Blackout frosts newcomer but others take it in stride
Sports reporter
Marion resident Randy Jackson braved the cold like everyone else Tuesday, but the former Louisianan couldn't believe the power was out for more than 24 hours.
"We had hurricanes," he said, "but it still wasn't out this long."
Jackson and neighbor Vincent Moore couldn't make it to their jobs in McPherson because of road conditions, but Jackson might not have been able to get there if the roads had been OK.
He tried for two hours to unfreeze his car doors, breaking his door handle in the process.
Instead of going to work, Moore and Jackson hung out in their Elgin House apartment hallway trying to stay warm.
Over on N. Fourth St., meanwhile, Don Keazer along with his son, Casey, and wife, Martha, worked for more than half an hour to get into their two cars.
Don didn't make an attempt to get into his truck because of the fallen cherry tree resting on the hood.
"We've had some snow and ice before, but never this bad," Don said.
Sally Hannaford, a longtime Marion resident, agreed with Keazer.
"I don't remember anything like this," she said.
Hannaford said her family stayed warm Tuesday night when the storm hit with a lot of blankets and candles. They decided to make the best of the situation and went to a neighbors' house to grill as if it were a summer night.
Moore and Jackson huddled with neighbors as well.
"We sat around telling Christmas and New Year's stories."
Jackson was in Louisiana for three weeks during the holidays, and Moore was in Alabama. The storm welcomed the two back to Kansas.
"Even tough the power is out, the bills are still rolling in," Moore said.
He said his electric bill was $101 even when he was gone, and the outage caused him frustration.
"I haven't heard when it's coming back on," Moore said.
But residents seemed to take the power failure in stride.
"We're just trying to make the best of it," Hannaford said.
"We're just going to ride it out," Don Keazer said. "We'll survive."
