Latest / The Kevin Stone Podcast / Episode #54 "Ozark Cruise Night Concerns"

Transcript

Episode #54 "Ozark Cruise Night Concerns" · The Kevin Stone Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Some podcasts have experts. This is not one of those podcasts.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: This is one guy, a microphone, a cup of coffee,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: and absolutely no guarantee where any of this is going.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: From small town Arkansas to Washington, D.C. From politics and
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: current events to history, space, faith, and whatever else happens
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: to get under his skin. He'll ask the questions. He'll
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: give you his opinion. And every once in a while,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: he might even know what he's talking about. No fancy degree,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: no corporate talking points, just an ordinary guy trying to
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: make sense of an increasingly strange world. Ladies and gentlemen,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: this is the Kevin Stone Podcast.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Hello everybody, Kevin Stone here with the Kevin Stone Podcast.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Today I want to follow up on something that happened
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: right here in Ozark on October the 17th. And I
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: think this is a good example of what we want
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: to do here at the Kevin Stone Podcast. Because sometimes
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: a story isn't about uncovering something, some big scandal. Sometimes
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: it's about asking questions, getting some answers, and giving credit
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: where credit is due. On October 17th, Ozark had a
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: cruise night. Now, I like seeing these kind of events
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: in our community. People bringing out their classic cars, their
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: muscle cars, their trucks, and showing off something they put
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: a lot of time, money, and hard work into. It
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: gets people out of the house. It brings folks together.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: And hopefully, it brings a little extra business into some
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: of our local restaurants and stores. And that's a good thing.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: But that evening, while I was traveling along Highway 64,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: I personally witnessed two vehicles performing stationary burnouts near the Sonic.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: and there was still regular traffic moving along the highway. Now,
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: I'm not opposed to somebody having a little fun with
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: their car, but there's a time and a place for
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: that sort of thing, and a public highway with spectators
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: standing nearby isn't it. The following morning, I noticed black
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: tire marks around Highway 64 and Highway 23 intersections. Now,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: I can't tell you who made every one of those
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: marks or exactly when they were made, and I'm not
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: going to pretend that I can, but I knew what
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: I'd personally witnessed the evening before. And then I had
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: a couple of other residents bring me their concerns. They
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: wanted to know whether the Ozark Police Department was even
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: aware of what was happening, whether officers were involved in
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: monitoring the event, and whether anything had been done about
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: the dangerous driving. Those were reasonable questions, so I contacted
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: the police department. Chief Devin Bramlett responded and provided a
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: detailed explanation of what happened that evening, and I want
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: to thank him for doing that. According to Chief Bramlett,
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: the police department knew Cruise Night was taking place, and
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: the event was being hosted by a local business. The
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: event coordinator had been told that careless driving and burnouts
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: were not permitted. The chief explained that Ozark had hosted
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Cruise Night before without the kinds of problems reported this time.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Now there's something important that we didn't know when we
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: first started asking questions. That same evening, the Ozark Police
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Department was hosting a haunted house fundraiser for its Shop
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: with a Cop program. Most of the department's employees were
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: helping with that event, and one officer was initially covering
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: the regular shift. Then the Franklin County Sheriff's Dispatch began
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: receiving complaints about drag racing and squealing tires. According to
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: the chief, officers were pulled away from the fundraiser to
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: address the traffic concerns, and assistance was requested from the
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: Franklin County Sheriff's Office. Eventually, five law enforcement officers were involved,
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: three from Ozark and two from the county deputies. The
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Ozark Police Department issued two warnings, written warnings. The chief
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: also confirmed that there were no reported accidents or injuries
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: associated with the cruise night. And folks, I'm satisfied with
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: that response. When citizens began reporting dangerous driving, officers responded.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: They brought in additional help, addressed the traffic situations, and
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: issued warnings. That's what I would expect from a local
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: police department. Chief Bramlett also made something very clear in
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: his response. The department wasn't trying to ruin cruise night.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: They wanted people to be safe. And when you have
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: spectators standing along a roadway, including families with small children,
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: It doesn't take much for a vehicle to lose control
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: and turn a fun evening into a tragedy, and nobody
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: wants that. The chief also pointed out something that I
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: think deserves attention. The city of Ozark had worked for
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: a long time to get Highway 64 repaved by the state,
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: and now, as he described it, there are black tire
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: marks up and down that newly paved highway. Now, folks,
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: that's frustrating. We talk all the time about wanting our
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: roads maintained and our community improved, bringing businesses in and
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: new residents. But when we finally get a road repaved
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: and somebody decides it's a good place to leave half
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: their tires behind, I don't know about you, but I
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: don't believe that's what the highway department had in mind.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: But here's the part I really want to emphasize. I
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: believe the overwhelming majority of the people who attended Cruise
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: Night were there exactly for the right reasons. They wanted
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: to show off their vehicles, see other people's cars, visit
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: with friends, and enjoy an evening in Ozark. And Chief
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: Bramlett said much the same thing in his response. He
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: believes most participants were there to show off their cars,
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: and that only a relatively small group who was responsible
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: for the problems. And I think it's important that we
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: don't allow the actions of a few people to define
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: an entire event, because we need things like Cruise Night
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: in Ozark. We need activities that bring people downtown, that
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: bring visitors to our community, and give local businesses an
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: opportunity to benefit. But those events also come with a
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: little responsibility. If you're bringing your car out to show
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: it off, great. Polish it up. Pop the hood. Tell
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: somebody how much horsepower you've got. Just don't feel obligated
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: to demonstrate all of it in the middle of Highway 64.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Because the moment somebody gets hurt or the event becomes
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: a public safety problem, everybody loses. The spectators lose. The
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: responsible car owners lose. The businesses lose. And the community loses.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: And that would be a shame. Now, I also want
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: to explain something about how we handle stories here at
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: the Kevin Stone Podcast. I personally witnessed something that concerned me.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: Other residents raised questions, so we asked the police department
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: for information. Chief Bramlett took the time to answer our
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: questions and provided supporting information. And the answers showed that
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: the department had responded to the situation. And that's worth reporting.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: Because accountability doesn't always mean finding somebody doing something wrong.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: Sometimes accountability means asking what happened, reviewing the facts, and
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: recognizing when public officials did their jobs. And I think
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: that's what happened here. So where do we go from here? Well,
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: I hope that Ozark has another cruise night. I hope
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: it's bigger. better, and brings even more people into our community.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: I hope the folks with those beautiful classic cars and
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: muscle cars keep bringing them out. And I hope everybody
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: remembers that a little common sense behind the wheel goes
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: a long way. To Chief Devin Bramlett and the officers
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: who responded that evening, thank you for providing the information
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: and for addressing the public safety concerns. And to the
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: residents who brought their questions to me, thank you for
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: paying attention to what's happening in our community. That's how
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: this is supposed to work. People ask questions. We look
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: for answers. We report what we can verify. And when
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: somebody deserves credit, we give them credit. I'm Kevin Stone,
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: and this is the Kevin Stone Podcast. You can find
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: us on Spreaker, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, and YouTube.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: And remember folks, you can have a good time without
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: turning Highway 64 into a drag strip or making it
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: look like there's been a 17 car pileup in front
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: of the Sonic. We'll talk again soon.