Letter to the Editor

Open season on senior citizens?

Friday, August 31, 2012

To the editor:

Open season on senior citizens! Harass, scare, intimidate, whatever -- it's great sport to some people, I guess.

I'm a 69-year-old man who lives in Westminster-South Pointe Community, otherwise know as the "Air Base." I ride my bike for exercise. I try to ride 20 miles a day if I can. I have two flashing lights on the front of my bike and one on the back so people can see me. When I ride, I have to deal with some people driving 40-50 mph, not caring how close they get to me or if they hit me or not. As the Blytheville police don't seem to care or direct any of their attention to this problem, I guess I'll have to live with it. I hope.

This morning (Aug. 28) I was riding west, next to the curb and a car was coming east in the other lane. When the car got almost even with me I heard a loud truck engine behind me. As I turned to look I was forced against the curb by a truck. and then it abruptly turned right, directly in font of and only a few feet from me onto Palm Circle Drive. It missed running over me by scant inches. It was a Blytheville city garbage truck.

I was shaking, scared and out of breath. The truck stopped to load more garbage and so I approached it. The driver was laughing and making fun of me because of the way he scared me. He thought it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen. I parked my bike in front of his truck and called 911. He then started yelling and screaming at me, revving his engine and blowing his horn as I was trying to talk to the police dispatcher. All at once, he gunned his engine and swerved around me, again missing me by only inches.

After a second call to 911, an officer named Payne came by, and after my explanation of the events, said he would talk to the driver's boss, Marvin Crawford. I told him I would also call Mr. Crawford.

I called Public Works two times before I was able to talk to someone. I was disconnected the first time. The woman I spoke with said she would have the truck driver's supervisor call me. That was yesterday (Aug. 27) approximately between 9 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. I have yet to receive any calls from anyone. It looks like for Blytheville Public Works, it's business as usual. Same old stuff they always put out. Supervisors and employees who would be unemployed in normal situations can always get employment with the city of Blytheville. They think they're doing us a big favor by picking up our garbage. I wonder where they think the money comes from to pay their salaries. Does the water bill ring any bells for anyone at Public Works?

The only reason I'm writing this letter is because I'm not expecting anything to be done about the speeding and reckless driving problem we have here. I noticed one lady on Westminster Street has posted homemade signs on her lawn asking people to please slow down, as we are not as young as we used to be.

I mentioned this to Officer Payne this morning, and he acknowledged he was aware of it.

I thought of several ways to rectify this problem myself, but I'm sure all of my ways are illegal. So, I guess we'll just have to put up with it, as we don't want to cause any problems. Blytheville will always be Blytheville.

Tom Perrine
Blytheville

P.S.

It's possible if all the speeders and reckless drivers on the "Air Base" were arrested and fined, the city of Blytheville would soon have the money to pay the IRS debt Barry left for us. Ya' need to think about that, Mayor Sanders.