Another Storm For The Record Book
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David Howell was headed down a hill on Hwy. 330 in Coffeeville by the city cemetery for his last stop on the paper delivery route when his truck spun around 180 degrees and slid into a ditch.
– Photo by Sheriff Jerimaine Gooch
The Ice Storm of 2024 is another one for the record books. I figure they are record worthy if school and work is disrupted for a week and Tuesday marked the sixth day for students to be out for icy roads. It would have been seven days, if not for the Monday holiday when it all started. My feelings won’t be hurt if we skip all ice accumulation for the next decade or two.
I’ll admit, my lip was a little poked out from the beginning when the forecast showed the ice starting Sunday night and extending until Monday night. Snow or ice first thing Monday morning complicates everybody’s work week. Let it come later in the week and we can enjoy a three-day weekend playing outside. And every hunter gets excited about the prospect of getting in the woods when the ground is white and the weather frigid.
It turned out the joke was on me – the white stuff was here to stay for days and we were all sick of it before the so-called thaw. Who thought the kids would be out of school for six long days?
Thankfully we were able to get the paper to the press a little early Tuesday afternoon. They got it printed and delivered Tuesday night. That is all I could do, the papers were on the post office dock awaiting delivery when travel was less treacherous.
I waited until mid-morning Wednesday to deliver the papers to the stores in Water Valley. My granddaughter was a little stir-crazy, and decided to go with me. We dropped off the papers at Dunn’s in Sylva Rena around noon and enjoyed a delicious lunch. Maci deemed the burger the best ever. She was enjoying being out of the house.
Everything was good on the paper route until the last stop in Coffeeville when I ended up in the ditch. This is the “What had happened wuz…” part of the week.
Most kids were bouncing off the walls after a week out of school. David Howell’’s granddaughter, Maci Martin, went to work with him Wednesday. She declared the hamburger at Dunn’s at best ever, and her Bop’s driving the worst ever.
We turned off the bypass at the four-way on 330 and were coming down the hill by the cemetery. As I looked down the hill I could see a lot was happening. One truck was pulling another up the hill and a big RV farther down also couldn’t make it and was starting to back down. I made a quick decision to turn left on Kennedy Street, but it was too late. My truck did a 180 and slid into a ditch.
Little Maci’s eyes got big and she had the door open before the truck stopped sliding. She was ready to jump ship, thinking the truck might end up on its side. It took a little convincing to get her to stay in the truck and, more importantly, out of the road.
Thankfully the only thing that was hurt was my pride, especially when the guy in the RV was able to back all the way down the hill and come back around on Kennedy Street and head on out to the highway.
Help soon arrived. Tommy Boyd had been assisting motorists who could not get up the hill for several hours. He saw the whole thing, and we analyzed where I went wrong – I tried to turn on Kennedy Street a little too late. I didn’t think Tommy could get enough traction to pull my truck out and decided to call a wrecker, but they were backed up on other calls.
A few minutes later Sheriff Jerimaine Gooch showed up and directed traffic. Tyrone Hayes, Lenard Hayes and Mit Armstrong also stopped to help and a pretty good crew gathered to figure out how to get my truck out of the ditch. Another motorist came along and also slid into the ditch – probably distracted by all the commotion.
We were still scratching our heads when Rodney Harrison pulled up and was able to pull both of us out using a long tow rope. Maci was relieved, she was concerned we would have to spend the night in that ditch and she was trying to hold back those crocodile tears.
I was determined to hunt that afternoon and barely made it to the deer stand after the delay. I had not been in the stand for 30 minutes when deer started coming out from everywhere and I saw one with a nice rack. Taking aim, I squeezed the trigger only to hear a click. The gun did not go off! THIS WAS NOT MY DAY, I thought as a few of the deer looked toward me. Thankfully I was able to lever another round in the chamber and I pulled the trigger and made a perfect shot on a nice nine-point. I think the first shell must have gotten wet, I remember picking up one that had been on the floorboard of my Ranger. Long story short, the deer hit the ground and it was a great hunt. I had a few pictures of the buck during the season, but only one during daylight hours. The cold weather had him out feeding.
After a lifetime of hunting, David Howell can only recall a handful of deer killed during the snow (or ice). He killed this buck last Wednesday.
Thankfully the rest of the week was uneventful. By Friday it was business as usual at the office and getting back in a familiar routine felt good!
Oh I forgot to mention, when Maci and I got home Wednesday she was quick to provide a full report on the day. It went something like this: “Bop said the d-word four times and the s-word too when we went in the ditch.”
Anybody have some sweet tasting soap?
