Globe-Gazette from Mason City, Iowa • 1

Continued cold Partly cloudy and continued cold today and tonight. Highs today will be from zero to 5 below. Lows to-, night will be around 15 below zero. Tuesday will he cloudy and not as cold with highs around 5 above. WfulltiTdftnilfii Pairs MONDAY January 11, 1982 SO WUE A RtJkA EWOW GtoiFfilh) tow WDDD ing were canceled.

By Joseph D. LeValley Staff Writer Strong northwest winds and near-record cold temperatures brought down power lines, froze water pipes, stranded travelers, closed airports and caused' many other problems throughout North Iowa Saturday and Sunday. Blowing snow resulted in zero visibility and severe drifting on all rural roads and highways during the weekend. The severe conditions made travel difficult, if not possible. Motorists who became stuck in snow drifts or ditches soon found themselves in trouble.

It simply was too cold to walk for help. Cerro Gordo County Sheriff Steve Madson was one of many peace officers who spent Saturday and Sunday rescuing stranded travelers. He said it was so cold that people stranded outside "easily" could have frozen to death. did, they would have been in serious trouble." Madson said the bus broke down across the county line, in Worth County. He said 22 people crowded into the four patrol cars and waited for a bus sent from Northwood-Ken-sett Schools.

"The kids went back to Kensett in the bus and stayed at the gym for Arctic cold, high (Please turn to Page 2) calls for a high of about zero today with lows of 10 to 15 below again tonight. Winds were expected to drop to 15 to 25 mph. Duneman said the wind was strong all day Saturday, peaking at about 42 miles per hour. Sunday the wind was even stronger, with gusts to 45 mph. The airport was closed Saturday night and remained closed through this morning.

Ozark Air Lines flights Sunday night and this morn Rick Duneman of the local FA A Flight Service Station said the wind-chill factors reached about 90 below zero Sunday morning. The actual temperature dipped to 24 below zero in Mason City and 25 below zero at the airport Sunday morning. The record low for Jan. 10 is 30 below zero, set in 1937. Believe it or not, temperatures climbed during the day Sunday, to 16 below at noon, 7 below at 8 p.m.

and 5 below at 10 p.m. The forecast Students rescued Madson said he and a deputy joined two Iowa State Patrol troopers in rescuing 20 college students stranded on Interstate 35 on Saturday night. "Twenty kids, a coach and a driver were just about frozen," Madson said. "They were in a bus for 2Va hours without any heat. "If we hadn't got there when we Staff photo by Jeff Heinz.

Visibility limited Sunday afternoon on Highway 1 8Westin-MasorhitY Fertile man found safe after 21 -hour ordeal in truck, school Sub-zero cold grips Midwest By David L. Langford Associated Press Writer The coldest day of the 20th century for much of the Midwest found travelers stranded in blinding blizzards and thousands left without power Sunday in wind chills as low as 90 degrees below zero. "This is a real emergency," declared Mayor Jane Byrne in Chicago, where the mercury dropped to minus 26, the lowest temperature ever recorded in the Windy City. The wind chill factor was minus 81. At least 11 deaths were blamed on the weather over the weekend, and in western New York state, where 2 feet of fresh snow fell, the Onondaga County sheriff's department resumed a search for a 22-year-old hiker.

Commonwealth Edison said up to 50,000 Chicagoans were left without electricity as wires became brittle and snapped in the extreme cold. The Chicago Building Department said it was getting 100 calls an hour from apartment dwellers complaining of no heat. Blood banks reported shortages of some rare blood types, apparently because many donors were staying at home because of the weather. Chicago firefighters, their faces and coats covered by- ice, fought four extrhalarm including one that killed two people and another that injured 22 firefighters from smoke and exposure. Officials said water from hoses froze instantly when it hit the buildings.

Chicago's public and parochial schools planned to not xopen Monday, and Mrs. Byrne said buses would be kept idling overnight to ensure they would run in the morning. One Chicago man found dead Saturday apparently froze to death on a fire escape. Three people died when their snowmobiles went through ice on a western Michigan lake. Exposure or accident deaths among motorists mounted, with one each in Kentucky, North Carolina and Connecticut and two each in Pennsylvania and Minnesota.

Across the Midwest, the East and deep into Dixie, temperature records fell in dozens of cities. Utility were down across broad areas. Roads were blocked by wind-blown snow that halted snow-plows, and forced motorists to abandon their cars. (Please turn to Page 3) Dawson walked a half-mile to the old schoolhouse on County Road B-20. The building now serves as the Grant Township Community Center.

"I barely made it," he said. "If it had been a mile walk, I never would have made it." Dawson had two things working in his favor. He was dressed for the weather because he had been working Saturday starting 'cars and helping stalled motorists. And he was smart. Before leaving the pickup truck, Dawson took the rubber floor mats and stuffed them inside his coveralls to protect his body from the biting wind.

"It worked pretty good," he said. But by the time Dawson reached the building, he had been fighting the cold for 13 hours with nothing to eat or drink. "I was real thirsty and cold." he said. "I've worked outside in the winter a lot, but I never realized how cold you can get. Dawson kicked in the the door of the community center.

"It's ironic. I'd just told my mom. when we were talking about all the people getting stranded, that if I ever had to kick in a door to survive. I would." Once inside, Dawson started the building's heater and was relatively safe until he was fount! by Gordon Stokes, who lives nearby. Authorities started looking for Dawson on Sunday.

They called Stokes and asked him to check the community center in case Dawson was stranded there. Stokes said, "I rode my snowmobile -up to B-20 and saw a light in the center. The light is never on, so I knew someone was there. He (Dawson) was OK, but he was very lucky to be alive." Dawson didn't argue with that. He said he was foolish to have gone out Saturday night.

"I'm old enough to know better," he said, laughing. "Put a message in the newspaper. Tell people to stay home when the authorities tell them to." By Joseph D. LeValley Staff Writer FERTILE Steve Dawson took a drive into the country in his pickup truck Saturday night "just to see how bad the weather was." Twenty-one hours later, he knew: It was very bad. Dawson.

29, left Ventura at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday, intending to drive just one mile north on a county road. He was rescued at about 5:30 p.m. Sunday after spending the night in his truck and much of the day in an old schoolhouse southwest of here. Dawson said he made his mile drive with no problems, but when he attempted to turn around he found the reverse gear in his truck didn't work.

Dawson said as he drove forward, looking for an easier place to turn around, the truck's transmission made a loud "clunk." "I live south of Fertile, so I decided to try to make it here instead of going back to Ventura," he said in a telephone interview Sunday night. "I ran into a big drift and had to shovel through that. The truck went about another mile before the transmission went out." Dawson said luckily the engine still ran. He stayed in the truck, using the heater to stay warm. "I ran out of gas at about 2 a.m.," he said.

"I burned newspapers, magazines, whatever I could find to stay warm. I tore them into pieces and built little fires on the floor of the passenger side of the pickup." Dawson had decided to wait in the truck for county snowplow crews. He knew he was safer in the truck than out in the wijid, where the wind-chill was estimated at between 70 and 90 degrees below zero. At 9 a.m., more than 12 hours after his ordeal had begun, Dawson received some bad news: He heard over the car radio that the snowplows were not going to plow the roads Sunday. "By then I was starting to shiver.

I figured I'd better try to make it somewhere." NFL playoffs The Cincinnati Bengals and the1 San Francisco 49ers advanced to pro football's Super Bowl with victories Sunday in conference championships.The Bengals gained a 27-7 triumph over San Diego in sub-zero weather, and the 49ers beat Dallas 28-27 on a touchdown in the final minute of play. Stories on Page 13. DOCUmOntS The Iranian government has published in book form what it describes as secret U.S. documents seized by militant students who took over the American Embassy in Tehran in November, 1979, travelers from Iran report. Story on World, Page 9.

Area meetings Many area school boards and city councils have scheduled meetings this week weather permit-1 ting. Story on North 8. Auto talks -Bargainers for the United Auto Workers and the nation's two largest carmakers meet face to face today for landmark contract negotiations that could mean dramatic changes for the U.S. auto industry. General Motors Corp.

and Ford Motor Co. are determined to squeeze wage and benefit concessions from the union in hopes of becoming more competitive with foreign automakers. Story on Page 18. Water lawsuit The city of El Paso. Texas, and state of New Mexico go to court today to argue one of the oldest and hardest fought issues in the American West water rights.

Story on Page 7. Taxes President Reagan said Sunday he has not decided whether to increase excise taxes on alcohol, tobacco, gasoline and long-distance telephone calls but suggested he will recommend shifting responsibility for some federal programs back to the states. Story on Nation, Page 5. Veterans The government, concerned that millions of World War II servicemen will soon be demanding free medical care, may have to stop offering no-strings-attached treatment to all veterans over 65, the head of the Veterans Administation says. Story on Nation, Page 5.

Creation "SCienCO Despite last week's ruling by a federal judge in Little Rock, creation-science is not dead. The Arkansas attorney general will appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary, and bills are pending in at least three legislatures that would make schools teach creation-science along with the theory of evolution. Story on Nation, Page 5. Donovan Raymond J.

Donovan, the last of President Reagan's Cabinet officers to be confirmed by the Senate, is more determined than ever that he won't be the first to go. according to high-ranking associates of the embattled secretary of labor. Story on Nation, Page 5. Alcohol can be killer in cold, weather MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Alcohol can be a killer when it is mixed with extremely cold temperatures and high winds, said Dr. Kent Schwitzer of Hennepin County Medical Center here.

"We advise going outside only if absolutely necessary in such weather, and not going outside at all if you have consumed any alcohol," he said. In addition to th6se who have been drinking, those most in peril in cold weather are the elderly, the very young, the disabled and the poorly dressed. "Alcohol is dangerous for two reasons: It impairs judgment and nose, the ears, the toes and the' fingers are usually affected. "People who are experiencing frostbite should get into a protective environment," Schwitzer said. "If they have blisters, they should come to the hospital immediately.

Otherwise, they should rewarm the affected part in about 100 degree water and if blisters form, come to the hospital." If a person is properly dressed and accustomed to cold temperatures, he said, it is probably safe to work for sev'eral hours outside, "but that would demand almost Arctic-type clothing." most people cannot appreciate the fact that they are getting dangerously cold or frostbitten. It also dilates the superficial blood vessels of the skin and allows you to lose heat more rapidly." His advice came Sunday as temperatures across the Midwest dropped 'to 30 below and wind chill readings around 80 degrees below were common. Hypothermia when the core temperature of the human body drops below 94 degrees is the biggest danger, said Schwitzer, who is on the teaching faculty in the Department of Emergency Medicine. Decreasing levels of conscious ness, frozen extremities and death can occur quickly in such weather, he said. "As your heat drops, you start losing your ability to concentrate and that becomes very dangerous," he said.

For someone notiused to being exposed to frigid temperatures and high winds, 15 minutes outside without proper protection can be dangerous, he said. "Certain types of medications also increase the danger level," he said. Frostbite burning or anesthetized extremities is the most common problem. The tip of the NATO will discuss Soviets, Poland Heap- Lin? Inside Records 2 Obituaries 2 Weather 2 Mason City 3 Opinion 4 Nation 5 Clear Lake 6 North Iowa 8 World 9 State 10 Legislature 11 by both countries. "The meeting would be a success if we can achieve a common overall approach for the long haul." he told reporters on his flight from Washington.

He said' the United States wants to "establish the basis for action if the situation is not remedied in the immediate future." He accused the Soviet Union of following a two-track approach in the crisis in hopes of dividing the United States and its allies. The Soviets are appearing flexible in their communications with European countries but inflexible with the United States, he said. The Reagan administration has been concerned that its European allies, especially West Germany, appear not to view the martial law crackdown in Poland as seriously as Washington does. Haig said he hoped those differences would be reconciled at today's meeting. Haig said there is danger of further repression in Poland, as well as direct intervention by the Soviet Union.

He said the United States would ask the NATO foreign ministers for "a clear condemnation of the Polish junta and Soviet responsibility for the events" in Poland, as well as "an unequivocal reference to the blatant" violation of human rights BRUSSELS, Belgium- (AP) The United States will press its allies to issue "a clear condemnation" of Soviet policy toward Poland and to decide what to do if repression is not Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. said Sunday. Haig arrived Sunday evening for today's one-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers. He said he hoped the discussions would pave the way for European economic sanctions against Warsaw and Moscow.

The secretary said he would caution America's NATO allies against being tricked by "phony moderation" into thinking repression in Poland is easing. Sports 13-16 imcqJParterretirede'jbeeqjwprfcinfll onTisBoofc of tusts'. Alexander Haig.