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Twin Cities snowplow operator helps man navigating health struggles

A winter storm that dropped nearly six inches of snow at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport kept plow drivers moving across the Twin Cities on Sunday night and into Monday.

For Lamar Houston, the owner of H&S Snow Removal, the steady calls are part of the job. 

"You might get 10 or 15 calls. On a good day, might be 20. Then you're running all around the cities, you know," Houston said.

A call on Monday sent him from south Minneapolis to Oakdale to clear a driveway for Jeff Peterson, who said he is still recovering from major health issues and cannot shovel.

"Last April, I had suffered a heart attack where I had three, three arteries that were blocked. One was 100% with a blood clot, and another two of them were 85% blocked," Peterson said. 

He added that he went through 13 weeks of rehab, then had kidney issues that put him in the hospital four times in November and early December.

"So this is a little tough for me to be able to manage, you know, shoveling," Peterson said.

Peterson's children, according to him, arranged for the service. 

"My children were kind enough to hire somebody to come out and do the plowing for us, which was really nice," he said.

Houston said he did not hesitate when he heard why the driveway needed to be cleared. 

"When she told me the situation, I said, 'I'm on my way," he said.

Houston added that snow work can be unpredictable, and he takes on other jobs to keep the business going. He said this most recent storm demanded a long night of plowing.

"Got out about, I want to say about 12 o'clock. I ain't been home since, yeah, since midnight last night," he said.

Across the metro, city crews and contractors cleaned up throughout Monday, with many neighborhoods expecting multiple passes as streets and driveways were cleared and widened.

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