About a week ago, a friend of mine who live on Morris Leonard Rd. in Parsonsburg told me that he had talked to our Councilman Joe Holloway about three weeks before and asked him for help in reducing the speed limit from 50 miles per hour on that road due to the fact that he has small children who play in the area.. He stated that his kids play in the yard and when cars go by at 50 it makes him nervous. He stated that he had never heard anything back from Holloway. I told him that he should call Rick Pollitt and talk to him about it. Joe Holloway has told me in the recent past that since we have a County Executive, the council members are not permitted to talk to the department heads.
I am familiar with the road in question since I live around the corner from him. Morris Leonard road is very narrow road in the area of my friend house which is about 150 yards from the stop sign at Parsonsburg Rd. There is a sharp curve in the road about 150 yards from my friends house in the other direction.There have been many vehicles in the past that have run off the road at that curve because they were going too fast.
I told my friend that I would make contact with Rick Pollitt to see what we could do. I called Rick's office about two weeks ago and he was out of town. His secretary directed me to Mr. Sharma, head of County Roads. After about a week and two phone calls to Mr. Sharma and direct conversation with Rick Pollitt, I was able to talk to Mr. Sharma. I advised Mr. Sharma of our concerns and of the conversation my friend had with Joe Holloway. Mr. Sharma assured me that he never had any conversation with Joe Holloway about that stretch of road. Mr. Sharma stated that he was sure that, since Joe Holloway is a busy person, he must have forgotten about it. Mr. Sharma stated that he has had complaints over the past four years about the speed limit on that road but didn't see any reason to change it. My position was that if there are six houses on that stretch of road and there are children in the area on such a narrow road, what harm could there be in lowering the speed limit in an attempt to help assure the safety of the children? Mr. Sharma stated that he would personally ride out there and re-assess the situation to see if he could lower the speed limit.
Yesterday Mr. Sharma called me and advised me that upon his review of the area he decided that a reduction of 10 miles per hour was appropriate. I thanked him for all his help and called my friend to tell him of the news. My friend was happy, stating that he was greatful for any reduction of speed he could get to help assure the safety of the kids in the area. End of story....right? Wrong.
Today my friend called me and told me that he came out of his house after lunch time today and Joe Holloway was parked in his driveway. He approached Joe who stated "I've been working on this for a while and I got the speed limit lowered by 10 MPH.....Is that good enough?" My friend was in disbelief. Since he works for Wicomico County he didn't want to make any waves with a Councilman who had just taken credit for doing something he hadn't done. He thanked Joe and then called me when their conversation was over to tell me what had just happened.
Joe......this is the fact. We, as a community, got together and made the necessary phone calls to address a need we had. One of us asked you for your help but it didn't happen. No offense. We know your busy - and I'm being serious - you can't handle every issue in your district. BUT...don't lie about it. Don't act like you did something when you didn't. Don't try to take credit for something you had nothing to do with. Many people are concerned about recent things you've done while acting in your official capacity. Don't make matters worse by lying like some big city politician.
I'd like to personally and publicly thank Rick Pollitt and Mr. Sharma for thier help in solving a traffic problem that concerned some of the citizens here in Parsonsburg. 10 miles per hour may not seem like much but it could mean the difference between stopping before or after a child is hit..
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
20 comments:
Did Pollitt use that special pen to sign the order?
Sounds like Joe Holloway is a one term councilman.
Joe,
I know Joe Holloway. He has gone out of his way to assist me. I know for a fact that he takes his elected position seriously and I find this story unbelievable.
Getting the speed limit lowered in residential neighborhoods is a great thing for children's safety.
The speed limit on my road was reduced from 50 to 30mph a few years ago. The problem is enforcing it. There are still cars going in excess of 80 mph on my road and writing tickets twice a year doesn't seem to matter.
I doubt that lowering the limit on your friend's road will make a difference as there aren't enough officers to enforce it.
I know Joe Holloway too. When he was elected, he was a different person. Now he voted to change what the people voted for on the "question A" issue on the ballot - collective bargaining. I was told he thinks some of his voters are tree huggers and thats why he won't have meetings like the other council women.
WOW this is interesting. To do nothing and then lie about it. That kind of stuff makes me sick. I can
tolerate him not doing anything that's just the norm for elected officials. But to lie that sucks.
Its great you got the speed limit lowered , However that will do absolutely nothing to slow drivers down . The speed limit on our road is 30 mph lowered about a year ago from 40 , drivers are still running 60 and 70 mph by our house . Try to get speed enforcement and they come out 1 time with radar and only stay for a couple of hours in the middle of the day when no one is traveling . As far as I am concerned you can have our 30 mph signs too because they don't work here . All we ever asked for here is for the sheriff to enforce the 40 mph speed limit and they reduced it to 30 and still don't enforce that.
Based on my personal experience with Joe as a council member (not related to Question A), this story does not surprise me. I agree with ANON 1:53.
Anon 2:34
It's good you have doubts. It's natural and you may not want to believe it - especially if you voted for him as I did. But don't just write it off as a lie. Ask Mr. Sharma. Ask Joe Holloway. If he's the man you think he his, he won't lie. But I can assure you of this. There have been five separate instances about which I have been disturbed by Joe's behavior as Councilman. Some of which I have personally spoken to Joe Holloway about and have been appalled by his responses.
"My friend didn't want to say anything because he works in Wicomico County and didn't want to make waves with a County councilman." Did your friend want you to make those waves for him? Don't you think Mr. Holloway is capable of figuring out who called him about this situation and whose driveway he was sitting in? The general public has no idea who grand dad is talking about, but
I'm sure Mr. Holloway has it figured out. It's like grand dad blew the whistle on a whistleblower.
Perhaps I wasn't clear. My apologies. The person didn't want to seem disrespectful to the point that he could be reprimanded. When he called me, We discussed putting it out here for everyone to see. He made no indication at all that he didn't want that to happen. He believes the people should know. Incidentally, he voted for Holloway as well. Yes....Joe will know who he is. Joe already knows who I am. My name is Bob Harris. See.....now you know who I am as well.
And earlier comment regarding lowering of speed limits having a positive affect on speed reduction was right on.
My neighborhood had the same issue and after some contact with Mr.Sharma and the County Council the speed limit was reduced.But, guess what nothing changed people still speed and there is not enough speed enforcement to slow them down.
If you listen to the highway experts they will tell you that regardless of the posted speed limit people tend to drive at the speed they believe the road condition will permiti.e.,straight and flat goe fast,rough and curvy go slow.All my neighbors called the former Sheriff and all he told us was there was not enough deputies to work all the speed complaints.
Maybe if got Condo's build in the median strip of the bypass we could all move there and be safe. That's where you will find all of the Sheriffs deputies. I guess checking drug dealers going to Norfolk is more important then neighborhood safety!
We live near the Brick Kiln Speedway. You should see it on Sunday afternoons out here with cars lined up, motorcycles lined up just waiting to race from Rockawalkin Ridge down to the dump. Cheapest entertainment in town.
Just wait until that collector road opens. They'll have to post an ambulance at each end on Sunday afternoons.
Traffic studies show that the most effective way to get people to obey slower residential speed limits (25-40) is SPEED BUMPS. But just try suggesting that! Other effective measures are large cardboard cutouts of a policeman holding radar gun. We try and park our cars so it forces people to slow down, the ones that drive 60 in a 25 MPH speed limit.
"I doubt that lowering the limit on your friend's road will make a difference as there aren't enough officers to enforce it."
There would be if they didn't spend most of their shift(like granddad did when he was a deputy) at Ihop or Johnny's Sub and Sundae shop.
Question? I am new to this blog so just tell me I am an idiot and I can accept that. But, who is Grand dad? From what I gathered after reading many posts, you thrive on people "Manning up" and using their real names yet you allow someone to join your team and not use there real name? Maybe I am slow and should know who Grand dad is but I do not. Just think that if you are going to be the author and on Joe Albero's team you should use your real name.
P.S. I am very disappointed that Joe Holloway has become your "typical" politician and quite the liar.
Sounds to me like Mr. Harris has his eye on Joe H.'s seat.
i am glad the gentleman had the speed limit reduced for the children. safety for them is the upmost priority, and as far as joe holloway goes! eddie werkheiser would have made a hellava better councilman than he ever dreamed of being. he is a people person thru and thru. i sure hope he runs again the next time around so he can send blo smoke holloway back to the store he sold the illegal middle east terroists
problem solved: keep an eye on your kids when they are outside!
Anonymous said...
Joe,
I know Joe Holloway. He has gone out of his way to assist me. I know for a fact that he takes his elected position seriously and I find this story unbelievable.
2:34 AM
I know Joe Holloway as well and he is an arrogant ASS!! Someone on this site called him a Hobo and that is basically what he is. Look at the run down store he ran in Parsonsburg. That place was an eyesore and should have been closed down. That was one of the nastiest businesses in Wicomico County. And he had nerve to complain about some of his neighbors properties.
Have you ever noticed how Joe and Stevie Prettyman are joined at the hip and how she leads him around like a puppy dog. Joe Holloway is Stevies mouthpiece. He doesn't have enough sense to think on his own. How convenient for him to bring up the special pens when Stevie brought up the issue of selling beer at the County liquor stores. How convenient for them to grandstand at the same meeting. If you look closely you will see A. Kaye Kenney and Bill Kenney close by. It's obvious they have something up their sleeves as well and they need Joe and Stevie.
You may like Joe personally, but there are many that don't. I am close to a lot of his relatives and they don't care about him either.
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