Tammy Curtis, Managing Editor/Publisher

Old Man Winter came last Thursday night, dumping as much as 10 inches of snow in Spring River Country. State, county and city road departments jumped into gear with at least a week of notice in prepping the roads for the impending weather. 

Fulton County Judge  Kenneth Crow reported his crews began early and worked all day on Friday and Saturday. Crow sent a report to the media early Monday morning alerting them of all the roads that had been worked in the county before getting back to work on additional county roads that day. By Monday, Salem School was back in session. Mammoth Spring returned later in the week with snow routes for safety.

 Sharp County Road Superintendent Todd Price spoke to this news agency about the conditions and said that the county began pre-treating all the hills and intersections on blacktop and chip-sealed roads  in the county on Thursday with rock salt. On Friday morning, Price said the road department began blading the chip-sealed and primary roads as the snow fell, attempting to keep it off the roads as it continued to build. Price explained by  Friday night, Price said, “They were all passable.” On Monday,  Price said the department started on the heaviest traveled gravel roads.

By Tuesday, both Sharp County schools were still closed, with Cave City beginning snow routes on Wednesday. By Thursday, bus drivers in both districts had made their way to check their routes, yet they stated the roads were still not passable for the buses. Highland finally returned to school on Friday and snow routes were still utilized on Monday (at press time), which was one of the district’s days they had to make up …Martin Luther King Day.

It is unclear what the stark difference is between the two county road departments’ road cleaning efforts. 

Several parents said they had to take off work to care for their children due to the closings and the weather also put emergency responders in danger when responding, nearly a week after the heavy snowfall to homes or businesses in areas covered with snow. 

The Highland School District made the call to close the schools due to the unsafe road conditions within their district. Many of Cherokee Village roads were also bad for an extended period. 

Mayor Steve Rose said the city road department started work on Friday morning and worked until dark and Saturday until dark. They then started back on Monday morning, working until dark.  Rose said the main roads were mostly cleared, and most secondary roads had at least one pass completed by Tuesday evening, the 14th.  “Wednesday, crews started on the stubborn hills and shaded areas.”  By Wednesday afternoon, Rose said, “I would say all roads were mostly cleared.   The road crew worked really hard to get the main roads cleared quickly and did a great job.” He explained the burden on his crew of four taking care of about 200 miles of roads and the accomplishment it was getting that amount done by also working on the weekend, like Fulton County Road Department also did.

With more snow likely, it is hopeful that students won’t have to go to school into June due to unclear roads preventing schools from operating.