Posted 1:09 am Saturday, January 09, 2010
It's A Cold Job, But Somebody Has To Do It
By BRIAN PEARSON
Business Editor
Charlie Turner stood like the Statue of Liberty in the middle of Old Bullard Road on Friday morning, a sign held high to stop motorists so children could cross the street to get to Rice Elementary School.
Business Editor
Charlie Turner stood like the Statue of Liberty in the middle of Old Bullard Road on Friday morning, a sign held high to stop motorists so children could cross the street to get to Rice Elementary School.
The former heavy-equipment mechanic turned school crossing guard sported heavy winter clothing and a Day-Glo orange hat with ear protectors, but that didn't fully shield him from winter's shark-like bite.
"If I didn't move a little, it would be killer out here," said Turner, 56, who is in his second year as a crossing guard for the city of Tyler. "This is the coldest I've had yet by far."
Nevertheless, like others around the city, Turner had a job to do, and an important one at that.
The Tyler area Friday finally felt the business end of what meteorologists had been predicting all week, with temperatures plummeting into the teens and aided in the wicked wintry work by winds that made it feel a lot colder than that.
CBS meteorologist Doc Deason said the arctic grip on the Tyler area will continue until Sunday afternoon.
Today's forecast calls for a low of 15 with a high of 32 to 34, with sunny skies and northwest winds of 5 to 10 mph, Deason said. Sunday's forecast is sunny with a low in the mid-teens and a high of 42.
"I think we'll start to see some modification take place by Sunday afternoon," he said. "We'll still be cold Sunday morning. We'll still see a low in the middle teens.
"It's definitely colder than normal for us. It's not unheard of. We've had plenty of cold snaps in the past."
Deason added he sees nothing on the horizon to shove the region back into prolonged sub-freezing territory.
"There's nothing in the next five to seven days that looks all that impressive," he said, adding that highs will reach the 50s starting Monday, with rain chances picking up later in the week.
Friday's low of 17, recorded at Tyler Pounds Regional Airport, wasn't even close to the record of 8 degrees set in 1976, Deason said.
Day laborer Micheal Jolliff, 61, who spent Friday sweeping glass for the city on a parking lot on
West Erwin Street, said he definitely felt the cold, but it was nothing like what he dealt with in northern Idaho, where he worked as a logger.
"I've seen 52 below," said Jolliff, who moved here three weeks ago to find work and is living in a shelter.
As his breath hit the cold artic air, Tim Thompson of the Red Springs Fire Department grabbed a hose and turned some dials to increase water pressure to a charged hose being used to fight a house fire Friday.
Despite wearing thick bunker gear to protect him from the fire, Thompson's face was red with the sting of the cold.
"We take regular breaks and try to warm up, but we are working with water, so there isn't a lot we can do," he said. "We really just have to grin and bear it."
At least Mandy Callihan of Arp got to spend half her work day inside as a Brookshire's courtesy clerk, helping customers get their groceries to their vehicles.
Nevertheless, she made sure she was well-prepared Friday for the cold, which she took the brunt of when she started her work day at 6 a.m.
"I have four layers of clothes on," she said, adding that the layers included two pairs of thermal underwear, pants, three long-sleeve shirts, a scarf and heavy coat. "And I have a big jacket I wear outside."
All the bay doors of Battery Specialty on West Erwin in Tyler were open, making for some chilly work for employee Pedro Castaneda, but he didn't seem to mind.
"It's not that bad," Castaneda said.
Meanwhile, owner Sandra Murry sat inside and laughed when asked whether she felt sorry for Castaneda.
Meanwhile, owner Sandra Murry sat inside and laughed when asked whether she felt sorry for Castaneda.
"He comes in and gets warm in here," Ms. Murry said. "I just stay in the office."
Henry's Construction Inc. employee Jaime Jalaviz, 28, and his fellow workers had hard hats to keep them warm while they busted up concrete and rebuilt a corner of West Erwin Street.
"We have to work," Jalaviz said with a shrug when asked what it was like to spend all day working in the cold. "We have to feed our families."
Staff writer Kenneth Dean contributed to this story.
