on Jan. 20.
Borchert becomesSlidell’s 23rd mayor
BY KIM CHATELAIN
Contributing writer
Bill Borchert, who has been on the Slidell City Council for 16 years, was sworn in as mayor Jan. 20, saying he will push to complete the Tammany Trace into Heritage Park, revitalize youth sports and improve drainage.
Borchert assumes the reins of St. Tammany’smost populous cityfrom Greg Cromer,who is leaving with 18 months left in his termtotakeajob with Gov.Jeff Landry’sadministra-
“I want to thank Mayor (Greg) Cromer for his yearsofserviceand dedication to ourcommunity and wish him the bestofluck in his new role.”
BILL
BORCHERT Slidell mayor
tion. By taking the oath of office administered by Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Will Crain, Borchert becomes
the city’s23rd mayor.But the length of his term remains uncertain.
The city’scharter allowsfor the atlarge City Council member who was the top vote getter in the most recent election to take over the mayor’sjob until aspecial election can be held. That is expected to happen this fall. In March 2022, Borchert finished first in athree-candidate race for the two at-large seats on the council, amassing 2,208 votes, or 40% of the
PHOTO BY BOBBY GILBOY
‘Win one for the Gipper,’ might have been aline from one of Ronald Reagan’smovies, long beforehewas the 40th President of the United States of America. On Jan. 21, the statue of Reaganatthe Covington Trailhead more or less said ‘Winter has hit the Gipper.’
BYANDREW CANULETTE and WILLIE SWETT
Staff writers
After what meteorologists billed as a100-year storm dumped as much as 8inches of snow in St. Tammany Parish on Jan. 21, residents still were talking about the weather phenomenon three days later,asthey pulled tarpsoff their plants,unwrapped exposed pipes and surveyed the wet mess left behind as the finalpockets of powder finally melted Despite the clean-up that was ahead for some residents, most had nothing but rave reviews of the magnificent snow that made much of the Gulf Coast (from Texasthrough thepanhandle of Florida) look more likea scene from Lake Ontario’sshores in
the dead of winter It was after all, an extremely odd site —snowdrifts nearly a foot high in Slidell, the Mandeville lakefront afrosty forest of towering oaks swaddled in grey mist, the statue of President Ronald Reagan at the Covington Trailhead looking like aHead and Shoulders shampoo ad, with acouple inches of snow resting on his bronze shoulders. Andasfar as anyweatherexperts could tell, it was arecord snowfall for all of St.Tammany —atleast in recently recorded history,said Hannah Lisney,of the NationalWeather Service’s office in Slidell. The entire parish was blanketed in white after the Jan. 21 snow (officiallycalled Winter Storm Enzo by meteorologists,) with 5inches recorded in Covington
andmorethan 7inches recorded in Slidell. To compare, Lisney said some 5inches were recorded in Folsom in 2017. Before that, in 2008, Mandeville had2.5 inches. There were also two inches of snow recorded in Slidell in both 1988 and 1993. But none of the recorded snowfalls compare to the 7-plus inches recorded in some parts of the parish on Jan. 21. Lisney said theNWS didn’thave data on snow levels in St. Tammany for eitherthe 1963 or 1895 snowfalls that blanketed NewOrleans with what some historians said was a comparable amount to what the northshore saw last week. It certainly was abeautiful site,the communitiesglistening
PHOTO BY SCOTT THRELKELD
PHOTO BY MATTHEW DOBBINS
really frosty treat —more than ahalf-foot of snow—was spread across St.
Snowfall is reminder to savor simple things
Andrew Canulette ANDREW’S ANGLE
Idon’tremember the first time Isaw snow. And as aSt. Tammany Parish native, where snow is amythical thing thatcomes around as often as ablue moon or amonth of Sundays, that makes me abit sad Pretty sure Iwas in highschool, sometime in the 1980s. Idoremember that it wasn’tmuch more than alight dusting, enough to make asorta’-snowball held together with abit of dirt, pine straw and hope. What we saw last week, though? No one from around here will ever forget it.
THIS WASSNOW! It was ablizzard, agale, awhiteout for the ages —ifyou’refromSt. Tammany Parish, at least.
Hold out your hand. Measure the spacebetween the tipsofyour fingers and your wrist. If you’re like most people, that space is about 7incheslong. And that’sjust about how much snow blanketed us last Tuesday (Jan. 21, for the record.) It startedwhere I am, in Slidell, just before daybreak. Powder, notslush. Thiswas thegoodstuff, the snow we trektothe Rocky Mountains afew times ayear to see, taste and touch Oursnowfell until well after dark. And it stuck around acouple days, too, with temperaturesaslow as 12 degreesthe next night.The combination wasa local weatheroddity for the ages.
Seven inches. It’sasmall amount, really,in the grand scaleofthings. We could get 7inchesofrain on aTuesday in July and we’d talk about it fora day, maybe two. And then we’dforget about it —another all-too-familiarweather event fadingintothe ether, like theinch or so Isorta’ remember fromthe ‘80s. But 7inches of snow? Here? Unthinkable Afew things Inoticed lastweek: After people took all the photos and videos of their kids, their pets andthemselvesout in theelements andposted them to their half-dozen socialmedia sites, they put their phones down. People went outside.They made snow angels and snowmen. Theytossed snowballsatone another.They fashioned makeshift sleds and found anything with an incline to tumble down, andthat’snosmall feat around here, right?
Point?Weplayed. We interacted. Facetoface. Persontoperson. And when we came inside, we found warmthtogether aroundfireplaces andinkitchens filledwith “Snowpocalypse” provisions. We knowhow to stockuponemergency supplies like nobody’sbusiness around here, and no king cake inSt. Tammany was safe last week, that’sfor sure. Did you get acall from afriend, alovedone,someone who just wanted to tell ya’ “CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS SNOW?” Idid. More than afew,actually.People wantedtotalk, to share some joy.Theywanted to say theywere happy to be alive at this very moment. Didyou noticehow quiet your world wasat night when no cars zipped down the streets, no big rigspowered down theinterstates? Did you hearthe lack of sirens frompolice cars and ambulances,the noise of no airplanes hurtling through the night? Idid. Iheard it all What did it say?
It said in an often confusing and sometimespainful world, little things can bring people together.In this case, it was seven inches of snow.But I’m reminded, too, of athousand cups of coffeewith friends,ofheld hands and hugs. Ihear laughter and Isee thesmilesof lovedones, some still here and some lost to theether Don’t forget.
Email Andrew Canuletteatacanulette@ sttammanyfarmer.net
Everyone in Mandeville was happy to know that Saia’sfamous cowthawed perfectly well after the record snow.
PHOTO BY GRANT THERKILDSEN
Kristy and Brian Ball, along with Biscuit, braveda snowy stroll on the Mandeville lakefronton Jan. 21.
PHOTO BY GRANT THERKILDSEN
Ayoungster’soutfitshined
SNOW
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in soft whitepowderthatbegan fallingjust before daybreak and continued in mostplaces until at least sunset. Children, whodidn’thave school all week following the Martin Luther King Jr.holidayonJan. 20 and four consecutive snowdays, built snow menand hadsnowball fights. Somebrave souls ventured further into the cold, taking their pets for walks on snow-coveredsidewalksand others turned inflatable inner tubes into makeshift sleds and were towed down iced-over city streets by four wheelers, trucks and golf carts.
Dangerous driving conditions remained a major concern forparish officials and law enforcement all week. Citizens wereencouraged to stay off local roads, with most covered in icefor several days as temperatures plunged as low as 12 degrees overnight on Jan. 21 and didn’tget back intothe 40s until middayonJan 23. Arefreeze overnight thesame daymade getting to workonJan. 24 atricky proposition, too.
To help offset the hazardousdriving conditions, parish offices remained closed after the King holiday and didn’topen until Jan. 24. Most businesses werebuttoned up, garbage service was suspended and mailtrucks were nowhere in sight.
In addition to the usual salting of bridges to help reduce the risk of ice build-up, parish crews repurposed “skid steers” to move snow from area roadways. The heavyequipment is normally used fordigging during drainage improvement projects, but every machine that could be used wasonparish roads the morning of Jan.22, clearing St. Tammany’s1,600 miles of roadway as quickly and safely as possible.
Parish President Mike Cooper urgedresidentstoavoid drivingduring andafter the storm, as temperatures continued to plummet each night, creating new sheets of ice over blacktop highways.
Parish SpokespersonMichael Vinsanausaid the parish didn’thave to close any roads because of the snowstorm, noting that “Mother Nature closed the roads forus.”
The state, however,did close some sections of interstate in the Slidell area, including the twin spans over Lake Pontchartrain. As of Jan. 24, travel on most local roads had returned to normal, though bridges remainedtricky in spots. The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway didn’t reopen to commuter traffic until Jan. 24.
PHOTO BY ERIC MCVICKER
PHOTO BY GRANT THERKILDSEN
brightly against a blanket of snowonthe Mandeville lakefront.
PHOTO BY GRANT THERKILDSEN
The sign at Mandeville Seafood on La. 59 said it all.
The bench provides the datelineand the story— Covington, La. (Jan. 21, 2025) Record snowfell on St. Tammany Parish.
PHOTO BY BOBBY GILBOY
PHOTO BY MATTHEW DOBBINS
Savannah and Michael Kilroyput the whitestufftogood use by having one heck of asnowball fight.
The Old Town Slidell Soda Shopusually servessome of the coldest sweets in town. But the
Tammany on Jan. 21.
PHOTO BY MATTHEW DOBBINS
PHOTO BY MATTHEW DOBBINS Youngsters swing in thesnowatHeritagePark