Making the best of ‘Snowpocalypse 2’

Tuesday

Feb 26, 2013 at 7:58 AMFeb 26, 2013 at 7:59 AM

Everyone loves a snow day. But after the kids are home 6 days in a row with no break, I don’t think my home was the only one where scenes from “The Shining” were being replayed – with far fewer obscenities, I promise. 

Everyone loves a snow day. But after the kids are home 6 days in a row with no break, I don’t think my home was the only one where scenes from “The Shining” were being replayed – with far fewer obscenities, I promise. It was maddening to try to get thoughts together with so many updates coming in with weather-related watches, warnings and closures that I had to publish on our websites.  Maybe… just maybe… I started typing this column and all I could get out was that “All work and no play makes Kent a dull boy. ”Not really.  But I was glad that I don’t own an ax or have a shrubbery maze in the back yard.  That helped. I wasn’t even here for Snowpocalypse 1.  I sped away Wednesday morning to a corporate meeting in Kansas City.  I outran the snow and got to a dry KC metro area.  Of course, during the first minutes of the meeting, we all looked out the window and saw snowflakes the size of silver dollars falling from the sky and stacking up quickly. My return trip Friday night was postponed to Saturday morning. But as soon as I started being happy that the snow was over, the forecast turned again. Snowpocalypse 2 is just now starting as I finish this column. It is horrible for business.  Not just for newspapers, but for all of our clients, as well.  Please be understanding if your carrier struggles to get a paper to you.  They will try.  We will make it up to you if they fail. It is also hard on city crews who go to work as soon as it starts and keep going until the roads are passable and the power is on.  No one appreciates how hard these people work to keep us safe and limit the impact of the storm. A thank you note isn’t a bad idea for people who do an otherwise thankless job. It is also horrible for the election set for Tuesday.  Turnout wasn’t going to be huge anyway.  This will be a limiting factor. Please contact your favorite candidate.  Most will have made arrangements to give rides to voters when needed. Even schools that have the ability to close for student and employee safety didn’t want to endure an unscheduled week-long break a couple of weeks before a scheduled week-long break.  But I never get upset when schools close. I used to make the same jokes about canceling school early.  I used to side with parents who endure the inconvenience trying to find something to do with their kids when school is closed but their jobs are not. But one wintry morning in Chickasha, Okla., just a little freezing rain that was expected to melt away later claimed the life of a 16-year-old sophomore whose car rolled down an overpass. Avoiding the chance of reporting on that kind of story again has made me a proponent of using the snow days. I feel bad.  This weather is probably all my fault. The last back-to-back snowstorms in this area came when I was in Ethiopia in January of 2011.  In June when we went back, the Gazette air conditioner stopped working and temperatures in the building rose above 100 degrees.  Needless to say, my employees don’t like for me to leave. All we can do is make the best decisions possible and keep ourselves and our friends and families safe during these tough times. Now you know why I prefer 100-degree days to snow days.  I have never been unable to drive or work because it was too hot. But these snowstorms are a nightmare.  I’m counting the minutes until the end of winter. Make the best of it and stay safe.  I hope you got one of the last gallons of milk and loaves of bread yesterday. If not, the roads will be clear in a day or so and maybe then we can all get back to normal. 

Kent Bush is the publisher of the Augusta Gazette, the El Dorado Times, and the Andover American newspapers.  He can be contacted at: publisher@augustagazette.com.