Omnibus

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Occasionally, a note becomes notes and becomes a pile. When the pile becomes a plural, you remember the word “omnibus” and write what you can and clear off your desk. This is an omnibus (adjective: containing several items) column.

It seems every six weeks, we don’t have to go far from the Inquirer office to cover a car wreck. Three times since the first of the year, it has been only a block or two from 622 St. Paul and it always happens at an intersection. It is always during the day. It always looks to be caused by parking, ironically. Take the corner of St. Francis and St. Paul, for instance.

If anything larger than a 1982 Yugo is parked at the very end of the street, on the end, there’s a gamble that occurs at the stop sign. The driver inches as far into the street as possible to see past the bigger-than-a-Yugo vehicle, leans his or her head forward until it is pressed against the windshield, and makes a choice. There’s a slightly better than 50/50 chance the driver will make it. When (s)he doesn’t, it’s bad. It’s always easy to see who was accelerating and who was cruising through at 25 mph.

People have been hurt. Stuff happens. Right? Sure. But when accidents become plural, something should be done and this is such an easy fix, I thought somebody would have thought of it by now. If you have ever been in an accident, you know how expensive and painful it is. This is cheaper and easier.

Why don’t we have traffic mirrors on the poles so we can stop betting on crossing the intersection?

It costs much less than accident investigations and, depending upon your business, the loss of an employee for however long it takes to heal.

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We have a flag pole story that has become a minor criminal enterprise. The Inquirer hasn’t reported on this because it is technically a “personnel” issue. Now, it’s an investigation. Here’s what we know:

The City replaced the pole and was going to dispose of it. An employee asked if he could have it, since it was going to be thrown away. His boss said sure. Then, afterward, the boss of the boss said that wasn’t proper and the pole should be returned. This week, it was. But it was returned to the grounds by the Visitor Center. The Chamber of Commerce reported this to the City because, well, they didn’t want a used flag pole. Police were dispatched and wanted a statement. They insisted on a statement. The information I have is the officer insisted three times and even threatened to write up the person who called in for not providing information she couldn’t possibly have. The City Police Department was correct. The Chamber was correct (and baffled, I’m sure). Everybody did everything every person would do.

This continues. Note this. It’s all over a used pole that was worthless but apparently too valuable to give away. We may follow up. We’re trying to determine if it is worth it. The City should as well.

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 Speaking of the Chamber, it’s worth noting that they, and I, understand we are technically competitors for promotional money. We advertise and highlight many of the same things for the same people. That said, we were disappointed – and I’ve written about the decrease in funding they are given to promote events like “Come and Take It”. It’s the city’s biggest event. The idea was to hire a tourism director who could properly and acutely focus on such events. Advertising is being placed in publications and CTI is naturally part of the promotion. The only problem? The ads failed to mention the entertainment, which has been in place for weeks. That’s kind of important to people thinking of driving down from New Braunfels or Taylor.

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It’s worth ending on a high note. Barbara Crozier brought Shakespeare back to town, DuBose Insurance Agency cleared and cleaned the garden around the flag pole that wasn’t given away (this one at the Post Office) and I watched a woman stop her car and pick up a tired, thirsty dog I had seen running around my part of town for weeks. Not one of these difficult efforts was mandatory. These are great things I’d run up any flag pole on any day (even that big one). Thank you, each of you, for wonderful things. 

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