It's against the law in this town to run power equipment, like saws and leafblowers, until at least 7am. That's only civilized. But, folks, the guy who handles outdoor maintenance for Key Lime Square, that little compound of offices and restaurants just off the 500 block of Southard near Duval, powers up his leafblower at 6:30 a.m.— or earlier!
On our newspaper's deadline days, I often stop into Dunkin Donuts for a cup of coffee before going into the office about 6 or 6:30 a.m. For the past couple of mornings, that joker has been out there on the sidewalk with his leafblower cranked up to super-high. That's jarring for me— and I'm awake! But imagine those people trying to sleep in the Pegasus Hotel, just across the street?
"Don't you care that people are trying to sleep over there?" I asked him. "No," he said, as he blew his moving pile of dust and trash over the top of my Jerry Garcia Birkenstocks. "What you're doing is against the law," I instructed him. He shrugged and blew his pile out into the street.
Where are the leafblower police when you need them? Where are the bully boy cops? This guy should be arrested, handcuffed and thrown face dowm onto the floor of the police van. And when he gets to the jail, the Correction Officers might find his leafblower stuffed where the sun don't shine. The cops could always claim that "he fell on it."