This parade = dumptrucks – June 19, 2011

from the Lincoln Journal Star

lincoln arena construction dirt parade

This cartoon led to a funny exchange (and hopefully a ride in a dumptruck for me) on JournalStar.com:

dirt dude said on: June 20, 2011, 11:03 am
I know you think your cartoon is clever but with all due respect Mr. Obermeyer, you must not understand the situation completely. I am the general manager for Land Construction, the subcontractor hired to do all the preliminary site work on the project. We along with a number of other trucking companies are hauling the soils in and out of the site. Considering the number of trucks and the amount of dirt that needs to be hauled, it is extremely difficult to keep the area totally clean. I assure you that the loads are legal and any mess they create is coming solely from the tires and not from off the trucks as your cartoon suggests. I will tell you that the City inspector in charge of these matters has given us nothing but praise for our efforts. You must understand that in order to keep the dust down we are required to water the haul roads and consequently we are required to sweep the dirt that gets tracked onto the streets. We would like everyone to understand the catch-22 this creates. We have a water truck on the job as well as the street sweeper at all times. In additon to this, the access routes we are given are poor and we have installed all the proper measures to minimize the impact. We would like to invite you to ride with one of our trucks if you like to witness the operation yourself. Call me anytime and we will see you get a first hand look at the situation. I would have written you a personal e-mail but the email address on the cartoon is not valid.

Since I’m guessing “Dirt Dude” isn’t his real name, I am unable to call him. But I did leave a comment there in hopes that he’ll contact me. But another reader followed up with this gem:

LUDA said on: June 20, 2011, 4:16 pm
With all due respect Mr. Obermeyer, you must not understand the situation completely. People are usually not blue, as your cartoon suggests. Considering the number of people I see every day, I can tell you that people come in a variety of races and ethnicities, but blueish skin is extremely difficult to find. I can assure you as well that even if someone had blue skin, it is unlikely that they would all wear blue wardrobes at the same time. You must understand that in order to have blue skin, one would have to have a highly unusual kind of pigmentation in their cells. We would like to invite you to ride with us if you like to witness the actual appearance of people yourself. I would have written you a personal e-mail, but somehow I misinterpreted your signature on the cartoon as an email address. Either way, my outrage at a satirical cartoon is not valid.

1 Response

  1. Is the arena on the site of an old indian burial ground? Is that a human arm I see flying out the back of the truck, it’s hand clenched in fisted rage?

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