The Brussels Post, 1977-02-09, Page 12Give yourself a break.
Take a walk.
4';;-)
PaRr117/47011:47
Walk a blociefoilay.
Plow drivers, set goals for
themselves and are busy thinking
ahead. "I'll think to myself that
I'll make the Dublin road then
back around to Con Eckert's farm
by 4 a.m. We don't always make
them, but we set them,"
Snow blowers, . which most
townships don't own, will be
needed to blow holes along the
concession roads before the plows
can open up McKillop, Mr.
Hulley thinks. The blowers are
rented "from wherever they're
available" and then plow
operators can use plow wings to
"start pushing it back."
"People really do need
people," says the snow plow
operator, who's certainly
qualified to know. His wife Betty,,
who works across the street from
their home as cook at Kilbarchan
Nursing Home, fills in when other
staff members are unable to get
to their jobs "and thinks nothing
of it."
What does a snowplow
operator do in his spare time?
Well, oddly enough, Frank Halley
has not time for
snowmobiling..."I get enough
bucking and rooting on the
plow."
But he likes cross country
skiing and he and his wife are
nature lovers who like to w at ch
the birds that come to their two
feeders. Birds are scarce though
this winter. "I think they knew
something we didn't and kept
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right on flying south," Ni
Hulley says.
Dave Robb
PROFESSIONAL.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Weddings - Anniversaries
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SEAFORTH 527-0064
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February 10th to March 5th, 1977
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The worst I ve seen
Snowplow driver tells his stor
While the rest of us are
sleeping cozy in our own beds, or
at least warm and safe at the
house where we're storm stayed,
a whole group of people are out in
the storm, fighting to keep our
roads open.
Frank Hulley, a McKillop.
Township snow plow operator,
who lives on Church Street in
Seaforth, is one of them. Mr.
}Wiley, who's been plowing for 15
years calks this week's storm
"the worst yet."
He plowed for 26 hours straight
over the weekend and had just
gotten to bed Sunday night after
36 hours on his feet when an
emergency call came in for a plow
to make a path for the. Seaforth.
Volunteer Fire Department to a
blaze at the home of Steve
Murray on concession 4 and 5 in
McKillop.
The huge McKillop plow was
pushing snow up about 15 feet
directly ahead of it and got stuck
outside the. Wilfred Drager farm,
on the road to Murray's.
Firemen who were behind the
plow said conditions were
impossible, but Mr. Hulley felt
bad that he couldn't get them
through. With the help of
neighbours, the Murays were
able to put the fire out themselves
and the firemen got back to town,
as Expositor photographer Dave
Robb reports elsewhwere in the
paper.
"It was like an ocean out
there," Mr. Hulley said, still
tired after only a few hours sleep
at the Drager's Sunday night.
"under normal conditions I could
have taken my time and maybe it
wouldn't have happened. You
take all precautions but 'at the
same time you need to hurry."
Mr. Hulley and his plow finally
got back to Seaforth Monday
morning, after Jack McLlwain's
front end loader freed the plow.
Sunday night's emergencyf
wasn't exactly all in a days work
but the township's three plow
operators, Art Strong, an
operator supplied by Ryan
Bulldozing and Mr. Hulley, have
been working all through the ,
storm to keep the snow off ,
McKillop roads.
"We've got an outstanding
clerk, Marion McClure," Mr.
Hulley says and she was in the
township- office most of Sunday
directing plows to residents who
needed to get out over the new
two way radio system that
connects the office and the plows.
Mrs. McClure directed the plows
so that farmers could get feed for
their livestock, heating oil and
take their milk out.
Normally, McKillop operators
start at 4 a.m. to have the roads
opened every morning. It's not
the school buses that need the
roads plowed -early any more,
"it's the commuters," Mr.
Ridley says. "the' commuters just
don't get out if their roads
haven't been plowed by 6 a.m.
We know who wants out and we
try our -best," said Mr. Hulley,
shaking his head about all the
people stranded from their jobs
by this week's weather.
He gets calls from farmers who
need to get their milk Out or feed
in and "we'll be there if possible,
they know that."
The veteran snowplow Operator
thinks all of us get pretty good
Municipal service for the taxes we
pay. But he Sees a trend toward
farmers, Who have in many cases
huge investments to protect,
taking on their own plowing in
emergencies. He gives the
example of Hullett farmer Nick
Whyte, who got a private
snowblower to open Highway 8
between Seaforth and Mitchell
over the Weekend so that he could
12THE BRUSSELS POST,
get feed for his broilers.
"You do what you can, but'
under abnormal conditions, you
can't help much," Mr. Hulley
says and he pays tribute to
McKillop ratepayers who are
always . helpful and
understanding, McKillop road
superintendent Bill Campbell and
a "stand behind me council."
The people who live along
McKillop roads do everything
they can to make the snow plow
operator's job easier. When farm
people get their cars stuck on the
roads, they get them out of the
way of plows, "Farm people are
really conscientious," Mr. Hulley
says. "We're all out to help each
other."
It doesn't get lonely out in a
plow, even in the middle of the
night in a storm, Frank Hulley
says, because there's not time for
it. "You're always looking. That
black spot up ahead could be a
car. It's usually bare gravel, but it
could be a car." •
CASH
SAVINGS
10%
to 50%
A 46, _
FEBRUARY 9, 1 7