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Lisa Coles , Thoughts , Reflections, & Moments in time

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The sidewalk massacree

OK.Maybe we should give the city of Staunton the benefit of the doubt. Lisa Hartley probably shouldn't have taken matters into her capable hands and made repairs to the sidewalk in front of her Peyton Street home. After all, if citizens start engaging in random acts of beautification, where will we be? People will lose their jobs; the natural order of the bureaucratic universe will be destroyed. Can't have that.

Hartley should have done what any average resident would have — groused to her fellow residents about the cracks in the pavement and the unsafe conditions; whined about the slow pace the city takes to make repairs; then complained about the shoddy workmanship after the city finally sent a crew (four guys watching one work, no doubt) to do the job.

But no;Hartley, a professional painter and handyperson, had the temerity to do the job herself after the city had failed to respond in a timely fashion about other problems in her area. Last week, she replaced some of the sidewalk in front of her home, painted it with sealer, and marked the street with a traffic line and a crosswalk so drivers would stop cutting the corner and taking out more sidewalk. Voíla. And all at no cost to city taxpayers.

And for that, Hartley was charged with a felony and jailed. On the eve of the Fourth of July weekend, yet.

"We can't go around letting people paint their sidewalk," said Public Works Director Tom Sliwoski. "It's against city code."

What's next? Jailing little girls for scrawling hopscotch blocks in chalk?

OK. So Hartley should have done all the things we said she should have, plus allowed the city to waste more taxpayer dollars restoring the sidewalk to its unsafe, original low-rent splendor. After all, the job would have cost the city more than $2,000, since Sliwoski said it would require sandblasting, and since the city isn't capable of doing that, either, they would have had to contract the job out.

But no;Hartley, after being sprung from the pokey, went out on Saturday and did it herself. Withoutany sandblasting.

No more jokes; Staunton needs to do the right thing and expunge this charge from Hartley's record. Maybe they ought to consider offering her a job, too.

Opinions expressed in this feature represent the collective opinion of the newspaper's editorial board, consisting of: Gary Stout, president and publisher; David Fritz, executive editor; Cindy Corell, city editor; Jim McCloskey, editorial cartoonist; Dennis Neal, opinion page editor; and Macon Rich, production director.

Originally published July 7, 2005

Letters to the Editor

Taxpayer dollars wasted on charges

Responding to the article about "the felonious sidewalk painter," I can once again say, "only in Staunton."

With the horrific events occurring every day in America, I am appalled that for even one minute the local authorities of Staunton would even consider charging and further prosecuting a citizen for trying to improve a sidewalk. America's courts (at taxpayers' expense, I might add), are continually being plagued by absurd charges against otherwise hard-working taxpayers. If the work that was done was not satisfactory, could this lady not have been offered a chance to remove her work, at her expense, before having criminal charges placed against her? I truly believe that a huge effort toward redefining what a "crime" is is imminent! Taxpayer dollars could be spent more appropriately by filling America's courtrooms, jails and prisons, with true menaces to society such as child molesters and drug dealers. Early days in America required that there be a victim to make it a crime. In this case, who is the victim — the crumpled concrete? Any taxpayer dollars spent to file criminal charges in this case are simply a travesty of our judicial system!

LISA ROOT

Staunton


Bizarre news items boggle the mind

After reading Wednesday's edition of The News Leader — the stories of "the sidewalk-painting bandit" and the lady who took a drink while in New York — I must say it's too bad the Staunton Public Works Department and Waynesboro School Czar Lowell Lemons don't have anything important to worry about.

With all the fights and drugs that happen in school, (not to mention being in New York with a bunch of high school kids; that idea, in itself, makes me want to take a drink just to relax my nerves), Lemons needs to take a closer look at "Student C."

Last, but not least, that silly, time consuming, money-wasting business about painting the sidewalk: The lady should get an award for trying make her home and sidewalk better, and just maybe she can explain to those poor city workers how to take up paint without spending $2,000 of the city's money.

JIM ZIMMERER

Crimora



Level the playing field for moped riders

As a motorcycle rider, I felt compelled to comment about the recent story on mopeds.

The laws that regulate full -sized motorcycles by all rights should apply to mopeds. We have to register and insure our bikes, wear helmets and eyewear for our protection and to keep dirt, wind and bugs out of our eyes yet mopeds are exempt from all these rules. They run totally without regulation. With the "no license" aspect we get all the drivers who have lost their privileges due to drinking or careless operation of a car back out on our streets again, totally unregulated.

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I think it's time Staunton leveled the playing field with requirements for a city permit, helmet laws, and if the state laws allow, a basic operators permit and/or a drivers class requirement.

I am not against these vehicles; I love riding and the fuel economy is fantastic. I choose a bigger bike and still get over 60 miles per gallon around town and 70 miles per gallon on the Interstate. What I am against is untrained riders who cut in front of me, ignore traffic signs,and treat the vehicle they are on like a toy.

Another issue that needs attention is when these slow-moving bikes get on higher speed roads and defiantly run 35 mph in the main flow of traffic.

In the last year, the numbers of all types of motor bikes on the roads have grown dramatically and no class of these vehicles should be totally without regulation and control.

Helmets, eye protection and city registrations would be a good start, with encouragement passed on to our legislators to add them to the standard rules that all other motor vehicles are made to comply with.

Staunton

LISA HARTLEY COLES

Originally published August 9, 2006