Sun-Journal from Lewiston, Maine • 1

'n SPECIAL STORM COVERAGE: How the icestorm hit Franklm Oxford counties Bl B3 B5 A2 ton Maine i 1 V' vV Western Maine edition FRIDAY JANUARY 9 1998 50 CENTS More on icestoim A relentless ice storm knocks out power to much of the state and theforecastfor Friday is moreqf the same By Mark iAflammr- LEWISTON 7-Even die most win- ter-seasoned Mainers were strug- gling to get by Thursday as the state a worst ice storm in decades raged into Its second day' leaving thousands without heat or electricity Thewail of sirenswas almost non- stop in many areas throughout the day and into the night as police and fire officials raced to emergency after The sound of trees breaking Thursday was also the sound of woodkrt- owners losing money wtth so many trees sufferkK so much damag a lot of wood wHhave to be haivested ahead of schedula The large operations expect to weather the stormbut the smalwoodiot owners i are worried about the possible economic Impact si'A'i-' Deer herd This week's freezing rain Is wreaking havoc on the human population but deerarelifcetytakingKInstrklBt according to a state biologist The winter's Impact on the deer herd won't be knownuntl spring Mountains it was raining In the valley but in the high country the large ski areas were Fireand rescue officials were being called to help evacuate families whose homes were damaged by fallen tree limbs and hospital emergency rooms were filling up Thursday night Blue and orange Sashes of fight oc- casionaUy filled me night sky as more power lines snapped and dashed to the ground under the weight of ice '-and snow: Tiro governor's office declared a v- aoacnmascNJoiaYiL stale emergency early in the day wnRESEAubumresidentswatchdownedpowefllnessparkandbumatthecornerofShepieyStreatandGamagBAvenueThuredayevening and most ana cities and towns in cluding Lewiston and Auburn fol- lowedsuitsoonafter State officials were preparing to mobilize the National Guard as con- ditions worsened and more and more people were seeking hex was was a minor headache for tne states largest resort out a Digger WMklIBi Jluk HlIIM pronem was tne common or tne -roads leacfing to the mountains ice storms power company niDfrueemakiirei Schools and i company Emergency shelters wete opened across the state for people without heat or electricity in their homes and crews were out in repaiie many offices an- 1 nounced first thing in the morning that they would be dosed in antidpa- tion of more nasty weather School officials in the TVin Cities didnlt waste time Thursday niditannounc-lng there would be no oareespnFri- day NVOOOFEfT SnowbqpnstOineftMRhits if V- -v v' A- By Jonathan Van fleet y-v StaffWriter 1 GRAY 7 The ice storm glazing Maine this week an Infrequent occurrence And such stdims are rarely -this severe 'according to meteoroio-i at the National Weather Service '-r''' 'V I s' ''I kTf a1 i i Vi 1 fr- collier but rein don not have tbm to freeze before It hits the ground Ice storms also called freezing rain storms resuh when different temper- ature layers in the atmosphere keep precipitation in liquid state until it hits the ground "Typically in an ice storm warm air is over cold air" said John Jensenius a Weather Servibe meteorologist In this case warm air is strean in from the south and southwest i blanketing a layer of cold air coming from the northeast fensenius said Because thp cold air is within 1 000 feet of the ground the rain have a chance to freeze before it hits at MDHjjMiMAMsi' a jwsasl canceled in both Lewiston BATTUN8THE ELEMENTS Frank and said Lewiston school Bennett above usn a chain Saw to Superintendent Bob Connors: "I cut up branches of a tree that fiei on know if the kids are enjoying the home of Keith Brooks at 459TUm- this or not it look like much erStln Auburn Thursday At left Cen-fun out tral Maine Power COi worker Dan TUr- 1 Staying home did not necessarily geon works on removing a mass of mean shelter from the relentless Iced branches from a power line at storm as thousands of homes were -the comer of MonteUo and MainsiUhnhe dark after stinsetTnunday streets in Lewiston Thursday llirgeon and his Afrgusta-basedlne crew were Hurncane-type damage asked how many changes of clothes By-Thursday night mote that they brought Indicating that they 220J000 homes andbusinesses were 'would be on the jobfor quite a while without power in the central and Gou Angus King on Thursday declared southern parts of the state the wont a state of emergency which allows outage since HuiricaneGlaia swept the state to bring In the National through Maine in 1985 Guard to help Maine newspapers about 40 percent of our ciis- were struggling to publish Friday due Gaaooaincssi'aJotaMi fo electrical problems Mora page A5 please see storm page A8 MOUND IfVEL Supercooled rain freon Immediately upon Nttlng the pound ry y- tir'd a' '-rv the ground but freezes almost in- PLEASE SEE HOW PAGE AS nsnnknsJ new Uriaboinber defendant -tries to bang self in prison cell SACRAMENTO CaUf (AP)' street clothes he has been wening Theodore Kaczynski in court led tonanghim- ceD was searched and no underwear turned up Blanas said Wb assume they were flushed down the he said Courtroom observers said red marks were visible Blanas said Kaczynski seemed de- said marshals noticed Kaczynski had recently rm very pleased to Jhr by the reception wehe received in Maine Actually rm astounttedby iL BY LIZ CHAPMAN StaffWriter lEVVISTON-TheFPL Group the Florida-based utility company that wants to buy Central Maine Power generating plants plans to spend $500 million to $600 million -building three new gas-firedplants in Maine over the next lOyears MichaelYackira Fncn ief financial officer said the new construc- Powr and light Ca sbo intends to repin the'CMP workers who man the 35 non-nuclear power plants the company has offered to buy for $848 million Yackira said he has been astounded by the reception he's received in Maine since announcing' the planned sale on The FPL of- fer is believed to be the laigest single commercial transaction ever in construe- Maine fer surpassing the 1991 sale to of the Great Northern Paper Coi to bilge new power plants to anchor the impending CMP assets sale them financially Yaddra estunated 200 cons crux of the economics (of tion workers would be needi needed don is contingent on two proposed natural gas pipelines snaking building the new plants) is based on build each of the 500-megawatt Bowater for $300 million through the state He thinks the getting gas to those Yackira plants 50 permanent Jobs would be Tm very pleased so far by the re- nld Ttmriy be nki thf Sn created at each site istic amf feasible if there are three foumal editorial board to talk' about 'FPL parent company of Florida PLEASE SEE PLANTS PAGE A7 Kaczynski was not wearing pressed apparently over underpants when he changed in the his plans to portray him as courthouse Thursday morning from his prison Jumpsuit to the Please see LNABOMB page A7 i-'lV: I I I -MMUkH HfrIT TndeT Adwcg 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