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Friday, June 16, 2006

Shootings in the parks, sure. But by George, do obey the speed limit.

Having moved back to Wisconsin after a twenty-some-year absence, I couldn’t help but notice that one thing sure hasn’t changed.

There are more police cars with radar guns on Wisconsin Highways than Brett Farve had interceptions last year. It’s not only gotten laughable, it’s gone beyond that. It’s gotten to be a problem. And the County Sheriff seems to agree.

When I first got my driver’s license back in the days when gas was 21 cents a gallon, we learned early on that speeding on the freeways was gonna cost ya money. This was all well and proper and good, of course. At 16, I had the brains of well, a 16-year old.

But these days, I couldn’t help but wonder why we have so much hardware and manpower out there on the highways while at the same time, we’re having so much firepower cutting loose in the city. Shooting, after beating after assault after shooting. Then I read in the Journal/Sentinel where the County Sheriff asked the Highway Patrol to take over some of his road duties so that he could bring some officers to bear on the problems in the parks.

Hallelujah!

Would it be so disastrous to our state if people drove 75 or so on the highways?
That is, by the way, the limit in some other states. After all, cars are better built to drive at this speed now then back when we rolled the windows down by hand. Couldn’t we put our tax dollars to better use trying to make us safe when we walk around the city?

Lest you think I’m lusting to play NASCAR on the road to Madison, please know that I haven’t gotten a speeding ticket in 20 years. And the last one was for going 29 in a 20 mph zone. And that was in Illinois.

I also know that as gas prices go up, we’d like everyone to take the speed down.
But you and I both know that the real reason for gas prices being what they are is not how fast you drive to Wausau.

Look, here’s the situation. We have some severe racial and public safety issues in the city of Milwaukee. We also have a financial crisis looming on the County Parks.The police – any police, be they City, County or State – are needed to address these issues. Yes, highway safety is important. But for some reason, Wisconsin is still of a mind to put out squadrons of officers in F-15 interceptors sitting at the top of the rise pointing radar guns at motorists.

Somehow, I really think we’ve managed to put a lid on highway carnage. Especially since most of that is caused by guys who bought fake Illinois licenses anyway.

Can we move on now to other problems?

The kind that are really taking lives?

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