by: Peter Mahon
September 18, 2014
Lost Now Found!
So I was sitting at the kitchen table last Thursday reading my copy of the Rockaway Times when what to my wandering eyes did appear? Well, I'll tell you what didn't appear - our weekly Between the Bridges in Broad Channel column! I carefully re-read the paper several times to no avail. The column was gone, vanished, missing. awol, astray, playing hooky, a no show!
I quickly contacted the paper's Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Kevin Boyle, at his magnificent corporate offices on Beach Channel Drive (you know - the taxi stand with the bicycle on the roof), to ascertain what had become of the wayward column. Turns out the column's absence was nothing more than a simple oversight with the column not being included in the computerized desktop publisher edition prior to being sent to the printer. Mystery solved! An honest and very understandable mistake. After all Mr. Boyle, having an "ET" moment, was preoccupied with placing a bicycle on the top of his taxi stand.
Of course, the accidental absence of the column in last week's edition then led me to worry - "What if nobody notices the column is missing?" Thankfully I didn't have to worry for too long. By Sunday afternoon I had received hundreds of emails....okay, maybe not hundreds but I did get quite a few. Okay,okay, truth be told I received a total of four very short and to the point emails about the missing column. They were as follows...
* "Finally, a column I understood!"
* "Fall off one of your bridges?"
* "Great read, short, concise, to the point!"
* "What happened? Did Boyle wise up and replace you with Facts You Probably Don't Need?"
I admit the underwhelming response to the missing column didn't leave me feeling like Sally Fields during her emotional 1985 Oscar acceptance speech moment when she tearfully stated to the audience, "You like, you really like me", but I'll take what I can get wherever and whenever I can get it.
For those of you who might be interested, last week's column, the one you couldn't read in the paper because someone was busy placing a bicycle on his roof, was dedicated to Broad Channel's own Kevin Conklin who enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and left for recruit training at Parris Island, South Carolina this past Sunday. His going away party at Broad Channel's VFW Post was a great affair, crowded with family, friends and neighbors. Prior to departing Broad Channel for Parris Island, Kevin delivered thank you notes to the homes of all those who attended his party. What a class act! His parents Bill and Vickie Bowden and the entire community of Broad Channel can be rightfully proud of this young man. Although the column never made it into the paper, you can view it on the Rockaway Times online edition atrockawaytimes.com unless someone is now busy placing a large station clock on his roof next to the bicycle!
Next month will see the 1st anniversary of the passing of Broad Channel's unofficial Mayor, good friend and neighbor, Al McCarthy. Al had been instrumental in the decades long struggle to have the city address the issue of tidal street flooding in Broad Channel. As work started in earnest this week on the construction of a new bulkhead at the end of West 12th Road I couldn't help but think that somewhere in Heaven Al is grabbing St, Peter by the arm while pointing down towards our little town in the bay and stating "About damned time!"
The recent tidal street flooding which accompanied the September 9th full moon can best be described as off the hook! During the 9 calendar day period of September 5th through the 13th, areas of Broad Channel sustained 14 instances of tidal flooding with high tides, some of which were 8 feet in height! On a happier note, the 2014 Hurricane season continues to be kind to our area here on the coast with Hurricane Edouardo, the 4th named storm of season, tracking far off the coast, out to sea.
Broad Channel - why would anyone want to live anywhere else?
"As work started in earnest this week on the construction of a new bulkhead at the end of West 12th Road I couldn't help but think that somewhere in Heaven Al is grabbing St, Peter by the arm while pointing down towards our little town in the bay and stating "About damned time!"
ReplyDeleteDad certainly is Peter.
-Scott McCarthy