| More Signs Come Down |
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| Written by Mark Miller | |
| Monday, 12 June 2006 | |
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At the corner of Hill and Tussing Roads in Pickerington, there is a small shopping center called The Shoppes at Turnberry. There are several businesses in the plaza that I frequently visit, my bank (Chase Bank) for example. I also usually purchase gas at the adjacent Speedway.
On January 27th 2006, I noticed a no weapons sign, on the same post as the speed limit sign, on the West entrance ramp from Tussing Road. I thought it was odd to see a no guns sign on a public road. Fairfield County has a water treatment plant that borders this property, and the county has the entire grounds posted with similar signs. I thought that perhaps this road crossed the County’s property. I inquired with the County Engineer about the road, and got the following response via email from Jeff Camechis on January 30th: it’s a private drive for public use but not a public road as far as for utility use. Later, I noticed that there was a second no weapons sign on the stone marquee at the East entrance to the Shoppes at Turnberry. It was then that I realized the property owner had posted the entire shopping center and parking lot, probably without the knowledge of the resident businesses. This makes it tough for me. If an individual business posts that I need to go into, I can leave my gun locked in my car. That option evaporates if the whole parking lot is posted; I can’t even enter with my gun in my car. This would mean that all trips to and from my bank would have to be made unarmed. On February 22nd, Jeff Garvas from OFCC advised me to put all of the business from The Shoppes at Turnberry into the CPZ database, and write each one of them a personal letter from me to let them know they would be losing my business due to the posted parking lot. I mailed each one a letter. Several days later I received a phone call from the manager of the Speedway. She was surprised to find that the parking lot was posted and asked me for details regarding where the signs were located. She was not happy about it, and promised that this would not go unaddressed. I assumed she meant with the landlord. She further told me that her husband has a concealed carry license. To me that was good to hear in that it made me feel like I was not alone in opposing the posting of the signs by the landlord. On May 7th I went to CompUSA in the Easton Market in Columbus, and noticed that the parking lot at the Easton Market was also posted with no guns signs. I planned to go back later and make a list of the businesses and send them all letters and put them all in the CPZ database, as I had done with the Shoppes at Turnberry. In the meantime, I just posted one entry in the CPZ database for the Easton Market parking lot, Chase was willing to let me move my safety deposit box to another branch at no extra cost but I didn’t like the idea of driving several miles further. On May 22nd, I noticed that the no weapons signs at the Shoppes at Turnberry had been removed! I emailed OFCC to have the business in that shopping center removed from the CPS database (all but the two which still have their own signs on their store fronts). Today I noticed a police report in the local paper documenting that on 05/26/2006 a man armed with a gun robbed the Speedway gas station 1711 Hill Road at 3:46 am. An Employee stated the man took $108.34 in cash an unknown quantity of cigarettes and the clerk’s wallet. A search of the area turned up no suspects and the investigation continues. On June 10th, I was in the Easton area and found that the no weapons signs had been removed from the parking lot at the Easton Market as well! Since I hadn’t gotten around to working on sending letters to the business and landlord at the Easton Market, I do not know if the two shopping centers are related. Regardless, it shows that anyone can make a difference, and that these signs can come down just as easily as they go up if you just let it be known that these signs are having unintended consequences. Rather than turning away criminals (who disregard them anyway), they are turning away paying customers. Most businesses don’t want to give you any reason to go patronize a competitor and are willing to listen to your concerns. |