The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1951-05-02
This Rock
Of Ours .
BY BILL GLIB

GdGA IL ItlS AoJO - q J1SAAIS
colored lad named CHARLES
AUGUSTA CLEARE applied fol
! work in the mechanical depart
ment of a local newspaper-The
Key West Herald. He received the
job plus a new name, when the
old, hand-operated press broke
down on his first day of work
John Denham, his boss, laughing.
ly called the boy Jonah
AS Jonah, he stayed on through
the merger of The Herald with
the Inter Ocean. Eventually, the
latter paper became The. Key
West Citizen. Five years ago
Jonah retired. Nevertheless, twice
a day-around 9 a. m. and 5 p. m
he continues to pay us visit.
Since his vocabulary is un-
limited by the normal barriers OF
grammar, Jonah's short sentences
are classics for complete cover
age of all necessary facts. For in
stance, to describe people who &c
to extremes, Jonah says:
They over-do's it."
I'm going to swipe those three
words today and apply them 10
ambulance drivers here on the
Rock
When they made a run" they
purely and simply "over-do's" it!
Granted that a few seconds
may save a life. The attempt to-
gain these few seconds also puts
hundreds of motorists and pedes-
TRANS in jeopardy Your sanbu7
lance driver is an excellent, lets
say superb, chauffeur. But his red
light and screaming siren isn't
sufficient to keep less skilled
people out of his way. Rather, the
excitement tends to make them
confused.
If doctors were questioned, /
think most of them would agree
that there is never an emergency
case that is worth placing the
patient as we'll as the general
public in further jeopardy.
The solution?
| would suggest slower driving
with an experienced attendant to
perform first-aid enroute to the
hospital. The doctors, ambulance
services, and insurance companies
are the ones to solve the prob-
lem. But unless the speeding is
curbed, the funeral homes are
likely to be burying their own
lads = good, fine, clean young
men. i-'ia't
Peoples Forum ""
The Peoples Forum is one of
the best sections of the news
paper. 1t furnishes a fool7proof
guide as to the interests of a
large portion of the public. When
one person writes, you can be
sure that dozens of others have
thought about the same subject
but are just too lazy to sit down
and put their opinions on paper.
Last week, there was an excel
lent letter to the Planning, Com
mission reproduced in the ,Peo-
pies Forum. 1t was written by
MR.. COLIN G.. JAMESON, OF
1901 Olivia street, and dealt with
the subject of traffic control. ]
wish l could have scooped our
editor by printing it in This
Rock of Ours"
To quote one sentence: When
you hire your traffic engineer,
thing he will agree that your aim
is to pass the greatest number OF
cars per minute by a given point
safely, even if the property own
ers have to suffer the minor
inconvenience of parking around
the corner"
1t set me thinking e.
Dosyou think a Key Wester i:
going to be willing to suffe.
minor inconvenience"
/ don't!
I've seen local store owners
park their automobiles SO as tt
block the entrance to their owr
place of business = leaving the
customer to park around the
corner if he can find an empty
spot.
Pm all for what you said in
your letter, Mr. Jamison, and
your sparkling Wit made it
pleasure to read.
How about moro citizens taking
an active stand on public prob
lenS?
Troubles will become stepping
stones to progress if you do.