Here We Go Again

Dear Editor:

Is the Board of County Commissioners trying to stick their heads in the sand to ignore an important county safety issue? This issue could cause Gulf County to end up in court paying a huge fine for negligence. The problem began with my letter to the commission dated Sept. 17, 2009. I would have thought the commissioners would respond to my letter on this critical safety issue, but to date I have heard nothing. While waiting, I queried two of the commissioners in person asking if they had seen my letter to the Commission? Both replied that they had not and that they knew nothing of this issue. They said they would look into the matter and get back to me shortly. Once again I heard nothing from them.

However, the minutes of the board meeting dated Oct. 13, 2009 show that the board members did know about my letter. The minutes reflect that Commissioner Billy Traylor asked Chief Administrator Don Butler to address the letter in the information packet and on Oct. 27 the board was informed that Mr. Butler and assistant public works director Bobby Knee were looking into the situation and would come back with a recommendation.

I never saw anything more about the issue on Highway 386 from that date forward.

This is my Sept. 17, 2009 letter to the board:

“Last night around 8:45 p.m. my wife and I were returning home from Port St. Joe to Wetappo Creek Estates in a light rain on Highway 386. I made a shocking discovery. The reflective substance put in the paint on the roadway was no longer reflecting. The white side lines were almost invisible in most areas. The yellow lines were hard to see and a great many of the center line reflectors did not reflect much. That is the ones that were not broken off or just missing.

“Then we came to the curve south of Roberts Road, or on the ICW bridge side of Roberts Road, where there have been so many bad accidents. Power poles have been knocked down time and again and trees have been hit by cars running off the road in this curve. In the light rain, the center white line, where you could tell there was a line, looked almost black. Long stretches of the road in the curve revealed no markings at all. The side white line was also not visible. Ninety-nine percent of the center line reflective markers are missing.

“I now understand why this area is dangerous. What is the county’s legal responsibility in this area? Could the county be sued for negligence for not maintaining the road markings in this dangerous area? Or as far as that goes on the entire length of County Highway 386.

“This brings to light another safety subject of concern. It will be three years this coming December that I talked to two county commissioners after a Commission meeting about standing water on the roadway of Highway 386, mostly between the ICW bridge and Highway 98. When the road was resurfaced the level of the dirt was graded up to the level of the blacktop. Then sod was placed on top. This causes dirt and sod to be up to four inches higher than the blacktop roadbed. In spots this causes rainwater to stand on the roadway. In some places the water is quite deep and projects on to the blacktop road bed by several feet.

“Much time has passed and nothing has happened despite repeated requests to commissioners to have a grader do a high speed run cutting this sod down to where the water would flow away from the blacktop as mandated by the state in their grading rules.

“Two weeks ago another car headed toward Highway 98, running 60-plus mph, hit this standing water and spun out right in front of me while I was coming in the other direction. I had to pull into the grass to keep him from hitting me. This is not the first time I have seen a car hit these pockets of water and spin out. As best as I can remember, this is the fifth one.

Once again I ask, what is the responsibility of the county in this matter? Now that these issues have been put in writing and if an accident happens, can the county be held liable for negligence?”

Since the time of this letter, more new white crosses have been placed on Highway 386 marking the locations where motorists have been killed on this roadway. I ask why isn’t something being done to repaint these lines and replace the missing reflectors and to do something about the standing rainwater on the highway.

Maybe it is time to stop putting money in the little use or needed Gulf County Parks and start protecting the motorists of Gulf County.

We should also note this is an election year. It is time for change. We the people of Gulf County have been put upon too long by our county commissioners. Now we have a chance to replace two of them when we go to the voting booths in August and November.

It is my personal belief that my commissioner, Commissioner Traylor, should be put out in the primary in August. This would put the rest of the commissioners on notice that we have had enough of their actions, that we the people of Gulf County will finally step up and put a stop to the poor way our county has been governed.

Go to the polls and show the Board of County Commissioners that we want things changed.

Timothy Stein

Wetappo Creek