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Where does the blame lie? Is it with the city, the county, or the state because our roads were so bad? Speaking as a city employee with Gainesville, I know that we did everything that we could with the equipment that we had. On the news I see a lot of people blaming roads still in bad shape for accidents and even deaths.
Even though authorities kept saying to stay home if at all possible. This kind of storm does not happen but very rarely. You complain about your taxes going up. If we had the equipment that it would require to handle this kind of event when it first gets started, you would have to pay more in taxes. Because this happens so rarely you would be complaining about having equipment that never gets used because of these storms.
I have been out on these roads with plow and equipment that had no effect. We laid down rock and salt but it only lasts for so long. As it gets warm, the rock get pushed in to the ice and the chemicals dilute where they are no longer effective.
We kept going over and over the trouble spots and because there was no sun hitting these spots, our efforts were only moderately effective in the shaded areas.
Speaking as one of those people that were out there working the 12-hour shifts, I can say that the employees of the city, county and the state have done all there is to make the roads safe for the residents of Georgia. There is a reason they declared it a state of emergency. We did the best we could and I hope you realize it.
Robert Jones
Flowery Branch