Daily Tribune, The (Newspaper) - January 28, 1977, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin Blizzard halts traffic closes Illinois schools By The Associated Press A blizzard packing winds up to 50 miles per hour staggered Illinois today closing dreds of schools and businesses and bringing highway travel to a virtual halt from Rockford to East St Louis Blowing snow and zero visibility forced the Illinois Division of Highways to call all its snowplow crews off roads in the northern two-thirds of the state before 3 Trucks and crews remained on standby for cies and awaited improving conditions State police said only extreme emergency travel was recommended in the northern half of the state Farther south roads were ting shut in the East St Louis Litchfield and Effingham areas Temperatures plummeted as much as 30 degrees during the night At Chicago the mercury fell from 17 at midnight to at daybreak Winds provided an added sting with a index of -63 Wind gusts over 50 pounded the Quad Cities area during the night Gusts of plus were common over the northern half of the state The entire Chicago public school system was ordered closed for the day because of the snow and cold Other closings by the dozens also were announced Some schools still had not reopened following a wind-whipped snowstorm Wednesday The University of Illinois canceled classes for the day on its campus as did Northern Illinois University at DeKalb The Sangamon County communities of Chatham and Sherman were totally isolated because of drifted snow Police turned back would-be travelers who attempted to venture out of the two towns Bitter arctic cold accompanying the storm was expected to drive temperatures to some of their lowest levels of the season by day morning Readings as low as 25 below ero werp expected in the northern third of the state Drifts piled 8 and 10 feet deep in the area where all schools and many businesses were closed The Champaign was com- bining its Friday and Saturday editions for the first time ever because roads and streets made it impossible for carriers to gel around The mercury sagged in thermometers throughout the state Thursday after a brief respite from levels a week earlier that were among the coldest of the century The state's biggest power company Com- Edison cut the voltage to Chicago in peak hours to conserve fuel for oil-burning generators Across Illinois cars refused to start overworked boilers and conked out and water pipes froze and burst Health officials warned those who ventured out into brittle cold to beware of frostbite and protect their noses and ears suppliers said they had enough fuel on hand to protect their homeowner tomers but that they might have to order more reductions for industrial users The cago and North Western Transportation Co said it would give top priority o fuel shipments E TRIBUNE Major gas supplier asks delivery shutoff INFORMING THE SOUTH WOOD COUNTY AREA OF WISCONSIN Sixty-Second 1 8702 Wisconsin Rapids Wisconsin 54494 Friday January 28 1 977 14 Pages By The Associated Press A major Texas supplier of natural gas ed its customer utilities along the East Coast today to immediately shut off deliveries to nonessential customers as gas shortages Board cuts from plans for school Deliberating more than three hours day night with architect and builder the Wisconsin Rapids Board of Education lopped from plans for the new senior high school Some of the bigger cuts were for a greenhouse lowering the fieldhouse height 40 inches to save and substituting a 000 computerized temperature control center for a less sophisticated unit We're still about over the million approved by the Fiscal Control said Mrs Joan Holden board dent Carl Tropf representing Con the construction management firm overseeing the project said up to more can be trimmed in the bidding process How did the project get million beyond monies The board subsequently approved an extra square feet of space bringing the new senior high to square feet The Con or fee not in original costs is The fee of Evenson Associates bonding consultant is another Legal fees take another Mrs Holden said In her introductory remarks Mrs Holden said there were two ways to cut costs One by reducing the types and amounts of materials and equipment which are of very fine quality in original and two via savings provided through Con The wasn't down to the variety Thursday night Some major items were left in solely for aesthetics For instance the board first decided to eliminate drywall drops over corridor lockers This savings was But later Mrs Holden asked the board to reconsider Thomas Lenk superintendent said without the drywall the locker installation looks tacky The board then decided to keep this item in the plans The board gave Flad Associates architect approval to go ahead with working drawings Gerald Rosekrans and William Winch voted against the go-ahead Tropf said he will bring Con final basic cost estimates to the board at its Feb 14 meeting 20 missing in hotel blaze BRECKENRIDGE Minn AP About 20 persons were unaccounted for today after a predawn fire swept through a three-story hotel in temperatures that plunged to 23 below zero Three hours after the blaze began in the Stratford Hotel firemen reported that only one person was known to have escaped Authorities said none of the other guests had culled in to report they were safe they did not know exactly how many people were registered in the hotel but authorities estimated about 20 Fire dispatcher Robert Blackwelder said the fire destroyed the hotel in downtown Brenkenridge a community of on the Dakota border Blackwelder said the man who escaped was Douglas Johnson whom he described as a veteran railroad worker He was rescued secondfloor window by police Some of those occupying the hotel were believed to be employes of the Burlington Northern Railroad Among the missing was the owner and operator Catherine Stade a widow believed in her 80s The smoldering ruins dropped into the basement and said it probably would be several hours before firemen could get into the wreckage to look for bodies About 20 people are unaccounted he said We don't know whether they got out Mayor Hugh Mikkelson theorized that some of the missing persons may have taken refuge in other buildings The mayor described it as a railroad hotel where workers on the run often stayed How do you cope with plummeting wind chill tors those rock-bottom readings on the when freezing temperatures and the wind hook up to make life out- doors Tom Davis 13 2420 Gaynor Ave a Mead School patrol boy coped no longer than he had to by wasting little time getting into school when his tour of duty ended at 17th Ave S and Alton St Kirt Gukenberger 12 541 7th Ave N faced away from the wind by walking backward along Alton on his way to Mead School Tribune Photos More cold weather due Extremely cold weather is forecast again tonight for Wisconsin and very and dry conditions are in store for state through at least Tuesday In addition travelers ad- were out today because of blowing and ting snow Lows tonight will be 15 to 25 below with highs Saturday ranging from zero to 5 below The lows Sunday through Tuesday will be 20 below to 5 above with daily highs zero to 15 above Wisconsin Rapids had a high of 7 Thursday and a low of minus 16 It was 7 at midnight and 13 below at today A small amount of snow fell in the city Thursday index posts big gain WASHINGTON AP The government index designed to anticipate the economy's future posted its largest gain in 17 months during December the Commerce ment said today The in the composite index of leading indicators was per cent in December and followed a 1 per cent climb in November It was the biggust climb in in- dex since a 2.3 per cent rise in July 1975 The performance was consistent with the expectations of most economists of a stronger healthier economy this year than last in a separate report Commerce said the nation registered a billion trade deficit last year even though the excess of imports over exports in December was the smallest in six months The December deficit of million represented an improvement over the record deficit million in November The composite index which provides clues on future economic performance is made up of 12 individual statistics Of the 11 which Comedian hurt critically in death try LOS AP Comedian Freddie the star of hit sion series Chico and tlie was in critical condition today with a bullet wound in the head following an apparent suicide attempt police said Lt Dan Conk said had dent Thursday night and that several friends and his psychiatrist were in his apartment trying to cheer him up when the shot fired All of a sudden he reached down into the sofa pulled out an automatic pistol and shot himself in the Cook said Cook said a note was found but he would not reveal the contents Richard Green administrator at the by UCLA Medical Center said was listed in serious to critical condition He is not In Surgery Green said We him to one of our intensive care units Green said hospital's emergency room at and a team of doctors immediately went to work On him I He said parents arrived shortly after their son was admitted The shooting occurred about in suite at the plush Beverly Comstock hotel in West Los Angeles had been staying there since he and his wife Katherine filed for divorce last month They were married in Las Vegas in October They have one son old Freddie James Komack creator and executive producer of Chico and the said he had been with early Thursday evening in home He said gave no hint of personal problems and said the actor didn't leave here suicidal Paramedics who took the actor to the hospital said his condition was so unstable It was a half-hour before they were able to move him a Puerto Rican who traded heavily on his ethnic background in his routines grew up in Now York City His break came three years ago when he appeared on the Tonight Show and was spotted by Komack I were available in time for the December computation Commerce said eight pointed up two showed declines and one was un- changed The index has now advanced for three con- months following September's tenths of a per cent drop In a further signal of a strengthening economy Commerce revised its July and gust index figures on the basis of new mation to show increases of of a per cent and of a per cent C of C to cite citizen of year Presentation of the annual citizen of the year award will highlight the annual meeting and dinner of the Wisconsin Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce Saturday night The events at Bull's Eye Country Club begin with a social hour at 6 p.m followed by a dinner at 7 p.m and the program Daniel Meyer will be master of ceremonies for the event Presentation of the annual citizen of the year award will highlight the annual meeting and dinner of the Wisconsin Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce Saturday night The events ut Bull's Eye Country Club begin with a social hour at 6 p.m followed by a dinner at 7 p.m and the program Daniel Meyer will be master of ceremonies for the event Glen Knorr outgoing chamber president will present the citizen of the year award and them will be brief remarks by Knorf and T 0 Norris who takes over as new chamber president Today's chuckle Most of today's news is too true to be good lively The index had dropped a combined of a per cent in those months Over the year the index showed a per cent gain compared to a per cent rise in 1975 A drop in the number of building permits issued and faster delivery of goods by pliers were the downward indications Faster supplier performance is considered an in- dication of slower demand and thus ed business activity caused by severe winter weather escalated The action by Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp affecting 69 utilities came as Ohio New York and New Jersey were already under declarations of energy Utilities in those and other states had already begun curtailing service to non- essential customers Meanwhile a severe storm bore down on the East with blowing snow and bitter cold that threatened to intensify the gas tages In Washington White House energy adviser James R Schlesinger urged Congress to pass President Carter's emergency energy proposals as a temporary safety net He said many natural gas systems already have largely depleted their gas storage fields and in many cases we are and have been using the gas that we expected to use in February and March Transcontinental said the curtailment was necessary to ensure that residences and other customers which lack alternate fuels would not suffer an interruption in ice The company's announcement did not specify the utilities involved or customers it might affect Transcontinental has imposed daily delivery limits on all its larger customers since Jan 18 A company spokesman said the firm was arranging to buy emergency supplies but it was not known how much gas that would yield The fuel crisis in the Northeast threatened to add more than new layoffs to the ranks of the estimated already energy unemployed A blizzard blew across the Midwest this morning halting ground and air traffic and forcing numerous schools to close in Indiana and lower Michigan where visibility was down to zero at times due to blowing snow The temperature at Indianapolis dropped from 20 degrees to 5 degrees in less than an hour Ohio and West Virginia braced for the storm's arrival later in the day and officials in West Virginia said it had the potential of paralyzing the state Ohio Gov James A Rhodes who on day declared an energy crisis in the state ordered state employes to go home and asked all businesses and nonessential services in the state to close by noon as the storm Public Service Electric Gas Co Jersey's largest utility shut off virtually all natural gas service today for 2.500 industrial and commercial customers until at least Tuesday was the fourth and last of the state's major gas companies to stop vice for its big customers The cutbacks have forced the layoffs of thousands of factory workers A spokesman for also urged households to turn down heat saying We'll all be out of gas if the pipeline system loses pressure energy crisis across the East and Midwest began last week when another wave of snow and record low temperatures moved as far south as Florida The governors of Florida Pennsylvania and Tennesee have asked President Carter to declare their states disaster areas In Washington Congress was scheduled day to take up Carter's emergency energy proposal Council gets chance to vote on 10 layoffs The Wisconsin Rapids Common Council will have a chance to vote on a proposal to lay off 10 instead of 13 city employes when it meets Feb S Wisconsin Rapids Mayor Donald Penza an- earlier this month that 13 city would be laid off as of Jan 29 Those would include 10 street park or public works employes and three firefighters Also included in the mayor's planned layoff announcement to aldermen was word that three vacant positions in the police ment would not be filled said today that he will honor a re- quest made by the council Jan 11 that the employes not be laid off pending study by the personnel committee of the council The employes will not be laid off Saturday he said He will deride after the February cil mooting on the layoffs he said The council will consider a proposal made by the personnel committee in closed session Tuesday to lay off only the in street park and public works employes and not the three firefighters The committee's vote on the motion was revealed at an open meeting of the com- Thursday afternoon at city hall The motion was made by Michael Hittner Ward and seconded by Jerry Crowe 22nd Ward Voting against were committee man Jayne Deering 18th Ward and John Ritchie 17th Ward The motion read Thursday by Mrs Deering also included a recommendation that the committee examine all departments to see if further layoffs arc necessary Hittner said today that the intent of his tion was also that the three police positions would not be filled Seven city employes have already been laid off because of a seasonal workload decline and are not included in current layoff sion Mrs Deering said Thursday that any vote by the council would be strictly advisory with the final layoff decision still the mayor's
