Purchased in part to ensure town roads be cleared in case of snow emergencies, after high copper readings hinted there were problems with the old one, the new Thorp township grader has arrived but may not be needed in the relatively mild winter currently being experienced by the Stanley-Boyd country—although this could change, pending nature’s surprises.

“No, not really,” Thorp town plow and roads man Loren Gulcynski said of using the grader when we caught up with him in the town’s plow truck cab on Bridge Road at 73. The grader was only pressed into service if the snow was heavy. “This is nothing,” he said as the orange plow truck with extension cleared a few inches of powdery snow dust off town roads in Thorp Sunday. That being said, the new grader should still come in handy this summer, unless Mother Nature throws a curve ball beforehand.

In the meantime, we took a picture or two to remember the light snow by.

Above, Jake Luekes of the Stanley Public Works Department makes a second run down Park Avenue to clear the powder as nearby Kevin Hendrickson works a snowblower Sunday morning.

Fine-able offense: Not unknown in the Stanley countryside, piles of driveway snow like the one plowed across a town road the above right are illegal and could net a fine to the unwary snowplower. This is because such piles create ice ridges that are dangerous to passing motorists. Avoid those meddlesome fines, plow with others in mind! Staff photo.