Ernie Whitside's Tree Photos
A large decayed tree fell in a 43 mile per hour breeze on December 8, 2004, blocking North Macomb Street and a main access to the hospital.
All Photographs © by Ernie Whiteside - used by permission
Ernie's Photo Published in the Monroe Evening News
City Reacts to Dangerous Tree
This rotted tree could have fallen on a car or school bus!
This rotted tree fell in a 43 mile per hour breeze - no children were hit.
Should The City Council be Reactive or Proactive on Public Safety Matters?
Please read the poem below
A Fence or an Ambulance
by Joseph Malins
Published in the
Bulletin of the North Carolina State Board of
Health,
Vol. 27, Number 10, January
1913.
`Twas a dangerous cliff, as they freely confessed,
though to walk near its crest was so pleasant;
But over its terrible edge
there had slipped a duke, and full many a peasant;
So the people said
something would have to be done, but their projects did not at all
tally.
Some said: "Put up a fence round the edge of the cliff"; Some, "An
ambulance down in the valley."
But the cry for the ambulance carried the day, for it
spread through the neighboring city.
A fence may be useful or not, it is
true, but each heart became brimful of pity,
For those who slipped over that
dangerous cliff; and dwellers in highway and alley,
Gave pounds or gave
pence, not to put up a fence, but an ambulance down in the
valley.
"For the cliff is all right if you’re careful", they
said, "And if folks even slip and are dropping,
It isn’t the slipping that
hurts them so much as the shock down below when they’re stopping."
So day
after day as those mishaps occurred, quick forth would those rescuers
sally,
To pick up the victims who fell off the cliff with the ambulance down
in the valley.
Then an old sage remarked, "It’s a marvel to me that
people gave far more attention
To repairing results than to stopping the
cause, when they’d much better aim at prevention.
Let us stop at its source
all this mischief," cried he; "Come, neighbors and friends, let us rally;
If
the cliff we will fence, we might also dispense with the ambulance down in the
valley."
"Oh he’s a fanatic," the others rejoined;
"Dispense with the ambulance? Never!
He’d dispense with all charities too if
he could. No, No! We’ll support them forever!
Aren’t we picking up folks just
as fast as they fall? And shall this man dictate to us? Shall he?
Why should
people of sense stop to put up a fence while their ambulance works in the
valley?"
But a sensible few who are practical too, will not
bear with such nonsense much longer.
They believe that prevention is better
than cure; and their party will soon be the stronger.
Encourage them, then,
with your purse, voice, and pen, and (while other philanthropists dally)
They
will scorn all pretense and put a stout fence on the cliff that hangs over the
valley.
Better guide well the young than reclaim them when
old, for the voice of true wisdom is calling;
To rescue the fallen is good,
but ‘tis best to prevent other people from falling;
Better close up the
source of temptation and crime than deliver from the dungeon or
galley;
Better put a strong fence ‘round the top of the cliff, than an
ambulance down in the valley.
Links:
Report a Dangerous Tree to the City of Monroe
The Web Keepers Kinfolks Website
Copyright 2004 All rights reserved
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