Dear Mahatma: Did you also know the tributary one crosses on Interstate 40 between Palestine and Forrest City has changed names? Hubby and I drove to Alabama for a family wedding. As we neared FC, I noticed a change in a familiar sign identifying a small river. I vowed that during the return trip, I'd focus on the corresponding westbound sign. Apparently, it's no longer the "L'anguille (The Eel) River," but the "L'anquille (The Ankle) River." -- Drew
Dear Drew: Thank you for the French lesson.
ArDot, the Arkansas Department of Transportation, tells us that after "extensive research," it has concluded, dang, that would be the L'anguille River. As Jimmy Hatlo used to say in the comic "They'll Do It Every Time," a tip of the old chapeau to you.
We are told that the District One office has been alerted. Maybe the spelling will be corrected by the next family wedding.
BTW, Hatlo's cartoon started in in 1929 and ended when he died in 1963. According to "100 years of American Newspaper Comics" -- an actual book, made out of paper -- it depicted "people's inconsistencies, hypocrisies and downright stupidities."
Sounds like drivers. Not us, of course. Other drivers.
Dear Mahatma: What's the fuss about taking down the handicap tag while moving? It's not an impediment to vision unless one only has one eye. How many one-eyed drivers are out there? More emphasis should be paid to people who are not handicapped parking in the handicapped spaces. After my stroke I am much more aware of this problem. -- F.
Dear F: Two points, if we may.
First, the federal government itself requires the taking down of the rear-view handicap tag while the vehicle is in motion. Come to think of it, the state code also prohibits any blocking or impediment of vision through the windshield. That's a double whammy against leaving up the placard.
Take it down.
Second point regards illegal parking in handicapped places, a perennial topic of aggravation.
Call the police. Hope there's a patrol unit available and on the scene before the miscreant gets away.
If not, take a cellphone photo, then go home and click on the website of the Department of Finance and Administration for a form to report the miscreant parking under Act 1003 of 2017.
Sir: When iDrivearkansas.com identifies an incident, sometimes it is reported by the Arkansas Department of Transportation, and sometimes by the appropriate Arkansas State Police troop. Why are not all incidents reported by ASP? -- R.J.
Dear R.J.: ArDot tells us that its Highway Police work with state police, and both agencies call in accidents and incidents, depending on who gets first on the scene.
ArDot's Traffic Management Center also uses video cameras to monitor the flow of traffic on the state's highways. If workers at the center see an accident on one of their many video screens, they will report it.
Fjfellone@gmail.com