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By Clay Coss

As an early morning campus security guard answered the phone, the clock struck 4:30 a.m. Nearly 60 phone calls later, switchboard operator Dianna Fisher reported to work.

"The switchboard was lit up when I got here," Fisher said. "It (was) constant. I couldn’t get my coat off."

She was referring to the 500 phone calls that she fielded in two hours on the morning of Jan. 31 after the Illinois Valley was bombarded by six to eight inches of snow. Students were asking if the college was in session. It was.

Overwhelmed by the volume of calls, Fisher suggested that in the future students listen to their local radio stations rather than call the college.