Community pulls together to deal with snowstorm aftermath

SALISBURY — Town officials and business owners scrambled to provide services after an unusual autumn snowstorm dumped well over a foot of heavy, wet snow and knocked power out for the entire town Saturday, Oct. 29.LaBonne’s Market was ready for the storm, with a rented generator arriving just in time on Saturday. Store director Rich Stomski said the diesel generator was in place Saturday evening, and the store was open for business as usual — including the use of debit and credit cards.The store also had an urn of free, hot coffee at the entrance, for warming-up purposes.Stomski said Monday that additional supplies of firewood and water were en route, as shoppers stayed focused on daily needs and not on buying a lot of perishables. Sales of batteries and candles were brisk.Monday morning at Town Hall, Town Clerk Patty Williams and selectmen’s assistant Emily Egan fielded phone calls — many inquiring about trick-or-treating — and handled whatever administrative tasks could be accomplished in the dark.First Selectman Curtis Rand spent the morning conferring with a representative from Connecticut Light and Power and on a conference call with other towns and Governor Dan Malloy.Hampering communications was the failure of the AT&T cell tower in Salisbury (which didn’t come back on until Tuesday morning). With many households in town using Comcast for their home telephone service, even those with old-fashioned plug-in phones could not get a line out.Sunday morning, Peter Feen was digging out Peter Becks Village Store. Two friends from high school, Josh Feil of Westport, Conn., and Randy Ashton of High Point, N.C., happened to be visiting, and took the opportunity to make a snowman in front of the shop.Ashton, in town to promote his Collared Greens line of neckties, draped a sample around the snowman’s neck.Meanwhile Feen cleared the sidewalk in front of Sweet William’s bakery, for which he was rewarded with a bag of muffins.“Tell me that’s not a small-town story,” he said.

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The Webb Family in the workshop. From left: Phyllis, Dale, Ben and Josh Webb, and project manager Hannah Schiffer.

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