Local News
Jefferson County acknowledges problems in handling Dec. blizzard
WAURIKA — Jefferson County Commissioners acknowledged there were problems in their approach to handling clearing roads during a blizzard in December, and one of the county chiefs extended an apology for a comment made about a Terral resident.
Terral residents Bud Wilcoxson and Ron Weatherly were present for the citizens forum at the regular meeting on Friday, Jan. 15, and a discussion was resumed on complaints area residents made about snow and ice removal, following a blizzard that struck the area on Christmas Eve. Most complaints were directed toward District 3 Commissioner Loyd Kimbro.
During a meeting on Dec. 31, rancher Wilcoxson and Weatherly, a Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputy, were among those voicing irritation with snow and ice removal in District 3. That discussion became somewhat heated, and at one point, Kimbro had called Wilcoxson “a liar” in regard to his recounting of events.
Kimbro’s comment about Wilcoxson was reported in a story in the Waurika News-Democrat and was part of the official minutes of the Dec. 31 meeting published in The Ringling Eagle.
At the January meeting, Wilcoxson calmly said, “I was called ‘a liar’ in a story in the paper. I think I deserve an apology, and I think he (Kimbro) owes the (District 3) community an apology for not getting the road maintainors out there early enough after the storm.”
“I do apologize for that and to you,” Kimbro told Wilcoxson.
As the discussion continued, Kimbro noted that he had 365 square miles and three townships in District 3 that needed to have roads cleared due to the storm. He added, “And I couldn’t get out of my own house for two days.”
Kimbro also acknowledged that he had some District 3 employees who were taking vacation time during the Christmas holiday, and he didn’t feel he should have asked them to work during their vacations.
Weatherly raised the issue that some of the problems stemmed from early preparation for the storm, noting that there had been sufficient warning that a major winter storm was to hit the area on Dec. 24.
“It all gets down to prevention,” Weatherly said. “Why weren’t (road crews) working [on Christmas Eve]? We were all snowed in [on Christmas Day] and I can sympathize with (Kimbro) about being unable to leave his home. But if the graders had been running at 8 o’clock Christmas Eve, you wouldn’t have had this big a problem.”
Commission Chair Ty Phillips and District 1 Commissioner Billy Kidd expanded the discussion to acknowledge there had been mistakes in all the district during the blizzard.
“We weren’t prepared for this, and we could all have done better,” said Phillips, whose crews hadn’t begun snow and ice removal until Christmas Day.
“What really got us [in handling road clearing in District 1] was all that drifting that happened over night,” Kidd said. “We should have been out all night on Christmas Eve, and we (the commissioners) take the blame for that.
“But I don’t think we should take the blame for what happened after (Christmas Eve). My workers put in 55 overtime hours after the storm hit.”
Kidd and Phillips expressed thanks to Wilcoxson, Weatherly and other area residents who assisted individuals and county crews in clearing the roads.
— Jeff Kaley is editor of the Waurika News-Democrat and a Duncan Banner columnist. He can be reached at 580-228-2316 or e-mailed at jeff.kaley@duncanbanner.com.
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