Posted on 07/31/2011 5:24:56 AM PDT by csvset
Don't let the happy music fool you. Ice cream truck wars are raging in Corolla, and it's vicious out there:
Last week, one ice cream vendor called the Currituck County sheriff on another, claiming that three trucks were following her. Another
female driver carries an electronic shocking device after getting harassed by competing male drivers.
Last year, a driver slugged another driver after he was cut off by the other truck. He was charged with simple assault.
An ice cream truck owner found the tires slashed on his truck. He could not prove who did it but believes it was a competitor.
One owner threatened a lawsuit when another vendor painted his trucks almost exactly the same, with spotted cows.
The competitor changed only the color of the spots.
"For the last three years it's been crazy," said Mark Petit, former owner of Udder Delight trucks.
"It's turned into the ice cream truck wars."
He sold the business two years ago to Stanley Lirman. Petit had started Udder Delight in 1993 using trucks painted with the familiar polka-dot cow on the side.
Over the years, vendors have come and gone, but the competition has intensified, Petit said.
Residents have noticed a difference, too.
"I see a million ice cream trucks every day," said Meghan Agresto, a Corolla resident and site manager at the Currituck Beach Lighthouse.
"My kids keep pointing them out to me."
Mary Stile, owner of ice cream trucks under the name of A Plus Lawn Care, has asked Currituck officials to pass an ordinance that would limit the number of vendors and the number of trucks for each company.
She said she knows of at least one company sending trucks to Corolla from Virginia Beach.
"I feel good about this," Stile said of the proposed ordinance. "I'm barely keeping my head above water."
Lirman, based in Dare County, could support such an ordinance, he said.
"I'm making half what I made two years ago because of the competition," hesaid.
Stile has accused Lirman's drivers of harassing and cutting off her drivers. It allegedly was one of Stile's drivers who punched one of Lirman's drivers last year when he felt he had been cut off.
But Lirman said he pays his workers by the hour and not by commission, so they have no reason to be aggressive.
"She's looking in the wrong direction," he said.
Stile presented her idea to Vance Aydlett, chairman of the Currituck County Board of Commissioners.
Currituck officials hesitate to regulate ice cream trucks but may have to if the bad behavior continues, Aydlett said.
"We'll have to take a look at it," he said.
Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com
We can walk to the Food Lion this time. :-P
Oh dear, so says a FReeper in ... Massachusetts, lol.
I’ll bite, what is “a DC oriented place” ?
The Washington, DC and northern Virginia crowd love it and I’d go so far as to say own the majority of private homes there. it’s actually a shorter drive for them to get there than it is for me, and I live in NC.
Reminds me of once when were training at a Bundeswehr training site in Germany. We weren’t playing the tactical games and the troops could chill out around the bivouac site when they weren’t actually building bridges. There was a German snack truck that came through on a regular schedule and a German ice cream truck that would show up and be swarmed for a few minutes then leave. I took a couple NCO’s and we sort of ambushed him as soon as he came into the camp, trying to find out why his ice cream was so popular.
What we found was a beer delivery service. He could only cool a couple of cases at a time and that was the reason for making so many quick visits. Maybe there’s a little side business going on here to attract so many vendors.
Singing:
“Here comes the ice cream man
His truck is spic-and-span
He rings his bell
You run like h-—
Here comes the ice cream man”
Crazy from the heat. Don’t think so ever notice since Obama proved he’s above the law many expect the same right.
LOL! That would make a great tag line!
For the record, I'm in South Korea right now...
Dedicate one to the ladies
Now summertime’s here babe
Need something to keep you cool
Ah now summertime’s here babe
Need something to keep you cool
Better look out now though
Dave’s got something for you
Tell ya what it is
I’m your ice cream man
Stop me when I’m passing by
Oh my my, I’m your ice cream man
Stop me when I’m passing by
See now all my flavors
Are guaranteed to satisfy
Hold on a second baby
I got good lemonade
ah, dixie cups
All flavors and push ups too
I’m your ice cream man, baby
Stop me when I’m passing by
See now all my flavors
Are guaranteed to satisfy
Hold on, one more
Well, I’m usually passing
By just about eleven o’clock
Uh huh, I never stop
I’m usually passing by
just around eleven o’clock
And if you let me cool you one time
You’ll be my regular stop
All right boys
I got good lemonade
ah, dixie cups
All flavors and push ups too
I’m your ice cream man, baby
Stop me when I’m passing by
See now all my flavors
Are guaranteed to satisfy
Yes I’m your ice cream man
Stop me when I’m passing by
I’m your ice cream man
Stop me when I’m passing by
They say all my flavors
Are guaranteed to satisfy
Ah, one time
I’m your ice cream man
stop me when I’m passing by
I’m your ice cream man
stop me when I’m passing by
They say all my flavors
Are guaranteed to satisfy
One time, boys
I’m your ice cream man
I’m your ice cream man
Baby
Ah my, my, my
All my flavors are guaranteed to satisfy
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