Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Editorial (cont)

ubbard said.

Sgt. Hubbard said the local Guard unit was put on "state active duty" around 7:00 Thursday night. He was able to get 12 Guardsmen to the armory by 9:00. They used Humvees (Hummers) vehicles to rescue people and to pull some out of drifts. He said there were 30 at the tasks Friday.

Humvee is a high mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicle that is wide-tracked and low to the ground. It played a major part during the Persian Gulf War. The Prescott unit of the National Guard has two Hummers. Others were on loan because of the emergency that existed with the snow storm.

In addition to these services by the Guard, Hubbard said they were also performing other duties, such as taking someone to Camden Friday morning for a kidney dialysis. Friday afternoon a Hummer went to Falcon to pick up a nurse for duty.

Sgt. Hubbard said Friday afternoon that the Guard was in the process of returning those in shelters back to their automobiles they had abandoned Thursday. The roads were being cleaned off some and the autos were in the way, so it was necessary they be moved.

Some motorists left the Interstate Friday morning and began using Highway 67. Before the day was over 18-wheelers were also using Highway 67. This led to convenience stores along this route picking up extra business.

The two Red-E Mart stores in Prescott were not open Friday morning. Red-E Mart on Highway 67 had a collapsed awning.

Baker's Best Stop, also on Highway 67 in Prescott, was late getting open, but by 8:00 a.m., out-of-town travelers began stopping. By 2:00 Friday afternoon owner Larry Baker said over 200 out-of-state vehicles had stopped at the store, mainly buying snacks and soft drinks. He said it was a good day.

Laura Glass at the Eagle's Nest in Emmet said the same about sales. Hot deli items, snacks and soft drinks were the main items. She said at 2:00 there were around 30 people inside the store and about 20 cars and trucks on the parking lot.

Glass also said two 18-wheelers next to the store were stranded. She said another 18- wheeler had stopped in the middle of Highway 67 and was having a hard time getting started again.

A clerk at Prescott Super Shell said the store was selling hot deli food Friday afternoon as fast as they could make it.

W.W. Taylor, owner of the Super Shell and Taylor's Big Star, said he had only six clerks to show up at Big Star, about half of what is normally used on Fridays. His parking lot was covered with snow about 18 inches deep. The city had taken a swath down the parking lot Friday morning with a road grader, but not enough room was made for parking, he said.

Shelter Insurance agent Pete DeWoody said Friday at noon that customers had reported the loss of eight barns and two poultry houses in the county. He said he was sure the number would increase before the blanket of snow could melt.

Ronnie Baker, the Farm Bureau agent for Nevada County, said he had reports from five farmers of 13 chicken houses down by Friday noon. In addition, he said, two out-buildings, one barn and one shop building was reported as collapsing under the heavy weight of the snow. He also said he expected more loses before the weekend was over.

Accidents were so numerous Thursday it was hard to keep up with them for reporting. In fact, it would have been almost impossible to have arrived to take photos since the roads were deemed by the Arkansas State Police as impassable between Prescott and Texarkana.

A chemical truck turned over just outside the Prescott city limits on Highway 371 South. No one was reported to have been injured and no chemicals were spilled. The area was blocked off until it was up-righted.

The Arkansas State Police attempted to keep I-30 open Thursday night with the help of Crews 44 Truck Shop wreckers, but it was trying and tiring for all. Just as soon as one motorist was pulled out another was stuck, actually several at one time. A tractor-trailer rig might be pulled back on a highway only to attempt to travel again with the same results stuck again. This caused many blocked areas on Highways 371 and 19 North as well as on I-30.

The snow was much prettier Thursday morning than it was that afternoon, or that night and Friday morning. Just ask those who had to work in it.