Comment
Print
When most folks end up being heroes they say, "I was just doing my job."
That's what you'd likely hear from the folks who work at North State Gas and Farmer's Friend.
They were heroes all the same.
Sheila Bradley, who attached and detached propane nozzles at Farmer's Friend, said "It's been nonstop for five days."
A line of cars stretched 20-deep along Railroad Avenue in Rutherfordton. Bradley, 16-year-old Doc Higgins, and other Farmer's employees stood in chilly cold for hours on end. Doc's main job was taking propane tanks out of people's vehicles and returning them when they were full. When asked if he ever reads Rutherford Weekly, Doc said, "No, I'm just 16." He was then asked, "You don't know how to read?" He laughed and grinned and said, "I do know how to read."
He'll read this one.
As the photo shows, a cardboard sign at North State Gas on Saturday read, "Closed today. Farmer's Friend open." But the day before North State employees handled more long lines. And they did it the day before and the day before that.
Once the weather gurus made their predictions, long lines formed for gasoline and propane. Stores selling propane sold out quickly.
And hats off to the weather gurus. Mark Twain once complained that everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. There was a right smart of doing as the storm approached.
Somebody asked Sheila Bradley if she got a break. "No break," she said without anger or frustration as she attached another tank and hit the gas and smiled.
Other customers showed up for other products and the professional staff kept themselves and vehicles moving at the large well-stocked facility.
Customers at North State were equally impressed by the courtesy and good humor of those who picked up heavy containers, filled them and helped with even heavier containers.
Doc Higgins said of his lifting and hauling, "I'm doing a lot of walking back and forth." For hours and hours.
And was North State closed on Saturday? Yes and no. Yes, the office and ability to fill small tanks was closed, but no, the home delivery side of the business was not closed and folks could see the trucks from North State and other propane companies rolling through our towns and country.
Vern Harris drove one of those big North State trucks and said, "We just don't want anybody to be cold."
Local flavor rolled across the radio as WNCW played bluegrass on "Going Across The Mountain," and a few well-aged gentlemen sat around a circle in the Farmer's Friend store. One was overheard to say, "When we were young, there wasn't any argument about what happened on Sunday morning. We went to church.' Agreement was heard around the circle.
And yes, of course, town street employees, utility workers, law enforcement, fire fighters, EMT's and other health care workers prepared for the coming storm with big hearts and stood ready to do their jobs with heroic spirits.
It's Rutherford County at its best.
