"The Cast of the Roundabout"

Last night, right in the midst of the public hearing about the coming road construction on Main Street in Evansville something pretty remarkable happened. Well, it is really about what was averted. Namely disaster. Precisely a gender war that could have been very damaging indeed for all of Evansville.

The street designer was in the midst of explaining how a "roundabout" worked, when Ald. Sornson rose to object because of the possible danger of roundabouts. He said, "Do you know how many old women drivers we have in this town? These roundabouts are going to be far too complicated for them to understand. Why, I can see them taking a left turn and hitting somebody head on. Causing lots of accidents. This is going to be real expensive."

The old pro, Bill Hammann, tried to intervene, saying, "Now John...." John was not to be stopped however. He started to go on.

There were maybe 4 women out of 50 people in the room. Two were mayoral candidates and they were reviewing their position papers on the issue...
Another woman was the new reporter for the Janesville Gazette, the famed, Gina Duwe. She was just reaching for her pen and raising it to write.....

I had just seen the movie," The China Syndrome", the previous night, staring Jane Fonda, which tells a story of a possible nuclear meltdown. Right in the middle of the meeting, I began to hear the intermittent horns of meltown about to happen.....

Just then a burly guy in the front row spoke up, "John, we have seen how you drive, and we are concerned about YOU too."

Everyone in the room laughed. Then they began breathing again. Gina Duwe put down her pen. Disaster was avoided.

So there it was. Right before the debate began on who were the worse drivers, old women or old men. Evansville saved by just one burly guy who spoke up.

Even today, in the coffee shops, people are wondering, "Who was that burly guy?"

So, sometimes you wonder why the Observer is at all these meetings. Yes, even I sometimes wonder. It is because sometimes there is a little something that the mainstream news omits that you really need to know. Like how a disaster was avoided.

The Observer is on the job.