The Medina sentinel. [volume] (Medina, Ohio) 1888-1961, 1920-04-02
HEAVY OIL WELL
DRILLING OUTFIT
DAMAGES STREETS
A Rumbling Tractor Outfit
Breaks and Cracks New Pave
ments on Medina Streets Pas
sing Over Them.
MAYOR GRANTS PERMIT;
MUCH DAMAGE IS DONE

Drillers at the Wilt Oil Co.'s we'll
out E. Smith road moved their heavy
apparatus Tuesday, passing over a
section Of E. Smith road, s. Broad
way, around the Square and out w.
Liberty street to the city limits. The
heavy machine, power driven, was
taken over the. pavements on this
route.
A city fireman called the attention
of the Sentinel scribe to the fact that
the heavy machine was cracking the
pavement over which it passed, break
ing the bricks loose from the cement.
Examination showed this to be true.
And it was true over the whole course
travelled so far as investigation was
made.
Sheriff Bigelow's attention was call
ed to the matter and he questioned
the driver of the machine who replied
that he had a permit from the Mayor.
Fire Chief, Wise came upon the
scene at this point, saw the damage
being done to the street and jumped
into his auto and made hurried run
to see the chairman of the street COM
mittee. The driver, because of the
objections raised, ran the drilling ma
chine to the north curb on w. Liberty
and awaited the outcome.
The Sentinel scribe phoned the
Mayor in the matter and he said he
had given these people a permit to
traverse the pavement several weeks
ago, and that at that time he could
not see where the machine was dam
aging the street; that the roads were
bad around the town and almost i'm
passable; so he had let them 60 thru
the city. He did not say, however,
whether he had given oral or written
permit.
Chairman Bell, Of the street COM
mittee, was taken over part of the
route and could readily see the dam
age that had been done. He at once
said that he would never have given
such a permit, and would not in the
future; that the damage was great.
But, as the mayor had given a permit,
and the machine had traversed the
greater part Of the distance, and as on
the old pavement out w. Liberty the
damage did not seem to be 50 great,
the man was permitted to run on off
the street.
The ordinance in the case says that
no such heavy machine shall be per-
mitted on the streets except planks
are laid down before it to protect the
street. The ordinance does not pro-
vide any place where the Mayor may
take matters into his own hand and by
permit abrogate the force of the law.
And in any event such a permit
should be made in writing and a rec
ord be kept of the transaction.
A large portion Of the street over
which the tractor passed was cracked
by the weight of the machine. The
crack was not very wide or very deep,
and no one is likely to fall into it.
But it is large enough and deep
enough to allow water to sift in and
when the frosts come the street at this
point will begin to crumble /and de-
cay, due to water and frosts. :
It is hard to tell just what damages
were caused but before five years roll
round the damage as traceable back
to this heavy traffic will likely total
several thousand dollars.
Business men who viewed the dam
ages were asking themselves the
question, "Why build street at a big
expense if any old driller can come in
and destroy them before the top sur
face has been scratcched?"