Sitting in a warm newsroom here at the Erie Times-News on a Tuesday afternoon, it's been interesting watching some people scramble to prepare for the approaching "monster snowstorm." Everyone says it's only a few hours from burying us, and they already closed the schools in Pittsburgh. But I'm not worried.

Here in Erie, Pa., we don't worry about a little snow. In fact, we don't worry about a lot of snow. We take it in stride. Two-hour delay for the kids on their way to school in the morning? Not necessary. A snow day for Erie kids? Out of the question.

If the roads are passable, and they have been for the past month, since winter arrived in earnest, we're in business. That's why it bothers me when the local TV stations go on and on about snow warnings, heavy snow watches, etc., etc. If I want to know what the weather's like, I'll look outside my window. All those weathermen are just a noisy distraction.

This he-man philosophy toward the snow and nasty winter weather is something that was instilled in most of us in Erie at an early age. When I attended Cathedral Preparatory School, we never got a snow day, because our headmaster, a pugnacious little priest named Mosignor Robert McDonald, didn't believe in them. Msgr. McDonald would say, "If I can make it to school, you can make it to school." He lived next door to the school, which meant he had a decided advantage. But that attitude kind of imbued us with a can-do spirit. Nothing, not even three feet of snow, could slow us down.

I still feel this way, though I'm glad to be living in Erie and not in Oswego, N.Y., where they were buried by more than 100 inches of snow in a week. That would be a bit much.

-- Kevin Cuneo

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