On The Road With A MI Tow Truck Driver

There's good reason why a lot of towers call snow "white gold" - tons of business AND great PR opportunities! Here's a story from the Lansing State Journal:

While all the snow Mother Nature dumped on the Lansing area over the past week had many people slowing down, Wayne Winton has had to pick up the pace.

Winton is a dispatcher and wrecker driver for Lansing's Northside Service, and over the past week he's been working 12- to 14-hour days pulling dozens of cars out of ditches, giving jump-starts and just generally unsticking stuck vehicles.

Despite the busy shifts and long hours, he said there's "an awesome feeling in being able to help somebody."

"Especially like if it's an older person and they can't really do a lot for themselves," said Winton, who turns 30 on Christmas Day. "I got people who call me who I've jump-started - I gave them my personal cell phone number and they call me whenever they're in trouble."

And Winton could have plenty of more chances soon to help out drivers in a bind.

The National Weather Service is forecasting that the rain Lansing is currently receiving will turn into snow sometime later this afternoon or evening.

Walt Felver, a meteorologist with the Weather Service in Grand Rapids said that a cold front will move across lower Michigan later today, refreezing much of the slush currently on the roads.

One to 2 inches of new snow could accumulate today, he said.