A Hero of the Snowy Streets – BETWEEN THE TRACKS

There’s a fella up in St. Louis who’s got more heart than a Valentine’s Day clearance sale. Kenneth Harrell—remember that name—spent his own hard-earned cash (about five hundred hard earned American dollars, which ain’t peanuts these days) to rent himself a Bobcat and plow the living daylights out of neighborhood streets that the city apparently forgot existed.

This makes my pitiful attempt with a leaf blower last night look about as useful as bringing a plastic spoon to a chili cook-off (by the way one is scheduled for the Tybee American Legion on 7 February). And I had the nerve to feel accomplished about it too, standing out there in my pajama bottoms at 9 PM while the neighbors watched through their curtains and think this guy is nuts.

Now, Kenny doesn’t even live in this neighborhood, mind you. But he’s got what my mama would call “the right kind of raising”—seeing folks trapped by snowdrifts taller than a politician’s stack of empty promises just didn’t sit right with him.

“People could get out the house but not off the street,” Kenny told some TV folks, probably while shrugging like what he did wasn’t a big deal. That’s how the real heroes always act—like they’re just doing what anybody would do, when we know darn well most anybody would be inside with hot chocolate watching Svengoolie.

The internet’s gone wild sharing videos of this modern-day Paul Bunyan on his yellow chariot of mercy. One restaurant lady, Karen Wiley Vails, messaged him desperate-like about her buried parking lot. Kenny’s response? “I’ll be there.” Simple as biscuits and gravy.

Even the city bigwigs couldn’t find fault. When asked if this unauthorized snow-wrangling was kosher, St. Louis Streets Commissioner Kent Flake—and I swear I’m not making that name up—basically said, “Well, shoot, he’s helping, ain’t he?”

Which might be the first sensible thing a government official has uttered since Nixon admitted he wasn’t a crook and Clinton swore he didn’t have sexual relations with that woman.

Thank you Kenny, it goes to show you that one man with a BobCat can make a difference in the world. I know your Momma is mighty proud of you.

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