Posted on 03/13/2007 11:37:05 PM PDT by hawkeye101
A soothing summer sound may be making its way back onto Des Moines streets.
The City Council met tonight to discuss the possibility of allowing ice cream trucks back into neighborhoods.
The trucks were banned 40 years ago when a 9-year-old girl was killed when she was hit by a car while crossing the street with her treat.
Lawrence William of Kansas City, who owns several ice cream trucks, wants to bring his business to Des Moines.
However, some are against bringing ice cream trucks back. South side Dairy Queen owner, Steve Sarcone, says the trucks present too many dangers. "The need isn't there, then it isn't worth the risk of maybe losing a live, a limb or some child because they didn't make the right choice and ran out on the street."
Williams says the ice cream trucks have traffic arms and lights to alert drivers
Des Moines is also the only large American city where they don't celebrate Halloween either. What a weird frickin' city I live in.
Nowadays the sound is not always so soothing. Frequently the trucks seem to repeat a single song ad nauseum. Another thing to worry about is the motivation of the men who drive the trucks. Aside from these caveats, it's a nice tradition.
We have them all over the place out here -- all driven by hateful, glowering muslims. Not exactly the friendly ice cream truck drivers we remember from childhood.
Using their logic you would have thought that they would have banned crosswalks.
In 2004:
A West Des Moines man was charged on Thursday with vehicular homicide in connection with a September 2003 collision that killed 20-year-old UI junior Amanda Skolnick.
Thomas Henry Eldridge, 21, allegedly had marijuana in his system when he turned his green Ford Explorer left onto Burlington Street from Linn Street on the morning of Sept. 4, hitting Skolnick.
Police said Eldridge was driving between 12 to 14 mph when his Explorer struck Skolnick.
Skolnick, a Woodstock, Ill., native, was on her way to work when she crossed Burlington Street from the southeast side of the intersection in the crosswalk.
"We have them all over the place out here -- all driven by hateful, glowering muslims. Not exactly the friendly ice cream truck drivers we remember from childhood"
...same here. When I was a kid (late 1960's) our ice cream man wore a Good Humor hat, was white, clean shaven and about 35. Nicest guy you'd ever want to meet. Never a complaint. He loved it! No reports of pedophilia or anything.
However, they may not get the chance. High carbon emission vehicle tax is coming by way of Gore and the religion of Global Warming...
But wait.. petition congress to include exemptions for Ice Cream Trucks because logically they off set the warming by selling cool treats... Sort of like when our liberal elites buy carbon credits and then pollute at 10x the rate of average citizens.
One wonders if anybody has been hurt or killed in the last 40 years driving to the South Side Dairy Queen. Could lives have been saved if people were able to get ice cream from a truck instead of hopping in a car and driving five miles?
I am 43 yrs. old and I can still vividly remember Mr. Bill, our Good Humor man, he drove a white truck and wore a white uniform with a hat and a change dispenser on his waist. Gosh, we loved him as kids. He knew all of our names. The guys that do the icecream trucks are creepy, usually in beat up white vans, selling melted ice cream. I'm not overly paranoid but those vans are easy to duplicate and their are too many creeps out there. Mr. Bill had a truck that was open and the icecream was on the sides so he had to get out to give you your stuff. Plus, Mr. Bill spoke english and was friendly. Unfortuately, we see too many people like you describe, I know I do.
I've lived in cities that allow ice cream trucks and I was relieved when I moved to Des Moines and found out they were banned. Kids come barging in the house right before dinner begging for money like you're a bad parent if you don't give them any though I might not have enough cash for all my kids. Don't get me wrong, we typically have ice cream in the freezer. I just don't like the high pressure sales tactics for overpriced crap. Who knows where that stuff has been.
Des Moines should also ban those trucks that drive around all day with revolving ads.
I recall reading about some cities which have banned them due to a history of child molesters staffing them. A number of them have also been found to be selling drugs. Still not necessary, IMO, but better reasons than one kid getting hit by one. On that theory, they should also ban children playing with balls within 50 yards or so of a street (i.e. inlcuding most kids' backyards), since this is a more frequent cause of children running out into the street without looking for oncoming cars).
During the summers when i was going to high school, my cousin and i worked for my uncle selling ice cream from the back of 3 wheel Cushman scooters. We would make any where from 20 to 35 dollars a day, which was allot of money back in the 60's. I miss those days.
They were banned in our town when the ice cream man started flashing pre-teen girls.
Well, now, there would be a good reason to keep them banned. Who needs muzzies casing us out?
Otherwise, if drivers were less aggressive in their driving and extended some caution in areas where kids will be this sort of thing wouldn't have happened. If you can't notice a ice cream truck or school bus pulled over to the side of the road, you shouldn't be driving.
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