An Open Letter To The Citizens Of My Town

Dear Residents of Flower Mound (Flower Mounders?, Flower Moundites?),

Before I begin, allow me to tell you how nice all of you seem to be. From Sam the retiree across the street to the nice lady next door who splits the payments on our shared fence to the folks who cook and deliver food when a crisis hits...for the most part you're likeable, well-educated and all-around good folks.

But there are a few things we all need to get our collective acts together on and I'd like to propose a few of those if I could.

First, you know those 4-lane roads split by medians with curb cuts? Yeah, like Morriss Road? I need to remind you that when you're coming in from side streets that you're not supposed to play "Frogger" to get across. You're supposed to wait until all the traffic is clear and the proceed into the desired lane...but moving two lanes and sitting in the curb-cut, well, it prevents others from turning.

Another one on driving: When is it going to hit us that we shouldn't use our mobile phones while in our cars on the move? We all agree we shouldn't. We don't want our children doing it, but yet somehow I see folks chatting away in moving vehicles pretty consistently.

Secondly, parents, could we please support our teachers a bit more on the grades/discipline thing? I'm sure there've been a few incidents here and there where the system has failed your child (it has mine) but if I hear one more parent tell me how they are "going up to that school and raise Cain" because junior got an 85 instead of a 92 ("because they didn't show the math work the way the teacher wanted, and his dad is an engineer and showed him a better way to do the problem")...let's all keep in mind that very few students in our area go Ivy League and keep it all in perspective. Sometimes, it's better to teach your child how to deal with an unjust authority in a positive way than it is to get an "A."

And, finally, let's use common sense on the sprinkler systems, okay? Yeah, I know summer was brutal on our lawns and all that jazz...hey, I lost a willow tree, man. And a good one, too. And, yes, we know the weather is cooling off...it was a balmy 87 yesterday. But let's stop watering during in the middle of the day, shall we? That request goes out to businesses, schools and local residents.

Flower Mound, as far as suburbs go, you're a great little community and these are all terribly minor in the great scheme of the Big Blue Marble we're all on here, but I think those would make a nice little start in the betterment of our fair burg. I mean, I could chat about roads that need to be fixed or other generic government things, but these are for the normal citizens. You all just seem so nice and these seem so easy to do.

I'm sure the patrons of The Diner will have a few more for you, but I just wanted to bring up a few things, just to keep communication open and the accounts short, okay?

Your Friend,
Brent