Mena buries first of 3 tornado struck down

LITTLE ROCK — As the cleanup continued in storm-ravaged Mena, Rick Lobner said goodbye to his wife.

Judy Lobner, 67, was crushed under debris when Thursday's tornado barreled through the Polk County town, demolishing the front of the home where she was staying with her mother.

"Today my wife would have been going through rotator cuff surgery," Lobner said Tuesday before her memorial service. "She's been in pain, and now she's not."

Thursday night she was taking care of her elderly mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease. Rick Lobner couldn't help but think about what if his wife of 17 years had been homewith him on their farm, out of the storm's path.

"Or if she'd have been in the back bedroom," he said Tuesday, noting that the back of her mother's house wasn't as badly damaged.

Her three sons and other loved ones paid their respects at Grace Bible Church. It was the first funeral for the three who died in the storm.

All three were killed within blocks of one another in the hard-hit neighborhood just west of the downtown square. The buildings didn't hold up against the Enhanced Fujita 3 tornado, one of eight that wreaked havoc on the state that night.

On Thursday, Albert Shaw, 61, will be remembered at the Mountain View United Meth-odist Church.

Shaw was at the charming two-story home he shared with friends Robert and Nancy Kish when the storm hit. The home was leveled.

The Kishes made it out, Shaw did not.

"He was just a very, very nice guy," said Louise Matusik, a friend since the 1960s who lives near Shaw's hometown of Wheeling, W.Va. "Caring, considerate. Just a really sweet guy."

She said Shaw, a former auto mechanic who loved to ride his motorcycle, battled cancer a few years ago and won. He was enjoying scenic Mena, where his daughter lives, and working at Wal-Mart.

"The irony is he worked evenings," Matusik said. "Just recently, they changed his shift, otherwise he would not have been at home."

Anna Cress, an Eastern Star member for 45 years, was at the group's regular meeting at the local Masonic lodge when the storm hit.

The 84-year-old mother of five, who has 13 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, died when the building buckled in the storm's winds, sending debris crashing down on her.

"She was such a giving woman," said Fred Key, the master of the Dallas Masonic Lodge who noted her charitable work. "Everyone knew Anna."

She was married for 58 years to the late Max Cress, a wellknown veterinarian.

Her memorial service will be Saturday at the First United Methodist Church.

Around town, there were signs of progress Tuesday.

Dump trucks hauled loads upon loads of debris out of the city, the county courthouse was open and power was gradually being restored.

"It's phenomenal, the amount of debris that's been removed," said City Clerk Regina Walker, who was working out of City Hall on Tuesday after days of using an Arkansas Department of Emergency Management trailer.

Windows were broken at the 1917-built City Hall, but it withstood its second tornado. A twister also hit town in 1993.

The main mission for city workers this week is registering the scores of contractors hoping to do business with storm victims.

The city is hoping that registration will help deter unscrupulous activity. Mayor George McKee said over the weekend that there were reports of pricegauging.

"We're doing our best to protect our citizens," Walker said. "At a traumatic time like this, we're very vulnerable."

By Tuesday afternoon, about 325 area customers were still without power, according to Southwestern Electric Power Co. The utility hoped to have all power restored by Friday night.

Meanwhile, the state's tornado count rose to eight, as the National Weather Service completed more storm surveys.

The devastating one in Mena was preceded by a milder one in the western part of the county. Two touched down in southernMiller County. Others hit Howard, Pike, Sevier and Ashley counties. The state has declared all but Pike County as disaster areas.

On Tuesday, Gov. Mike Beebe asked for federal aid for families in Miller, Polk and Sevier counties after teams said they counted 659 damaged houses in the three counties, mostly in Mena. More than 150 of those houses were destroyed.

The toll on businesses and government infrastructure remained unclear.

One of the twisters ripped apart the water plant outside of the Howard County town of Dierks.

Since then the city of nearly 1,300 has been in a "dire" situation because of scarce amounts of water, Mayor Terry Mounts said.

The city has tapped a nearby water supply using two fire hoses and has distributed bottled water to residents.

Mounts was expecting the Arkansas National Guard to set up portable water-treatment units Tuesday afternoon to serve the town for the next couple of months until the plant can be rebuilt.

"We have asked people to really conserve and not waste any water," Mounts said.

Meanwhile, he's hoping a fire doesn't break out.

"I don't know what it would do to us," he said.