The Virginian-Pilot
                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, January 17, 1996            TAG: 9601160103
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN    PAGE: 06   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Cover Story 
SERIES: BLIZZARD OF 1996 
SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT                      LENGTH: Long  :  202 lines

COVER STORY: A WINTER WONDERLAND THE BLIZZARD OF '96 HITS THE COUNTY HARD, BRINGING HARDSHIP FOR ADULTS, BUT FREEDOM FOR CHILDREN.

IT WAS LAST THURSDAY night, just after what weathermen all over the East Coast were calling the Blizzard of '96. Between 6 and 8 inches of snow had whitewashed Isle of Wight County, leaving back roads, driveways and long, country lanes covered, and icy.

After snowing through the previous Saturday night and raining that Sunday, some businesses - fast-food restaurants and convenience stores included - closed Monday, the 8th, when a second barrage of the white stuff came drifting from the heavens.

And the schools, unaccustomed for several years to such a winter wonder, stayed closed all week.

Herb DeGroft, School Board member representing the Hardy District, knew exactly what he wanted.

``I move the students attend school for the next four Saturdays,'' DeGroft said. The School Board was meeting at Windsor Middle/High School, where the parking lot was still icy last Thursday.

Not so fast, Superintendent Jane York cautioned.

``We still have the rest of January and all of February facing us,'' she said. ``We don't know what kind of weather we may have coming. If you make these decisions so early in the year, you can confuse people.''

York told the board that the schools still have the Memorial Day holiday, May 27. There will be two days - a Thursday and a Friday - left at the end of the year. The board already had made the decision that students would attend school this past Monday, originally scheduled to observe the Lee-Jackson-King Day holiday.

And, if that weren't enough to convince DeGroft that maybe sending the students to school for four consecutive Saturdays might not be the best idea, board member Pam Edwards offered: ``As a teacher, I can't go along with that. You can't imagine what a stressful situation that could create - four, six-day work weeks.''

The board finally agreed to approach the lost school days with caution this early in the year, when the next two months in Virginia could bring almost anything.

But board Chairman Richard Peerey had a final remark for all to consider:

``If it snows again, get ready for Saturday. You've been forewarned.''

While students in the county schools enjoyed an extended vacation, it was more work than usual for many local residents. The snow meant shoveling out from under, making sure they were ready for emergencies, like power outages, and hunting down rock salt, a scarce commodity as snow was followed by rain, followed by freezing, followed by more snow.

One of the first duties for Smithfield's new town manager, Peter Stephenson, was directing town maintenance crews to shovel sidewalks on Main Street, leaving each business with a tiny walkway cleared to its front door.

Local hardware and department stores reaped some rewards. Sales soared on weather-related merchandise including boots, snow shovels, propane, kerosene heaters and sleds.

``The snow was a two-edged sword for us,'' said Jerry Porter, owner of James River Hardware in Carrollton. ``Although the weather kept people off the roads and from doing their normal projects for a couple of days, we sold a lot of cold-weather items.''

The snowstorm temporarily paralyzed some local businesses last week, said Connie Rhodes, executive director of the Isle of Wight/-Smithfield/Windsor Chamber of Commerce.

``Most businesses closed down on Monday,'' she said. ``People just couldn't get to work in that kind of weather.''

By Tuesday, the 9th, most merchants had dug out, and business was returning to normal.

For businesses like towing services, the snow and cold, icy weather resulted in flurries of activities.

``We've been busy for a week,'' said Vicki Brown, co-owner of Dave's Service Center in Smithfield. ``And the cold has also got our shop real busy.''

The garage's two tow trucks stayed on the road during most of the bad weather, answering as many as 10 calls per day all over Isle of Wight and Surry counties.

``We haven't gone to any real bad accidents,'' Brown said last week. ``Most of the calls have been for cars slipping into ditches or breaking down on the side of the road.''

During the days before the snowstorm, business at Cal-Ray Supermarket in Windsor picked up so dramatically that the store doubled its payroll, co-owner and manager Jeff Rogers said.

The threat of the heavy snow sent a wave of customers into the store, where they stocked up on staples: milk, bread, soup, fire logs and, of course, rock salt.

``We have been out of rock salt all week,'' Rogers said late last week. ``I've called every wholesale store in Hampton Roads trying to get enough to satisfy our customers' needs, but I haven't had any luck.''

Although Hampton Roads hasn't had snow since early last week, Cal-Ray's, as well as most local grocers, will continue to feel the blizzard's impact.

``Products headed for this store last week were in a truck in New York that was forced to sit in miles of backed-up traffic after the road closed because of weather,'' Rogers said last week. ``Next week's grocery order will be double its usual size.''

What a mess! That's about what Suffolk District Highway Engineer Mac Neblett told the County Board of Supervisors at their meeting last Wednesday. The job of dealing with the storm was more difficult than it would have been had the nasty weather just brought snow, Neblett said.

``We had a layer of ice beneath it all that we had to get rid of. It's been a job.''

Neblett's work force with the Virginia Department of Transportation started the day the snow began - Saturday afternoon, Jan. 6 - and worked straight through, in 12-hour shifts, until late Wednesday. It was that organization's responsibility to clear all 1,200 miles of secondary roads in the district, in Isle of Wight County and northern Suffolk.

The job has been the Highway Department's since 1932, when the state passed the Byrd Road Act, taking over the maintenance of secondary roads in the state through rain, snow, the dark of night. Only two Virginia counties - Henrico and Arlington - maintain their own roads, Neblett said.

Because Isle of Wight has no snow removal equipment of its own, Neblett's crews had it all to do.

They started that Saturday afternoon with chemicals on bridges. From there, the department went to major highways, then to secondary roads, and from there - well, it just started all over again.

``We worked around the clock until late Wednesday afternoon,'' Neblett said. ``We had some minor equipment breakdowns - nothing major. Equipment performed well.

``And I can't say enough for my people. They did an outstanding job. We couldn't have gotten it done without their dedication.''

Each district in the Virginia Department of Highways' system is funded according to how many miles of roads it has to cover. Funding comes from the state's tax on gasoline. Snow removal is cost-free for localities. Neblett said early this week that he's uncertain how badly his snow-removal budget was hit by this particular storm.

While some motorists found themselves in ditches during the storm, most stayed off the snow-packed roads, Sheriff Charlie Phelps said. Anticipating more problems than he actually had, Phelps said he assigned an additional dispatcher to several shifts.

``It was extremely busy Saturday night, when it all started,'' and into early Sunday morning, he said. ``But the calls pretty much stopped after people realized what was happening. It got real quiet.''

The story was much the same in Smithfield and Windsor.

No accidents were reported in Windsor, said Sharon Martin, the Windsor Volunteer Rescue Squad secretary.

``There were a lot of cars in ditches,'' she said. ``But everyone was going so slow that nobody got hurt. We had no calls on anyone falling either. The worst fall we had was one of our own technicians, who fell responding to a medical call.''

Smithfield Police Chief Mark Marshall said everyone in his department was on call during the storm, but only minor traffic accidents were reported. Gwaltney Motors loaned the department a four-wheel-drive vehicle to patrol roads where police cruisers might have gotten stuck, Marshall said.

The Isle of Wight Rescue Squad responded to about 10 fender-benders, Captain Phil Goodwin said.

``Most were accidents with no injuries. As a safety measure, I made it a policy that we wouldn't run with sirens or red lights. When sirens are used during a storm, people try to get out of the way, and it forces more people into ditches.''

Goodwin said the squad also responded to a few calls from people who had fallen on the ice, including one man who fell at Smithfield Plaza Shopping Center and reportedly broke his leg.

Like the School Board, Neblett said he can't assume that bad weather is over for this winter. He can only wonder what's to come.

``I'd like to think we'll have an early spring,'' he said, chuckling. ``But all we can do is listen to weather reports and plan accordingly.'' MEMO: Staff writers Jody Snider and Allison Williams contributed to this

report.

SNOW MAKEUP DAY

The first snow makeup day for Isle of Wight County schools has been

scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 30. Students will attend school on that day,

originally scheduled as a teacher work day.

First semester exams will be held on Thursday and Friday, Feb. 1 and

2. High schools and middle schools will be dismissed both days at noon;

elementary schools will be dismissed at 1 p.m. Lunch will be served at

elementary and middle schools, and an exam brunch will be served at high

schools.

The end of the first semester is Feb. 2. The second semester begins

on Monday, Feb. 5.

The three remaining makeup days will be determined later by the

School Board.

ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]

ISLE OF WHITE

Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II

Danny Stuck pulls Sam Tep in the snow on his surfboard. THey were

tractor surfing just off Route 17 in Crittenden.

Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II

The RaceTrac station in Smithfield was almost deserted on the first

night of the snowstorm.

Left, photo by LINDA McNATT; above, staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY

II

Left: Nelson Moody prepares to show his nieces Savannah Stanley,

center, and Maggie Jones the art of sledding North Mason Street.

Above: Earl Myers clears snow away from Benns Church on Route 10.

Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II

Andy Edwards drives his four-wheel drive truck through a flooding

Jones Creek to reach his home in Carrollton.

Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II

During the Blizzard of '96, it seemed it wouldn't stop snowing.

KEYWORDS: WINTER STORM BLIZZARD by CNB