Retrospect: Ice shut down the county

The winter of 2018-19 has been remarkably snow-free thus far. Fifty years ago this week, it was freezing rain, not snow, that shut down the county.

In a story published Jan. 9, 1969, Russ Carson of The Commercial Review details how only two tenths of an inch of freezing rain that fell the previous night left Jay County roads in treacherous condition.

All schools in Jay County were closed for the day, as were those in Fort Recovery.

Indiana State Police at the Redkey post reported that while highways were mostly clear, county roads remained slick and hazardous.

Temperatures that were at 10 degrees about 7 a.m. that day were expected to remain in single digits into the evening before climbing to a high near 20 the next day.

Despite the conditions, state police had reported only one Jay County traffic accident.

A separate story from United Press International on the same day indicated that 14 states from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic had been slammed by heavy snow. In North Dakota, the temperature had dropped to negative-18, with the possibility of falling even further. Meanwhile, parts of Texas were experiencing temperatures in the 90s.