"Hill Street Blues"

We’ve all been there… you’re driving down the street, going about your day, and you look in the rearview mirror only to see that the car behind you is a police car. Wham! Your blood pressure skyrockets, little beads of sweat pop out on your forehead, and that little panic creeps in as you desperately try to think of what the officer could pin on you. Did I pay that parking ticket I got visiting my sister-in-law in Texas last year? What about that seatbelt? What about those Excedrin Migraine tablets that are stuffed in an old Advil bottle because it was the only one small enough to fit in the glove compartment? For God’s sake, are you driving straight down the street?

Since we have all been there, I offer a slight sedative you might try before your next run in.  It is called “Ride with a Cop.”  Simply put, it is a great experience.  Really.  What better way to see what the officer sees than riding “shotgun” with a Paducah City Policeman? 

Once the call to the Police Department to request a ride has been made, the day and shift to ride decided and some paperwork completed you’re set to roll.  I picked a Friday night shift.  I was partnered with Officer Justin Hodges.  Our beat would be from 28^th street to Jackson out to Lone Oak, though we would travel to the south side and to the mall area in the course of the evening.

O.K. this was not Hill Street Blues.  I didn’t sign up for that either.  It was a humanizing experience about the people who deal with those who are not, for the most part, on their best behavior.  The night covered the spectrum from fender benders to domestic violence, from the west side to the south side.  More than the events of the evening, what really sticks with me is how capable these officers are. They are “multi-taskers,” answering my non-stop questions, constantly looking for situations that just don’t look right, running license plates for offenders, and, of course, interacting with the people. Time and again during the shift when interacting with people, whose emotions can run high, my officer was  able to verbally diffuse fractious situations in a way that was professional, not power-driven.   

After my “shift” with Officer Hodges, I had a greater understanding of the professionalism of this “Band of Brothers” and the caliber of the police force in Paducah.

Buy Local? Apparently not...

Tonight’s city commission meeting has given me a headache and my Founders Porter has not helped. 

You look to the city to make logical decisions for all our citizens.  I get that.  When we make logical, sound decisions about things you understand that is a good thing.  It gives you the confidence that on the really complicated stuff we will act in the same logical way, right?  Well, I think that’s the way it works.  And generally, I think that is what we do as commissioners and department heads.  Now, this is where the headache comes in.  Tonight I proposed that the city allow the local Ford dealer to bid on city police cars instead of buying from the state approved dealer in Frankfort.  You know, buy local, and all the benefits that will follow to our fair city.  What seemed to be a logical idea, at least in my mind, sure got everybody stirred up.  Me included. 

I’m not saying the city should award the bid automatically to the local Ford dealer, but  give the guy the chance to bid.  I really don’t see a downside.

Am I missing something here?

Please email me with your thoughts, but don’t forget we have a mayor and three other members to email also. 

Allan

allanrhodesjr@gmail.com

Not Your Usual Phone Call

Yes, I did change the title to Misc Ramblings........

When the phone rings at Etcetera after hours it is usually "Are you all open?" or a phone survey.  Imagine my surprise when the phone rang Monday night.  "Etcetera Coffeehouse.....this is Allan Rhodes." Then,  "Hi, this is Jason calling for the Huffington Post......"

Really, the Huffington Post?  The interview was this afternoon. The subject was Senator Mitch McConnell and the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant.  I thought I would bore you with a bit of the conversation with Jason.

Basically, I shared that as the second most powerful person in the Senate, I was hopeful that McConnell could help the progress to get DOE approval for GE/Hitachi and/or do a full cleanup as in Oak Ridge.  I expressed the fear that as McConnell's number one goal was to defeat Mr. Obama this probably did not endear him to the Administration.  Also, as our Senator I feel his real mission is to serve his electorate.  Isn't there that understanding that I vote for you, though maybe I don't want to, so when something really bad happens you will have my back?  Anyway, you get the idea of the thing.

I don't think I was mean-spirited toward our Senator, but there are moments when I wonder, does he have our backs?   Or is life on the national stage just really sweet?

It has been an afternoon.

Allan

How I Got Here... Memories of the Campaign Trail

Well, here I am on the cusp of six months served as a city commissioner. Now that I’ve had some “seasoning,” I thought I could, from time to time, write a little blog post about my experiences and thoughts. I’ve never had a blog before… but I’ve never been a city commissioner before, either.

First things first. How did I get into this gig? Well, while you all were enjoying last year’s spring, summer, and fall, I was knocking on doors. 881 doors, to be exact. That was the whole campaign plan! Okay, I knew enough from my old days running a car dealership to do some billboard advertising, but knocking on doors and talking to people face to face would carry the real load. I met some pretty memorable people behind those doors. Here are a few:

A man named Robert was the first person to open his door and find me standing there. To my great encouragement, he wished me well, and when I saw him during the 8^th of August parade, I just had to leave the parade line so I could run up to his porch and thank him for his support.

In the River Oaks neighborhood, a lady asked me if I was a Republican or a Democrat. I thought, “Huh? It’s a non-partisan race we’re running here,” but said that I was a Democrat. She said that Democrats were “ruining the country.” I told her that I wasn’t after the country… I was just trying to get elected to the city commission! In all fairness, she did later apologize for giving me a rough time, and after we talked at length, she said she’d support me.

One afternoon in the neighborhood by Morgan Elementary, I was invited in for hot tea and conversation by a delightful woman who raised cockatiels and happened to be from upstate New York.

Another day, at my first stop on an afternoon of campaigning, I was asked if I was a Socialist. I was a bit taken aback—actually, I was floored. Once I collected myself, I managed to say though I believed that, in the words of Lincoln, “government can do for us what the individual cannot” I certainly wasn’t a Socialist.

Later that same day, I had just finished planting a sign in a man’s yard when he said, “Wait, one more question first.” When I answered, he told me to take my sign back. My crime? I had told him that I’d be voting for Mr. Obama. He said he’d support me… but apparently he didn’t want word getting around, so no yard sign.

In Littleville, I talked with a man and discovered that he had worked at my family’s car dealership years before and now runs a successful trucking company. With all the shared history, we had quite a visit.

I met a man mowing his lawn on Martin Luther King Drive, who asked me the now-familiar question, “Are you a Republican or a Democrat?” “Again?” I thought. When I answered that I was a Democrat, he said, “Great! I’ll vote for you!” Whew!

One particularly hot September afternoon as I walked up a driveway, a lady with a beer in hand said, “Nobody running for anything has ever come around this neighborhood before. My question is-- what do you plan to do for poor people?” “I guess I haven’t thought about it quite like that,” I said, “but I’m here in your neighborhood, aren’t I?” She nodded, satisfied with my answer.

Each day as I headed out to a different neighborhood, I dreaded the thought of approaching all those doors. Funny thing was, as much as I hated interrupting so many people’s afternoons to ask for their support, I loved sharing stories of who I had met that day with my wife Johanna during dinner even more. (And she loves this blog idea I have, because now her ears can get a break!)

I’ll try to stick to current events in my next post, but a little lighthearted history makes for a pretty good start.

Over and out,

Allan