Pine Bluff News
By Pat Matheny
Monday was a beautiful day in PB, so I decided to break out the riding mower.
I know everyone says that it’s a bad luck to mow before Easter, but the yard was in dire need. Besides, I don’t remember reading anything about this in the bible. After mowing, I turned the outside water on and filled and hung four hummingbird feeders around the patio. I cleaned out a corner in the shed for the snow blower and moved same from breezeway to its new location.
Tuesday, I made the annual trip to the Harrison Co. Courthouse to pay our taxes. I had to use one of the parking lots in behind. Thank goodness there was a lady behind me that kind of knew how to operate the parking meter station (Kiosk?). Between the two of us, we each walked away with a white ticket in our hand, legally.
At the entrance I made it through ‘Check Point Charlie’ all right. I had already stripped my body of any medals (Except for keys) when exiting truck in parking lot. The lady in the tax dept. was very nice and had a smile on her face and took my checks with no problems at all. However, when I later saw that our personal property tax jumped by 700%, I didn’t have a smile on my face…funny how that works.
On the way home, I stopped at the WVDOT District 4 HDQ in Bridgeport. I was there two years ago and talked to a lady about local road grievances; slip in road, white lines, and PB sign at end of Shinnston Bridge. She wrote everything down and said someone would be in contact. No one has ever contacted me and apparently, after I left, she wadded up the paper and threw it in circular file 13, because not one thing has been addressed. So, I have been there before.
The gentleman I talked to this time wrote everything down and seemed very concerned when I showed him pictures of the slip in the road that I took that morning. I asked him if he read the Shinnston N&J and he said no. I informed him I write a column for the paper and that I have been putting the bad mouth on you guys for the past three years (He didn’t seem real thrilled).
He told me that there would be people in contact with me concerning the slip and lines; he was going to take care of the sign himself. That evening, when I went down the road to attend Vet meeting, they had erected stop signs with caution lights on each side of slip cutting the road down to one lane.
Wednesday, I took Susie to a doctor appointment at Charles Pointe, followed by a trip to pick up meds. After returning home, Lee and Patty stopped by for a nice visit, closely followed by Deb (Ding dong lady) and Berni.
Thursday, I received a call from an engineer that works at the Gore garage about the slip in the road. He didn’t paint a very rosy picture. He said he’s trying to keep at least one lane open for traffic, but he doesn’t know for how long. Also, he said the steel for pile driving has been on order for over two years…this doesn’t sound good.
I asked him about the lines on the road and he said a traffic engineer would be in contact concerning that problem…I haven’t heard from him yet. Then, I found out that the first guy I talked to is the boss of the traffic engineer. So, why couldn’t he give me an answer when I was there? It’ll be interesting to see how this dog and pony show plays out.
I didn’t mention anyone’s name because I wouldn’t want to hear the words libel and slander being thrown around in a courtroom.
Until next time, have a great week and remember our Veterans.
Pat