First and foremost I must admit, I love my Yardy. My Yardy has been a faithful companion in working with me, keeping my yard clean. I’ve been able to deposit all of the broken branches and leaves from my neighbors trees, that fall into my yard uninvited, and Yardy has accepted them just as though it were my own debris. Not once has my Yardy attacked me. The wind got between Yardy and I once, but just like the wind attacked my umbrella, I knew when I was beaten and waited for the wind to subside. My Yardy is in good shape and is ready to go to work this spring! I don’t want to hamper Yardy with attaching a device that will only make it difficult for us to work together. Yardy would no longer be able to tilt backward so I could drag him up the driveway in back or the incline in front. Yardy is strong and can stand on his own! I stand with you Yardy! Stay Strong!
The comments page on the Gazette Online is on fire! Rick Smith’s article, City to spend $540,000 to protect residents…, is getting all kinds of comments. One guy suggested that the next invention just might be adding a siren so we know when we are starting to back up our Yardy. Another commenter wanted to know how it felt to wake up in a Saturday Night Live skit.
This would be funny if it weren’t so darn pathetic. Here we are still facing the disastrous results of the last flood and small businesses are going down the tubes and our City Council is concerned that less than a dozen residents have complained about being injured by their Yardy in the last decade. The instructions are clear. Close the lid before moving. Perhaps some of these people are better suited to have someone else move their Yardy. This might be a new badge for the Boy Scouts. It’s a good deed to help out your neighbor.
On the political side of this event it looks bad that Kim Brokaw gave his largest total political contribution in the last five years to Ron Corbett, according to the Iowa Board of Ethics individual search feature. Mr. Brokaw is also a hunting buddy of Pat Shey and Kris Gulick. The survey that Mr. Brokaw is using to push the need of his device was done by Monica Vernon’s research company. That’s a lot of personal contact with these people. Monica was not on the City Council when she did the research. However, no other research has been done.
Chuck Wieneke took a stand and said it was hypocritical, according to Smith’s article, to demand the budget to be cut and then add this right back in. I agree. Did Wieneke stand alone in his thinking? We don’t know where the others stand. Let’s see if they vote on this in public.
In his article, Smith states they signaled they would purchase the devices. Let’s hope the signal goes from a green light to a red light and of course a camera is there to catch it!\
UPDATE – Friday 3:48PM
I mentioned to Rick Smith of the Gazette that I had seen a photo of Kris Gulick, Pat Shey and Kim Brokaw along with a couple of others who had been hunting. Rick forwarded my email to Kris. This is his response:
“Kathy – Just an FYI. I wouldn’t characterize Mr. Brokaw as a hunting buddy. I had met him once before regarding this product and then met him while hunting with Pat and others. I don’t recall talking to him about the device at that time since we were outside most of the day. I know him but that would be about the extent of any relationship there.
“Regardless no decision has been made.
Kris”
