The clash of Heath war drums and Aussie cameras

Likely the cameras along Ohio 79 are going to get a one-way ticket back to Redflex headquarters Australia, perhaps to the beat of angry citizens’ war drums.

That Heath’s traffic-“safety”-for-profit isn’t making any friends for the mayor or city council has been obvious for several days. Now city fathers okayed the mailing of 8,483 traffic tickets for a chunk of pain valued at $848,300 for driving in Heath, according to Ronnie Michael Kidd, who’s leading citizens’ battle against the invading Aussies.

Warm feelings toward Heath government were already fading before two councilmen were observed smirking while being addressed by a citizen about the traffic cameras: Tim Kelley, who works for the City of Newark in the Engineering Department, and Councilman Ron Krueger, a dentist doing business at 1102 Hebron Rd. The sound and the pace of the war drums intensified.

(Other Heath Council members with business interests on the Gotcha Strip are Council President Jeff Crabill who works at Fairfield Mortgage, 1357 Hebron Rd., Christopher May, associated with Honeybaked Ham, 1006 Hebron Rd. and with Dairy Queen, 720 Hebron Rd.)

It pleases me that Ronnie is proving how a pissed-off citizen can change the course of history. (This is also being demonstrated in Newark affairs by Rhonda Loomis and Lesa Best who are single-handedly kicking government butt, taking names and bringing improvements. Meanwhile, more and more citizens seem less afraid to talk back to bureaucrats.)

The beat goes on angrily in the Advocate comments, with Ronnie patiently and politely and factually responding to a gaggle of what are likely Heath government employees hiding behind screen names.

At least some of that commenting energy might better be spent writing to State Representative Hottinger and State Senator Tim Schaffer, who should have already outlawed the Aussie invaders and others of their ilk. In fact, they should have been on it when Mayor Diebold first tried to slip the cameras into Newark.

Other links and more background to this outsourcing of “justice” are at this link.

A law to prevent this type of highway robbery was introduced about four years ago and co-sponsored by then-State Representative Dave Evans. Then-State Senator Jay Hottinger voted for the senate version. This bill, which mandated that a police officer operate each traffic camera, or at least be nearby, passed both houses but was vetoed by consistently-anti-citizen then-Governor Taft so this travesty of justice from Australia is still legal in Ohio.

There is one bright spot to all this. At last folks in and out of Heath have heard of Richard J. Waugh, and know who he is. Retired from the insurance business, he is now the mayor of Heath, unaffectionately called “10-Watt” by some angry constituents.

I would love to know the names of all the politicians who are benefactors of traffic-ticketing company lobbyists. There’s a good research project for any and all citizen-soldiers who don’t like aboriginal music.