Home Opinion Mine Creek Revelations by Louie Graves: 2018’s Final Plea for J-Turn Officer

Mine Creek Revelations by Louie Graves: 2018’s Final Plea for J-Turn Officer

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JUST LIKE THAT! Another year has passed, and downtown Nashville STILL doesn’t have a duly authorized, certified (and armed) J-Turn Traffic Law Enforcement Officer.

For ___ (insert a number here) years I  have tried in vain to get the mayor to take advantage of my offer of almost free service. I ask merely that he officially designate me for the position and publicly give me the oath of office so we could get a picture for the newspaper. I could easily issue enough tickets to pay for my modest salary.

In avoiding his duty, the mayor has used a lame excuse — “I’m working on the city budget for ___ (insert a year here).” While he’s fiddling away with that alleged budget, J-Turners are thumbing their noses at everyone in the area stretching from the railroad tracks all the way four blocks north to the Post Office stoplight — before J-Turns disrupted this area it was called the Central Business District.

I’m sure that if me and other law officers could ever get a J-Turn terrorist into municipal court the judge would literally throw the book at him/her.

Just this last week I saw a massive dually diesel pickup pulling a horsetrailer make an illegal J-Turn and it blocked three lanes of Main Street plus four parking spaces. Well, maybe I exaggerate a tad.

But, enough of my exaggerations.

You’ll recall everything I’ve gone through to get this appointment:

•I’ve obtained, at my own expense, a closet full of 2X size camo uniforms — winter and summer patterns and colors. I even got a standard set of pink Air Force camos to wear on National Women’s Professional Volleyball Appreciation Day.

•I’ve repeatedly applied for, unsuccessfully, a concealed handgun permit from the Arkansas State Police because I think this position should be armed and ready to shoot wildly at fleeing J-Turn criminals whose thoughtless actions pose such a danger to the unsuspecting public.

•And I’ve filed an official complaint with the Office of Economic Opportunity that the Arkansas State Police concealed handgun permit mental examination requirement is a violation of my civil rights.

•I have practiced shouting “Stop, in the name of the law” too many times to count. I will admit that I sometimes get confused with Diana Ross and the Supremes and I shout “Stop, in the name of Love,” which might make a flustered fleeing flee-er flee faster.

I’m not even sworn-in yet and already I’ve had a great idea to enable our town’s devoted Official J-Turn Enforcement Officer to serve his appreciative public even better. I would get a semi-truckload of filled sandbags from FEMA, and buy a deer stand at the next Arkansas Game & Fish Commission auction of confiscated stuff, and I would put the stand in the middle of downtown Nashville at the corner of Main and Howard in front of Ruth Steeley’s insurance office where I would have a clear shot for two blocks in any direction. Duty in the stand would be lonely, and I’m sure Ruth would have someone bring me an occasional cup of coffee and a low-cal donut.

I’ll put the deer stand on the east side of Main because my experience has been that most illegal J-Turns occur in the morning when the drivers are probably dragging themselves in from a long night of boot-scooting on the Oklahoma line. The sun would be at my back and it would be easier to get off a good shot.

Even better, I could mount some powerful searchlights on top of the deer stand so that I could shoot at those sneaky nighttime J-Turn violators. Who cares if the streets are empty of other traffic? That’s not the point. It’s the intent of the law that is important, here.

There’s only a few cold, gray days left in 2018 if the city hopes to get a tax write-off for having a certified J-Turn Enforcement Officer. I say let’s take every advantage we can get. There’s no telling how many J-Turn tickets I could write between now and midnight of New Year’s Eve.

Just remember my pledge: I will steal only what I need, and I will give warning tickets only to the hottest and most deserving female J-Turners whom I’m sure would use this as a learning experience and not brag about it to their girlfriends.

•••••

MY CHRISTMAS TRADITION. My late wife won our Christmas tree argument easily. She wanted 10 strings of lights; I wanted one.

Okay, I said quickly admitting defeat. But you put up the lights and I’ll take them down. That seemed fair enough to her. She covered the tree with strings of lights, grinning at the thought of me trying to untangle the 10 strings later.

A few days after Christmas she reminded me of my de-stringing duty.

So I went and got the scissors and started cutting the strings. “Wait,” she said in a panic. “You’re ruining the strings.”

Yes, I agreed. I’ll throw these pieces away. New strings only cost about a dollar apiece. Somehow my solution did not make her happy.

•••••

THINGS I LEARNED  from reading (and believing) stuff on the Internet: The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

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WORD GAMES. The twins: Time and Place. Usually, their names are heard after someone says “This is not the …”

•••••

HE SAID: “We are not going to be able to operate our Spaceship Earth successfully nor for much longer unless we see it as a whole spaceship and our fate as common. It has to be everybody or nobody.” R. Buckminister Fuller, American architect, inventor and writer

•••••

SHE SAID: “I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness – it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.” Brene Brown, American researcher and social worker

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SWEET DREAMS, Baby

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