TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Lisa Hancock:
That's easy. At times like that the custodian would spend the night in the building. He had a room fixed up for that purpose.
My school was built in 1948, late for coal, but there was some sort of deal with the coal miners. People converted to oil or gas rapidly after the war. My mother told me growing up with coal heat was utterly miserable. It was warm, but a big mess to take care of and very dirty and smelly. Her family thought switching to oil was the greatest invention ever.
My 90 year old neighbor decided he shouldn't drive anymore. Unfortunately, around here that makes getting food and stuff difficult.
There's a convenience store about six blocks away, but it's a bit of a walk in bad weather or for an older person. In the city there were stores often closer by, although the old small groceries are gone, replaced by chains. But in the city there are people who provide a private taxi service for a modest fee, my mother found that very helpful. Doesn't exist out here.
With the U.S. population aging and now in suburbia, there's gonna be a real challenge on getting people around. In the city there are buses and drivers, in the suburbs, zilch. We live in a totally car oriented world now and for many people who physically can't drive that's equal to prison. There's been some horrid accidents by such drivers who had no choice but to drive. But the car advocates always win out.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There is a small convenience store five blocks north of me on Main and Fourth Street. (A Dollar General place). They sell animal food, soda pop, potato chips, etc and if my motorized chair arrives sometime this week I will be able to get by I am sure. But if it does not arrive, there is still the taxicab.Although taxicab rides here are a flat rate of $4.00 for anywhere in town, City of Independence offers a subsidized program for old people and/or sick, feeble people like myself. I pay $2.00 per ride anywhere and city pays the other $2.00. I give the driver (a nice young man named Chad or his grandmother (the other driver) my two dollars and a coupon for each ride. Although most everything here is solid ice these days, my back porch is covered (no snow underneath it) and when I call Chad or grandma on the phone to come and pick me up, they drive about _thisclose_ to the fence on that side so I can open the gate (and hopefully close it before the dog gets away) while leaning on the fence, then with a step or two I lean on the cab and open the door. But the dog is smart -- a lot smarter than me, I think -- and he is there lurking to run off when the gate is open. But the dog is leary of my metal cane, and when I shake it at him and make a growling noise he usually backs up and lets me get out. I'll use Independence Cab to get to the store this week if my 'Scooter Store' chair does not arrive in time. Chad is such a nice kid; usually if I go to Marvins or a bigger store downtown he helps me load my groceries in the trunk of the cab and when we get back home he hauls them in the house for me. PAT]