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Snow days

Well, so much for that slow holiday season it seemed I was describing to you just last week… and indeed, that was just last week.

A big snow will do that.

A winter storm affects a newspaper office similarly to how it affects other businesses – it makes every function of the operation just a little more complicated. That’s how it was last week. Gathering news becomes more complicated because regularly scheduled events get canceled; other departments are hampered by transportation slow-downs; and distributing the newspaper gets really, really complicated by bad weather and snow drifts of NBA player height.

We heard from a few of you last week about your newspaper delivery. Some people’s newspapers were delayed for one or  more days. Most people were pretty understanding about it. One caller was particularly nice, leaving a message about how much she appreciated getting three days’ papers at once to catch her up to speed on what she had missed. I have to say – I was pretty impressed by our circulation people and independent contractor distributors. They start delivering papers in the wee hours of the morning, and that was a rough time a few days last week. We emphasize safety and they still did a really good job at getting to as many people’s homes as they could.

The snow was the big story last week and I hope we helped keep you up to date on the storm’s progress. In the aftermath, I thought I would share a few observations from Minot’s snow days.

— Hey, I know that  not every street, particularly residential streets, received quick cleanup service, and that there is plenty of work to be done yet, but the city crews really did a good job at keeping the city operational. That is, major arteries were addressed pretty quickly and efficiently.

— Kudos to Minot City Councilmember Miranda Schuler. Miranda has a real hands-on way about her when it comes to her public service and that is pretty admirable. She was on social media during the clean-up, riding shotgun with one of the crews, showing just what was being done and looking like she was having a good time doing it. Maybe next time she can talk them into letting her plow!

— You know that Ward County Jail construction that is ahead of schedule? Well, there’s a reason for that. Those guys on the project are pretty amazing. Snow showers were falling, snow was blowing around, winds were up – and after the storm set in, for quite some time, there were some guys out there still working on the jail! That’s pretty dedicated.

— Given the weather, it was a pleasant surprise every time the newsroom checked in with authorities on accidents. There were property damage accidents, but there were surprisingly few injury accidents.

—  Since this is only my second winter here, I don’t know how typical this is, but I was surprised at how well electric service held up in Minot. Of course, I also moved here from South Florida, where the electricity goes off every time a cloud passes.

— Several of my staff members and I huddled one day to discuss how exactly different reporting organizations could assert such different volumes of snowfall. Honestly, I have to say, I am still not sure I get it. We’re actually going to explore this phenomenon and let you know what we find out.

— Minot nice: One did not have to drive around too much to see motorists stopped to help other drivers get their vehicles unstuck or to see people helping their neighbors dig out of high drifts.

We’ll just have to see what this week has to bring. Given the forecast, personally I am hoping for one of those days where the thermometer reads in the one-digit area, but the sun is out, the wind is still and the sky is blue. It doesn’t make for as much news as a snowstorm, but it is something to behold.

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