Have I Mentioned Busy Day Lately?

Thursday Part 2:
Had a short early post because I wasn't home yet. We found something at a garage sale for a friend of ours and I stopped at their house to drop it off on the way home and ended up staying there for dinner and then helped them with their computer/talked until 10:00pm. So it was a long and busy day but at least tomorrow is Friday! Yea!

I didn't mention what happened last night on the way home. Some of you may realize what the reputation of our police force is like and some may not. We live in a small town between other larger towns which is good in many respects and not so good in others. It used to be in our town that we had our own police force and they were known to be very strict with speed limits and pretty much everything else too. Some time ago the police force was abolished and was combined with a neighboring town to create a new police force and the new chief of police didn't have that same philosophy about trying to get revenue for the town and ticketing people for going one mile over the speed limit (I've heard many stories through the years.)

So we've noticed through the years that we've lived here (6 1/2 so far) that traffic patterns are becoming more and more like other towns where if you aren't speeding they ride your behind until you turn or speed up. Personally it bothers me because this is our town and I don't really like to see everyone flying through here. And actually it's gotten really bad in our subdivision to the point many of us are complaining to the village and the police department that we need to do something to slow people down on our actual street and the street that comes in off of Hainesville Rd. There are a lot of kids in our subdivision and quite often some unsupervised kids in the street even and the last thing anyone wants to have happen is that one of these kids gets hurt or worse.

So anyway, with all this in mind along with the fact that I have a loaner car that I'm still getting used to I'll tell you what happened last night. We came home from dance class around 9:30pm or so and since it was Memorial Day on Monday our trash, recycle and yard waste pickup was delayed a day and would be coming on Thursday this week. I didn't have any yard waste stickers to put on our yard waste cans and needed to go get some. So I basically dropped Julie and Grace off and went to the local 7-11 to get some. After I had bought them I realized I didn't have any more yard waste bags to put the grass clippings in and I couldn't remember if the place I wanted to go to buy them from was open until 10:00pm or not, so I used the web feature on my cell phone and was able to look up their hours (free compared to calling 411) and determined that I could easily make it there before they closed. So I went out to Fox Lake and picked those up and was heading home. I was about 6/10 of a mile from my house and going eastbound on Washington St approaching the intersection of Hainesville Rd. The light was red so I stopped in the right turn lane since I was turning southbound onto Hainesville Rd to get to our subdivision which is only about 1000 ft south of Washington St. The light turned green and I went and after almost completing the turn I floored it (keeping in mind that I only had 1000 ft to cover and I never got going very fast.) Also keep in mind that this car has traction control and the tires don't really squeal when you give it a lot of gas, it just goes. Also keep in mind that this car is front wheel drive and I had just come to a complete stop at a stop light. After flooring it, I noticed the squad car sitting there on my right only about 200 ft in front of me, and as soon as I saw him, his lights went on. So I pulled right in front of him, he didn't even have to move his squad car. Maybe this bothered him, I don't know. But he definitely had an attitude with me.

He comes up to the car with his hands on his hips and says condescendingly "And just what are you doing?" I responded that this isn't my car and I was just messing around. His reply was "I'd call that reckless driving - you came around that corner sideways." I didn't answer the way I wanted to, but instead said that I wasn't sideways and I wouldn't consider it reckless driving. His reply was "Oh so now you want to argue with (or question - can't remember) me? Maybe I should just arrest you now." I then said that that was his decision. He said "No, that's your decision." A little later he says "What do you think I only pull over orange cars?" So anyway, he takes my license and proof of insurance and goes back to his squad car to run everything through the computer. And big surprise, he doesn't find anything. At this point I'm wishing I had MY plates on the car because they say U.S. Marine Corps on them.

He comes back and says "Is this a dealer car (obviously he knows this because the plates are registered to Sessler Ford)?" I said yes it is and he asks "Do you work for the dealership?" I said no that we had a leased car that we turned in and the car we ordered isn't in yet so they're loaning us this car. He asks "Do they know you're beating the crap out of their car?" I said they must expect at least a little of that. He said to "tell them that he would never buy a car from them." I'm thinking alright, and??? So then he says "Well I think you're a little old to be doing these things. If you were 17 I might understand, but you're past that stage now." Again I'm thinking okay..... So he says to stop doing this and that "you can't do that in this town." I said I know, and that I live here. And he says "I know" quite emphatically. And that was it. Personally I think he let me go because he didn't really have anything to write me up for. Which would have been all the more interesting if he would have followed through with the whole I can arrest you right now threat.

I felt like I was harassed. Especially since I wasn't speeding. The only violation I might have qualified for was spinning the tires, but like I said the car has traction control and they don't really spin. A friend of ours who is a Lake County Sheriff's Officer said he was just bored. A friend of his who should soon be a Lake County Sheriff's Deputy asked if the guy was short. I said yes, how would you know that. He said it's short guy syndrome where they've been abused all through their lives for being short and now they take it out on everyone else since they have all this "power". Which is funny because another friend asked the same question. I said yes he was, and why? She said that she ALWAYS sees him pulling people over on Hainesville Rd.

And I don't think he is one of the officers that routinely patrols our neighborhood. I'm quite friendly with them and wave and talk to them as often as they drive by. Another friend suggested I report the treatment I received to the police chief and I'm thinking I'll ask a friend that works for the village if they thought that was a good idea. Julie thinks it's a bad idea because then this police officer will have a vendetta against me and always be on the lookout to find anything I might do wrong. I'm getting to the age now where I say who cares, I've got nothing to hide and I pay your salary.