A snapshot of storm adventures

Region

March 11, 2012

A snapshot of storm adventures

How people coped with the storm

Anonymous Record-Eagle The Record Eagle Sun Mar 11, 2012, 07:00 AM EDT

Traverse City — Snowed in and without power, Betsy Mackey, 78, of Traverse City called police to be taken to the Salvation Army shelter, where she received a hot meal, but the shelter hadn’t received cots. Mackey then was driven to the Rock in Kingsley, where she was treated to a warm bed and big Sunday morning breakfast. Mackey later was surprised by her first trip in a U.S. Army Humvee, driven by Army Reserve officers, who escorted her from Kingsley back home.

“I’m grateful to everyone who helped,” Mackey said. “I just feel they were all special angels who really took care of me.”

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The reservation desk at the Grand Traverse Resort & Spa in Acme fielded close to 1,800 calls on Saturday alone from area residents looking for a room during the storm. That compares to around 1,000 calls in a day that the resort might get on a busy summer weekend, resort spokesman J. Michael DeAgostino said.

“That’s an incredible number of phone calls,” he said.

The 600-plus room resort was filled to 100 percent capacity Saturday night, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. The resort was so busy, and travel was so difficult, it had to truck in some food from the nearby Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel in Williamsburg, officials said. Both operations are owned by the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.

New resort General Manager Timothy Norman was in just his second day on the job when the storm hit – a “baptism by snow,” DeAgostino said.

Norman was impressed with the work of the resort’s staff during the storm, and said working in the hospitality business is all about being prepared for the unexpected.

“That’s one of the thrills of being in the resort business,” Norman said. “No two days are alike.”

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Local business managers said the storm not only put a strain on the community, but their work forces as well.

Several businesses said workers had a difficult time getting to work last weekend. The staffers that did show up took an extra duties and logged extended hours to make up for those who couldn’t get to work.

“You really saw which employees stepped up and took ownership,” said Rob Robinson, director of operations for Summerside Properties that operates three motels in Traverse City.

One of his workers walked a mile-and-a-half through the storm to get to work.

“She knew she was needed,” he said.

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When power lines began to fall Friday around 8 p.m., it resulted in sparking and tree fires, officials said.

But after a few hours, most of the lines that continued to fall had already lost their charge, resulting in few fires and no serious injuries, local emergency management officials said.

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Snowstorms are usually bad for business at Rico’s Cafe and Pizzeria along U.S. 31 in Grawn. But not this one. Owner Rick Dubro said the restaurant set daily records on Saturday, Sunday and Monday as neighbors sought food, warmth and temporary respite at the eatery.

“It was a wild weekend, that’s for sure,” Dubro said. “My coffee machine could barely keep on Saturday.”

The restaurant also served scores of utility and tree crews who helped restore power and clean up during the week.

“I would say half my business, if not more, was due to the storm,” Dubro said.

— By Bill O’Brien

and Brian McGillivary