Nonsense? why? Because people realize it is possible to drive on snow without heaping pound after pound of salt on the roads? People in the Northeast deal with 10x more snow that people in Ohio do, and its easy because they invest in good cars (you won't see anything but Subarus, Jeeps, and Audis) and good snow tires. For the amount of tax money that's saved by minimizing plowing and sanding, you could probably afford to upgrade to an AWD car.
EDIT: Oh and I forgot to add that everyone in the Northern states does it in mountainous terrain, not on completely flat roads like the midwest.