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The Lucknow Sentinel, 2015-01-14, Page 22 Lucknow Sentinel • Wednesday, January 14, 2015 Stormy Weather Disrupts Routines Valerie Gillies Editor, Lucknow Sentinel The storm that seemed to camp out in Southwestern Ontario the first full week of January caused some major headaches for a lot of indi- viduals and businesses. Dif- ferent challenges arise in dif- ferent situations. Of course, there were many people who could not get to school or to work due to dangerous conditions and numerous road closures. Department Manager of Investor and Media Rela- tions for Bruce Power John Peevers explained that many of the staff of Bruce Power are able to work from home in adverse weather condi- tions. Not everyone has this option. Both Hodgins Home Hardware and Knechtel's Food Market in Lucknow were challenged with cover- ing for staff who could not make the commute. This resulted in those who live in town getting more hours, as well as many students being called in for extra shifts. It should be noted that those who are not able to safely report to work in many com- panies do not get paid for missed days, greatly impact- ing their budget when winter bills are at their highest. Unfortunately, this can moti- vate some to make very dan- gerous decisions, as was noted by the OPP as occur- ring more frequently as the storm dragged out over the course of the week. When asked to explain how road closures affect staff at Bruce Power and what is meant by the reports heard on the radio along with the bus cancellations and road closures, Peevers responded. Their Emergency Prepared- ness staff keep watch on the weather at all times and in the case of a storm they enact their Severe Weather Team. This team works to plan and give direction to staff. Schedules are adjusted and some staff are kept at home to ensure that they do not have more people on site or on the roads than is nec- essary. Staff can check the employee website or call their employee information line to get the most recent information on road status and directions to staff. When announcements are heard on the radio saying certain Bruce Power staff should report and others should not, it is by a specific protocol. According to Peevers, "All staff, contrac- tors, visitors and site tenants are classified into one of three distinct categories. Cat- egoryA: Staffwhose presence on site is required to meet Bruce A and Bruce B licensed operational requirements and to support safe operation of the site. Category B: Staff whose presence on site is required to support Bruce Power's business operations priority activities and who are unable to complete required tasks from an offsite location. Category C: Staff not deemed to meet the definition for Cat- egory A and B. This includes visitors." Peevers continues, "When it looks like a storm is on its way and access roads may be closed, we will bring in extra Category A staff to allow for rotating rest breaks for staff on site. We have cots and sleeping bags as well as food for staff who are on site longer than expected." Katherine, Liz, Shirley and Tamara at Knechtel's Food Market related on Friday, January 9 that they were fac- ing many difficulties, but were doing their best to keep serving the community throughout the storm. By Friday there had been an extended time where no delivery trucks could make the commute to the store leaving many spots on the shelves bare, very little pro- duce that was no longer fresh and many sales items sold out. It is believed that this was made worse due to so many people coming in to stock up, including local people who would normally shop elsewhere, and the fact that there were huge sales promoted in the flyers. It had been hectic at the store all day. With the doors con- stantly opening and closing and at one point remaining open for an extended time, the heating in the store was WE CAN HELP YOU WITH YOUR WINTER DRMNe Selection of Used 4 x 4 Escapes F-150 Pickups & AWD Edges. New Arrivals of Pre -owned F-150 pickups Balance of Factory Warranty. SEE MONTGOMERY FORD IN LUCKNOW & KINCARDINE FOR DETAILS. Lucknow : Kincardine 519-528-2813:519-396-3436 twEifiehtiglfflfiailiont Valerie Gillies/Lucknow Sentinel Brooklyn Johnston was assigned the task of shoveling the sidewalk when she went to work at Hodgins Home Hardware in Lucknow when Listowel District Secondary School was closed due to the storm. She stated, "This is much more fun than studying for exams." January 9, 2015. affected. Staff were wearing several layers of clothing including extra socks and mitts to try to stay warm while working. Over the course of the week, depend- ing on what the roads were like at the time, the store was either "booming or dead' Several trips were made to other communities by the owners to secure supplies such as milk in order to con- tinue to serve customers. Lucknow is very fortunate to have a grocery store as many small communities no longer have that service within their boundaries, as with other essential services. At times like this, it is made apparent just how essential it is to have access to basic needs, making it even more apparent that we should be supporting these businesses all year through to ensure that they stay in operation. Speaking with our own delivery drivers out of the Goderich Signal Star office, Sandy Dickson and Greg Kacprzak, the Sentinel was informed that the routes which had already been thrown into chaos over the Christmas schedule were challenged even further by the storm. Twice during the week of the storm the flyers being shipped from London to Goderich for redistribution were stopped in Exeter for several hours due to road clo- sures and finally turned back to London. Kacprzak explained that the drivers are in direct contact with each other to know when and where each truck will be to arrange for meeting to unload and load the different publica- tions for the various routes. Although they are in commu- nication, the drivers do not make the final decisions. That is left to management. When asked how she felt storms affected the delivery side of the business Dickson stated, "In the almost 20 years of delivering for Signal Star on many different routes, it comes down to one thought. That is our carriers, the ones that we hire for Thursday deliveries. Our customers, the store owners, us, and even more so the community expects so much from these people, who are paid peanuts for their service." She expands on this explaining that when the trucks finally make it through the storms the carri- ers are expected to drop eve- rything and deliver the flyers. During storms the sidewalks may not be shoveled, it may be difficult to find a spot to put them out of the wet and wind now that the company no longer provides the bags that carriers used to be able to quickly and easily hang on door handles. Dickson relates, "The home owners don't understand this either. They still want their flyers in a bag and hanging on their doors," adding that it is often the car- riers at the bottom of the delivery chain who catch the complaints directed toward the entire company. On the Friday of the storm, Laura Johnston at Hodgins Home Hardware gave the most upbeat report of how things were going during the storm. She said that some of the staff were having travel issues but they were making the best of it. There were lots of shovels, scrapers, heaters, lock deicer and washer fluid being sold. Basically people were buying things to stay warm and to keep their vehi- cles going. Doris Gibbons at cash said they were sure glad the delivery truck got through on Tuesday. It was the last one that had made it and they were really short on bat- teries, which had been selling faster than usual that week. People were stocking up in case the power goes out. Johnston is keeping herself optimistic. She forecasts, "This winter should be shorter than last winter. It started later." Besides, people in this area know how to cope as, "It is a Bruce Countywinter"