As record falls, service stars stand tall

Rumors of Mother Nature’s nurturing tendencies are, alas, greatly exaggerated.

So far this February, “The beatings will continue until morale improves” is more her motto.

The greater Coeur d’Alene area is skidding through the most snowfall in recorded history — that’s since 1895 in these parts — for the month of February. February 1955 had set the mark at 39.5 inches, which Mother Nature officially buried under a bad-mannered blanket 40 inches deep as of early afternoon Friday.

The worst that witch can dish out, though, has brought to the forefront the best of what North Idaho’s dedicated drivers can deliver. It is to them we pay tribute today.

Despite this record-setting adversity, first responders have hardly hesitated. Emergency crews of all stripes have put the public’s priorities above their own.

Snow plow staff have kept navigable the roadways that get us all from point A to point B.

Your newspaper carrier has taken Mother Nature’s full measure and soldiered on. Postal, Fed-Ex and UPS drivers have plowed ahead proudly. Even the men and women who bring hot pizza and other products to your front door have persisted.

The wheels of local progress may at times have spun, stuck, skidded and slid through the heavy artillery of this wintry assault, but Mother Nature’s most frenetic fit has not stopped them.

With gratitude, the community applauds them all.