Friday, January 19. 1996
NATION/WORLD UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
1. 2023.12.19
Blizzard strands hundreds
The Associated Press
A blizzard that seemed to come out of nowhere fast blasted the Great Plains, stranding drivers overnight in their cars and forcing hundreds of students to sleep on carpets and gym mats at school. They awoke yesterday to eggs and juice served by their teachers.
In Minnesota, authorities ordered even snowplows off the roads and threatened to arrest any drivers making nonemergency trips. Hundreds of accidents were reported.
The storm dumped more than a foot of snow in parts of Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin and the Dakotas. It knocked out power to thousands of homes in several states and forced schools and offices to close.
Tornadoes tore off roofs in Arkansas and Texas, where winds gusted to 110 mph. Two men were killed when the roof of a store collapsed in Anthony, Texas.
The storm caught many by surprise because it moved in so quickly after a spell of mild weather. In Oklahoma, the temperature dropped 40 degrees in two hours on Wednesday. Waterloo, Iowa, was a balmy 54 degrees on Wednesday; yesterday, the wind chill hit 50 degrees below zero.
"We had a little Florida, then a little Minnesota," said Megan Terry at the National Weather Service in Norman, Okla.
Minnesota had a little Arctic. Wind gusting to 60 mph pushed the wind chill down to 86 degrees below zero at Hallock. The wind chill
hit minus 72 in Grand Forks, N.D., and more than 60 below in parts of Nebraska.
"We went out yesterday just once and that was for food," said Irma Abel, a Hallock resident. "We'll be staying out of this stuff today. The only time I'm going out is to walk the dog, and it will be a short walk."
will be a short walk."
National Guardsmen helped rescue stranded motorists in Polk County, Minn., but elsewhere, even rescuers had to stay in-doors.
"We're not sure whether there are people stranded out there or not," said Minnesota State Patrol dispatcher Roxanne Engum. "Because of the zero visibility, we can't get out there."
"It just hit so fast, it was a whiteout. The buses just couldn't go anywhere," Principal Jerry Menke said. "The kids thought it was OK, it was kind of like a slumber party."
Teachers rounded up blankets and cots, and wrestling mats and carpet were turned into beds at the high school and junior high. Teachers also helped serve ham and cheese sandwiches from the cafeteria for dinner and a baked egg casserole for breakfast. The kids even got to stay up late watching movies and eating popcorn.
At one point, more than 200 cars were stranded in Nebraska. Some drivers used their cellular phones to call for help as they waited in their cars, their engines running to keep them warm.
Roxanne Engum
Minnesota State Patrol dispatcher
"There are people running low on fuel, and we're making them a priority," said Maj. Andy Lundy of the Nebraska State Patrol.
About 400 students and teachers spent the night at two schools in Kearney, Neb.
"It itens not really set in yet that I spent a night at school," said Christina Bokenkamp, a junior at Kearney High School.
Parents and volunteers used four-wheel drives yesterday to evacuate the students.
The Viking Cafe in Fergus Falls, Minn., closed because of the snow and wind for the first time in more than two decades.
"I can remember walking down Lincoln Avenue about 25 years ago when the drifts were seven feet high, and we didn't close then," owner Lucky Shol said. "We didn’t want folks to get out in this weather and get stuck. It's not worth it."
Some people refused to let a lot of snow and wind get in the way of a good time.
"Every place is closed but this place," said Tim Todsen, who fought his way through the storm to get to Douthit's Steak House in Ord, Neb.
Local man's artworks help him win award
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — The Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas have chosen Lawrence environmental artist Stan Herd as their Kansan of the Year and will honor him at their annual dinner on Friday.
Herd, a native of Protection, has received national acclaim for his artwork carved in growing field crops and vegetation but was well known in Kansas before that for his small canvas paintings and large historical murals.
The Native Sons and Daughters will recognize Herd and present its annual Kansan of the Year award to him during the annual Kansas Day dinner on Friday night at the Downtown Ramada Inn in Topeka.
Herd was reared on the 700-acre cattle, horse and wheat farm near Protection. His grandfather homesteaded the land and
first broke ground in Co manche County in southwest Kansas in 1916.
He became interested in art as a youth and studied on an art scholarship at Wichita State University.
Herd was known throughout Kansas for his art work during the 1970s.
He then began focusing his attention on large planted and etched earthwork in 1881, returning to his agricultural roots.
He pioneered an art form that critics say combines rural sensitivities and art world bravura.
Herd's body of art includes more than a dozen earthworks, including portraits of American Indians, graphic still lifes and, most recently, a rural landscape he created on the west side of New York's Manhattan Island titled. "Countryside."
He and his wife live with their son, Evan, in Lawrence.
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