raymond - 2005-01-10 08:20:09
Whittaker Road is a death trap. Every time we check our mailbox we fear for our lives. We've seen traffic increase from hundreds of vehicles per day to hundreds per hour. When we check the mail, we put on our four-way flashers. We know that does no good.
Several years ago when we had a big ice storm we lost trees out by the road. The storm was huge. We could not hire anyone to clean up the trees which intruded into the northbound lane of traffic. Finally we went out there with axes, chainsaws, ropes, and other tools and took on the job. We were not surprised to find paint chips and pieces of broken lights from vehicles which refused to slow down to avoid the branches, insteading crashing into them. However, I would have expected people to slow down upon seeing men wielding axes and chainsaws in the roadway. I was mistaken. We had an exciting time cleaning up those trees.
Saturday after we got home from errands, I started a tractor and plowed snow. The end of the drive at the road was stimulating. Finding a break in the traffic to clear the piles left by snowplows was difficult. I expected at any moment to be hit by speeding vehicles. In fact, it was very close several times. Why would someone want to crash into a big old red tractor? Oh, that's right. They have insurance.
To the traffic I am resigned. I cannot stop it. I cannot control it. I know that it may kill or main me momentarily. The only time I had an adrenaline rush this Saturday was when as I was backing toward the road instead of watching the ditch I watched traffic. I backed into the ditch with the left rear wheel of the tractor and came to within a foot of tipping over. I would surely have been crushed. Old tractors have no rollover protection devices. The adrenaline made my extremities tingle to the point of pain.
We heard the sirens Saturday. We had finished chores and were in the house. The toes of my right foot were numb with cold. Sadly, we hear sirens every day now. We used to hear them a few times per month. Now it is perpetual. "The subdivision express," we call the screaming emergency vehicles. Because we are numbed to the sound of disaster, we paid no attention to the demise of our neighbor. It isn't safe to go out to the road to see what's going on. We can watch it on television while we hope that our house is not bombed by mistake.* * * * * * * * * * * *
The tipping tractor was scary to read--good heavens, I'm glad nothing happened. Also, the unwillingness of drivers to give a bit of space to someone just trying to plow his driveway is irritating--clearly, these are very important people who just can't afford to slow down in the least on their vital errand (to Paint Creek Crossing).
I am sorry to read that my impressions of the deadly nature of Whittaker Road are correct.
The lady was just checking her mail. * * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2005-01-10 11:12:49
I hate driving home from work. What is supposed to be a cool down period turns into the "Ypsi 15" If somebody is two feet from my bumper it don't make me go any faster. In fact, I usually go even slower. They never figure out if they back off I'll speed up a little. My truck is older so if they get too close I hit the brakes and practice my lines "ow my neck, I can't move" Usually I pull off and listen to the "Headin Home country caravan" on WSDS, wait a half hour, and things are much better. Add cell phones to the mix and its very tense out there.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-10 11:18:31
One more reason I take the bus and read a magazine or the paper...ugh, who wants to deal with it.
Never heard of that radio show before but it sounds good. YD, may I ask what is the frequency of WSDS & what time is the Country Caravan show?* * * * * * * * * * * * pechle - 2005-01-10 11:37:31
First---whoever the person was who hit that poor lady should be punished to the full extent of the law, I hope they catch them and prosecute them and send them away! Second---Raymond, I find it difficult to feel to much sympathy for you. If you bothered to join the real world you would understand just how insulated your life has been. The problems you speak of, speeding traffic, jerky drivers and sirens (oh dear God, not sirens!)are dealt with by MOST of the rest of us poor normal folk. As to your backing into a ditch, while watching traffic---get a clue---that was your own doing and blaming it on traffic is not accepting your own responsibility. I am glad you were not harmed, to pay an over-severe price for a minor error would be a harsh penalty indeed. But it would have been YOUR fault, do not blame someone innocently driving by. To compare your inconvience's to the tragic death of an innocent woman is disingenious and self serving. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-10 11:44:28
Nonsense. Someone innocently driving by is responsible for keeping a sharp eye out at all times for mail-checkers, other cars, men on tractors, &c. &c. Drivers don't have carte blanche to mow down everything in their path because "other people" didn't get out of the way fast enough. * * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2005-01-10 11:48:23
WSDS is at 1480 am and is the best station around. They will play requests too. The caravan show is 4 to 6pm then Radio Caliente comes on. That is a hispanic show. Pechle: I enjoy Raymonds hokey stories or however one may want to desrcibe them.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2005-01-10 11:49:28
But recumbent bikers are fair game due to their low profile.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-10 11:49:31
Thank you YD. I'll have to check it out.
Naturally I enjoy Raymond's stories too, not to mention yours YD.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2005-01-10 11:50:25
Anyway, we should all look for a damage blue sedan as they said. They will most likely revisit the spot.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-10 11:51:03
True recumbent bikes are dangerous as all heck on a regular road. But flashy semi-recumbents are much safer and more visible. I'm looking forward to the springtime when I can switch back over from rusty mountain bike to cool semi-recumbent again. At any rate, back to traffic.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-10 11:51:58
That is a shrewd observation, YD--that, like most criminals of this type, he or she will likely revisit the spot. I bet they do.* * * * * * * * * * * * pechle - 2005-01-10 11:55:35
Of course, the point is that all of us, no matter where or when have these same concerns. The fact that Raymond percieves himself as being above these "common" concerns is the point. You have just as much , or more concern , crossing a street in Ypsi. Whittaker Rd. is no different, except that Raymond wants the rest of us to go away and leave HIM in peace. For better of worse(mostly worse, I agree)"they" are not going away! Oh, by the way, the tractor incident, as I read it was on Raymonds property and was his own doing. And to insinuate that I think that drivers have "Carte Blanche to mow anything down." is simply incorrect.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-10 12:09:33
I didn't get the idea that Raymond thought himself "above" anything. The man is just trying to plow his driveway. The tractors have to watch for cars and vice versa--it's a two-way street as they say. I don't think he wants drivers to go away. He just deplores the dangerous drivers who, as he said, make little allowance for men trying to clear out tree branches from the road. Last, Raymond never insinuated that the tractor-tip was anyone's fault. He was just telling a story, for heaven's sake.
I don't know where you live, "pechle," but in reality Whittaker Road is a far cry from crossing most any other street in Ypsi. Much more dangerous. * * * * * * * * * * * * Dave D. - 2005-01-10 12:22:48
I'm sad to hear of this. I think it illustrates how far people have gotten away from the notion that pedestrians, bicyclists, etc. ALWAYS have the right of way. It seems that Michigan drivers especially have a blatant disregard for speed limits and traffic regulations, and are especially disdainful of the rigtht-of-way of pedestrians and cyclists. Ypsi has a lot of one-way streets (I'm thinking of Cross St. in particular) where drivers approach speeds of 50+ mph and crossing east of Hamilton is putting your life at risk. And Ypsi cops seemed too understaffed/funded to do much about it. Again, condolensces. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-10 12:29:54
Yep, Dave D. is right. The slower traveler always has the right of way over one faster. So a bike gives right of way to pedestrians, and car gives ROW to both. Oh, and I'm very careful and ultraslow when passing horses on the rural roads, given their skittishness. Or was, when I was driving.
People do come roaring racecar-style up Cross St., that's true.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-10 12:32:55
I'd love to have speed bumps on even my residential street, too. Fifty or sixty should slow those would-be NASCAR kids down.* * * * * * * * * * * * leighton - 2005-01-10 14:36:47
Sad. Probably another consequence of YpsiTownship's fast fast growth. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-10 14:44:20
Yes, lots of new subs down Whittaker as you know. * * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2005-01-10 15:03:51
I apologize for not actually having been hit by a car yet. Several cars have crashed into our yard, though. I guess I should apologize to them too for being in the way.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-10 15:13:40
Good heavens--one wonders how they got all the way into the yard. Several, no less.
I live halfway down my street, thank goodness--both houses on the Cross Street end have been hit by cars. One just mashed down a fence, and the other traveled across 30 feet of yard and crunched into the corner of a house, causing major damage.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2005-01-10 15:25:40
I remember the first week I moved to Ypsi. I was helping a man do some woodwork restoration at a house on the Southeast corner of N. Adams/Forest. We were done for the day standing in the front yard talking, a big old 4-door came squealing down the street, weaving real good, we just watched as it all happened to fast to do anything. The car bumped up the curb towards us, popped the fire hydrant with a big clang, sideswiped a big maple (tearing off a bunch of bark) and went smoking down forest towards the keg. We both remarked how no water was shooting out of the ground like in the movies. So the car winds up in the Keg parking lot, smoking and doing donuts, with the Keg staff and customers all looking out the windows scared shitless. Then it left the Keg parking lot and proceeded north on Huron. Wher the police caught the limping/smoking car right in front of Georges Huron Inn. The guy fell on the pavement when they took him out of the car. I'll never forget that one.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-10 15:31:16
Good heavens! Scary, especially since things happen so fast in such situations, as you say. It is a great story, though, I have to say.* * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2005-01-10 16:51:29
When we lived at E. Michigan and Prospect we became very familiar with "screeeEEECH...BANG...Ker-WHUMP!" That's an exciting intersection still. To mention sirens again, Beyer was still open for business around the corner. We can learn to sleep through nearly anything.
Some of the more spectacular wrecks I've seen out here are: the kid who fell asleep at the wheel after visiting his girlfriend at Millpoint and took out several mailboxes and the curve sign before he hit the tree at the end of our driveway and skidded through the gate. His car was totalled but he slept through it all without a scratch; the three-car crash that left a vehicle full of screaming children spinning upside down in the middle of Whittaker while one of the others burned at the side of the road by the same curve sign (we got everyone out, all survived); the one where I stopped in the drive to check the mail and when I got to the box saw a line of smashed cars and trucks with a large fellow who had been driving laid back, gansta-style, who'd done the main crashing, gasping for breath from the seatbelt impact; likewise, the kid next door was turning in his drive one eve whereupon a truck whacked him in the rear and knocked him across the centerline into two other cars, but the kid was okay; up toward the corner a carpet truck going straight slammed into the bright yellow SUV which turned left in front of it, the SUV ending flipped upsidedown in the ditch; last winter several vehicles skidded through our front yard, killing a new big pine, but missing the corner fence post by two inches (I didn't even see that one, just the tracks); and as to fire hydrants, after we got a water line out front a car missed the curve, went across our drive missing our mailbox by just enough, smacked the curve sign again, took out a neighbor's mailbox, and ended up atop the new fire hydrant with water gushing just like in the movies before the water ran down another neighbor's drive and flooded the basement. etcetera.
I've heard many traffic researchers at UofM and authorities in Michigan government disavow traffic enforcement. They have favored "intelligent vehicles," passenger protection features, and education. I'll continue to prattle on about the adventures of living in a car-crazed environment. It's getting worse, not better.
Do I denigrate a neighbor's death by describing the horror of living under such conditions as drivers create on Whittaker Road? I hope not. If it is self-serving to expect people to slow down and be careful, so be it.
Moreover, let us lead lives which have a low demand for sirens. Don't crash. Don't beat up your family and neighbors. Be careful in the kitchen. If you back your tractor into the ditch, lean away from the tip, change gears, and pull out slowly. The last time we thought we needed an ambulance, we called UofM's emergency and they told us to stop the bleeding as best we could and drive over carefully, it'd be quicker. That's what we did. And that wasn't the time later when Brian sliced the hell out of his hand and I was zoned out on morphine from the previous problem. I drove that time. Slooowly. Oh, and our car died on the way home and we had to stumble maimed and stoned one mile home in the dark on the edge of Whittaker Road.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2005-01-10 17:06:13
Traveling south on Prospect in Summer 94. Approaching Geddes. Light turned green for me when I was 100 yards back or so. Spent the last year restoring a 67 Ford I called the Zeitgeist because of its grey color. Whistling as I approcahed the light a minivan appeared right in front of me. I saw the man craning his neck looking straight up at the light trying to determinie wether it was green or red. Then he turned and looked at me just as I hit him. Very loud boom. spray of metal and liquids. My front end mushroomed up where I couldn't see. Jumped out of my steaming truck watching his van do wirlygigs all the way down Prospect into and out of a ditch with bracnhes and weeds flying everywhere. I ran up to a car that was properly waiting fore the light, and the woman rolled her window up and took off. I approached the minivan to here babies whaling and screaming. The mans name was stonebreaker. I couldn't walk right for 6 months. No one died. But that intersection is ominous to this day.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-10 17:23:24
You are quite the storyteller, Raymond--those are all gripping stories. I was sorry for the new pine and amazed at how frequent accidents seem to be down your way (the "several" cars in your yard last winter). Driving is the most dangerous thing most of us do every day, and people should treat it with gravity and great care.
YD: Wow. This is also a gripping, white-knuckle story. Phew.
The action of that woman is hard to believe. For all she knew, the guy in the van was hurt or dead. You also needed to be checked out to make sure you didn't have a head injury, &c. Pretty cold. Just drove off, huh?
* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-10 17:26:01
I mean, when I say "you also needed..." that she should have stopped and helped you and assessed your health, not that you should have done anything diffeerently. That was a little unclear. At any rate.* * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2005-01-10 17:28:59
this is "..such stuff as (oral histories) are made on..." we look back at what happened to the old timers with awe, but, wow, life goes on* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-10 19:22:29
They are indeed amazing stories. I know I'll never pass Geddes at Prospect--a lonesome intersection, indeed--without thinking "oh, this is where yd's accident was."
WESTBOUND MICHIGAN AVE JUST EAST OF CARPENTER ROAD, SUMMER 1997: Ypsidixit is driving her beloved white Geo Metro with a load of stuff, moving from Ypsi to Ann Arbor. She glides up to the Carpenter Road intersection in the right-hand lane. On her right is a line of cars waiting to go straight. Ypsidixit drives past a car-sized gap in the line.
WHAM!The car is slammed on the front driver side by a car that came hurling through the gap, en route to the liquor store driveway. The Geo is shoved up against and over the right-hand curb. Glass tinkles, falling on Ypsidixit in chunks and spraying out over the road, and covering the passenger seat. Ypsidixit screams. Her glasses are gone and her hands are slightly gashed from falling glass. There's no windshield.
Ypsidixit pants in terror and slowly calms down.
The driver door is crumpled and the entire front of the car on the driver side is stove in. Ypsidixit shakily crawls out on the passenger side, glass pieces falling out of her clothes, and sees the stuff she was moving--crates of books, a giant plant, now all broken, clothes, a shattered empty aquarium, scattered over Michigan Ave.
It took a while to gather everything together and call a tow truck and a friend. I eventually got $500 from the insurance company, after getting an estimate that repairs would cost $5,000, about twice what I paid for the car. Bye bye beloved Geo.* * * * * * * * * * * * Dan Arbor - 2005-01-10 21:13:41
YUKON, WINTER �02: I was crossing the range with a team of sled dogs. It was a vicious blizzard and Mother Nature threw all she had at us that night. The wind howled and huge drifts of snow threatened to bury us at every turn. But, I had to get the serum through.
Finally, after days of fighting the storm, the dogs and I found ourselves high up on the pinnacle of Devil�s Pass. All we had to do was make it through the pass, and we could coast down to the desperate frontier hospital in the valley below. But, conditions were complete whiteout and I couldn�t even see the lead dogs in the team.
Suddenly, from my left, a dark shape loomed and plowed headlong into the dog team, sending all of us tumbling into the heavy snow. It was a huge Grizzly, and he reared up and roared in fury. I looked at the dogs, which lay dazed and scattered like bowling pins. The Grizzly roared again, and I realized I had to act fast. I tipped the sled back over onto its rails, gave a mighty shove toward the down-sloping trail, and hopped onto the back of the sled. The bear began to pursue, but the dogs had roused themselves, and attacked, giving me time to gain momentum and make my escape.
The ride down into the valley was a terrifying flight, and I almost went over the side of the mountain several times. But I made it, and the thanks of the hospital staff was all the payment I needed.
It turned out that I should have asked for more because the sled was totaled, and the bear sued for failure to yield, and mental anguish (due to the dog attack). Because the Mounties gave me the ticket, I was liable and my rates took a big hit. Later on, the dogs also sued my insurance company for their own injuries sustained (as the Grizzly was not at fault) in the collision, and my insurance company dropped me.
It�s just crazy out there these days� * * * * * * * * * * * *
Laura - 2005-01-10 21:46:01Dan Arbor, you are a true adventurer, and a bold, fearless he-man, in my book. I tip my fur flap-things hat to you.
Oh, fie on those silly old insurance companies--but at least you'll always have the memories (wait--do grizzlies live that far north?--never mind).* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura, marveling - 2005-01-10 21:49:17
(I swear, some of the kind visitors' writings on this humble blog should be published--it's fine stuff and great fun).* * * * * * * * * * * * Dan Arbor - 2005-01-10 23:15:15
(pounds chest in display of vigor, coughs) * * * * * * * * * * * * LF - 2005-01-11 09:05:08
Raymons said - "When we lived at E. Michigan and Prospect we became very familiar with "screeeEEECH...BANG...Ker-WHUMP!" A car I was driving got totalled at that intersection. Panicky spinster failed to yield the left turn and T-boned me. screech-bang-ker-whump as my west-bound car hit the wall on the northwest corner of the intersection. Fairly crappy intersection - high speed and poor visibility.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2005-01-11 09:08:24
That's what you get for going to Legg's all the time.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2005-01-11 09:10:28
Just drive the Ram Le Flanuer.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-11 09:35:59
"that's what you get for going to Legg's all the time"--(has to laugh)* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2005-01-11 09:38:43
Summer 1982. A girl I was dating and I decide to go to a Tigers game. I have a crappy 68 Mustang and my dad insists that I drive his new Buick Electra 225 (Duece and a quarter) He feared I would get stranded in Detroit or the stang would break down. I reluctantly agreed because I would rather drive the crappy car than my dads new one. But he insisted. After the game we got hopelessly lost driving around crummy neighborhood after crummy neighborhood. We were going thru an intersection and she screamed just as I saw an Impala front end cram into us from the side. Her head made a perfect (head shaped)concave bowl on the windshield and the other car pushed us 25 ft or so. Where we all came to rest in a smoky mess. I got out of the car to see if the other cars occupants were all right. I heard babies crying. The man in the Impala had an infant in one arm and a toddler in the other. He tore off the liscense plate of the Impala (which was attached by baling twine) and took off down an alley with the two kids in tow. A big crowd was gathering. I decided to get rid of the half-six pack in the back seat since I was only 16. I started chucking them in an alley and a guy said "hey, I'll take em" So he took em. The 225 was really totalled. One side looked perfect but the other was a mess. My parents were out of town for the weekend and the girl looked like she had a tennis ball under the skin of her forehead. We drove it home 30 miles (going about 30mph on the freeway) with the back wheel wobbling real bad. I parked it in the garage with the smashed side agaist the garage wall where you couldn't see it, and waited for my dad to get home. When I told him I was in an accident he looked out in the garage and said it wasn't that bad, but then looked at the other side. He had to wait 6 weeks to get it back from the shop. When I picked it up with him I followed him home in my stang and saw that the axel was still bent to all get out. Boy was he pissed...* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-11 09:52:58
Wow. Sounds like your date came awfully close to a serious injury. So, now, was the Impala probably stolen--(dumb question)--is that why he yanked off the license plate & ditched the car? I guess so. The wobbly drive home (I'm amazed it was still driveable), and the long wait for the parents to come home, must not have been fun.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2005-01-11 09:59:29
I never really liked her that much anyway. Actually, the accident saved me the trouble of having to break it off. She rarely ever talked to me after that. I believe the Impala was stolen.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-11 10:12:39
well, she shouldnt' have stopped talking to you--wasn't your fault some guy in a stolen car he can't drive well mashed into you. But anyways.
I note that in both accidents you immediately checked on the other party to see if they are all right which I think is admirable. Not everybody would think to do so I think, or would be too flustered/frightened.* * * * * * * * * * * * Geo Storm - 2005-01-11 11:07:30
Car make identified in fatal hit-and-run Authorities have learned that the vehicle that struck and killed an Ypsilanti Township woman over the weekend was a 1990 or 1991 royal blue Geo Storm. Police say the Geo Storm was southbound on Whittaker Road around 6:25 p.m. Saturday when it hit Charlotte Tooles, 54, as she was crossing the road to get her mail. The driver fled and a passing motorist called for help after seeing Tooles' body in the roadway. Investigators are still working to identify the hit-and-run driver and are asking for the public's help. Evidence left at the scene helped deputies determine the make and model of the vehicle, and they believe it has serious front-end damage. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-11 11:09:47
Aha--thank you. That's actually a pretty darn precise description. I bet they manage to track that down. I doubt there aren't many such cars in local databases.* * * * * * * * * * * * Sad tractor story - 2005-01-11 11:24:14
A Bridgewater Township man who survived the crash of a small airplane he built 13 years ago died Monday when he was pinned under his antique tractor. The accident Monday occurred outside the home of 51-year-old Charles Baker at 12735 Burmeister Road, near Manchester. Washtenaw County Sheriff's Cmdr. Dave Egeler said Baker was showing his wife, Theresa, the tractor, and was demonstrating a problem with the steering, when he apparently knocked it into gear by accident. The tractor ran over Baker's wife, then pinned Baker underneath as it came to rest against a building on the property, and the tractor's wheels kept spinning and digging deeper into the ground with Baker underneath, Egeler said. Baker's wife, who refused medical treatment, was able to shut off the tractor and call 911, Egeler said. Baker suffocated under the tractor and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-11 11:37:07
Oh my heavens, that's horrible. She actually got run over, then went to get help--wow. How awful
Makes Raymond's white-knuckle story even scarier.* * * * * * * * * * * * Jimbo - 2005-01-11 11:38:28
Sounds like a gruesome way to die.* * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2005-01-11 12:50:49
Activity involving heavy equipment is dangerous, that's for sure. Despite our close calls doing the risky things we do here in the township, in New York, in London, in Detroit, and elsewhere, checking our mail, plowing our driveway, and planting flowers within view of where our neighbor was killed on Whittaker Road chills us more nowadays, commentator pechle's disdain notwithstanding. Yeah, we're on private property some of the time, but the speeding vehicles have proved that they can get to us anyway.
By the way, I was out on Burmeister Road last month hauling a load of hay. Pretty country. I probably passed those poor folks' place, maybe drooled at their tractor if I saw it. They have my understanding and sympathy. * * * * * * * * * * * * Leighton - 2005-01-11 12:54:22
I posted a picture of a blue Geo on my LiveJournal if anyone is confused as to what the killer's car looks like. http://www.livejournal.com/users/leighton/ 1600AM announced it - though they don't list the details on their website (which mispells Pfizer). talkradio1600AM.com* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-11 13:05:41
Leighton, that's a very good idea. I'm going to copy it here. Says one lens cover is missing--the passenger-side one I take it, since it was traveling south.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Laura - 2005-01-11 13:11:16Raymond: Yes, the tragedy with the Baker family is terrible. So sudden, unexpected, and terrifying. I was sad to read of it.* * * * * * * * * * * * Leighton - 2005-01-14 09:34:06
They caught the guy via anonymous tip ... 20 year old Sumpter Township boy hiding the Storm in a barn...* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-01-14 09:51:21
Wow. Incredible. But, once they made the make of the car, it was only a matter of time, I thought. Thanks for the news, Leighton.* * * * * * * * * * * * add your comment: