INTERESTING Bob Tis column, ending with fear that St. Augustine Beach officials might violate government watchdog Thomas Reynolds' rights.
Bob Tis: Hot button issues make some people see red
Posted: August 8, 2016 - 7:12am | Updated: August 8, 2016 - 3:47pm
By BOB TIS
Recently I went into a mail center to send some compact discs off to my friend Woody in the Virgin Islands. I put the CDs in a box and went up to the counter. The clerk pulled out a padded envelope and explained that is what he would use for the job. I have had some problems with breakage in the past so I said I would stick with the small box.
“No,” he said. “I want you to use this.”
He was really pushing the envelope ...
That joke comes via my exceptionally goofy friend Shane. When possible, I enjoy a cup of coffee in a quiet spot with Shane. But he worries me. He has hot button issues. It seems that the same thing gets both our proverbial goats: unnecessary noise.
For me, it started years ago when I lived about 40 miles south of a major airport. It seemed like overnight the flight patterns changed and the jets were lining up over my house. I was just a kid but I watched some of the locals mount a small protest to the big airport. They said the noise from the planes was pollution and an invasion of their privacy. They somehow rallied the community to insist the flights to line up over the ocean instead of their backyards. I was impressed with their success and became an advocate for eliminating noise pollution for life.
But it is usually on a small scale. Not too long ago this guy moves in the neighborhood and he was really fastidious about his driveway. If some random debris happened to float down on the asphalt he would charge out there with the leaf blower. These insidious machines are ruining the eardrums of every ill-advised landscaper who uses them all over this country. The noise would grate on me like nails on a chalkboard. It would get all the dogs barking and just shatter any moment of nature I was trying to enjoy in the backyard.
So I did what I thought any rational retired juvenile delinquent raised on sarcasm would do. I put on my flip flops and went outside to say hi to the new guy in the neighborhood. I mentioned to him that a neighborhood ordinance had been passed against leaf blowers and I would hate to see him get on the bad side of the local homeowners group. You know, fines and such.
This was a complete fabrication, of course. There were no rules in the neighborhood. I got about a week’s reprieve from the blower and some funny looks from the neighbor. Eventually, he took it as a good-natured joke and maybe considered using his rake.
Shane, however, dabbles in a much more dangerous behavior. His pet peeve is people who leave their cars running in a parking lot and just walk off to do their business. I have sat at nice outside cafes with Shane and watched his face melt when a big diesel pickup parks nearby and rumbles while the owner walks off. This normally mild-mannered landscaper will jump up, hop in the pick-up and shut it off. I tell him that he will eventually get beat up doing this but all he can talk about is our carbon footprint.
I have seen him go up to women in cars, knock on the window and explain to them that their air conditioner doesn’t work while their car is idling. It scares me.
The best television this summer may not be on cable. They live stream and record the St. Augustine Beach Commission meetings. There is a gentleman who has some very hot button issues with the Commission and he stands up and lets them know exactly how he feels. Passionately. He charges the politicians with some serious malfeasance and demands answers. It is chilling to watch. In many ways he reminds me of Shane. I don’t necessarily disagree with him. But every time I see his buttons are pushed I worry he might wind up in jail. Or worse.
Bob Tis is a former Record reporter.
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