It All Makes Sense
I suppose it would be disingenuous for me to suggest that cyclists are generally smarter than pedestrians, so I’ll just say that pedestrians are generally stupider than cyclists. I ride on a regular basis, and often traverse a wooden walkway that has clearly marked signs at each end indicating that one side is for bikes and the other is for pedestrians. I never see bicycles on the pedestrian side, but ALWAYS see pedestrians on both sides. A paved path also runs along the beach for a few blocks, and large letters painted on the path state, “BIKE ONLY.” I’m not sure what that means, but I think it means that my bike is the only bike on the path. I guess I’ll have to start riding on the hard-packed path for pedestrians, because none are ever there.
In very unsurprising news, the taxpayers of Wildwood once again got what they deserved. They elected a commissioner who just happened to be a police officer. A judge, after weighing all the facts with a broken scale, determined that the newly-elected commissioner could remain in office, while taking an unpaid leave of absence from his position as a police officer. The numbers make sense. As a cop he made about $71,000 per year, and as a commissioner he’ll be paid about $20,000 per year. Almost anyone would be more than happy to take a $50,000 per year pay cut just for the opportunity to be a Wildwood commissioner, especially if you really can’t do much of anything in that position because of conflicts of interest. The fact that he was facing disciplinary action in the police department had nothing to do with his decision, and it’s unlikely that he even considered the fact that he would be able to resign as a police officer in a few years and collect a pension without going through the silly rigors of the disciplinary action. Fortunately, because of a conflict of interest, he can’t fire his old boss, and certainly couldn’t figure out a way to persuade one of his fellow commissioners to do so. Let’s hope the chief resigns before the commissioner’s term expires.
I hate picking on Millville, but these parking stories continue to amaze me! Millville has Philly-style parking downtown, meaning signs that limit parking to two hours. Apparently quite a few visitors received parking tickets and said they liked the town but weren’t coming back. Not wanting to upset visitors, the mayor is considering increasing the free time to three hours! Whoa, Nellie! The mayor (I know he’s not stupid, because he’s my cousin) said he had even considered unlimited parking, but didn’t want to see the same cars sitting in one place for days at a time. I know this is a silly suggestion, but why not put up signs that read, “NO OVERNIGHT PARKING?” Oh, I guess that wouldn’t work.
There’s that darned global warming at work again! Hurricane forecasters have just lowered their estimates for the number of storms this year due to cooler temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean. I guess the intense heat has drawn all the warmth from the ocean, or something like that. No explanation as to why we had hardly any hurricanes last year, even without the cooler water temps. I never was all that good at science.
Anyway, the end of July is in sight, and I’m still waiting for summer to arrive. We’ve had a few summery days, but mostly it’s been like spring here at the shore. That’s fine with me, after spending time in both Georgia and Vietnam without ever determining which was worse, weather wise. For living, I’d probably pick Georgia, just for the culture and housing. Quite a few people speak English down there, too, and it’s somewhat more understandable than the English spoken in Vietnam. Okay, I’m kidding, ha-ha! The English in Vietnam wasn’t all that bad.
Well, I see the prosecution is resting again, probably after lugging those legal “briefs” around. It sounds like a good idea to me.