The News-Messenger from Fremont, Ohio • 1

16 pages Fremont, Ohio, Saturday, July 2, 1977 15 Cents No disaster declaration exBectec By JERRY ROSEN News-Messenger Area Editor It may be difficult for families that lost homes, or cars or freezers full of food to understand, but the storm that did an estimated million damage probably wasn't a disaster. That is, it wasn't enough of a disaster to warrant an official declaration and the accompanying state and federal disaster relief funds. Gen. James Clem, Ohio National Guard and military head of Ohio disaster services, told city and county officials that since most of the damaged property was insured, "you really don't have an emergency." "You've got to decide how much uninsured damage you have and then determine if you want to ask for a formal declaration," he said. "If one to five per cent of your annual budget is the loss, then you don't have much of an emergency." Emile Prenoveau, director of the Ohio Disaster Services Agency, explained with Clem that the local governments are expected to commit a certain amount of local money to recovery operations even with emergency funds coming in.

"The FDA (Federal Disaster Administration) considers lu to 15 per cent of the local budget as resonable, and that would have to be from both the city and the county," he said. "They might consider 10-15 per cent reasonable," returned Mayor Richard Maier, "but we're operating close to the black, or in the red, now and there's nowhere for the money to come from." "That's the same for us," responded County Commissioners J. Robert Martin and Zene J. Smith. Maier, however, was not worried about the apparent inavailability of disaster aid.

"We probably wouldn't even be looking for disaster aid if we can get some more assistance from the National Guard," he said. The Guard pulled all of its troops out of the city at midnight Friday. Col. Harold Finley contacted Maier at home Friday night and said, "Our mission is accomplished." The Guard's mission, he explained, merely was to get the roads passable. "They got the streets open," quipped Safety-Service Director Warren Curtis, "but we had an awful lot of 'missions' for them.

XV 4-y5hr More storm news, pictures on 2 and 9 there won't be any shortage of firewood this winter, an op- tree on Sandusky St. at Pine St. was Mark Aspden, 204 Ohio timist might say. Pictured Friday afternoon cutting a fallen Fremont. (News-Messenger photo by Bruce Crippen) THE WHINING of chain saws continues to fill the air today as residents cut trees and limbs that fell victim to tornado-force winds that struck Fremont Thursday night.

At least It wasn't a tornado- But it hurt level, can produce winds of more than 100 miles per hour and a tornado can result in over 200-mile-per-hour winds. The bureau team could see no evidence of the counterclockwise wind necessary for the tornado, while flying through the air in Fremont Friday. With trees it "definitely can show a pattern," Kackenmeister "There was no definite counter-clockwise direction. It was such a narrow path that it's pretty hard to come down with a tornado in that area." Kackenmeister said one can draw a straight line with some variations of the northeasterly storm, but the only definite evidence of a funnel cloud touchdown was in Junction and Holgate. Fremont can consider itself lucky that the storm that hit here Thursday night was "a funnel cloud aloft" rather than a full-fledged tornado.

Major Mike DiVittorio, operations officer for the 200th Civil Engineering Squardron at Camp Perry, today said there was enough power in the storm to "level the town" if it had hit the ground. "Those things," DiVittorio said, "can flatten an area a mile wide. Just look at Xenia and you can see what they can do. "I'm an engineer and just by looking at the damage it did, I'd say it was strong enough to level the town if it had hit." In other news related to the storm, utility companies were working throughout Friday and today in attempts to restore service to customers. Larson of the Ohio Power Co.

said crews from Indiana, Michigan and many in Ohio were helping the company restore power to affected customers. Larson said as of late Friday night there were about 4,000 customers still without power, mostly downtown in the areas where the storm hit hardest. "The biggest problem is debris," Larson said. "We are mostly cleaning up." Crews were working 16 hours today and will be working through Sunday if necessary. "I would hope that we have most everything on by Sunday," Larson commented.

He admitted that the crews didn't make much progress Friday as most customers without power Friday morning remained without it the entire day. He was hopeful of making a lot of progress today. "We are getting the feeder lines and working from there," he said. Although most of the circuits are dead, the company is still advising people not to touch the wires. He doesn't know of any cases of live wires.

The only problem the Toledo Edison Co. reports in Ohio Power customers calling them. "We can't do anything about it," a Toledo Edison official said. Some Edison customers were without power Thursday night, but all had it restored by Friday. The problems with the Ohio Bell Telephone Co.

restoring service to customers is greater than first realized, according to Paul VanAuken, commercial sales manager. VanAuken said they have about 1,000 cases of people without service, but most of them should get it restored by Monday. "We hope to have under 100 cases by Monday night," he said. "But some could be a week to week and half out." The biggest problem facing the phone company, according to VanAuken, is some cables breaking down around Birchard Park and the east side. VanAuken said customers in the storm path don't have to call in, as phone crews have the path blocked out on a map and are going from door to door restoring service.

Between 70 and 75 crewmen from Sandusky, Tiffin, Toledo and Fremont are working to restore service. By BILL STEWART News- Messenger Staff Writer A straight line wind, funnel cloud aloft, but no tornado. That is the official word from the Toledo Weather Bureau on Thursday night's storm which came from the southwest uprooting trees, blowing roofs off and damaging numerous homes, businesses, public buildings and automobiles. The weather bureau sent a team flying through" the area Friday and according to Merle Kackenmeister, meterologist, a tornado did not touch down in the city. Kackenmeister said the funnel cloud touched down at Junction in Paulding County and caused a "mini-tornado." "It skipped down across 'the section and went back up again," Kackenmeister said.

The cloud went in a northeasterly direction and apparently came down again momentarily in Holgate, where a lot of migrant camps were hit hard. The cloud continued on and skipped across Bowling Green, before staying aloft in Fremont. "There was no visual sign that a funnel cloud dropped in Fremont," the meterologist stated. "We are classifying this as a funnel cloud aloft at a low level." The funnel cloud may have come down again in the Erie County area, but the weather bureau team only went as far as Fremont Friday. Kackenmeister said the straight line wind associated with a severe heavy thunderstorm produces a "hollow wind" which often causes as much damage as a tornado.

"What you have is a combination of a lot of things," Kackenmeister observed. He said a straight line wind with the severe storm can produce winds between 80 and 100 miles per hour. A funnel cloud aloft, which the bureau believes hit Fremont at a possible 100-foot Extra newspapers printed Maier told Gen. Clem that the clean-up operation would cost the city some $400,000 alone if it had to contract for the work. The some 30 city employes that could be assigned to the work just could not handle it with the equipment available.

"Our big problem," Curtis added, "is equipment and bodies. I can see another five to seven days with them (Guardsmen), the parks and street departments working to clean up." In answer to a question from Clem about crews cleaning on private property, Maier said, "We definitely are. "We have a moral responsibility to help the people. We can't just tell them it's their problem. They don't have the money any more than we do.

"If we can get the cooperation from you that we have asked, it will be better, cheaper and faster to clean up, rather than having to go back and forth to Chicago and wait around for the federal government for about a year." R. L. Zook, Ohio Dept. of Transportation engineer of maintenance, promised he would make between 30 and 40 men available next week with dump trucks and other equipment, plus about five chipping machines, all of which would be moved in from throughout the district. DOT, Maier and Curtis both said, has helped the cleanup operations considerably so far.

Clem then said he would "put some people in Tuesday," although he noted, "I might be out on a limb." County officials, meanwhile, said they were not certain how much of the damage at the County Home would be covered by insurance. Damage there has been estimated at $2-4 million. Smith also wondered if there might be financial help for the care of the elderly citizens forced to other places "for two or three months" while the home is repaired. The state welfare department, it is hoped will help with that cost. 'Missing9 boys were safe with friends Mrs.

Betty Smith, 2402 Hayes had two surprises waiting for her when she returned home Friday evening. Her two sons, Eruce, 11, and Chad, 5, reported missing since Thursday afternoon when the storm struck Fremont, were safe and waiting for her. The two boys had left home Thursday at noon where they were supposed to go swimming at Rodger Young Park and be home before the pool closed at 5:30 p.m. "I told them it was going to rain and that they shouldn't go," she said. "But Bruce said they would come back if it rained." "The pool didn't open," said Bruce.

"The man told us after one o'clock that it wasn't going to open." The two boys then went with a friend, Steve Goodhand, to his home at 316' High St. When it began to lightning, Bruce became concerned and wanted to take Chad home. "Tim (Steve's older brother) said to wait until his mom came home and she would give us a ride," explained Bruce. "I called my mom and told her we would be home when it quit raining," he added. That was shortly after 7 p.m.

What he didn't tell his mother was where the two boys were. When the tornado came she did not know until Friday afternoon where they had been. The two boys and the Goodhands were in the basement at the time the winds lashed Fremont. After the storm, Mrs. Goodhand came home and suggested the boys stay in the house through the night and go home Friday morning.

Mrs. Smith waited up all night for the boys to come home. "I worried and I called and called. I think people got tired of me calling," she said. Then in the morning, she called the police.

She finished talking to the sheriff's department about 11 a.m. "I knew they had to be somewhere," she said. "All sorts of things go through your mind." "I walked downtown at about 3:30," she said. She learned her boys had been seen on High Street. When she got to High Street, she went to the Goodhand home, where she learned that Mrs.

Goodhand had told the boys to go home, she said. The boys had been unable to leave earlier Friday, they said, because the National Guard wouldn't let them out in the streets. Due to the unprecedented demand for copies of Friday's New-Messenger, extra copies have been printed and will be available for as long as the supply lasts. A second press run was made Saturday morning and some copies distributed to newsstands in Fremont prior to distribution of the regular Saturday edition. The remaining copies of the Friday reprint including the special news supplement covering the Thursday storm, will be available at The News-Messenger business office, 107 S.

Arch St. Copies will be sold at the counter if streets are reopened by this afternoon or they may be reserved by calling 332-5511 until 6 p.m. today. Copies of today's newspaper may also be reserved at the same telephone. If you are unable to reach us by phone today, papers may be ordered by phone starting Tuesday of next week.

The News-Messenger is operating with only two emergency telephone lines open and.no electricity at our downtown office. The phone sounds to callers as though it is ringing but the circuit often does not ring through. DSA chief says hundreds helped By BILL STEWART News- Messenger Staff Writer The Sandusky County Disaster Services Agency closed up at 6:30 Friday night with reports of smooth operations since the tornado struck Fremont Thursday evening. The Disaster Services Agency, Salvation Army and Red Cross all aided the storm cleanup and rescue operations in the city Thursday night and Friday. Disaster Services Director Ed Herman estimated that at least 500 volunteers aided, with at least 100 volunteers offering aid in the evacuation of residents from the Countryside Continuing Care Center when its building was severely ravaged in the storm.

Fremont City School buses and 20 ambulances responded, including ones from Tiffin, Wood County, Margaretta Township and Sandusky Township. "The outlying areas cooperated by not flooding us," Herman said. "They called first and asked if we needed them." The evacuating of the residents at the continuing care center was the biggest operation Thursday night by the Disaster Services Agency. Eighty-seven of the residents were sent to Villa Maria Nursing Home in Green Springs and 47 more were taken to Solomon Lutheran Church in Woodville after they were forced to use power generators at Ross High School. John Weltin, administrator at the care center, reported this morning that the residents who were taken to Woodville are being transferred to the Autumnwood Nursing Home in Tiffin.

The mailing address there is P.O. Box 881 and the telephone number is 447-7151. Residents who lived on the lower level of the county facility have been moved to Riverside Nursing Home in Oak Harbor. The secondary moves were necessary because it is expected that the county facility will be out of business for a minimum of two months. Weltin said this morning that the figure is just a preliminary rough estimate and could be considerably longer.

Construction, engineering and insurance representatives have been checking the home damage and officials are trying to dry out the facility. There was considerable flooding at the care center when the roof was blown off during the storm. Herman continues to consider $8 million a conservative estimate for damage in the area. "There are at least 250 homes (severely damaged)," he said. "I would say there are 400 or 500 trees down and a lot more roofs than we anticipated." Damage estimates will be made for federal assistance.

Although the Disaster Services Agency closed at 6:30, help was still available on call through the sheriff's office. Despite having telephone problems, agency workers said they answered about 10 calls Friday ranging from requests to move trees to delivering dry ice for those out of electricity. "Overall everything went smoothly," Herman said. "People have learned from Xenia." The Salvation Army stationed mobile canteen units in the city, primarily for serving food and beverages to national guardsmen, policemen, firemen and other volunteer workers. "Our primary function is to see that all workers and policemen have food and drink," said Robert F.

Williams Salvation Army field representative. The units came from Toledo Friday morning and remained Continued on page 9).