The storm, which dropped more than 2 feet of snow in some parts, marooned cars, emergency vehicles, police cruisers and even snowplows all over the state
The Great Blizzard of 2010 shut down much of official government business, but touched off a storm of criticism, with a handful of Democrats pointedly questioning why Gov. Chris Christie and Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, Republicans both, basked in warmer climes – he at Walt Disney World in Florida, she vacationing in Mexico – while the Garden State shivered under blanket of paralyzing snow.
The Democrats, among them state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union), inquired into the worth a constitutional amendment – namely the one approved by voters in 2005 that created the lieutenant governorship.
"We clearly made a mistake if we created the office lieutenant governor and wasted money if the lieutenant governor is not going to be here when the governor is out of state," said Lesniak, himself in Florida. "It’s being handled very well by Sen. Sweeney, but you have to really question the purpose of the office.?
"It’s a big snow, definitely, but the world is not coming to an end," Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said. "We are a northeastern state and we get snow - sometimes lots of it like this - and we will get through it just as we always do."
Drewniak noted Guadagno is paid for her dual role as secretary of state — a cabinet post that already existed in previous administrations.
Popular bar
Vin Henrich started shoveling around 10 p.m. Sunday.
Henrich, the owner of the Harrison Avenue Tavern in West Orange, had just closed the bar. But, determined to reopen today, he got a head start on what would turn out to be the worst blizzard in a generation by the time the snow would stop falling a few hours later.
"We never close," said Henrich, the bar’s owner for 16 years. "Got too many good customers to close."
By early afternoon today, a 20-strong clientele populated his bar.
"This is the best snow party by far in New Jersey," Henrich said. "Everybody else is closed."
And although he gave the township’s public works an "A plus, plus" for its snow-clearing efforts, driving after a few drinks was nevertheless out of the question.
The storm, which dropped more than 2 feet of snow in some parts, marooned cars, emergency vehicles, police cruisers and even snowplows all over the Garden State. It also helped ferment a political harangue, got a mayor in the cold seat and stirred memories of a matrimonial ceremony decades ago.
It also stranded buses, including an NJ Transit vehicle in Orange. The bus, which had tried to maneuver a left turn from Harrison Avenue onto Chestnut Street around 9 p.m, Sunday night, residents said, instead punched into a snow bank that reached into its wheel wells, and came to rest.
It was still there Monday morning, blocking what would typically be one of the township’s busiest thoroughfares.
Sisyphean task
Residents, business owners and, especially, municipal employees pushed stranded cars through banks of snow, shoveled out walkways and plowed thoroughfares.
In Madison, an elected official also joined in the battle to keep streets passable.
Mayor Mary Anna Holden took a turn on the plows early this morning, riding along with a department of public works crew from 12:30 a.m. through 2:30 a.m., during the heaviest snowfall.
It was a Sisyphean task, Holden said, as plowed streets were whited-out again within 30 minutes.
"If you had put me down in the middle of town," she said, "I wouldn’t have recognized it."
The storm dumped about 20 inches onto the Morris County town. "I can certainly see where they earn their money," Holden said of the DPW crews.
White memories
Aside from wreaking havoc, the storm also unearthed decades-old memories.
For Dorothy and Leland Williams, 60 years ago today marked the occasion for their white wedding. Although the forecast called for flurries, several inches instead fell on Rockaway as the couple – Dorothy, 20, and Leland, 22, home on Christmas leave from the Air Force — exchanged vows inside the township’s First Presbyterian Church.
"It was cold, but it was nice," said Dorothy Leland from the couple’s Denville home, where, she said, they will celebrate six decades of marriage like so many others throughout the state also spent today:
"We’re going to call up and order something."
By Matt Friedman/Statehouse Bureau staff, Richard Khavkine, Karl de Vries and Dan Goldberg/The Star-Ledger
Previous coverage:
• Experts give tips for shovelers digging through the snow
• Flights resume at JFK, LaGuardia airports
• Snow plow contractors cash in on blizzard
• Hundreds of stranded Newark airport passengers hope to re-book flights
• Snowfall total climbs into 30-inch range in several Union County towns
• Ambulance rescues Jersey City woman in labor from traffic jam during blizzard
• NJ Transit rail service to continue on modified schedule, bus service to be restored Tuesday
• State of emergency in effect for N.J. as snowstorm makes for treacherous travel conditions