On the Road Again: Cutting Someone Off-- With a Penny

[XLFD]

Penny Ante

July has been quite an interesting month so far for me.  On July 2nd, I was documenting safety problems in the northeast side of town on my bicycle when I was verbally accosted by Ludington Mayor John Henderson, with his wife, Penny as a passenger, driving by me in their car (as chronicled in the thread The Mayor Rolls out the Welcome Wagon).

Penny, For Your Thoughts 

Two days later, at the Ludington Freedom Festival Parade, as the Mayor's motorcade went down the street in the midst of the parade, the First Lady of Ludington was handing out something (probably SOS Badger related) to the crowd, and as she passed me and my family in our front row seat, she took time off her task to look at me and say, with obvious disgust, "Oooh (or was it Ewww?), take another picture.", while she continued on, obviously vexed.  (also noted in the above thread, page 2).

A Bad Penny Always Turns Up

Today, Saturday, July 9th, I was headed down south for my morning bicycle ride.  Due to circumstances the friend I was going to ride with was not able to make it, so I headed out later than I wanted, around 11 AM.  I was traveling east on Sixth Street, about two city blocks away from where it meets up with the PM Highway, not too far from Johnson's Supreme Auto. 

The street at that point has three lanes, including a turn lane.  I am riding within a foot of the road edge on my bicycle when all of a sudden, a vehicle pulls up from behind, within a couple of feet from me, momentarily matches my speed, and lays on their horn. 

Kind of surprising, fortunately I was able to maintain control at the sound of this unexpected menace to my safety.  When sharing the road with Cyclists and pedestrians, cars are advised to not use their horn, as this AAA website Sharing the Road declares:  "Avoid using your car horn near bicyclists - it could startle them and cause them to swerve into traffic or off the roadway and crash." 

Both were present here, since I was both close to the road edge and this encroaching motorist.  Michigan state law MI Law: 257.706 Horn Usage   Section 1 says:  "The driver of a motor vehicle shall when reasonably necessary to insure safe operation give audible warning with his horn but shall not otherwise use the horn when upon a highway (street)." 

The motorist's use was definitely not insuring safe operation, as there was my lane plus the turning lane to pass me (there was no other traffic nearby), and after they did so, they sped up so I could not make out who it was.  I did what I usually do when a motorist violates the law and/or my safety and flipped them the bird.  The driver braked, then thought better of it and continued.

I continued as well, noting that they had thought of stopping I gave them the sideways bird with my left middle finger repeatedly pointing to the road side, effectively inviting them to pull over, so that we could discuss why what they did was not a wise act.  To my surprise, they did.

As I rode to the driver side window, prepared to tell them about driving too close and sounding their horn so close to me, I was calm and had planned to use it as a teaching moment for them, unless they were belligerent to me.  To my surprise, it was Mrs. Mayor, Penny Henderson, and some blond haired young woman in the passenger seat.

Before I could say anything, she started very upset yammering about how her husband and I used to be friends when I was back on the fire department, berated me for going against him, and other things.  I was just aghast.  Finally, I was able to talk, and asked her whether she was stalking me.

Her turn to be flummoxed; she annoyedly told me she was on her way to Pentwater.  I told her I was on my way towards there too, at which point she gave me that "oooh" (or is it "Ewww"?) thing, and expressed her hope of me not being at the same place she was. 

Seconded, I thought, and quite likely, since I was only going as far as The Wishing Well.  She then continued on her way.  I then went off the street and I called my attorney and other allies about this strange chance occurence.  And how it was intimidating and threatening to me.

Sixth Street Madness 

And even though her original act of crowding me and honking her horn was a hostile, unsafe act and was willfully directed against me, I did not call the police.   For it was further west on Sixth Street where I was passed illegally and unsafely by an Ludington Police Department Tahoe in non-emergency mode going 15 mph over the speed limit, in a no-passing zone, in a school safety zone during normal school hours, with plenty of cars parked on both sides of the street, about three years ago.

When discussed, Chief Barnett said his driver was an excellent driver, and that I was at fault for having my bicycle in the street at that point, although I was riding it lawfully.  He half-wanted to give me a ticket for obstructing traffic, even though my speedometer had me riding over 20 mph.  The driver was never identified, but Chief Barnett was not at the LPD station when I called in to complain. 

[Freedom Seeker]

Wow! Not a very flattering photo, also. Unreal. Time ans sometimes karma will catch up with actions unforgiven. Because one learns by asking forgiveness for wrongdoings. If bad actions are not corrected, worse habits are created, by thinking you can get away with it. I hope she gets what she deserved for all the bad past too.

[Du Wright]

Penny Henderson has done volunteer work for the hospital and community, but something must be driving her to drink to be out on a Tuesday after 2 a.m.? lucky she didn't kill herself or someone else. Im glad the officer stuck to his duties to arrest someone regardless of name. wrong is wrong. Maybe she'll get off easy with having to go to rehab, obviously by her two-faced actions through the years as explained in this article, she has had some problems. Unreal that she would harass you like that in 2011, XLFD, when she was mayor's wife.

[Freedom Seeker]

I wonder where John Henderson was at this time in the morning?  If he was home sleeping, makes me wonder why Penny was out alone so late drinking.  If this doesn't portray that Ludington has too much drinking going on, I don't know what will.  Thank you Mrs. Henderson for bringing the issue to light.

[AQUAMAN]

Well, it took a long 8 years, but Karma seems to have come around on poor Penny now. Plus that Felony charge on an officer, shouldn't exactly be easy to have thrown out, jeez. Anyone hear what her breath test measured? Or blood test? This sure doesn't look good, esp. for John and Brandy to have to deal with now, shameful.

[XLFD]

Excellent points, FS and Dianne, it would be nice to open a dialog on the issue of whether the City is promoting drinking more than it should through its events and its glorification of the bars by Heather and Jen every Friday.  

I have heard so many strong rumors about Ludington VIPs (including Penny) having drinking problems, and it seems most of their vices get swept under the rug.  Most of them are drunk on power it's often hard to tell.  This might have gone under the radar too had she not made a handcuff-escape and took a swing at the deputy.  

I betcha this would be great on video-- needless to say I'm ordering up the incident report and dashcam footage.

[AQUAMAN]

Excellent find again X, but, I doubt that FOIA for the dashcam footage will be available. Usually when it's serious about some official, past official, or their family, it get's lost or malfunctioned somehow. Time will tell now, thanks for the heads-up article.