(from the Winter 2016 Macomb Now Magazine)
By Denis LeDuc
“Come on, let’ get out there and give that guy a hand.”
“Sure it’ll only take a minute to give him a shove.”
“Ok, all together now…PUSH!”
So might the conversation have been on this snowy winter day in 1952 on Cass near Broadway (now Northbound Gratiot) in downtown Mount Clemens. The snow and ice appear to have just freshly fallen. It has not been brushed and scraped from the car windows. The sidewalk is not shoveled. The businessmen are all in their long-sleeve white shirts and dress slacks. There is a restaurant on the first floor and law offices on the second. Perhaps the men were having lunch or working at their desks when they heard the whirring sound of spinning tires. Knowing that it would only take a few minutes to help the men may have left their coats and jackets inside. The driver is behind the wheel and his door is open. Is he easing down on the gas pedal to get traction on the slipper street? Or maybe the car battery is dead? Has the driver been pushing too and just jumped in to “pop” the clutch, turn over the engine and get started?