Pulaski braces for winter blast

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January 26, 2009

By BILL MARDIS, Editor Emeritus The Commonwealth Journal Mon Jan 26, 2009, 07:54 PM EST

Somerset — Kentucky Department of Highway officials said yesterday they are ready if the first major storm this winter moves across the Lake Cumberland area as expected.

A winter storm warning has been issued by the National Weather Service for most of Eastern Kentucky. Snow, sleet and freezing rain were expected to begin about 10 o’clock last night and continue through most of today and into tomorrow.

Huge salt trucks, equipped with snowplows, were lined up yesterday and ready to move out in each of the 10 counties in the Highway Department’s District 8 as soon as snow and ice started falling.

“We have 88 trucks ready to go in the district,” said Bruce Neely, Branch 2 manager for project delivery and preserv-ation for District 8. “Seventeen of the trucks are in Pulaski County,” he noted.

The National Weather Service expects as much as 2 inches of sleet and snow to accumulate along with up to a half inch of ice. Freezing rain and the weight of accumulating ice could down trees and power lines, resulting in widespread power outages, the Weather Service said.

The track of the developing low pressure system moving out of Texas was still uncertain yesterday. If the storm takes a southward track, the Lake Cumberland area could get more snow and sleet. If it passes north, much of the precipitation would be rain, heavy at times. The Weather Service said there could be up to 3 inches of rain and a flood watch has been issued for today and tomorrow.

Neely said major roads in the district, including Pulaski County, already have a coating of brine applied during the light snowfall last week.

“If the storm begins as rain ... it dilutes the brine already on the roads,” said Neely. He indicated trucks wouldn’t begin applying brine last night until ice begins to fall, either in the form of snow or sleet.

Highway Department road crews are expected to spend many long hours in their trucks if the storm event lasts two or three days as expected.

“Our crews work a regular shift today (Monday) ... and they have to come out tonight (Monday night) when the storm starts,” Neely said. There are about 2,400 miles of roads in the 10-county district that have to be treated during a snowstorm. Some of the roads are treated more than once, adding to the mileage, Neely said.

Bill Chaney, Branch 1 manager for project delivery and preservation, said brine is effective on the roads until the temperature falls into the mid-20s. “From the mid-20s and below, we switch to calcium chloride,” he said.

Because snowfall has not been heavy or frequent so far this winter, Neely said the district has a good supply of ice-melting materials.

“We have 14,000 tons of rock salt in the district, 60,000 gallons of brine and 51,000 gallons of calcium chloride,” Neely said.

Highway department officials cautioned motorists to be extra careful on roadways today if the storm materializes as expected. The Weather Service said the chance of precipitation in some form is near 100 percent.

“Watch out for snowplows,” said Neely. “These are big trucks that take up lots of room.”

Somerset uses rock salt on city streets, according to Steve Hyden at the city Street and Sanitation Department.

Hyden said Somerset doesn’t normally treat streets in advance of an approaching storm. “We wait until 9-1-1 calls and says there is a problem,” he explained.

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Pulaski carries Girdler to win

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary election, it was impossible to miss the colorful signs dotting nearly every Pulaski roadway. The names in the race for the 15th State Senatorial District seat popped out: A.C. Donahue. Chris Girdler. Mark Polston.

Once citizens hit the ballots, however, the results mirrored the dimensions of the signs themselves: Chris Girdler stood the tallest.

Girdler, deputy district director for Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers, ran away with the votes inside Pulaski County’s borders, earning 3,926 votes for 62.05 percent of the total number cast.

That number more than doubled the next highest vote-getter, businessman Mark Polston, who raked in 1,624 votes for 25.67 percent.

However, Polston — who owns Classic Carpet, a home-flooring business located just off the southern 914 bypass — can claim a moral victory ... three of them, in fact. In all three counties in the district other than Pulaski — those being Adair, Casey, and Russell Counties — Polston actually edged out Girdler.

In Adair, Polston beat Girdler 629 to 394. In Casey County, it was 538 to 417, and in Russell, it was 1,862 to 1,038.

Polston said he just “couldn’t pull it out with the numbers” and that “the machine worked for” Girdler in Pulaski County.

“I think that was their strategy — I think they had a Pulaski County strategy all along,” said Polston. “They played the political game well.”

Polston said the difference between his and Girdler’s campaigns was that “mine was a very, very grass roots campaign,” he said. “I did not have a political machine behind me. I understand how this process works, and in this instance, he prevailed.”

As for why Girdler didn’t take three of four counties, the winning candidate — since there are no Democrats in the race, winning the Republican primary was effectively a final victory for Girdler — said he didn’t have an answer for that.

However, “I believe things happen for a reason and I hope the long and strenuous campaign will only heighten my desire to move beyond the bitterness and partisanship of the recent past,” said Girdler.

“Regionalism is a goal of mine, and I look forward to helping all four counties,” he added, noting that he campaigned heavily in each of them.

Sen. Vernie McGaha, the long-time state senator whose seat the candidates were vying for, actually supported Polston after Liberty’s Todd Hoskins dropped out of the race earlier this month.

Donahue, a local attorney, got 556 votes in Pulaski County, 8.79 percent of the vote. He only received 145 votes in Russell County, 74 in Adair County, and 75 in Casey County, where hometown candidate Hoskins almost matched him with 71 votes despite no longer being officially in the race.

Polston said he’s “still digesting” what happened, and though “the process has been a very good experience for me,” he wouldn’t commit to running again in the future. “I wouldn’t shut the door to anything, but I’m not opening any doors either.”

Still, “I think I got a lot of people involved in the process that had not been involved before and would not have been otherwise,” he said. “A lot of people got out and worked really hard, got motivated to talk to friends and neighbors. I think a lot of people became involved through this campaign that are going to be involved for a long time.”

Girdler stressed his “positive message” and said that Rogers is a “mentor and good friend” that he would turn to for advice in dealing with a frequently combative legislative body in Frankfort, one for which Girdler hopes to help change the culture.

Girdler said that he was “confident and optimistic” during the day Tuesday because he’d “worked extremely hard.” Nevertheless, the realization that he’d won gave him “chill bumps,” he said.

“I’m absolutely honored,” said Girdler. “The position of state senator is more than an honor, more than an office. It’s a charge to keep, and I will give it my all.

“I pledge to be the people’s state senator,” he added. “I look forward to working with everyone to move this region forward.”

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