororities,
and Alpha Gamma Rho and
Farmhouse fraternities are the other
five.
The weight of snow on tree
branches caused limbs to snap and
cut off electricity and telephone ser
vice to the greek houses on the block
of North 16th and S streets and on
East Campus.
No information has been given to
any of the houses as to when their
heat or power will be restored.
“We were told power should be
restored in 48 hours.” said Elizabeth
Bahensky, a sophomore architecture
and Alpha Omicron Pi member. “It
has almost been 48 hours, and rumor
has it now that it can possibly be two
more days before we have power.”
Will Wittier, a junior agricultural
business major and Alpha Gamma
Rho member, said his fraternity has
been without power and heat since 2
a.m. Sunday, and members have not
been notified of when the house will
be up and running again.
Alpha Phi members locked their
house at 4 p.m. Monday because they
still did not hav e heat or power.
“We decided to lock the house
because we felt it wasn't safe to stay
in the house.” said Becky Sawyer, a
junior family and consumer science
education major. “Even our house
mother left and went to her home in
Lincoln.”
Even residence halls were not
Please see GREEKS on 6
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