Rusty Saber: White Christmas creates local heroes

Because recent winters have been fairly mild, some winter-haters may have forgotten just how much they dislike winter weather. I say dislike because one of my New Year's resolutions is to expunge the word "hate" from my vocabulary. What the heck, I never keep resolutions any longer than this. Why not? I hate winter! I hate everything about it. I'll bet that the recent glacial weather makes my fellow hard-core winter-haters feel the same way.

The snowfall in mid-December remained on the ground long enough to provide a white Christmas and a white New Year's Day. It was unwanted by me when it arrived; the longer it stayed on the ground, the more unwanted it became. Although snow was predicted, Springfield missed out on a fresh cover of white on Christmas night; It only managed some sleet and ice. Oh goody!

My family celebrated Christmas in Kansas City, where it snowed as forecast. Like many other families, we gathered, not around the Yule log, but around the Weather Channel on TV, trying to find out when the snow and ice might let up allowing us to drive home.

I think a white Christmas is something people wish for, but like the dog who chases cars and doesn't know what to do when he catches one, they don't know what to do with a white Christmas when one happens. Rather than visions of sugar plums dancing through our heads, visions of sliding cars on icy pavements dance through our heads.

The mid-December snow was cleared from parking lots, leaving huge mounds of snow piled higher than the cars the lots were cleared to accommodate. Those mounds will become covered with the ugliest gunky dirt ever seen by any of us. If the weather cooperates, and the dirt coating preserves the snow packed underneath like cement, these mounds of crud will befoul the scene until April.

A given aftermath of a heavy snow will be a mixture of public complaints and praises for the crews clearing streets and roads. Some critics will rant and rave because the roads haven't been cleared to their vaunted standards; others praise the road crews to the high heavens. I don't know how anyone can complain about the job these folks do.

While most of us are snug in our beds, these guys are out there while the snow is still falling, clearing streets and laying down salt so that main roads remain open. Twelve-hour or longer shifts zooming up and down snowy streets cooped up in a tiny, uncomfortable cockpit in sub-zero weather puts them in my hero category.

Be it city streets, county roads or superhighways, the speed with which they are cleared astounds me. I realize some naysayers get all steamed up because certain residential streets aren't cleared; however, it isn't the decision of the guys out there where the snow plow meets the road; don't complain to them. If I had a hat, I would tip it to the snow-removal crews.

I also tip my mythical hat to others who trudge, slip and slide through the snow to serve us, regardless of weather. On the morning of the big December snow, the first car tracks on my street were made by the vehicle driven by the man who delivers the newspaper. Delivering the morning paper (I can't begin the day without the crossword puzzle) in 16 inches of snow is hero stuff.

I don't know how the mailman can get through the piled-up snow to physically put the mail into the mailbox, but he manages to do it. Heroes are made of such stuff. Police and fire personnel work with no thought of subzero weather, snow and ice. Crime and fires don't take breaks until the weather is more suitable. It takes very special men and women to do what they have to do, regardless of weather.

By the time you read this, the snow may have melted and warm weather chased away the frigid temperatures. I hope so. But I wouldn't bet on it. The long-range forecast is for more snow and near-zero weather. Do you suppose that global warming has somehow been eradicated, and no one told us?

If this suitable-for-penguins-only weather doesn't let up, I'm going to Maui for a month. Now that's great idea. I may just do it!

(Joe McAdoo is former chairman of the communication department at Drury University and a Springfield public relations consultant.)