The story behind the Blizzard of '96

There are a couple of stories behind this front page.

A friend passed it along after I wrote earlier this week about the Blizzard of '96, a two-day monster storm that eventually left the region buried under 33 inches of snow.

For me, it is famous - or maybe I should say infamous - for two reasons.

One, it is the only time in 37 years that I did not make it home at night. I actually spent two nights with a band of hearty Daily Times compatriots at the old Green Valley Motor Inn on Baltimore Pike.

Second, and this is even more weird, this is one of the most memorable front pages I ever created - and the only one that never left the building.

That's right. When we finished off the paper that Sunday night - after the Eagles got crushed in a playoff game vs. the Cowboys - and after we had recorded the historic storm, we watched that newspaper roll off the press.v And promptly saw it stacked neatly in our press room. Every last one of them - except for the ones we took with us.

The governor had ordered all vehicles off the roads - including newspaper delivery trucks. It caused a huge ruckus in the industry, with many ink-stained wretches campaigning for an exemption that ruling.

Eventually, the historic paper was delivered, not on Monday, but together with the Tuesday paper.

First draft of history?

Or in this case, I guess you could call it the first drift of history.

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