This past weekend, during a time of celebration, I have witnessed two different events in Winona Lake that leave me a little saddened.
The first event happened Saturday morning during the road race. As the runners proceeded along Chestnut Street, traffic was stopped for the safety of the runners. Sitting on my porch, I watched as a lady drove up the Ninth Street hill. Rather than wait behind the vehicles that were already stopped, she proceeded to pull into the other lane to go around. She about hit the gentleman who approached her vehicle to explain that the race was in progress and she would need to wait a few minutes for the runners to pass the intersection. She was quite loud as she ranted that she lived on Park Avenue, has lived in Winona Lake for 45 years, and that she was currently running late to have breakfast with her friend. Despite the other cars that were waiting, the request that she wait until the runners had passed, and the runners passing in front of her, she proceeded to pull out onto Chestnut Street with total disregard for the safety of the people participating in a fun holiday event.
The second event took place Monday morning along Kings Highway. The KABS/City Bus (which has operated in town for more than 20 years) had pulled up to Robson Road at 6:15 a.m. to pick up a gentleman who goes to work at Donnelly's. He is waiting on his front porch when the bus pulls up. He crosses the yard, gets on the bus, hands the driver his tickets, which she marks and hands back to him, and he sits down and the bus pulls away. The whole process takes less than a minute. This scenario has taken place Monday through Friday for many years. This particular morning, as the bus pulled up, this lady from across King's Highway comes out her door and hurries across the roadway to tap on the drivers window. I was sitting behind the driver so I heard this lady quite clearly as she ranted because her front door is usually open and the fumes of the bus blow into her house and bother her. She proceeded to tell the bus driver how she thought the route ought to be ran, holding up the schedule for several minutes in the process. I understand that this lady also called the KABS/City Bus office and gave the dispatcher a hard time also.
As I mentioned at the start of this letter, these two events sadden me. These ladies now think they "won," and maybe they have. But our county has lost because there are now two more people who think that rudeness and being rude are acceptable. I only hope that those of you in the surrounding area know that not all Winona Lakers are like these ladies.
