The Gadfly is a series of letters offering commentary on local issues and published in the Warrensburg Gazette.

Have you seen the Blind Boone statue yet? It was installed in front of the United Missouri Bank facing West Pine Street. It’s highly visible proof that the Blind Boone Park effort is making progress. However, while helping guide traffic around the installation effort Sunday, I noted a few peculiarities of Warrensburg drivers.

There’s a common failure to use turn signals. You’d think that someone turning from Pine onto Holden would at least want to give pedestrians some idea which way they want to turn. Fat chance! A large proportion of Sunday drivers decided it would be fun to let us guess which way they planned to go. Southbound drivers on Holden turning west onto Pine were almost as bad.

A number of drivers had some difficulty with the bump-outs. Several added rubber from their sidewalls to the collection on the curb, and one person, turning right from Pine onto Holden, even drove over about 2 feet of the bumpout. Is it too early to say, “I told you so”?

Some drivers decided they can whiz on by a partially obstructed road without slowing. Almost invariably, these folks had a cell phone glued to their ears. I don’t advocate a ban on talking while driving, but I’d sure like to see its devotees practice some extra care.

Warrensburg could have made a mint in traffic tickets for those who coasted right through the stop sign on Pine. A lot of these were more flagrant than the so-called California rolling stop; I wonder why they were so certain nobody was coming on Holden.

In any case, those of you who pulled any of the aforementioned traffic shenanigans now have an opportunity to atone for your automotive misdeeds. The Blind Boone Park Renovation Group still needs plenty of money to pay for the statue as well as to meet the matching funds obligation for the grant recently awarded. You can drop off your tax-deductible donation at the TeeHaus (make checks to Warrensburg Parks for the 21st Century) or donate from the website (www . blindboonepark . org). You can help Warrensburg live up to the motto of the Blind Boone Music Company – “Merit, not sympathy, wins”