Vermont’s great Valentine’s Day blizzard of 2007 came on the worst possible day of the week for The Herald.

Wednesday, as many of our readers know, is The Big Day, production day, the day in which Thursday morning’s paper has to be completed and taken to the Valley News in West Lebanon for printing. Snowstorm or no snowstorm. Many businesses and offices, looking out the window at the appalling rate of accumulation, could make the quick decision that it was time to go home. But that was not an option at The Herald.

The blizzard also decided to arrive during a week when The Herald’s editor and publisher was away on vacation. Horrors—a rudderless ship adrift on the sea of storms?

Not likely! Under the editorial leadership of Sandy Cooch and the production leadership of just about everybody, the decision was made to move full speed ahead, putting aside worries about how the staff would be able to get home. The second decision was to proceed as quickly as possible so that delivery of the completed pages to West Lebanon would be a physical possibility.

Sandy Cooch reports that the mood of cooperation and good spirit throughout the Herald offices made her job vastly easier. When staffers finished their regular tasks, they asked for another, until the job was done. The paper, a full 28-page paper with good advertising support and great news and photos, was completed just before 2 p.m. instead of the usual 4:30 p.m.

Still there remained the pressing question: How were these precious 28 pages to be delivered to West Lebanon? Phone calls confirmed that that Valley News was still open for business and could print the paper if they got the pages. A glimpse out of doors, however, plus the broadcast warnings to stay off the road at all costs, argued strongly that this was one week that The Herald would have to be late. The decision was made not to attempt the trip.

But then there was a reconsideration. Photographer/writer Bob Eddy consulted a friend who was encouraging. He also took a look over his shoulder at The Herald's nearly unbroken tradition of always publishing on time, and he decided to pack the pages into his all-wheel-drive Subaru and brave the trip.

There were times during the next hour that he was sure he had made the wrong decision. The driving lane of Interstate 89 was passable, but visibility was terrible at the best of times. The worst of times came when tractor-trailer trucks roared by in the passing lane, a foot thick with powdery snow which ballooned everywhere as the trucks passed. The ensuing "white-out" was complete, leaving other drivers totally unable to see where they were, where the road was, or how fast they were going. The terrifying experience was repeated several times.

Nevertheless, the delivery was made, and thanks to the Valley News crew, the bulk of the Feb. 15, 2007 Heralds were at the Postal Service's sectional center in Whiter River Junction Wednesday night as usual. The Randolph area papers and assorted store papers, usually delivered after printing on Wednesday night, were just slightly delayed until Thursday morning when our regular driver, Paul Chereshkoff, made the still-difficult trip back to West Leb with those deliveries.

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After these heroics, the Herald staff turned to the same problems that the rest of the Vermont world was experiencing. Copy editor Martha Slater of Rochester accepted an overnight invitation to stay with receptionist Kyle Southworth. Then she went home and, over the next three days, single-handedly shoveled most of her considerable driveway and walk, and the church pastor’s walk for good measure.

Ad salesman Bob Martin left work in his pick-up to plow out the driveway of a friend and discovered the driveway culverts the hard way—by driving into them, stuck for two hours at one point. Then he tackled his long, windy Randolph center driveway. He was able to plow in but the next day could not plow out, and was housebound for two and a half days.

Bob Eddy overnighted with his mother in town, joined by his wife, Rev. Kathy Eddy, who skied four miles from their Braintree Hill to visit with a family for pastoral care.

And where was the editor and pubisher vacationing, you may ask? He and wife Marjorie are cross country skiers, and they had traveled 600 miles to Quebec's Gaspé Peninsula. They were looking for some good fresh snow.

What they found when they got home, besides the Feb. 15 Herald, was that the neighbor to the north had plowed the driveway and the neighbor to the south had shoveled the walk, and a leaky roof as well. Right now, they’re feeling pretty grateful. Thanks, everyone!