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City worker spotted urinating in carport
To the editor:
My name is Tom Perrine. I live at South Pointe Community at the air base with my wife and daughter. I am 71 years old. There is a closet built on to our carport in which we are to keep our garbage can. It is removed, emptied and replaced by Public Works weekly. I keep my can, broom and dust pan in this closet.
The morning of Feb. 23, I went out to place garbage in my can, and when I opened the closet door, there was a garbage man standing inside, urinating on my can, the walls of my closet and my broom and dust pan. When I recovered from the shock, I asked him what he thought he was doing. He said he had to pee and he thought this home was unoccupied and he decided to use it. I guess it must be OK to do this anyplace that seems to be unoccupied. I guess wherever he lives it must be done on a regular basis. Ya know, it would save on water as you wouldn't have to flush. This might be an idea we could all benefit from. I asked him what his name was and he said, "Ralph."
I went inside to get my cane and I walked out to the truck to talk to the driver. The driver apologized and said he would hate to have me cause any trouble for anyone as this was such a trivial thing and there wasn't anything he could do anyway.
I then asked "Ralph" what his last name was. and he said "none." I said is your name really "Ralph None?" And then he said he would tell me his real name because he could guarantee me the city would do nothing about this matter.
I then returned home and called our office and they gave me the phone number of the Public Works (870-763-7381). I couldn't find this number in the phone book, it might be unlisted. I don't know. A man answered and said he would take care of this and he would then get back to me.
I then tried to call the mayor's office. I could not get a working number, but I got this number from a private source (870-763-3602) and it worked. I told the lady that answered the phone my problem and she connected me with a man who said he would have the mayor call me after a while. Mayor Sanders called later on and said he would look into this matter and decide on an appropriate response. I asked him what he considered an appropriate response, and he said he would have to find out if this employee had a habit of doing things like this, what kind of employee he was and how long he had worked for the city ... things like that. I guess it's all right to pee in someone's home as long as you only do it a certain number of times. I probably need to go and see if he did a No. 2 somewhere. Mayor Sanders then said he would have a supervisor contact me, and he did. A person who identified himself as Mark Key came to my home and apologized and said he would take care of this matter and either call me or come to my home to tell me what appropriate response Mayor Sanders had decided on.
I would advise anyone who lives in South Pointe or Westminster Village to wear good rubber gloves and boots when placing garbage in your garbage cans. If there is a No. 2, don't slip and fall.
It is now Feb. 25, and no one has contacted me from the city as yet. As I have been promised by two different people with the city they would notify me about how this situation was resolved I can only assume that the worker was absolutely correct when he said he would guarantee that the city would do nothing about this matter. This administration loves senior citizens.