Wednesday, May 19, 1999
Kids petition: Don't ban ice cream man
BY ALLEN HOWARD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
ANDERSON TOWNSHIP — Christine Schirmer, 11, doesn't want a ban on ice cream trucks in her township.
Her reasoning is partly because she likes ice cream, and partly because she thinks it violates a childhood tradition.
Christine is a fifth-grader at Summit Elementary School in Anderson Township. She read about the township trustees considering a resolution last month to ban transient vendors, including the ice cream trucks. “It made me kind of angry because I like ice cream,” she said. She wrote a letter to the trustees, signed by 55 other fifth- and sixth-graders at the school.
The letter read: “We the students of Summit Elementary wish for ice cream trucks to continue selling ice cream. We think this because we believe ice cream trucks are a service to the community.”
The resolution came before the township trustees April 15, but they decided to table it for a month. A public hearing on the resolution is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at the Government Center Building, 7954 Beechmont Ave.
Support for the trucks with the tinkling bells and recorded music became sort of a school project. Christine said she talked with her mother after writing the letter.
She talked with classmates and presented the letter at the school morning meeting, where students discuss issues and talk about daily activities.
Robby Sunday, 10, a classmate, signed the letter.
“Getting rid of the ice cream trucks would spoil my summer,” he said.
“Most of the students were eager to sign the letter,” Christine said, including her 8-year-old sister, Ali, a third-grader.
She said ice cream trucks come on her street, Summit Hills Drive, about once every two weeks.
“I don't see where they are unsafe. The music can get annoying, but that is a way of attracting the attention of the kids,” she said.
Elizabeth Schirmer, her mother, said writing the letter to the trustees was a good way for students to get involved in an issue. Mrs. Schirmer also wrote a letter to the board.
“I felt the issue needed an adult voice, also,” she said.
Russ Jackson, president of the trustees, said they want to get citizens' reaction to the resolution.
“We could take action on the resolution after the hearing,” he said. “We feel we can safely take out the ice cream trucks. ... The intent of the resolution is to prohibit door-to-door sales where salespeople put pressure on people and are sometimes harassing.”
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