Menu
An event to remember
By Steve Moyer
Herald-Tribune
Nevada, Mo. -- Last minute shoppers bought the last of Sutherland's snow shovels within two hours of its opening Friday morning. At Ramey's, shoppers were purchasing salt and snow removal equipment at a steady pace. Police and emergency services were kept busy and their employees have had trouble getting in to work.
I-70 was closed at 1:30 a.m., Friday, and all the other major roads and highways were snow covered. Road crews at the state and local levels have been going all out to clear the massive amounts of snow received the previous 36 hours.
Homeowners have faced a foot or more of fluffy white snow that impeded efforts to get moving Friday morning. When they did get out, the first thing they seemed to do was go to the store to purchase those supplies they hadn't yet bought.
"We've had steady sales this morning. People waited until the very last minute to buy," Becky Fowler, Ramey's, said. "We're not running out of anything, though."
Karen Copsey at Sutherland's said that they had sold all of their snow shovels but other supplies were holding up.
"People seemed to hold off until the snow came down," Copsey said. "We sold all of our snow shovels the first two hours this morning. Salt is selling steady, we have plenty of that and all the other things you might need."
The Jefferson City headquarters of the Missouri State Highway Patrol was understaffed Friday, employees had as much trouble as everyone else commuting to work.
The operator who answered the phone wasn't sure if the public information officer was available. She stated that many employees were not at work yet.
As it turned out, he was available, and Lt. John Hotz said that it was like all other first snows of winter, only more so.
"The first storm of the year is always bad, and this one being so intense was worse," Hotz said. "There are always a certain number of people who refuse to slow down and take the conditions into consideration, and that has consequences."