Morris surprised, a little disappointed, by mild storm

The staff of Anthony Agudelo Landscaping spent Monday feverishly preparing for a storm predicted to be colossal but turned out by Tuesday morning to be a typical winter snowstorm.

"Actually I was wishing for more snow, more work hours," said Juan Marin, an Agudelo employee, as he shoveled at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday outside the United Methodist Church by the Morristown Green.

Anthony Agudelo Jr., the son of the owner, was at the church riding a Ditch Witch mini-plow on the sidewalk. The company had pre-arranged contracts for snow removal in Morristown, Randolph, and Mendham.

"It's not as much as we thought but we're taking it seriously. We spent all day Monday preparing. Extra shovels, refueling cars and trucks, making sure we had extra generators," Agudelo Jr said.

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The dissipated storm gave a JCP&L crew a chance to take a coffee break at Dunkin Donuts in Morristown.

Utility employee Brian Lambert said preparations were intensive prior to the storm but his crew had no outages with which to cope. He covers Morristown, Summit and Pompton regions but can be dispatched anywhere.

Lambert said he worked till 10 pm Monday and stayed in the area overnight for a return to work at 6 am instead of driving home to Frankford Township.

"We still have plenty of work to do," Lambert said. "if it's not one thing it's something else."

The Morris County courthouse and state offices are closed today. Morris County government offices are also closed with only essential staff working. It was previously reported in error that county offices would open at 10 a.m. today.

County building and grounds workers stayed late Monday, plowing parking lots and roads around the courthouse and administration complex. Many of them were back by 5:30 am Tuesday.

"I don't know if the snow is over yet. Mother Nature had her own mind," said county worker Byron Barrientos as he shoveled, clad in a bulky snowsuit.

Michael Locke pedaled his bicycle to the center of Morristown, carrying a snow shovel. The streets were passable, many sidewalks shoveled and his quick ride was easy. Locke was on the lookout for shoveling jobs.

"I anticipated it wasn't going to be that bad. Shoveling for me is fun, good exercise. I do it voluntarily but if they give me a tip I'm glad," Locke said.

Fewer breakfast hotspots in Morristown were open than usual but Kiran Thakar, mainstay employee of John's Deli on Washington Street, had the sidewalk shoveled by 6:30 am and Taylor ham frying on the grill.

"I need work. I love work. People are looking for food," Thakar said. "I couldn't sleep last night. I was watching out the windows for the snow. Everything's normal. We're never closed. We're here 365 days."

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Peter Rotsides, owner of the Morristown Diner, said he awoke an hour early Tuesday at his Roxbury home, peered out the window, and didn't bother to disturb the inch or two of snow in his driveway before heading to work.

"It was nothing. The weathermen are the only ones allowed to be wrong and not get fired," Rotsides said. His diner, open 24 hours with a 20-year record of never closing, was bustling at 8:30 am.

"We had less snow in Roxbury than in Morristown and this is nothing," Rotsides said from his eatery.

Customer Susan Kennedy said she believed the storm had fizzled out by 2 p.m. Monday but a friend tried to persuade her she was wrong.

"Oh no, you're wrong,' my friend said," Kennedy recounted.

She said she had to drive her son to his work shift at Morristown Medical Center at 8 am Tuesday and feared a state-imposed ban against driving would still be in effect. But it had been lifted.

"Some storm of the century. We've all seen worse storms. The snow is so light you can sweep it," Kennedy said.

Hospital nurse Pamela Lu worked an overnight shift at Morristown Medical Center and breakfasted at the diner. She called the storm "a non-event."

"I didn't worry about the storm but I work at the hospital and I knew there would be food to eat and a place to sleep if needed. And there's always plenty of work to do," said Lu, who is a nurse in the medical/surgical unit.

Peggy Wright: pwright@njpressmedia.com; 973-267-1142.

Roxbury students sing "All About That Snow" . . .

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