By Paul Buescher
Normally ice cream truck drivers are a friendly and welcome sight on hot summer days but apparently our township has a history of occasionally attracting the exact opposite. A few years back, we encouraged Summit County to enact a permit process for all solicitors, which would include fingerprinting, background checks and photographing. This was the direct result of continuing complaints from residents. The County finally enacted a county-wide permit system for all vendors and solicitors except non-profits. Months after this was enacted, we began receiving complaints about an aggressive ice cream truck vendor who did not have a permit and was acting “strangely.” On two chance encounters, I warned the driver about not having a permit and gave him the information to obtain one. I ran across him a third time in Rolling Brooke and this time he took off and after I contacted the Sheriff’s Office, he was eventually stopped in Twinsburg Township. He was arrested because he had outstanding arrest warrants from Northfield Village, including one for receiving stolen property. I also learned shortly afterwards from an official source in the Village that this same individual was observed HAVING SEX WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND IN THE BACK OF HIS ICE CREAM TRUCK! Earlier this year other area communities, including Northfield Center, enacted regulations completely banning all commercial solicitors. On June 28th, an ice cream truck driver (not the same one mentioned above) got involved in an altercation with a Pleasant view resident in front of my house. I actually had to intervene by blocking the ice cream driver from opening his door to attack the resident. I told him who I was and calmed him down while the resident got back in his car and left. This entire event was recorded on my home video surveillance system. I explained to the driver that he was prohibited from soliciting anywhere in our township. This guy didn’t appear to understand anything I was saying because I believed that he was either drunk or under the influence of drugs. He finally turned around to leave and while doing so, yelled some very foul language. I called the Sheriff but they were unable to locate him. This past Saturday evening (7/15/2017), I received a message from a resident that an ice cream truck was in our neighborhood. I had a gut feeling that this might be the same guy encountered on June 28th so I drove around the ‘wicks’ area and found him on the east end of Kenwick. This was definitely the same driver and truck. He was stopped and getting ready to sell his ‘stuff’ to some residents. He motioned me to pass by and as I did I stopped next to him and asked how many more times did he need to be warned to stay out of our township? He glared at me and said “what city are we in.” I told him that he knew exactly where he was. I then told him that I was calling the Sheriff. He then began to open his door to exit and as he did he threatened me with physical violence. At that point, I drove away and called the Sheriff. He turned around and headed in the opposite direction. I did the same thing and eventually followed him while keeping the Sheriff’s dispatcher updated on our location. Although I was always well behind him with several cars in between, he did his best to elude me by running several red lights on Rt. 82 and Rt. 8 and cutting across several lanes. The last time he was spotted he was speeding behind the Wal-Mart store in Macedonia. The Sheriff’s office continued looking for this maniac but were unable to find him. Folks, I consider my PRIMARY function and responsibility as a Trustee is assuring the safety and well-being of my fellow residents. From the scamming of our seniors, to drug dealers and to dangerous perverts (some driving ice cream trucks), roaming our streets, I will do what is lawfully necessary to get the job done. A few people think that sometimes I go too far. I heard from a resident who overheard my exchange with the driver on Saturday. He didn’t think it was appropriate with his children in the area. Although there were raised voices, there were no threats or foul language coming from me. This same resident also believed that I was speeding to catch up with the driver. There’s a substantial difference between a quick acceleration and speeding. An eleven-year-old four-cylinder Minivan has a hard time doing either one but if one considers 29MPH as speeding then I guess I am guilty. The bottom line here is that this resident was not aware of the facts leading up to this incident and that it was him, his children and his neighbors that I was trying to protect! Yes, I guess I occasionally do go beyond what is required of a Trustee but that’s ME and after 64 years, old habits are hard to break.
Paul G. Buescher
Northfield Center Twp. Trustee
Click here to read a related letter to the editor.
Click here to read a second letter to the editor that we received.
