Georgia public safety officers' humor warms hearts during snow, ice

For those who crashed their cars in Wednesday's ice and snow, Georgia's winter weather was no laughing matter.

But the majority of Georgians enjoyed having time off from work and school to play in the snow or huddle inside to stay warm.

Although public safety officers took the storm seriously, some had a little fun with their Facebook followers.

Monroe County EMA director Matt Perry let his followers know he was not on a panicked "bread and milk" run Tuesday afternoon but really needed to buy groceries since he had been busy all weekend.

"Me being at Ingles tonight has nothing to do with the fact we're going to get a smidge of the white stuff tonight and tomorrow," he wrote.

Even before the snow started to hit the fan, the Hall County Sheriff's Office posted on Facebook that "I just can't winter anymore" after a couple bouts of snow already this season.

By 6 a.m. Wednesday, the Hall County sheriff's office was getting widespread reports of ice on roads prompting the sheriff to post: "I can personally attest that the north end and the city are slicker than greased moose poop. Stay home. Drink Coffee. Coffee doesn't judge. Coffee cares."

Nearly two hours later, the sheriff was back on Facebook telling followers that "back roads are like riding the bumper cars at Six Flags" as he included a map of trouble spots.

The entire Hall County map was selected.

The Oconee County Sheriff's Office Facebook page continued the chuckles throughout the winter storm.

First on Tuesday night, the sheriff directed inquiries about school closing to the Oconee County schools Facebook page in a post that mentioned and linked to that page 17 times in a few paragraphs.

Wednesday morning, they advised that they would not be on Facebook responding to inquiries about individual roads.

"We won't be on here in the morning responding to individual 'How is (insert road name)?' inquiries. We'll all be out pulling cars out of ditches."

The humorous tone evaporated a bit once the crashes started happening.

"Folks stay off of the roads. It's been a constant stream of wrecks this morning. Pulling a car out of ditch loses its excitement about the eighth time to do it in one day. Wrecks = tickets. You can't wreck if you aren't on the road."

Patience wore thin by late Wednesday as the Oconee County Sheriff's Office posted this: "If a Deputy is directing you to not travel down a roadway, he or she probably has a good reason for doing so. The fact that you are from Wisconsin and 'this ain't sh**' is really not pertinent."

Thursday morning, the snarkiness was back for those inquiring "Is there still ice on the roads?"

Thousands of people shared the sheriff's calculation:

"Let's see. Yesterday, the roads were covered in ice. It never really got above freezing. Once the sun set, the temps plunged into the teens. Multiply by the square root of Pi, carry the 3. Yes there is still ice on the roads."

This story was originally published January 18, 2018 at 10:11 AM with the headline "Georgia public safety officers' humor warms hearts during snow, ice."