Journal Gazette from Mattoon, Illinois • Page 1

1 Year's supply in one day 175 imhes: 6f tuff an alt-time By HARRY REYNOLDS JG Staff Writer A record-smashing 17.5 Inches of snow waS dumped on the Mattoon area Wednesday. "This is the most jnow that we have ever Had in a December, Dr. Dakas Price, weather observer Eastern Illinois University, told the Journal Gazette. "This is a record for any given, day," said Price. BtuniUUIIIHUaiUUUUUItUIUIIUUlllItUlUlUltUIltlillUIIIIlWlIIIUIM Feed the birds "To put thU In perspective, normally 1 we get about, 16 inches of snow in the course of a winter," he said.

"Here, in a single storm, we have had more snow than we normally do in an entire winter." Price said the area had received more "accumulative snow in one month." That was In 1908, when 24 Inches of. snow hit the ground in Ihg course of a single month, "We have had a lot of 4-inch and 6-inch snows, in recent he said. "I think we had an 11-inch snow once." Price said the snow Wednesday fell at the rate of "an inch an hour through much of the day." He said problems caused by the heavy snow could have been aggravated if there had beam a high wind. "Thank goodness, it didn't drift at least, not too much," said Price. He said he hated to think what might have happened if there had been a high wind.

"I think we lucked out as far as the wind is concerned," said Price. "We were pretty close to the center of the high pressure area and the wind died down." Price however, that the wind did get up to 15 mph Thursday causing some drifting. "We are really lucky that this snow is getting a lot of crust on top. this should help prevent drifting." Price said there was a "lot of water under the layer of snow" that was absorbed in the ground. "The ground is not really frozen," he said.

"The snow is acting bs a blanket." According to Price, ''There is a tremendous amount of water, stored up in the snow. "There is "three inches of water out there waiting to be melted," -he said. "When a warm spell comes ort, there is going to be a lot of water to get rid of." Price was asked about the long-range forecast by the weather service. "The long-range forecast through mid-January called for mild and humid weather but I think' they missed that one, at least on the mild." said there is a new storm coming in from the Pacific, "but no one can tell where it will go. Once we get a blanket of snow in the Midwest, that sidetracks the lows and they go south." The heavy snow will tend tp keep temperatures down, Price said.

"The sun can't do very much good when it has all that snow because its heat Is reflected right back Into the air." The fact that Price is an expert on weather apparently hasn't given him any advantage over other area residents. 1 Thursday, Price was unable to get to the university because his car was snowbound. He was as surprised as everyone else at the amount of snow that the area received during the storm. MATTOON effivl ILLINOIS kites record ji foV7Z QDll? 21, lJT" 119th YEAR 285 24 PAGES IS CENTS PHONE 235-5656 WWVi. campers and waded through deep snow to climb onto overpasses for transportation to town Thursday.

Some families returned to their autos late Thursday in hopes and -8 respectively were recorded. Other zero or subzero temperatures as recorded at the JG building in the past four years include, -1 on Jan. 20. 1970: -7 on Jan. 21, 1970: -1 on Jan.

22. 1970: -6 on Jan. 8. 1970: -4 on Jan. 7.

1970: and zero on Jan. 4, 1969. Although the winds were light today i estimated at 5 to aiiti'iiiiiiiiiDiiiniiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Feed the birds iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinuiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiii 6 miles per hour) combined with a temperature of -7 they produced a chill factor of approximately 30 degrees below zero. Chill factor is the effect the wind and temperature have on exposed skin. Some relief apparently is close at hand, however.

The forecast for tonight calls for a low of 5 to 15 above. Saturday's outlook is for some cloudiness, but with high temperatures of 25 to 32. Today's temperatures set record lows in many areas of the state. The mercury plunged to 17 degrees below zero in Springfield, the coldest December temperature in the city's history. Troubles were compounded by mechanical problems at Springfield's electrical plant.

The city-owned utility urged residents to cut back "drastically" on electrical use until the problems are overcome. The bad weather prompted the closing of schools in 21 of the 23 districts in the Springfield area. In Chicago, highway travel was mostly normal, but the 2 below zero overnight reading was the coldest Dec. 21st in 10 years. Some other overnight lows: Rockford -3.

Moline -9. Quincy -8. Decatur -5 and Peoria -10. Even a couple of hours after sunup it was still well below zero through much of the state, with Springfield registering 10 below at 9 a.m. In a sense, this coldest day of the year came a little early, since winter doesn't begin until this evening.

Skies were clear over most of the state. A'i--" FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1 with trucks unable to move because they ran out of gas. U.S. 45 from Mattoon north was still impassible at 9 a.m. this morning.

Motorists abandoned their cars and overnight. Sell said that one woman, whose husband is a member of the Legion, took 10 people into her eight-room house. "They kept bringing people in," said Sell. He said Civil Defense auxiliary policemen went out and picked stranded motorists up and brought them into Mattoon. Sell said the police department was notified to send people they helped to the Legion.

Sell said eight women om the Women's Civil Defen Council spent "from 16 to .6 hours" at the Legion helping to feed and care for people. "We had chili, bread and crackers and other foods," he said. "They even baked some cakes at the Legion." "We had a couple of bus Today's Journal fir fhruek Stores are open Business revives fc Bitter subzero cold heapsd misery on snow-plagued Mattoon residents today. Struggling under about 18 inches of snow that has closed schools, stranded motorists and truckers and made even short in-city trips a major undertaking, Mattoon was hit today by a cold wave that drove the mercury to 7 below zero on Central Illinois Public Service Co. thermometers.

The lowest recorded temperature at the Journal Gazette building was a -3 at about 5:30 a.m. Despite the bitter cold. Street Department crews worked throughout the night clearing streets, off-street parking lots and sidewalks. Now in their third day of battling the record snow, street personnel are beginning to show major progress in making traveling a bit easier and safer and in opening up parking areas in the downtown area. Today's cold wave pushed the mercury to" the lowest temperature recorded at the JG building since Jan.

15 and 16, 1972, when readings of -10 Arab-Israeli talks open in Geneva GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) i The first Arab-Israeli peace I conference in the 25-year exis-' tencc of the Jewish state opened today with Henry A. Kissinger calling on the two; sides "to break the shackles of the past and to create at last a new hope for the future." Kissinger, the American secretary of state, spoke after Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko accused Israel of creating an intolerable situation in the Middle East and warned that "the Arab cause" had the i full support of the Soviet Union, i Kissinger and Gromyko are the conference cochairmen. The historic conference I opened 40 minutes late with the chief antagonists, Israel and Egypt, at opposite sides of seven-table circle. A television 1 hookup carried the opening session to all West European countries.

Israel, Romania, Algeria and Tunisia, and the highlights were taped for broadcast inj Eastern Europe. "We do not embark on these talks with false expectations," said Kissinger. "In th? months ahead we will know success and II dare sav-we will know deadlock despair. "Let us all resolve here today that we will overcome hatred." Gromyko warned that "the -fire of war in the Middle East may flare up at any moment." "Any delays in obtaining a settlement could be dan- gerous." he declared. Egypt's foreign minister.

Ismail Fahiny. indicated one of the deadlocks that Kissinger predicted. He insisted that Israel must pull back from all territory occupied during the 1967 six Day War including i Arab East Jerusalem. Israel has said repeatedly that it would not give' up all the captured territory and that it would never relinquish East Jerusalem, which Jordan seized in the 1948 war. i ine opening sessions idMci for an hour and 25 minutes, then the conference took a I three-hour lunch break.

Mattoon business got under way again today after a record snow Wednesday brought things to a virtual standstill. General Electric Co. will be closed until Jan. 2. a spokesman said.

Also closed today is the Tube-Lok plant. American Pad and Paper Co. hoped to be in operation sometime today. All other businesses are reported open. Last minute Christmas shoppers will find the downtown area and Cross County Mall open all day and some stores will remain open this evening.

Trains may be the best means of transportation for holiday travelers. A spokesman for Amtrak said today that trains are running two to three hours late, but are getting through. He said that more than 100 TRUCKS STALLED This was the scene on Interstate 57 looking south from the Old State Road overpass Thursday as southbound trucks and cars wait to exit on south U.S. 45. Stalled rigs tie By HARRY REYNOLDS JG Staff Writer State highway officials were searching today for diesel fuel for 10 to 15 trucks stranded on Interstate 57 between Mattoon and Areola.

John Wheeler, foreman of the Coles County highway department office, said the trucks have been blocking northbound lanes of Interstate 57 since Wednesday's "igantic snow storm. He said once the trucks are moving again, Interstate 57 will be opened for northbound traffic. "Interstate 57 is already open from Illinois 16 south," Wheeler said. "It has been closed from Illinois 16 to Areola. "The only thing that we need is open Interstate 57 north is diesel fuel for those trucks.

So far, I haven't been able to get any." Wheeler said the ramps onto and off Interstate 57 have been cleared and "we are ready to go. The ramps will be salted and sand put down." Wheeler said Illinois 16 has been opened for traffic. U.S. 45 is closed because of drifting, he said. Wheeler said snow plows have been working on U.S.

45 to get the highway opened. He added that snow plows are also clearing the Lerna Road from Illinois 16 to Lerna. Snow has" drifted over iniiiiiniiniiiiiiiimiHniiiiiiiiJiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiniiJiiiJiiiuiiiifiniiinin Rudolph loses his red nose SKOKIE, III. (AP) The red light bulb on Rudloph's nose has been turned off in the interest of energy conservation. Robert L.

May, who wrote Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1939, says he turned off the nose bulb of a 9-foot-high statue of Rudolph to conserve electricity. The statue Is in the front yard of May's home in this suburb northwest of Chicago. "I think Rudloph would go along with my decision," said May, ft retired advertising writer. "He's always been a pretty well-behaved fellow and has tried to do the right thing." of finding road conditions suitable for traveling. Many persons slept in their vehicles in spite of frigid temperatures.

(JG photo) telephone calls from people who want to know the conditions of the roads. "We are taking about 120 to 150 calls an hour." Lt. David Paul told the JG. "It hasn't let up since yesterday morning. It is a mess." he added.

"People have been stranded everywhere." Paul said police have been "ferrying medicine and insulin around, performing traffic control and weather services and providing information." "We have been acting as sort of a clearing house too," he said. Temperature 2 p.m. Yesterday's temperatures High 25, Low 2 Increasing cloudiness and not so cold tonight. Low 5 to 15. Saturday variable cloudiness and warmer.

High 26 to 32. able to get back on the highways today as more routes were opened to traffic and the worst of the travel crisis appeared past. (JG photo) CLOUDY JKr 12 Illinois State Police said today they hoped Interstate 57 and U.S. 45 will be cleared for travel before the day is over, although Interstate 57 from Mattoon to Areola is jammed up 1-57 the curve just west of Lerna a number of times, closing that section of the road. "All the roads will be opened sometime today," Wheeler said.

He pointed out that highway personnel have been working "around the clock" in an attempt to clear highways for traffic. "We had three of our trucks get stuck out in the drifts," he told the Journal Gazette. "We just pulled them off the road and left them." The clogged highways stranded hundreds of vehicles on area roads Thursday in the wake of the snow storm that slammed Illinois Wednesday. A total of more than 500 stranded motorists were fed Thursday night at the American Legion facility at 212 S. 17th.

Fred Sell, Mattoon Civil Defense director, said the Women's Civil Defense Council "fed about 500 people last night at the Legion. They had so many people there that they had to send some of them to other places." Sell said people were taken to the Eagles Club, the Methodist Church, the Methodist Building and the Christian Church to stay CAUGHT BY SNOW The persons traveling in this Volkswagen bearing Louisiana license plates may be wishing that they wer back in their Iiipwiipfi" nsi Classified 22-23 Comics 24 Editorial 4 Entertainment 10 Obituaries 5 Sports 6-7 Women's 8 Conferees reach agreement on emergency energy bill loads of people," said Sell. "One group had 47 persons in a bus, another bus had 32. "And then, we just had all kinds of truckers and kids oh, you name it," said Sell. "We had people all the way from Green Bay.

to Gulf Port, believe it or not," he said. William Hilton, manager of the Legion, told the JG that the Civil Defense women had done a "tremendous job. Everything went pretty smoothly." Hilton said he thought a lot of the people stranded by the storm might be forced to stay in Mattoon tonight. "We are scheduled to have a party at the Legion tonight," he said, "but, we will feed these people and send them on to the Methodist Building." Hilton said the Legion was jammed with people Thursday night. "We even had birds here and rabbits birds and rabbits and cats you name it." Mattoon Police Department personnel have been providing a number of services to the public since the storm struck.

Three men are standing by at the department to answer snow. Two bicycles, one with a carrying-seat for a small child, are strapped on the rear of the vehicle. Most of the stranded motorists were Eastern Illinois University students boarded 'the northbound train in -Mattoon Thursday night. The train was scheduled to leave Mattoon at 6:05 p.m. but did not leave until about 10 p.m., he added.

Ozark Air Lines officials have cancelled flights scheduled for today because of heavy snow on the runways. Saturday flights had previously been cancelled due to the energy crisis. Coles County Airport Manager Col. John Farrar said today the airport will be closed at least until Saturday afternoon. "The earliest I can see any flights coming in to the airport is Sunday," said Col.

Farrar, "and I can't guarantee that. That snow-removal from the runways is going to be a big job." windfall profits earned by the petroleum industry as a result of fuel shortages. The compromise finally reached this morning would give the President immediate power to set petroleum prices to avoid windfall prices but would delay for one year the consumer's right to seek refunds for excess prices charged during the energy crisis. Then the measure must weather floor debates in both the Senate and House where a growing number of members are calling for its defeat. If the bill passes and is signed hy the President, voluntary energy conservation ures such as a proposal to limit i gasoline sales to 10 gallons per customer and gas consumption, to 10 gallons per week could be made mandatory.

I However, the White House I has indicated Nixon is prepared i to veto the bill because Congress would have the power to reDeal conservation measures. oiyc than rationing, put into effect during the recess. an IW jsMfpj I flit WASHINGTON (AP) Senate-House conferees reached final agreement today on emer-, gency energy legislation, clearing the way for final congres-; sional action later in the day. The bill giving President Nix-! on a free hand to impose gaso-. line rationing was rushed to the Senate floor with the- House scheduled to take it up immc-1 diately afterwards.

But neither Senate Interior Committee Chairman Henry M. Jackson. or House' Commerce Committee Chairman Harjey 0. Staggers. I W.Va., was willing to predict (he hill would pass or escape a presidential veto.

Both said they were hopeful, however. Sen. Paul J. Fannin. stalked out of the conference room calling the bill "absolutely impracticable, unworkable," land vowing to do everything he could to kill the bill, The dispute which forced the conferees to reconvene after having reported an agreement on the bill Wednesday centered around a provision to restrict home state.

They were among the hundreds of travelers stranded in Mattoon Wednesday after being caught in the record-setting 16 to lWnch.