LITTLE ROCK — THAT DISTANT melody-well, noise-you hear approaching is the familiar sound of the ice cream truck in summer. That is, for those of you who live in towns that allow the roving iceboxes with tinny tunes attached.
The noise might be kind of nice-at first-if you’re a certain age.
Kids may jump up and down in anticipation when they first hear the ding-ding-dinging. But after a while, a short while, their folks can start to dread it. Mozart it ain’t.
Word around the campfire is that Springdale’s city council may start regulating this seasonal business for the first time. That prospect has got some of us old fogies, and maybe young ones, jumping up and down in anticipation. If there’s one thing better than ice cream, it’s peace and quiet. Not to mention sanitation. Springdale is eyeing an ordinance that, among other things, would require that these Pied Pipers of popsicles be cleared by the State Police before they hit the streets. Which seems like the smart thing to do. You don’t wantjust anybody handing out ice cream to young ’uns from the back of a truck.
Our first thought on hearing that just anybody with a business license can start peddling these treats to neighborhood kids: Are you kidding or what? Background checks, please. It’s the least the rest of us can do to protect kids.
Now comes Miss Jenna Steele, who lives in a different Arkansas town-pretty little Sherwood, Ark., with its manicured lawns, neighborhood pools, tomato gardens, and the relaxing feel of Everytown, U.S.A.
Miss Jenna, 10, was featured in a front-page story in Saturday’s paper: She wants Sherwood to overturn its ordinance banning the ice cream trucks.
Before we go too much further, allow us to tell the young lady that we just love the idea of young people getting involved in government. The world needs more 10-year-old Jenna Steeles calling the mayor’s office and demanding Big Changes from the grown-ups. Unless we miss our bet, Miss Jenna will one day turn out to be some kind of expert in public relations, politics, marketing and probably all of the above. How many 10-year-olds get their picture on the front page of the state’s newspaper in connection with a political story?
But we also hurry to tell Miss Jenna she is, well . . . ummm . . . we hate to use the word “wrong” lest it discourage her and others like her. Let’s just say this is not the most right a 10-year-old has ever been.
Sure, ice cream is great. Even an editorial in an American newspaper can say that without ifs, ans, or buts. However, you can get ice cream at the nearest Wal-Mart, or at the Sonic on JFK right next to the Wal-Mart. Or at one
of the Subways dotting Sherwood. Or at any convenience store. There’s not exactly a shortage of ice cream for Sherwood’s kids. Who needs the vans patrolling the neighborhoods playing that song over and over and over and over?
It’s also a matter of safety. Ice cream plus children plus asphalt plus traffic sometimes equals nothing good.
Not to mention just plain aesthetics. Leave the peace and quiet alone. And do we really want to start kids’ musical education with that symphonic masterpiece, Do Your Ears Hang Low?
Sherwood’s ban on the traveling ice cream salesmen has lasted 40 years, probably because most tax-paying adults like it that way. Maybe also because the kids aren’t exactly going without.
WORD around the campfire is that Sherwood’s city council may be wavering on the ice cream truck ban, and may even hold a meeting this week to overturn it. After all, who’re you going to listen to, editorial writers or Jenna Steele? Some folks are just more persuasive than others.
If the council does allow the bothersome things to invade quiet, beautiful little Sherwood, Ark., may its members be wise enough to at least require background checks of the drivers. It still amazes us that folks have been allowed to drive around neighborhoods all these years handing out ice cream without in-depth background checks. Aren’t those trucks with the awful music all but kid magnets? Some common sense, please.
As for Jenna Steele, young lady, keep at it. Power to the people, fight the Man, stay involved and all that. You are more encouraging to us old fogies than you’ll ever know. We who disagree with you salute you.
Editorial, Pages 16 on 06/30/2010