Babies can’t wait
While snow and ice brought commuters to a halt Tuesday, one baby girl decided she just couldn’t wait.
Her parents were on the way to the hospital, but couldn’t make it fast enough due to treacherous road conditions, according to the Sandy Springs Police Department.
Instead, the baby’s father and a traffic officer helped the mother deliver the baby — inside a car on I-285. The family was near Riverside Drive when the father stopped the car, according to police.
Mom and baby were fine, and paramedics were dispatched to the area to take the family to the hospital, police said.
- Alexis Stevens
Take your time…
Just after 1 p.m., parents of children attending Trinity Early Learning Center in northwest Atlanta got an e-mail and a text alert telling them to come and pick up their children.
Under normal conditions, that wouldn’t have been much of a problem for Blair Burdette, a brand marketing manager for a children’s clothing manufacturer located about four miles from Trinity. Normally, the drive from work to Trinity takes about a half-hour.
On Tuesday, it took two hours and 20 minutes to get to her 15-month-old son, Andrew.
“I wasn’t worried about my son,” she said. “As a parent, you’re always worried about being late. I know the teachers there would have stayed as long as it took. Trinity is great about that.”
Anne Hoffman, executive director at Trinity, said she wasn’t worried about parents arriving late. She was worried about them arriving safely.
— Wayne Washington
Teachers stuck in traffic, too
Page Gillett, who teaches fourth grade in Smyrna, had been on the road four hours by 5 p.m., and was still only halfway to her East Cobb home, a ride that typically takes 30 minutes. Luckily, her Kindle was fully charged, and with traffic at a complete standstill, she was able to read from her copy of Khaled Hosseini’s latest book, “And the Mountains Echoed.”
Luckily, her husband had left work early to pick up their daughter from school while Gillett stayed until 1 p.m. at her own school to make sure her students got picked up. Her daughter texted to let her know her know that they were just up the road.
— Ty Tagami
Empty at Hartsfield
Hartsfield was a small village Tuesday with many of the gates looking like virtual ghost towns, at least compared to the bustle of passengers usually pushing their way through. In the Atrium, three men – a North Carolinian, A Philadelphian and a man from Monticello, Ga., traded anecdotes while waiting to find out if they would make it to their next destination.
The North Carolinian, Christopher Paul George, 42, got stuck Monday night because of a cancelled Delta flight to Lafayette, La., where he was going to see his daughter. He said he couldn’t find a hotel last night and that he didn’t get a voucher from Delta. He has no idea, he said, where his bags have ended up.
“It will never happen again,” he grumbled. “When I got here, I was like O.J. in the old Hertz commercial trying to get to my gate. And when I got there the flight was cancelled.”
- Steve Visser
Unhappy at Hartsfield
J.D. Dickinson of Charleston, S.C., and a score of other stranded passengers were taking clear aim at Delta Air Lines Tuesday after they were spending their second day stuck at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. The airline had started cancelling flights by Monday evening in anticipation of the coming snow storm.
“Delta put me up in some fleabag hotel last night. There was literally a hooker checking in with a John,” said Dickinson, before holding up a couple of food vouchers. “They gave me two $6 food vouchers that literally bought me one beer.”
The drafts at Chops at the airport go for $10.50 before tax. Credit cards are the lifeline for the stranded traveler. Attempts to reach Delta for comment Tuesday were unsuccessful.
- Steve Visser
Stocking up
Calvin Jones and his wife Karen, were trying to get fully prepared. Because the grocery stores in Atlanta were so full, they drove to Cobb to do some last minute grocery shopping.
They took home two shopping carts full of food.
“We have to do this for the weather,” Calvin Jones said. “We don’t know how long this is gonna last. We are trying to stock up for a house of three kids and three adults.”
“We have bread. General snacks. Fruit for the kids,” Karen Jones said. “We will be ready. Shouldn’t have to go out of the house for a while.”
— Ernie Suggs
About the Author
