Gotta Calm Down

Today I had an unpleasant conversation with one of the drivers of the town snowplows. I just talked to the mayor of the town as well. I'm trying to calm down. Here's what happened.

Yesterday morning we got about 10" of snow. I started shoveling at 5:30 a.m. I had parked across the street in the neighbor's driveway since it is level and they don't live in the house most of the year. I realized that I was going to have to shovel a pathway for Ammon to get out and down to the bus stop. I went into the house to eat and finish getting Ammon ready. By the time I got back outside about 7:00 a.m., there was enough snow to shovel again. No snowplow had gone up the main road that runs by the church and that's where all the kids go to catch the bus. I was worried because the snow was very deep. I made a pathway out into the street where Ammon could maybe use other car tracks as a pathway without having to shovel all the way down the road and up to the neighbor's house. That's a long way to shovel. I left shortly after 7 a.m. to make sure I wouldn't be late if the roads were bad. Just before I left, the snowplow made his first swipe on Alpine Drive leaving a huge ridge of snow between our street and Alpine Drive. I hoped Ammon would be able to get through it.

Jim started going with Ammon, helping push him when he got stuck. A high school boy on our street came down and helped and told Jim that he would take him the rest of the way. So they parked Ammon as far off the road as possible. The first bus for high school students comes at 7 a.m. but it was stuck and didn't get to the bus stop until 7:15. Just before that bus came, the snowplow came back for his second swipe. He said he slowed down to see if Ammon would back up and then changed his blade to go the other direction. He said that it "appeared Ammon wasn't inclined to move back further." So he went on. He was so close to Ammon that his plow dumped snow over his feet and wheelchair. The high school kids came to Ammon's aid and helped removed and dig the snow away so he could get on his own bus. The driver didn't stop and didn't see how close he was to Ammon.

Our neighbor told Jim about it after they got home from school yesterday afternoon so I told Jim to call the town and talk to the mayor or someone about the issue. It was dangerous and the snowplow was about 2 hours later than he usually is. And it wasn't even a very big storm in comparison to what we had a couple of weeks ago. We just wanted to know why he was so late and to ask him to be more careful.

Well, the driver called our house but Jim was gone. Amy gave me the man's phone # and I called him. He called Jim a liar and was not kind at all. So I dug in my heels and didn't give him any wiggle room at all. I pushed, asking why he was so late. I told him Ammon didn't have any room to move back -- guess why??? Because the snow was too deep on a road that hadn't been cleared. I asked him if he had stopped to see just how close he had been. He wouldn't discuss that at all. I told him we had at least three teenage witnesses that helped dig Ammon out. He said, "Well you call the mayor. This conversation is done."

I called the mayor. We had a decent conversation but he was more sympathetic towards the driver saying how hard he works. No one would tell me why they were at least 2 hours later than usual. I asked for an exception to the rule that cul-de-sacs be the last to be cleared. The mayor said, "Well my cul-de-sac doesn't even get plowed so I'm not too sympathetic about that." I said, "Do you have someone that is in a wheelchair that needs to get down that road?" He finally got it. He said they would see if they could change some of the priorities and see what they could do to help. We didn't have any problem getting that changed with our last mayor.

I shouldn't get so angry. but I have to say that in the 15 years of Ammon's life, we have taken a back seat to issues with accomodations for wheelchairs and problems that come inherently with disabilities. We have tried and tried to be accomodating to ward parties that are so crowded we can't get Ammon even in the room. We haven't raised a stink when the YM leaders think it's too hard to take Ammon or even ask us if we would help and so they exclude him. We have worked well with teachers and less help at school. We have done everything we can to not raise a stink. We didn't sue PCMC which we surely could have done and won a butt load of money. We have never wanted to do that. But if the town can't make this a safe place for Ammon, we will address ADA rights for the first time. The mayor was upset at the thought that there would be retribution which he said was a quote from Jim. There will be if there are no changes. I don't care who gets fired. I'm tired of the constant fight to let this be a safe, equal place for Ammon. I know why parents get so involved. Don't mess with me today.