Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 27, 1993 TAG: 9302270191
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
THE VALLEY DIGS OUT - PEACEFULLY
Michael Etzler swooshed his way down the sidewalk along Turner Street on his way to visit a friend Friday morning.It was the first time he'd been able to use his skis in town since the winter of 1986, when he remembers skiing down Main Street.
"I'm kind of disappointed to see the streets plowed," said Etzler, who works at Goforth Construction Services.
"We have off," he said, plunking his ski pole deep into the snow.
How to spend the first day of a three-day weekend seemed to be the focus of activities Friday as New River Valley residents dug out from under as much as 10 inches of snow.
"It's been, all in all, very quiet," Montgomery County Sheriff Ken Phipps said Friday morning. "I think people had sufficient time to get prepared for it."
Most New River Valley localities were reporting that main roads were clear and there were few traffic problems. A state highway department spokesman said Friday afternoon that clearing secondary roads was the next priority.
Several school closings were announced for the New River Valley Thursday night as the first flakes were falling. By Friday morning, Virginia Tech had joined New River Community College, Radford University and public schools in canceling classes for the day.
In Blacksburg, main roads and some secondary roads were plowed early as town crews tried to keep streets clear after the winter storm dumped 7 to 8 inches of snow.
Blacksburg Transit buses did not start running until 9 a.m. because of the weather.
Most businesses along South Main Street were open, particularly grocery, drug and convenience stores, although they had few customers.
At midnight Thursday, about 100 Tech students threw snowballs back and forth on the Drill Field. Mountain bikers road through town with ropes tied to the rear of their bikes, pulling students behind them on snowboards.
Two students struggled down Main Street Friday morning under the weight of four innertubes, blown to capacity, in search of a hillside.
At Virginia Tech's dining halls, workers answered phones with: "We're open!"
"We have to be here to feed the troops," said Brett Jackson, food operations manager for Dietrick dining hall.
Students at Tech are notorious for turning lunch trays into makeshift sleds during winter storms.
"We try to keep a close watch on the trays," Jackson said. "But sometimes the students are quicker than we are."
On the long slopes of the Blacksburg Golf Course off Country Club Drive, a colorful crowd of children, parents and college students tried out everything from snowboards (a winter version of a surfboard) and plastic sleds to a double-wide air mattress big enough to hold sledders and their dogs.
In Vicker, off Virginia 114 in Montgomery County, local weather watcher A.B. Broyles reported that 6 inches of snow had fallen.
At Mountain Lake Resort in Giles County, as much as 10 inches of snow fell.
"It's gorgeous," said Bill Wheeler, a desk clerk. "Everything's white."
The resort was offering 45-minute carriage rides for $5 a person.
Wheeler said Virginia 700 leading up to the hotel was fairly passable because snowplows had cleared the road Friday morning.
A power outage Thursday night in the McCoy area of Montgomery County was not directly related to the weather, said Glenda Wohlford, administrative assistant with Appalachian Power's Pulaski division.
About 225 customers were without power while a crew repaired a weakened steel structure on a power line, Wohlford said. Workers decided to repair the line Thursday rather than risk an extended outage. Power was restored by 9:45 p.m.
In Blacksburg, Capt. Bill Brown said it wasn't uncommon to see young people on skis or bikes enjoying the weather "like they hadn't seen snow before."
"Of course, we haven't had one like this in a long time," Brown said.
Even sidewalk travel could be hazardous, though. Brown said there was a report of a young bicyclist hitting a street bench in downtown Blacksburg. The bicyclist was not seriously injured.
Staff writers Madelyn Rosenberg and M.J. Dougherty contributed information for this story.