2 MAR 09: It's Snow Biggie

The woman on the phone said she was from Iowa - and she said she couldn't help laughing. So many people were making such a fuss over a snowfall. But it was easy for her to talk. Iowa makes such a fuss over potential Presidential candidates.

Yes, people made a fuss about a snowy Sunday in the Columbus area - because it was the biggest snowfall around here in about seven years. There was so much snow that dozens of people made snowmen in their yards - not realizing we're now in Women's History Month, so they properly should be called "snow people."

The woman from Iowa was stunned to hear some places in Columbus were closed Sunday by the snow. The central library never opened. The Columbus State University Library never opened. But for some reason, the public ice skating at the Civic Center went on as scheduled.

That woman from Iowa may be amazed to learn Sunday's final day of the NFCA Leadoff Classic at South Commons was "rained out." Those wimpy college northerners from Massachusetts and Northwestern didn't take the field against each other - perhaps because they couldn't find an orange softball to use.

(It turns out eight of the 12 weekend sessions at the Leadoff Classic could NOT be played, due to rain or snow. Is there room in that upcoming school sales tax issue for a rolling roof over the softball stadium?)

The snow-related closings continue across the area today. Many schools have called off classes, including Muscogee County - apparently due to concern about icy morning roads. Some people in Columbus are still trying to understand the perils of "icing" in the game of hockey....

WRBL's web site reported enough snow fell at Columbus Metro Airport to shut down flights for the day. This was stunning for two reasons. First, the station's "24/7 Weather" forecast still called for flurries Sunday night. Second, a one-day shutdown at the airport probably wasn't noticed by that many people.

One report claimed six inches of snow fell on parts of Harris County Sunday. So when is Pine Mountain Wild Animal Park adding the "march of the penguins" section?

Snow also was spotted as far south as Terrell County. But it apparently did NOT stick to the ground there - which is good news, because we wouldn't want snowballs mixing with peanut products.

In a bizarre twist, Sunday's snowstorm included rumbles of thunder. Hey, there's an idea for next December! Cover East Alabama Motor Speedway with artificial flakes, invite snowmobile racers to Phenix City, and call it "Thunder-Snow in the Valley."

Auburn-Opelika also received plenty of snow Sunday. Did you see the pictures on TV of a snow-covered field at Jordan-Hare Stadium? It was enough to make some rednecks in their seventies and eighties long for what they consider the good old days....

So, you may be wondering, where are my snow pictures? What did I do as the flakes fell - and for a change I don't mean Pastor J.H. Flakes?

Sorry - we have no snow pictures to offer. That's because Sunday wound up being a day on the job for me. I drove to work around 10:00 a.m., when snow was falling but roads were merely wet. So I missed all the fun of drivers daring each other up icy hills, then laughing as they skidded sideways.

By the time my eight-day workday was over, it was almost sunset and the piles of snow were practically gone. So the large snow shovel I still have from my years in Oklahoma apparently will stay in the closet several more months. Well, unless I decide to plant an industrial-sized garden....

But I heard plenty of "storm stories" from phone callers during my workday. One woman claimed side streets in Columbus were impassable. Then two hours later, a man claimed they were "perfectly passable." For things to change so quickly seemed almost impassable - or is that impossible?

Then there was the young man who called several times, trying to figure out if and when the snow would melt. He sounded like at least a teenager - but when you have to explain to someone that old about 32 degrees F. being the freezing point, maybe that school district should NOT have canceled class today.

BLOG UPDATE: Your blog now has heard from two sources that what happened at WRBL Friday was NOT a one-day affair. It appears the station will drop its 12:00 noon news and 5:00 "First Edition" permanently. It's as if Rachael Ray made a guest appearance in Columbus with a meat cleaver....

The cancellation of the 12:00 noon news may come as the biggest shock. WRBL once had a hammer-lock on that half-hour, in the days when "Rozell" reigned supreme. Now the celebrities may return - only they'll be offering exercise items in infomercials.

Yet WRBL meteorologist Harmony Mendoza made a surprise appearance Sunday afternoon, to give a winter weather update. She apparently was NOT on the air during Saturday's severe storms. That's what happens when you stop by the workplace to clean out your InBox....

It occurred to me over the weekend that the only media outlet in Columbus which does NOT appear to be making cutbacks these days is WLTZ. But then someone reminded me that I can't see half the staff, because it's located in Iowa.

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E-MAIL UPDATE: We're getting a backlog of InBox items, but we only have time to get to one of them today. Advisory: this is NOT for the faint of heart....

Richard, I just got back from a long road trip (drove to Kansas City & back to attend a relative's funeral). But I didn't have to miss your blog as I took my laptop along.

Speaking of "abuse of a corpse" [27 Feb] I remember many years ago when I was working at Martin Army Hospital we had a doctor there who worked in the morgue (a pathologist) who was caught doing sexual things with bodies and was eventually put out of the Army. The frightening thing was that the hospital would get letters from civilian hospitals that he applied to work at asking about his work history. So obviously the Army did not get his medical license revoked. This all came back to mind when I heard the story on the news last night about the arrest of a morgue employee for the same thing. Very sick!

Ugh - an Army doctor with that kind of conduct? I don't think Jamie Farr even went that far, trying to get kicked out of the M*A*S*H unit.

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