Paint the plow — but don't crowd it!

By Pamela Chergotis
MILFORD — Student-artists from Delaware High School had an unusual canvas on which to inscribe an important — but much ignored — message:

When the wind is howling and the snow is falling
DON'T CROWD THE PLOW

Destiny Lourenco, Adrianna Mojica, and Julia Thompson worked for months, even before school started, painting the 1,800-pound, 12-foot-long and 4-foot-high plow blade that will soon be clearing snow from local roads.
Destiny and Adrianna said the effort was challenging because of the awkward angles they had to work with — kind of like painting the Sistine Chapel. They put on the paint, layer after layer, before the snow scene with a howling wolf amid the pines emerged.
The project is the brainchild of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, which is using it as an educational exercise for the students, so that they become responsible drivers in winter. And, of course, the message is for the rest of us, who can't seem to wait for the snowplows and their weary drivers to do their job. Not only do motorists who block and pass the plows make the snow plow drivers' work infinitely more difficult, they risk their own life and limb.
PennDOT driver Jimmy Rickares said he used to feel sorry for impatient drivers who tried to pass him but wound up in ditches. He doesn't anymore.
Next, the plow will be part of a competition, in which other student-beautified plows will be judged. But win or lose, DV's decorated plow will be used to clear the roads around the school — while the kids relax, safe at home, enjoying their snow day.