The ice storms, coupled with COVID are too much to deal with

It can’t get much worse. First it was COVID and now added to it are ice storms.

Don Estep is publisher of the News Journal.

In my 34 years at this newspaper we have had only three ice storms that has affected our newspaper production. That is not counting snow storms that has caused us difficulties.

This recent one has been the most troublesome. Not only has it caused some of our staff to be unable to get to the office, several businesses have been closed and advertising is at rock bottom.

Today (Tuesday) I used my 4-wheel drive vehicle to get enough staff to our office to put out a newspaper.

However, when I called our printing plant I was told they didn’t have enough staff but would try to print anyway.

Several years ago when the first ice storm affected me was when our electricity was off at our house for a week. I knew we were in trouble when it sounded like popcorn popping. Trees all around us were falling. I built a fire in our downstairs fireplace but to get warm you had to stand close to it.

Thus, we spent the rest of the week with my wife’s mother.

Since we lived in the woods I made sure another ice storm would not affect us so I installed a ventless gas fireplace and had at least 16 pine trees close to our house cut down.

A few years later the storm came. This time we spent the week in our basement without electricity, but we kept warm.

The closest I ever came to not making it to work was from a huge snowfall. I started down our driveway and started pushing snow that almost came to the top of the car’s hood. I called the office and one of our staff had a big 4-wheel drive truck. He had no trouble picking me up that day.

The wish for everybody is for life to get back to normal. These are trying times. Please bear with us as we try to keep you informed about happenings in our area. In some cases your paper may arrive late because of weather conditions.

My memory may be playing tricks on me, but it seems like we had big snows every winter when I was a kid.

Big crowds would gather on hills all around for sleigh riding. In my neighborhood we would sleigh ride down Poplar and Vandorn Streets.

Back then very few automobiles would tackle the snow. Those that did had studded tires or wore chains.

We would sleigh ride for hours at a time. I remember vividly the flares R.L. Owens would put out along the sides of the street so we could sleigh ride at night.

With time the weather patterns have changed. We have been getting milder winters. If we can get through this winter and get rid of COVID the future will look brighter.

With what is going on now it makes me envious as I read a note from a subscriber in Florida. She writes, “we are spending another beautiful winter in Florida. We are planning to get vaccinated as soon as we can.”

With that I am just hoping the weather here does not interfere with me and my wife getting our second shots tomorrow (Wed.) More places are now giving the shots. We are publishing a list of the locations in this week’s edition of our paper.

Stay warm and safe!