To the Editor

Corrections or additions?

This column by Richard K. Rein was prepared for the January 10,

2001 edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.

Between the Lines: Snow

How much of your life have you spent recently talking

about the snow? We don’t mean shoveling snow, or putting ice-melter

down on sidewalks, or cleaning snow off of car windows. We are just

talking about the talk — the endless, mindless, numbing office

chit-chat about snow and whether or not it’s coming, and if so how

much of it will accumulate.

Here at U.S. 1 our senior management prefers to walk the walk in the

face of snow emergencies rather than talking the talk. Years ago when

12 inches or so fell on Princeton a young writer made the mistake

of calling our boss at home, informing him that he had walked to the

end of his driveway, observed that the road was clogged with snow

in either direction, and announcing he would be unable to come to

work. The boss sounded astonished as he asked the question: "You

were actually able to walk to the end of the driveway?"

"Yes,"

said the writer. "Well then walk to the end of the driveway again

in 10 minutes and I’ll pick you up and take you to work." And

he did.

Back in the blizzard of January, 1996, when Nassau Street was closed

to traffic and no one even ventured onto Route 1, our boss headed

off for the office and his date with a deadline. He had to shovel

his way through the intersection of Route 1 and Alexander Road, and

made it as far as Alexander and Roszel, where the good people at the

Carnegie Cat Clinic allowed him to park his car. He walked to work

from there.

And so when this last snowstorm descended, on Saturday, December 30,

U.S. 1 photographer Craig Terry didn’t consider canceling his

assignments.

He left Vineland early, arrived a little late in Princeton, and then

proceeded with our boss to the heart of Trenton, where they

photographed

the reenactment of the Battle of Trenton. Was Route 1 dangerous in

the middle of that blizzard? We would have to say no — and if

you got in an accident, you would have had only yourself to blame.

There were few other cars to cause you problems.

In the event of some snowfall occurring during the business day, we

offer this advice: When snow falls do not be the first person out

of the office and on the way home. Two reasons: