The streets and roads in Vicksburg and Warren County are now pretty much clear of ice, and the remaining evidence of the snow and ice that covered the area for two days has melted away.

Compared to our neighbors to the north, we dodged a serious bullet, and the decisions made by our city and county leaders went a long way toward averting what could have been severe problems during the wintry storm.

But among the back-slapping and high-fives our leaders have received for their diligence and action, the efforts of several groups of people have gone unnoticed — the state troopers, police and sheriff’s deputies, city, county, school, and Entergy employees who were out early in the cold, sleet and ice to make sure the roads stayed open and the lights stayed on.

In the early morning hours Tuesday, city street crews and county road crews were out risking their own safety to spread sand and salt on bridges and some roads and streets to make them passable for those people who had to get to work. Their work continued well into Tuesday night and renewed early Wednesday morning.

Sheriff’s deputies worked double shifts and police officers stayed on patrol helping stranded motorists, working accidents caused by the weather and calling in hazardous road conditions for the road and street crews. Troopers with the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol patrolled Interstate 20 and other state and federal highways, also working accidents and watching for road hazards.

Entergy crews worked in the cold Wednesday getting power restored to more than 1,000 customers in the Bovina area after a weather-related problem caused a switch to break, shutting off power. School maintenance workers made sure problems arising from the cold were corrected by the time classes resumed Thursday.

Some people will argue that what these people did is part of their job — that they’re paid to get out in the cold and wet and make sure the roads are cleared and the lights remain on, and that’s a true statement, but they are part of that overall team of government officials and employees responsible for ensuring we didn’t have the problems that other southern cities experienced during the week.

If they didn’t do their jobs, the county and the city would grind to a standstill, and that would have been tragic during the weather we had Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

So while we commend our city and county leaders, let’s pass out some kudos for the rank-and-file workers who made sure the emergency plans were carried out and did their best to keep essential services going. They deserve it.