By Sue Kiesewetter, Enquirer contributor
and Erica Solvig, The Cincinnati Enquirer

A bicyclist and small car share a snow-covered Pleasant Street in Lebanon on Tuesday. (Michael Snyder photos) | ZOOM |

The aftermath of the weekend winter storm was still being felt across the Tristate Tuesday.

Many schools, including every public district in Butler and Warren counties, remained closed while road crews continued to dig out. Dwindling salt supplies, clogged side streets, heating problems and other factors led to the decisions to shut down schools across the area, including Cincinnati Public Schools, sending kids to sledding slopes, malls and video stores.

Twelve-year-old Dale Hathaway of Fairfield spent Tuesday watching movies, playing video games and making a snow fort and knocking it down.

"I've been having a blast, but it stinks if we have to make it up,'' said Dale, a sixth-grader at Fairfield Intermediate School.

Cincinnati schools officials decided at 5 a.m. Tuesday to switch from a two-hour delay to close all day after receiving reports that only 40 percent of the city's secondary streets had been plowed, said Jan Leslie, CPS spokeswoman. That, combined with ice-covered or unshoveled sidewalks, and reports of poor road conditions from bus vendors, prompted the district to close, Leslie said.

In Butler County, officials didn't lift a snow emergency that began Sunday morning at Level 3 - the highest - until 11 a.m. Tuesday, said Detective Monte Mayer of the Butler County Sheriff's Office.

Chris McGuire (left) and Daniel Jepson, both 15, build a snow fort in front of Daniel's West Chester Township home on Tuesday. | ZOOM |

In Warren County, the snow emergency was lifted at 1:40 p.m. Tuesday, said Sheriff Tom Ariss, who described the storm as the worst to hit the county since the blizzards of 1977-78.

By early Monday, West Chester Township was down to one load of salt per truck. Fairfield Township had two truckloads left Tuesday afternoon after running out of salt Monday, said Administrator Ron Randolph.

"So far, we've used 700 tons of salt in the township. In past winters we've used less than 500 tons," Randolph said.

One hundred tons of salt was delivered Tuesday to the Butler County engineer's storage facility, said spokesman Chris Petrocy.

"It doesn't really get us out of the woods," Petrocy said. "That's not a whole lot since we used 1,087 tons from Saturday to Monday.''

In Warren County, 400 tons of salt and 550 tons of a salt/sand combination were used to clear streets, said Kurt Weber, assistant county engineer. Workers racked up 1,375 hours of overtime from Friday to Monday.

"We've got 500 tons of salt left, and we're supposed to get another storm (Wednesday) and over the weekend," Weber said. "We had to pace ourselves so we could treat the roads.''

Parents such as Christie Schmidt tried to keep their children entertained.

"Our driveway is about as good as it gets - it's just a sheet of ice," said the mother of three Mason students.

"They've been riding their saucer sleds down the driveway. And we built up a pile of snow at the end of the driveway so they don't go into the street. ... They're thrilled."

Deerfield Township's Vicky Williamson and her sixth-grade son, Patrick, spent the day indoors to tackle an early round spring cleaning.

"We are catching up on all the household chores," said Williamson.

Enquirer reporter Jennifer Mrozowski contributed.

E-mail esolvig@enquirer.com or suek@infi.net