With weather that feels more like spring than winter these days, last week’s snowpocalypse seems like a distant memory now, doesn’t it?
Nevertheless, let’s revisit that brief but brutal beating we took from Mother Nature.
The snow fell. It kept falling. It piled up in record amounts around Northwest Arkansas. And as far as we could tell, city and county road crews did theirbest to keep up.
In one place we witnessed snow plows working long after dark on the day of the storm to clear roads. Elsewhere, we saw even the smallest of back roads getting the plows’ attention the morning of the storm.
You know what?
Generally speaking, these snow removal crews did darn good jobs. While many of us huddled around the fireplace, they braved awful conditions that - regardless of whether you had four-wheel drive - were treacherous. These folks deserve our praise.
Not everyone was satisfied with the response, however. We heard gripes about streets that were impassable, mail that wasn’t delivered and trash that wasn’t picked up.
Similar complaints rang throughout Tulsa, Okla., when that city was clobbered by a blizzard earlier this month.
In some places around Northwest Arkansas, the response to last week’s storm could have been better. Then again, the cities and counties can only work with what they’ve got.
Cities such as Minneapolis, Chicago and Boston deal with major snowfalls every year. For Northwest Arkansas residents who have lived up north, it’s natural to compare the performance of snow crews here to snow crews up there.
Across the southern half of the United States, however, few resources are dedicated to snow removal, and for good reason: It doesn’t snow that much. Storms as big as last week’s are freak occurrences that happen maybe once every couple of decades.
What, then? Invest in more equipment that will end up collecting more dust than snow? That’s probably not the wisest use of our tax dollars.
Sure, on the rare occasion that a major storm hits, it’s disruptive. Schools shut down. Businesses close because few people want to venture out in that kind of weather. Sometimes it’s so bad that even the mail can’t be delivered.
But the inconveniences are short-lived. You can bet that when the snow stops, the sun will come out soon, just like it did this past week, and before long the white stuff will be gone.
Casualties Of War
To honor the men and women in our armed forces and remind our readers of their sacrifices, the Northwest Arkansas Times is publishing Department of Defense announcements identifying Americans killed in active military operations.
Spec. Ryan A. Gartner, 23, of Dumont, N.J., died Feb. 1 in Bagram, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered in a noncombat-related incident. He was assigned to the 201stMilitary Intelligence Battalion, Fort Sam Houston, Joint Base San Antonio, Texas.
Cpl. Lucas T. Pyeatt, 24, of West Chester, Ohio, died Feb. 5 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 2nd Radio Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 02/19/2011