Letters to the Editor 01-02-2002
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
- Locksmithing - Dangerous Driving - Philharmonic Thanks
Locksmithing
Editor, Times-Union:I am writing in response to Mr. Kollman's letter to the Editor printed in the Dec. 18 issue of the Times-Union.
As Mr. Kollman stated in his letter, this is not the first time he has addressed this issue and that is my main reason for writing this letter. I was frustrated by his first letter, but assumed that the issue had passed since Mayor Wiggins, Chief Foster and the Warsaw City Council seemed to have no objections to the current lockout policy. Since reading this latest letter several questions readily come to mind:
- What is Mr. Kollman's main concern? The potentially neglected welfare of Warsaw residents and proper fiscal policy for the police department or is there a more primary agenda?
- If Mr. Kollman has been a Kosciusko County resident for 40 years, then why has this just recently become a major source of consternation for him?
- Has Mr. Kollman ever been in a situation requiring a locksmith after normal business hours and needing a locksmith to respond in a fairly expeditious manner?
- Has Mr. Kollman ever been the recipient of a "nice P.R. gesture"?
I would like to personally address a few of these questions:
- I work in a local business where we quite often have the need for a locksmith outside what some would call "regular business hours." During the vacation of our "regular" locksmith I was challenged with scouring the Yellow Pages for an alternative source. What I found was approximately three unanswered phones, two answering machines (one returned the call the next business day and the other never called back), and two "live" voices who could not or would not accept the business.
- Many customers I have dealt with in these situations are people from out of town or even out of state and assume that police officers no longer perform "lockout" service. When we inform them that OUR police department does still perform such public service tasks they are very appreciative and almost impressed that they have visited a city that still offers what I call "hospitality."
- There are many examples of "P.R. tokens" that we have become accustomed to:
- The after-dinner candy at your favorite restaurant
- The free pen or pad of paper from your bank
- The free local calendars we all receive from various local businesses
Everyone has a favorite example of this kind of P.R. and the businesses (the police department is a business) who utilize this clearly understand and reap the benefits.
I do strongly support a case-by-case analysis on the part of the police department shift supervisor to determine when and if an additional officer would be dispatched to assist with a "lockout." This would be his or her decision to determine if that action would jeopardize public safety as a whole.
Lastly: If I was an independent business person and I found that one source of my revenue had declined, I would immediately begin to look for a new source of revenue.
I am in no way advocating "big government" taking away from the small business person, but let's not try to fix a service and tradition that is not broken.
Michael T. Stetzel
Claypool
via e-mail
Dangerous Driving
Editor, Times-Union:I sure hope you print my letter, this could have been very tragic.
This is to the lady driving the maroon-colored van on Wednesday 12/19/01 at about 3:30 or 4 p.m. You were coming onto Argonne Road off a side street. Traffic was bad and a silver-colored Mazda got caught in traffic. Why were you in such a big hurry that you had to act the way you did? It was my daughter driving that car and my one-month-old grandson was in the back seat. You pulled right next to his door, honking your horn and cussing, giving her the finger. She couldn't move her car up any further. Then to follow them all through town trying to hit the rear of her car. It scared her for the baby. You followed her onto road 100N, to where she was so upset she lost control of the car and hit the guard rail. Well, lady, did you know she was hurt and the car was filling up with smoke, she had to get the baby out fast. And the nerve of you to drive up, stop and laugh and give her the finger again was so outrageous. They could have been seriously injured or even killed because you were in such a hurry. It's a good thing we don't know you. I hope you're happy you were so insensitive. Try sleeping good at night 'cause someday someone might return your actions to you. You didn't care about a baby in the car.
Sandra Bumgardner
Warsaw
via e-mail
Philharmonic Thanks
Editor, Times-Union:Cheers to the Warsaw and Winona Lake communities for their warm reception of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Holiday Pops, conducted by David Cooke. We also want to thank the very generous contributors who made the concert possible.
Mark your calendars now for Sunday, June 30, 2002, for the third annual Fort Wayne Philharmonic Patriot Pops Concert, presented by the Village at Winona. Bring your blankets, yard chairs and families to the amphitheater at 4 p.m.
Happy Holidays to all of you.
Colleen Benninghoff
Regional Touring Director, Fort Wayne Philharmonic
Fort Wayne
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- Locksmithing - Dangerous Driving - Philharmonic Thanks
Locksmithing
Editor, Times-Union:I am writing in response to Mr. Kollman's letter to the Editor printed in the Dec. 18 issue of the Times-Union.
As Mr. Kollman stated in his letter, this is not the first time he has addressed this issue and that is my main reason for writing this letter. I was frustrated by his first letter, but assumed that the issue had passed since Mayor Wiggins, Chief Foster and the Warsaw City Council seemed to have no objections to the current lockout policy. Since reading this latest letter several questions readily come to mind:
- What is Mr. Kollman's main concern? The potentially neglected welfare of Warsaw residents and proper fiscal policy for the police department or is there a more primary agenda?
- If Mr. Kollman has been a Kosciusko County resident for 40 years, then why has this just recently become a major source of consternation for him?
- Has Mr. Kollman ever been in a situation requiring a locksmith after normal business hours and needing a locksmith to respond in a fairly expeditious manner?
- Has Mr. Kollman ever been the recipient of a "nice P.R. gesture"?
I would like to personally address a few of these questions:
- I work in a local business where we quite often have the need for a locksmith outside what some would call "regular business hours." During the vacation of our "regular" locksmith I was challenged with scouring the Yellow Pages for an alternative source. What I found was approximately three unanswered phones, two answering machines (one returned the call the next business day and the other never called back), and two "live" voices who could not or would not accept the business.
- Many customers I have dealt with in these situations are people from out of town or even out of state and assume that police officers no longer perform "lockout" service. When we inform them that OUR police department does still perform such public service tasks they are very appreciative and almost impressed that they have visited a city that still offers what I call "hospitality."
- There are many examples of "P.R. tokens" that we have become accustomed to:
- The after-dinner candy at your favorite restaurant
- The free pen or pad of paper from your bank
- The free local calendars we all receive from various local businesses
Everyone has a favorite example of this kind of P.R. and the businesses (the police department is a business) who utilize this clearly understand and reap the benefits.
I do strongly support a case-by-case analysis on the part of the police department shift supervisor to determine when and if an additional officer would be dispatched to assist with a "lockout." This would be his or her decision to determine if that action would jeopardize public safety as a whole.
Lastly: If I was an independent business person and I found that one source of my revenue had declined, I would immediately begin to look for a new source of revenue.
I am in no way advocating "big government" taking away from the small business person, but let's not try to fix a service and tradition that is not broken.
Michael T. Stetzel
Claypool
via e-mail
Dangerous Driving
Editor, Times-Union:I sure hope you print my letter, this could have been very tragic.
This is to the lady driving the maroon-colored van on Wednesday 12/19/01 at about 3:30 or 4 p.m. You were coming onto Argonne Road off a side street. Traffic was bad and a silver-colored Mazda got caught in traffic. Why were you in such a big hurry that you had to act the way you did? It was my daughter driving that car and my one-month-old grandson was in the back seat. You pulled right next to his door, honking your horn and cussing, giving her the finger. She couldn't move her car up any further. Then to follow them all through town trying to hit the rear of her car. It scared her for the baby. You followed her onto road 100N, to where she was so upset she lost control of the car and hit the guard rail. Well, lady, did you know she was hurt and the car was filling up with smoke, she had to get the baby out fast. And the nerve of you to drive up, stop and laugh and give her the finger again was so outrageous. They could have been seriously injured or even killed because you were in such a hurry. It's a good thing we don't know you. I hope you're happy you were so insensitive. Try sleeping good at night 'cause someday someone might return your actions to you. You didn't care about a baby in the car.
Sandra Bumgardner
Warsaw
via e-mail
Philharmonic Thanks
Editor, Times-Union:Cheers to the Warsaw and Winona Lake communities for their warm reception of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Holiday Pops, conducted by David Cooke. We also want to thank the very generous contributors who made the concert possible.
Mark your calendars now for Sunday, June 30, 2002, for the third annual Fort Wayne Philharmonic Patriot Pops Concert, presented by the Village at Winona. Bring your blankets, yard chairs and families to the amphitheater at 4 p.m.
Happy Holidays to all of you.
Colleen Benninghoff
Regional Touring Director, Fort Wayne Philharmonic
Fort Wayne
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