Comments on: Twas the night before Christmas, 1983

By: Tony Victor

Tony Victor — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:36:29 +0000

I was at TV. Bob Neely and I drove up on Cranesville only to see it raining down attic insulation from when the tornado actually hit. Many of the news crews were pressed into EMS duties, holding IVs for rescue crews while photogs rolled.

By: joel

joel — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:29:26 +0000

TV,
As long as we are remembering when; were you still at radio the night of the Albion Tornado (’85), or were you at TV? I was at WDOE/Dunkirk that night manning the EBS and I’m trying to remember who did a live phoner with me from 18th and Ash about the tornado. Hard to believe that will be 25 years this May 31st.

By: Tony Victor

Tony Victor — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:32:17 +0000

Joel:
I had just finished the 6Am to Noon news shift at WJET. Fritz Snyder arrived and I planned on driving home to Jeannette for the holidays that Christmas Eve. I had just finished an interview with Mayor Lou Tullio who basically shut down the city. After the tape stopped rolling he asked me what my plans were for the holiday. I said I was about to drive home. He said “you will not, the city is shut down, you come over my house for dinner.” I thanked him politely and said “Mayor, I am not missing a traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner because of a little snow.” He laughed. It took me two hours to get to the Mercer County line. I pulled off at the deer creek township rest stop and phoned in a report for Fritz. It looked like someone had dropped a bomb on the lakeshore, dark and blackened skies. But it was sunny and smooth driving from Mercer southbound. Typical lake effect storm.

By: Tom Lavery

Tom Lavery — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 16:34:51 +0000

The Grand Marquis was also rear wheel drive & quite a plow too.

By: Bob Bohen

Bob Bohen — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 05:25:00 +0000

Big Guy, I, too, remember that storm! Since I was the low man on the totem pole at WSEE, I had to work the day shift in the taperoom. WSEE did not have weekend news at the time (sounds familar, eh?), and we had a local block of cartoons and movies until network programming at 8pm. I made it into work fine, but leaving at 6pm was another challenge. I made it okay to 7th & Cascade in the 1973 Ford Econoline van my dad had purchased for me to drive (for those in the know, this was the infamous “Sex Machine”, a name that was about as ironic as a nickname could be!), but there was no way that I would be able to park it on the street, since about 36″ of snow had fallen since I had gone to work at 10am and no plows had been through. I proceeded to the St. Andrew’s parking lot a block away, parked it as best I could and walked home. (My brothers-in-law and I shovelled it out about a week later!) I didn’t have to work Christmas Day, but I do remember taking about 45 minutes to make it from 7th & Raspberry to 1220 Peach Street on December 26th in my mom’s Ford Granada. Gotta love a rear-wheel drive American car from the late-70′s making it through unplowed Erie streets!

By: PR

PR — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 01:33:59 +0000

I remember drivng back into Erie from NC where I was stationed with the USAF at the time. The temperature was dropping like a rock and the winds picked up. Church services all over the place got cancelled….I think even St. Peter’s was off. By morning it was a winter wonderland. Of course it took a couple of days to get back to normal, but that’s Erie.

By: David Stayduhar

David Stayduhar — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 02:57:14 +0000

I remember that Christmas. We lived in one of the houses behind College Park apts in Edinboro, and had to ride across town to the home friends of our parents for Christmas dinner. We literally got stuck in the middle of 6N as it hadn’t been plowed recently, and had to get out and push. That was also the Christmas I got my new bike, and was so upset that I couldn’t take it out and ride it around.