There's no biz like snow biz

For Ray and Vicki Spears of Oran, Missouri, this week's winter weather feels like one to remember.

"This is about the coldest weather I can remember having in many, many years," Ray said. "It's been a good 25 years since I've seen it this cold."

After a storm dropped about a foot of snow in a matter of hours late Sunday into early Monday morning, Southeast Missouri residents spent the majority of the week digging out and waiting for spring.

"I'd like to see it warm up, for sure," Vicki agreed. "They say it'll take a long time, but when you compare it to the people of Boston [who have had feet of snow], who are we to complain?"

Despite having to brave temperatures well below freezing, they both consider themselves grateful for being able to navigate the roads in town. As it turned out, getting out of the driveway was the hard part.

Motorists brave the snow-covered roads Monday in Cape Girardeau. (Laura Simon)

"That's not clear yet, and it won't be until it warms up," Ray admitted. "But the roads being clear made things much easier."

Pam Deneke, owner of Reruns clothing store downtown, was similarly snowed in at the beginning of the week, and her employees who live outside the city were stuck at home. But past Missouri winters had taught her to be prepared.

"As a small business, you kind of hoard money throughout the year for necessities," she explained, pointing at the 10-pound bag of rock salt and snow shovel by the door. "You definitely have to take care of the ice, because safety comes first."

But when she got out to start shoveling, she said, she was reminded of how the downtown business community works.

"Judith's husband, from Judith's Antiques and Gung Ho Militaria next door, he'd come out and cleaned the sidewalk," she explained. "And someone cleared a path on the other side, too. I didn't do that, and I don't know who did it. It's those little things that people do for others."

Rocky Everett and his son, Fletcher, clear snow outside Annie Laurie's Antiques on Broadway. (Laura Simon)

She said the way neighbors look after each other is one of her favorite things about the area.

"There's a different vibe around here. We're a close-knit group," she said. "It's not just downtown; it's a downtown community."

Rayme Hooten-Caruso, owner of Lattitudes Fair Trade store, wasn't able to make it out of her driveway until Wednesday, but once she was able to get to work, she found that much of the work near her business, too, had already been done.

"Thankfully, the city takes care of most of that. They did a lot of the sidewalks too," she said. "By the time I got here on Wednesday, it was pretty much all taken care of."

She said that, having lived elsewhere for years, she's always impressed by how helpful Cape Girardeau people tend to be.

With the snow getting deeper, motorists work Monday to get onto North Kingshighway near Schnucks. (Fred Lynch)

"People in Cape are probably the nicest small-town people. That's the honest truth," she said. "The city really does do a great job. I've never had a bad experience."

Stan Polivick, traffic operations engineer for the city, said that he and his crews were expecting a significant event, but not quite this significant.

"We pretty much did what we consider our normal response to a snow event," he said. "But I think everybody was a little bit surprised at how much snow we got so quickly. It jumped from 3 to 6 inches to 8 to 10, and then, of course, it just set up over us. Twelve inches of snow in 12 hours is a pretty good clip."

Working in teams of about 16 on 12-hour shifts, he said, the main concern was keeping primary roads open. But although they were fully mobilized, they had a hard time keeping up at first.

"It was a bit of a challenge. For a while it was snowing so hard you'd come down and plow one side of a street, turn around and do the other side, and by the time you'd finished that, the first side would be covered back up," he explained.

But even when the storm stops, there's still work to be done. Polivick and his crews spent the remainder of the week plowing secondary streets and helping people get back to their routines. It's work that many residents such as Deneke and Hooten-Caruso notice and appreciate.

"We're delighted to help," Polivick said. "It's our goal that people can get to work, get to the store or hospital. ... It takes a lot of effort and cooperation from citizens and businesses for everything to work, but we appreciate all the help and the patience. We'll get there."

tgraef@semissourian.com

388-3627