Deadlines loom despite the ice

It's at times like this that we certainly learn to appreciate the amenities associated with modern life. get

As with most of you, we had been watching the weather reports and anticipating bad times ahead for several days now. We realize sometimes it seems there is overreaction and an excessive alarm with weather reports, but there was something about this one that led us to believe it was going to be real.

And, man, has it been real!

It's one thing to try to maneuver through the day-to-day residential problems associated with a major ice storm. It's yet another to try to publish and distribute weekly newspapers in the midst of it all. So far, we have worked through about three different plans for composing the news stories, ads and pages for this week's issues and now we are on plan four, working at a location that has an emergency generator in place.

This is the case with a couple of the newspapers we publish, while the other three have avoided the worst of the weather and electrical problems. Delivery may be another issue altogether.

It's times like these that one appreciates the dedication and professionalism of staffers who do whatever is necessary to get the paper out. It's certainly a tradition in this industry -- and it takes a caring staff to get it done in all kinds of situations.

While we are on this subject, thanks also need to go to the public service workers who turn in long and difficult hours in times such as these. They are often taken for granted, unnecessarily so, but they really step to the forefront when the weather gets nasty.

When a winter storm like this hits, there are varied degrees of problems across the region, ranging from rain, to sleet, to ice and snow. We are sure everyone will agree that ice is the worst.

Right in this corner of Northeast Arkansas on this Tuesday afternoon in January, the situation is very bad and getting worse.

Trees are snapping left and right, utility poles are toppling and the situation is dire.

Observers in this area believe this already is worse than the very bad ice storm of 2002 and it is bound to deteriorate tonight and possibly into tomorrow.

Eventually, the long and arduous clean-up and repairs will begin. And it will be quite a chore in this immediate area.

There will be a lot of damage and huge expense -- especially for the utility companies involved. It is going to be a massive undertaking.

In a storm such as this, there are other emotionally disappointing facets -- in our case, it is the loss of a a beautiful birch tree that we have seen grow beautifully over a period of years. We know many of our friends and neighbors also have seen their great trees destroyed by this devastating ice.

We were all hoping 2009 would start out better than the disastrous 2008. But lots of grim economic news has pushed to the forefront in the past few days, followed in our own area with this very damaging storm.

But we'll all do our best to take care of the clean-up and the repairs and bounce back as quickly as possible.

That's part of the human spirit as shown in a recent news report on television which detailed a couple of Americans who have lost their jobs but are determined to pick themselves up and start all over. One of them was an investment banker who is now shining shoes at an airport and has already opened six shoeshine stands. The other was a man who has lost his dream home and is living with his wife in the back of their office. There was a huge amount of sadness associated with these two men, one young and the other older, each given a very difficult setback but refusing to let it defeat them -- not feeling sorry for themselves, but remaining optimistic and even thankful.

It was discouraging from a national economic perspective, but uplifting in terms of the deep character so many Americans possess.

There are stories like that taking place all over the nation right now. These are difficult times, but we believe the American people will rise to the occasion and get through to better days.

--REK