Outdoor crews battle winter's harshest blows

When Old Man Winter danced his way across the nation last week, he left a lot of folks out in the cold -- literally. Freezing rain and ice storms from southern Missouri all the way to the Carolinas left hundreds of thousands of power customers without electricity.

As a result, utility crews have spent days working to restore power. These workers have been joined by countless others who cleared streets and roads, worked on downed telephone and TV-cable lines, delivered mail, made emergency calls, got newspapers to subscribers, provided police protection, fought fires and drove school buses.

Winter storms wreak their havoc, and they force workers to be outdoors in the worst possible weather conditions to restore order and deliver services that the rest of us expect and take for granted.

It's not easy to perform many of these necessary tasks with raw wind, cold rain and slick roads. But these men and women do their best under these conditions.

Many of us have found the time to personally thank some of these workers upon whom we are so dependent. Here is a great big collective thank you to the men and women whose jobs require them to brave the wintry outdoors and keep vital services operating.

Thank you.