Dozens Take Refuge In Muskogee Shelter

Tuesday, January 16th 2007, 12:31 pm

By: News On 6

MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) _ Some of the residents in eastern Oklahoma who have been without power for almost four days have begun to take refuge in more than a dozen American Red Cross shelters that have been opened to provide people a warm place to stay.

About 95,000 people remained without electrical service Tuesday in the aftermath of an ice storm that began Friday, damaging power lines and utility substations, utility companies said.

Judy and Chuck Schlotter spent a freezing night in their powerless home Friday, before going to a shelter in Checotah. Outside the Multi Purpose Building in Checotah, their 1998 Chevrolet pickup's doors are frozen shut.

The Schlotters have found there is more than one use for hot coffee.

``It took me three cups of hot coffee to get the (truck's) door open,'' she said.

The couple also went to a shelter during an ice storm in 2000.

The fumes from a heating source sickened Judy Schlotter in that storm, so they didn't wait long to seek shelter this time around.

``Thank God for this,'' she said.

Also at the Checotah shelter were Terry and Evelyn Petryniak.

They live in Port Dover, Ontario, Canada, on the banks of Lake Erie and were en route to Mesa, Ariz., where they spend the winter.

Deciding not to push against the winter storm, they pulled into the Flying J at Checotah to spend the night.

``I wanted to put our two slide-outs out,'' she said of their recreational vehicle. ``My husband said, `Maybe we shouldn't.' I said, `Oh honey it will be fine.' I was wrong.''

They haven't been able to put them back in and therefore, she said, they haven't been able to leave.

She praised the Checotah Police Department, which picked them up and took them to the shelter after the couple ran out of propane and began running low on gas for their generator.

``It was so nice, I'm about to cry,'' she said.