"There’s something wonderful about a good, old fashioned snow storm. It makes one appreciate the gift of sight. And not only does it bring out the generosity of people, it makes us appreciate the power of Mother Nature and our connection to each other. We started out in a thick downpour of the snowflakes Wednesday morning and ran into a tribal member with a snowplow. We didn’t “literally” run into him, thank goodness, we met him around the corner from our house and stopped to say, "Hi." He declined our wish to photograph him at work, and didn’t wish identification. “I’m just volunteering,” he said, and he volunteered to plow our driveway. We thanked him and continued making a drive around the rez. We found the roads passable, probably due as much to tribal volunteers and to the big, yellow New York State plow truck that passed through in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, yellow lights flashing. Now that our status has changed from state tribe to federal tribe as of Oct. 1, 2010, we weren’t sure which outside entity, if any, would plow our roads; but it looks as though New York State is still with us. Thank you, Governor Cuomo. We then ran into two tribal leaders. We met Trustee Gordell Wright on Old Point Road, and stopped to chat. He said he just finished digging out. Trustee Lance Gumbs was manning a small snow plow on a tribal member’s driveway on Arabash Road." Get the Story:
Beverly Jensen: Winter Wonderland on the Reservation (The Southampton Patch 1/14)
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