SHERIFF OTTO HANAK RELEASES START OF SCHOOL MESSAGE
Sheriff Otto Hanak has released an important message concerning the start of the school year:
“On Monday, August 22, 2016, our local schools will begin the 2016-17 school year. As our citizens and students begin that busy day, please remember to allow yourselves extra time to drive to school and work knowing there will likely be significant delays. Please be patient with our school buses, parents, school district employees, and other motorists, as we all share a common goal. As state law requires, always stop for our school buses loading and unloading their passengers and remember that our children are often distracted or even complacent, paying very little attention to their surroundings, especially when they feel protected. Also remember that the use of cellular phones, including and especially texting, is a violation of state law in school zones when the vehicle is in motion.”
“As we begin the school year, your law enforcement officers will be out in full force in the hopes their visibility and enforcement will reduce any significant issues. I want to express my sincere appreciation to those traveling our roadways for respecting our fellow motorists, school buses, and even the ‘non-parents’ out there that share concern for the safety and success of the community and our children. It is my hope that this school year is the best ever and that our students, teachers, parents and staff be given the tools they need to achieve great success! God bless and stay safe.”
Courtesy of Sheriff Otto Hanak
Suggestion. Mr. Hanak and sheriffs department could enforce these laws on Nieburh street and bring in enough money to lower tax rates. There are two speed limit/cell phone prohibition signs on the street to notify drivers of the school zone. (There are no signs to indicate speed limit during other hours). There is another school zone sign parallel to the street at the private entrance to the middle school. In defense of drivers, one of the signs is normally hidden by tree branches and the other is so close to Blue Bell road that most would not see it. A dangerous situation occurs on a daily basis when cars park on the side of the street while others pass by in both directions with no center line. At the same time, parents park in church parking lots and have their children cross the busy street to avoid sitting in line to pick them up. Revenue and safety could both be increased with enforcement.
This proves my point from an earlier article that many view law enforcement as a revenue source. It is a shame that instead of trying to establish a better safer situation at least half the focus of the above post is on law enforcement revenue generation. That should never be what we expect our professional law enforcement officers to do. Their sole and only focus should be on public safety and if ticket revenue happens to be generated than that is fine, however to have a goal of increasing revenue through law enforcement activity is mis-use of our law enforcements officers and it send a very bad message that we do not respect them as professionals.
Agree that revenue should NEVER be a consideration, but we live in Washington county not Utopia. Money, influence etc. make a ton of difference in enforcement and adjudication and that is why revenue was included in the initial comment. By the way, a sheriff deputy did a drive-by on Nieburh street at 8:18 Monday morning. Traffic congestion had cleared by 8:00.