Bumps, Miss Beana and a Congressman’s Early Retirement
Posted: Friday, April 16, 2010
by Bing Limousin
DreamHill Farms
It took some time but Miss Beana won.
For awhile it seemed like the entire state was focused on watching her and the very powerful congressman Sam Gringle volley back and forth in the daily media. The Congressman had met his match with the retired schoolteacher, as he was publically spoon-fed common sense until he gagged and choked on it. It ended up killing him- politically that is.
The whole, nasty episode began last April. It was a warm, sunny spring morning. Congressman Gringle was getting ready to make a breakfast speech up at the state capitol somewhere; but not before he polished off his third helping of chorizo, onions and eggs. On that very same morning the road department began to set up orange construction barrels along a five mile stretch of County Road 22, which ran into the small town of Stokesville. It was to be a routine re-pavement job. That same stretch of road runs in front of Miss Beana Wayland's house. Miss Beana is a retired schoolteacher who had guided many of the county's citizens to the righteous path of knowledge. On this day she would begin to teach the Road Department, Congressman Gringle and every state official in between, a lesson about truth and common-sense.
If you were ever in Miss Beana's class you learned much, especially the importance of telling the truth!
It all started with a short, innocent note Miss Beana had sent to the county road department reporting what she said was an error in their routine road repair. Rather than following up on the information and satisfying the query, the county officials took an aggressive, defensive posture, refusing to admit that she could possibly be right and they could possibly be wrong. That was their undoing!
In spite of the public official's attempt to snuff the matter it ended up going all the way to the state capitol, and to Congressman Sam Gringle. Folks figure he resented being made to look stupid by some local-yokel, retired school teacher. After all, he was a Congressman and she was not! He, like the rest of the officials, tried to brush aside any of the citizen's concerns and assumed that any error was not theirs.
So, if facts are truth then here was the deal: When the road department resurfaced CR 22 they had to include a new national road standard calling for twelve inch wide 'Rumble Strips' etched on the edge of each lane to warn motorists when they are nearing to go off the road. Miss Beana calls them bumps. When tires roll over the strips it makes a loud sound, not to mention vibrating the heck out of the vehicle, so as to alert the driver to get back on the road. Now Miss Beana is too nice of a person to use such a national mandate to spill any political worn feelings about big government but, Jake ain't so timid. "It's like anything they do. They figure up in Washington that people are too stupid to know to stay on the road so they have to use tax dollars to remind us!"
Now, CR 22 is an old road, paved over the original dirt one back in the 30's. The road meanders through beautiful rolling farm country in the west part of Parrot County. The lane width is pretty tight, always has been, and when they included the one foot 'Bump-Strips' it was almost impossible for any vehicle to stay in between the centerline and the strips-especially the section in front of Miss Beana's house. So, all day long she would have to endure the annoying sound. In her letter to the road department she claimed that road width was too narrow to accommodate the strips and that in avoiding them several folks had driven too close to the centerline. There had been a number of head-on collisions-injuring several. The road department sent out someone to measure a section and claimed it was within the federal guidelines. Miss Beana sent herself out to measure and found it was not!
Frustrated she started putting up signs in her busy front yard spelling out her findings and calling for the heads to roll of every official, including Congressman Gringle, who had publically called her a liar.
It all ended ugly for the officials involved. Their arrogance began to unravel when an independent study found the present rumble/bumps to be an extreme safety hazard and lawsuits could be pending.
Miss Beana won and within six weeks the road was fixed. They had all underestimated the determination of school teacher. They should have known better since many of the state officials involved in the matter had been her students at one time or another.
Congressman Gringle had never been a student of Miss Beana's, at least up until the great Rumble-bump-Strip incident. He is now!
The Congressman decided not to run for reelection in the fall. He wanted to say it was to spend more time with his family but knew that wouldn't wash-his family had left him a while back when he started fooling around with his, er, ah, assistant. So, for once he was compelled to be honest and said he decided to spend more time fish'n.
Enough Said!
Bing Limousin
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Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)And we need to fill congress with those just like her next election if that were possible. Thanks for showing us this feisty little lady!Please log in to respond to this comment.marijo,thanks for the note.i dunno, common sense & truth in politics??Please log in to respond to this comment.
"In spite of the public official's attempt to snuff the matter it ended up going all the way to the state capitol"That is ridiculousPlease log in to respond to this comment.dennis,thanks for taking time to respond. perhaps 'ridiculous' is a good word. it seems like we have learned to expect such by those who 'work for us'?but, then would we want these folks loose in our neighborhoods? (a future article)Please log in to respond to this comment.
Bing,So well written! I thoroughly enjoyed it to the end. It appears this woman was quite the teacher. Great story.Please log in to respond to this comment.kim, thanks for the kind words.a good teacher can make a person think for themselves long-term. like the old parable 'give 'em a fish...teach them to fish' (make them remember a fact...teach them to think)characters like miss beana with a spoonful of sugar can counter a bowlful of arrogance.thanks to all those teachers who taught us to think!Please log in to respond to this comment.
shari,thanks for you nice comment if you like characters and detail you might enjoy my story "the angel of maryville' (amazon)Please log in to respond to this comment.
Good for her. Wish we could get things like that done with the big government. I mean, who oversees the government? Shouldn't there be some independent agency auditing the government's actions?Please log in to respond to this comment.walter thanks for the note..my sense would be that if the government is 'by the people for the people' its them 'dad-gum people's fault for not overseeing their employees!Please log in to respond to this comment.
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