TUESDAY January 7, 2014
Declaring Disaster Page A2 DeKalb not on governor’s list of counties
Your Beach, Too Page A6 Oregon Coast a public property
Weather Continued cold today. High -5. Low -6. Warming up Wednesday. High 19. Low 8. Page A8
GOOD MORNING Yellen first woman to lead Federal Reserve WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate confirmed Janet Yellen on Monday as the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve, elevating an advocate of fighting unemployment and a backer of the central bank’s efforts to spur the economy with Yellen low interest rates and massive bond purchases. Yellen, 67, will replace Ben Bernanke, who is stepping down after serving as chairman for eight years dominated by the Great Recession and the Fed’s efforts to combat it. Senators confirmed her by 56-26, with numerous absences caused by airline flight delays forced by arctic temperatures around much of the country. All 45 voting Democrats were joined by 11 Republicans in supporting Yellen, while 26 Republicans voted “no.” Vice chair of the Fed since 2010, Yellen begins her four-year term as leader of the century-old bank on Feb. 1. With the economy rebounding from the depths of the recession but only modestly so far, many economists expect her to focus on how to nurture growth without putting it into overdrive, which could risk fueling inflation.
County meetings delayed one week AUBURN — A DeKalb County Council meeting will be held Monday at 8:30 a.m., and a county commissioners meeting will follow immediately afterward. Both meetings will take place in the DeKalb County Courthouse on the second floor in the Commissioners’ Court room. Additional appropriations for consideration will be as advertised for the Jan. 6 meeting, which was postponed due to a winter storm.
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Classifieds......................................A11 Life..................................................... A6 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion ............................................. A5 Sports..........................................A9-10 Weather............................................ A8 TV/Comics ....................................... A7 Vol. 102 No. 6
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Outage leaves city cold, dark BY AARON ORGAN aorgan@kpcmedia.com
AUBURN — The Auburn electric utility’s entire territory — and its 6,000 customers — went black Monday night, with a power outage occurring at the same time temperatures were plunging to 15 degrees below zero. Mayor Norm Yoder said the city-owned utility’s territory lost power when its feed from regional electric utility I&M was broken somehow.
“The whole city’s out of power,” Yoder said. I&M spokesman Tracy Warner said the feed was disrupted at the Auburn substation at 6:35 p.m. Warner said I&M expected to restore its power feed to Auburn by 10 p.m. He cautioned that it might not restore power to Auburn customers if the problem that caused the outage was with Auburn electric’s equipment. Power did not return by 10 p.m., however.
Yoder said typically with outages, I&M will take an hour to mobilize and another hour to troubleshoot the problem. He insisted those are rough estimates, however. Shortly after the power went out, the DeKalb County Department of Homeland Security said warming shelters were opening at DeKalb Middle School and the DeKalb County Office Building, 215 E. Ninth St., for people who lost power and heat.
People could use either the Ninth or Tenth street entrance of the office building. The Auburn Police Department was overseeing that shelter. The middle school, on C.R. 427 north of Auburn, had power because it lies in NIPSCO’s electric utility territory. The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department said New Hope Worship Center in Waterloo, at C.R. 35 and S.R. 427, also opened as a warming shelter.
Freeze of ’14 slams county BY AARON ORGAN aorgan@kpcmedia.com
OCTAVIA LEHMAN
Brandon Rak shovels the sidewalk outside of Pizza Forum on Main Street Monday
afternoon. Rak said that he was unsure if the Pizza Forum planned to open.
Storm leaves downtown Auburn virtually empty BY OCTAVIA LEHMAN olehman@kpcmedia.com
AUBURN — Downtown Auburn seemed like a ghost town Monday afternoon, on the second day of a frigid winter storm. With the bitter cold, few residents were out shoveling sidewalks, and most of the traffic consisted of city crews and plow trucks. While most the downtown block remained silent, Auburn House of Pancakes opened at 5:45 a.m. Monday. Rhonda Diehl, a cashier at the restaurant, drove to work from her home in Corunna. Diehl wasn’t worried about getting through the roads. “My boyfriend has four-wheel drive,” she said. By early Monday morning, Diehl said, S.R. 327 and S.R. 8 were clear. “They did a good job,” Diehl said, referring to the
road crews. “For how much was dropped on us. They stayed on top of it.” She added, “My trouble was getting out the driveway.” The day at the restaurant was a good one, according to Diehl. She credits the strong business to being one of the few places open in town. By 9 a.m. the restaurant already had served 16 tables. “I was surprised how many people were out,” Diehl said. “We served a lot of men.” Jeremiah’s Brewed Awakenings on Ninth Street closed early Monday afternoon. Its owner, Jeremiah Otis, said he walked to work to make sure no pipes broke. “I thought, while I’m here I might as well make coffee,” he said. Otis said a few nurses stopped in before their shift, and some of his regulars came, but the day was quiet. By 1
p.m., he had only nine transactions for the day and decided to close. “I don’t want to encourage people to drive in this weather for a cup of coffee,” he said. DeKalb Health is continuing with all essential hospital operations, said its public information officer, Terri Christiansen. They include emergency medical service and the emergency room Fast Track option. The hospital’s obstetrics unit, FamilyBirthplace, also remains open. Richard Rassel, DeKalb Health house supervisor, told Christiansen all essential operations are running adequately and safely. Christiansen said the hospital has been managing a high census. Physician offices at DeKalb Health were closed Monday, as well as after-hour clinic and specialty clinics.
AUBURN — DeKalb County remains under a Level 1 travel warning today after exhausting plowing efforts Monday were thwarted by heavy winds. The warning bans all but emergency traffic on highways in the county. County Homeland Snowfall totals Security Director Roger Here are snowfall totals in the area for the 24 hours Powers said ending Monday at 9 a.m. late Monday City / Town Total that the warning issued Angola . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.5 Sunday amid Auburn . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.0 a historically Fremont . . . . . . . . . . . 10.1 heavy snow Hamilton . . . . . . . . . . . 11.0 would remain Hudson. . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1 in place into Kendallville . . . . . . . . . 14.0 today. Powers LaGrange . . . . . . . . . . 13.1 said roadways would be re-evaluated “at some point” today to determine if and when the warning would be taken down. Powers added that county government offices would all remain closed today. County plows were out in force Monday, working to clear major roadways and make secondary routes at least passable. County highway director Eric Patton said early Monday that secondary routes — especially north-south roadways such as C.R. 35 and C.R. 19 — were experiencing heavy drifting from winds that would send back any snow his plows would clear. Patton said late Monday the situation had not improved, as he called the majority of his fleet in for the night. “They’re still plugged and not looking good at all,” said Patton. “The north-south roads are just drifting.“ Patton said he would have 5-6 plow drivers work through the night. The remainder of the crew would report back at 4 a.m. today to resume plowing, he said. Powers said the snowstorm itself was historic, but with the winds and subzero cold, conditions are dangerous. He said a contributing factor to keeping the travel warning in place is the temperatures, which could be lethal if a motorist became stranded. The city of Auburn lifted its travel warning at 9 p.m. Monday, Mayor Norm Yoder announced. Yoder warned that while the city’s streets are passable, residents should venture out only SEE COUNTY, PAGE A8
Level 1 Snow Emergency continuing for Garrett BY SUE CARPENTER scarpenter@kpcmedia.com
GARRETT — As of early afternoon Monday, a Level 1 Snow Emergency continued in Garrett. Mayor Tonya Hoeffel declared a Level 1 emergency effective Sunday at 7 p.m. that continued through Monday, restricting travel to emergency vehicles. City wastewater utility superintendent Bruce Schlosser measured 14.5 inches of new snow at the plant’s official weather monitoring station Monday afternoon. That amounts to 1.1 inches of precipitation, he said.
Fire Chief Chad Werkheiser reported streets in town were in good shape, but his department wass continuing to survey roads in Keyser Township, which were drifting due to strong winds. “The county roads are 50/50 — half have one lane open, others not at all,” he said. Firefighters were called out to assist the Garrett electric department late Monday night, when a pole caught fire and took out power to North Pointe Crossing for about three hours, Werkheiser said. Some electric utililty customers on the north end of SEE GARRETT, PAGE A8
SUE CARPENTER
Penny Smith rings up a sale at Garrett Hardware Monday afternoon. Customer Jared Gaff, right, said he needed engine oil to get his snowplow to start.
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