IT'S BEEN BELOW FREEZING FOR HOW LONG?

With ice on the ground, below freezing temperatures for nearly the entire month of December and no end to the cold and snow in sight, folks are a little out of sorts.

And many of them are turning their attention to the city's snow removal work -- or the lack of it.

City officials have received numerous complaints about the road-clearing work, but they say that, with 230 miles of roads in Cape Girardeau, crews have done the best job possible.

Perhaps they, like most of us, believed the snow would be gone in a day or two instead of piled in huge, dirty chunks along roadways and in front of driveways.

Of course, there's always room to examine ways of improving service in the months ahead. In the meantime, residents will have to use snow shovels, rock salt and old fashioned elbow grease to clear their own sidewalks and driveways and hope city crews allow us to get where we need to go.