Stillwater Sports: SHS starts final stretch on the road A8
NewsPress
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Stillwater, Oklahoma • www.stwnewspress.com
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After the storm: Stillwater digs out • Area schools, some businesses remain closed; Residents brave hazardous road conditions Stillwater NewsPress
The Blizzard of 2011 has moved on but its aftermath is still disrupting Stillwater lives. After the snowstorm, high winds drifted snow and caused problems throughout the city. Schools and some businesses remained closed today as snow drifts continued to build throughout Tuesday evening. About 8 inches of snow fell in Stillwater, but snow drifts are making it difficult to measure. “We didn’t get as much as we thought we would,” Emergency Management Director Kirk Mittelstet said. The wind will continue to blow the snow around for a few more days, he said. No more significant snow is expected, but temperatures will be frigid again today. The National Weather Service shows a forecast of partly cloudy Wednesday night with a low of -5 F and a windchill as low -15 F. The forecast includes winds of 6 to 11 mph. Gusts at the height of Tuesday’s blizzard topped 45 mph. Thursday’s forecast is sunny with a high of 18 F and a windchill as low as 17 F. Thursday will also have winds of 7 mph. Canceled classes and activities left the streets of Stillwater devoid of heavy traffic but those venturing out had problems throughout the day. Several cars were stuck near the Walmart entrance on Perkins Road Tuesday morning. Elsewhere cars and trucks littered snowdrifts as well. Mid-morning Tuesday, Oklahoma State University students Kyle Wilson
and Adam Tully found themselves mired in a parking lot on Perkins Road. A group of good Samartians helped Wilson and Tully push their pickup out of the snow. Tully said the two had themselves pulled several stuck drivers out of snowbanks Tuesday morning. The two had also been bringing supplies, such as a heater, to several of their friends around town. Two Oklahoma State professors braved the weather to go to Aspen Coffee Company. Denni Blum said she needed to use Internet service to grade papers in an online digital drop box. She got a ride with Matt O’Neill. “He’s from the north and he has more experience (driving in snow) than I have,” Blum said. O’Neill, who’s from Boston, said he’s no stranger to snow storms, “but not 40 mile per hour wind.” O’Neill was out of town for the blizzard Christmas Eve 2009, but said this is the worst snow storm he’s seen in Oklahoma in his seven years here. “Usually, if the tornado sirens aren’t going off, we’re open,” said Aspen owner Kelly Lyda. He said he closes the cafe for severe ice storms, too, but Tuesday’s weather is passable, especially for people who have a four-wheel drive vehicle. Lyda joked he took his four-wheel drive truck down the streets with the highest drifts to avoid traffic. Aspen employee Michael Kraddock said his van was snowed in, so he walked to work. Stillwater Summit Com-
Laura Wilson/photo@stwnewspress.com
Did he see his shadow? Oklahoma State University student Nathan Phillips emerges out of a tunnel he and his friends built north of Murray Hall on campus.
Mission shelters homeless during Tuesday’s blizzard By Chase Rheam crheam@stwnewspress.com
J.B. Bittner/photo@stwnewspress.com
A worker maneuvering a front-end loader scrapes Ninth Street near Main in downtown Stillwater Tuesday morning to try to keep ahead of the blizSee ➤ Storm, page A3 zard.
A monster storm and a raised awareness of homeless needs have brought five more people to Stillwater’s only homeless shelter, the director said. Mission of Hope homeless shelter program Director Holly Smith said one person came into the shelter on Sunday, two came in Monday night and another person was picked up on the street and driven to the Mission of Hope Tuesday afternoon. Stillwater Medical Center called the Mission of Hope Tuesday afternoon to ask if they had room for a person with frostbite, bringing the total to five since Sunday. Smith is concerned there are more people in need not seeking shelter. Stillwater residents called the See ➤ Mission, page A3
Payne County jail death prompts two state bills By Anita Pere apere@stwnewspress.com
Ron duBois is determined to make it so his son didn’t die in vain, and two bills in the state Legislature are working to that end. Rep. Cory Williams, D-Stillwater, and Sen. Jim Halligan, RStillwater, drafted two bills that, if passed, would bring medicinal and structural reforms to county jails in Oklahoma. Halligan’s bill, SB 854, would require medical staff at jails to “be particularly aware through his or her training of the impact of opiate or methadone withdrawal symptoms that may occur in regard to the mental and physical health of the prisoner.”
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Williams’ bill, HB 2112, would mandate, “stainless steel mesh screening to be installed in any area of a jail facility that would allow access by an inmate to a fall of greater than eight (8) feet.” The bills are scheduled for first reading in their respective houses at the state Capitol Feb. 7. DuBois’ son, Peter duBois, died July 23, 2010, after falling about 12 feet in the Payne County Jail. Peter duBois went over a 4-foot railing. The state medical examiner’s office has said the cause of death was suicide. An Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent has been looking into the death. DuBois was sentenced July 16 to seven years in prison for
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It doesn’t look like the snow will be melting until the weekend.
Provided Photo
Rob duBois says this photo shows where his son Peter duBois fell in the Payne County Jail July 2010. Peter duBois died a few days after the fall. failing to comply with the rules of the Payne County Drug Court. He pleaded guilty in May
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Defensive Driving And Motor Vehicle Accident Prevention Classes Begin February 14. Visit us at www.meridiantech.edu or call 888.607.2509, 405.377.3333.
2009 to a charge of attempting to obtain a controlled and dangerous substance — methadone — by fraud. According to an arrest warrant affidavit, In September 2008, Peter duBois gave a pharmacist a prescription with the signature of a dead doctor. He was sentenced to drug court as part of a 15-year suspended sentence. Rob duBois said his son tried to go to therapy in Tulsa as required by the drug court but he got in a car wreck while en route. Ron duBois said in July Peter duBois was chemically dependent on methodone prior to entering the Payne County Jail. Payne County Sheriff R.B. Hauf has said, to his knowledge, no inmate has ever been given methadone while in the jail.
Hauf did not return calls for comment about the legislative bills. SB 854 Methadone is a synthetic narcotic that eases symptoms associated with opiate withdrawals. Rob duBois has said he believes his son committed suicide because he couldn’t cope with the pain of withdrawal from opiates. Ron duBois hopes prison and county jail physicians will eventually prescribe methadone to inmates with a history of methadone use to ease the effects of withdrawals. HB 2112 If Williams’ bill passes, inmates like Peter duBois will not See ➤ Bills, page A3
Funerals Danny Knott T.D. Grooms
Obituaries, A2