As usual, last week’s predictions of snow led to overreaction and panicked grocery store shelf-clearing from local residents. Government-issued warnings to not panic followed by advice for handling power outages, closed roads, and water shortages did more to fuel fears of “another 1993” than to squelch them, as did premature and unwarranted closures of businesses and government agencies.

Walker County schools decided Wednesday afternoon to cancel all Thursday classes based on predictions of light snow beginning at noon. I can’t judge the methods and thought processes that go into making a decision about school closures; student/staff safety and insurance requirements have to be balanced with a responsibility to provide school and stay on schedule, and it’s a difficult decision for anyone to make. But calling school off for Thursday based on a prediction of possible light snow at noon is a bit premature. Either school administrators got tired of parents calling to ask if school was cancelled, or they realized a three-day school week beginning on a Wednesday (with Friday most certainly cancelled) was a waste of everyone’s time.

Good job to the City of LaFayette for keeping roads clear in town. The city’s Vietnam-war-era plow truck was out fairly early, followed a short time later by salt spreaders. Sand and salt were liberally applied to hills and low spots where ice was likely to form, although the downtown area got a lot more sand and salt than some of the outlying streets.

Praise for that job well done is cancelled out by LaFayette sanitation not running garbage trucks on Friday due to the snow/ice. Most roads were passable Friday morning even without plowing/sanding/salting, but delaying trash pickup for a few hours while waiting on that to happen would still be preferable to no trash pickup at all – especially since this Friday was the third in a row with no city garbage service. Christmas Day, New Years Day, and now Snow Day all add up to half the town only getting once-per-week trash pickup for a month. Nobody in the city government can say anything now about garbage piled up on the streets or illegal dumping within city limits since some of that can be directly credited to their scheduling decisions.

County and state roads were in worse shape, but that’s understandable since those entities have considerably more road miles to manage than the city does. Even with some roads uncleared, there’s no good excuse for 60+ wrecks in a 24 hour period except shortages in driving ability. After that chaos some people need to turn in their licenses and forever ride Walker Transit.

(If the county thought they might get FEMA money from the cold snap, would plowing and salting roads been delayed for weeks in order to gain government approval? Knowing ahead of time all costs will come out of pocket without reimbursement speeds things up quite a bit.)

The real crisis, which hasn’t ended yet, comes less from the snow and ice than from the lingering cold. Temporary ice or snow are typical for January or February, but it’s rare to see temperatures hovering in the twenties, teens, and single-digit range for a solid week or longer. Those of us who didn’t fully prepare for such extreme weather are having our proverbial butts kicked and will hopefully learn to do better in the future.

Others in the community were helpless to prepare even if they had tried to. People without transportation are having to walk to and from work or the store in icy temperatures, while others who lack jobs often cannot afford fuel (kerosene, firewood) to keep their homes warm. Many of LaFayette’s residents also live in substandard housing; rental homes or shacks with little or no insulation, exposed plumbing, gaps or holes around windows and doors, and inadequate heating systems.

Those who are staying warm should be grateful for what they have and take time out in the next few days to check on their neighbors, elderly or impoverished people who might be suffering greatly for the lack of a cheap space heater, a can of kerosene, or a few extra blankets.