A Missouri police chief, Rickey Jones, this week surprised a drug dealer in the middle of a deal. The really surprising part was how Jones arrived at the scene: Rather than screeching to a halt in a squad car, he approached, almost silently, in an electric golf cart.
“There’s no engine, no loud motor, so he didn’t hear us coming,” he said.
When the suspect sped away in a car, Jones couldn’t give chase — the cart struggled to go faster than 30kph. Instead, he radioed a colleague in a more traditional police vehicle, who intercepted the fleeing car some distance away.
Before long, the open-sided, canvas-covered carts may be less of a surprise on the streets, such as those of Pine Lawn, Missouri, a working-class suburb of St Louis. Under pressure from rising fuel prices, towns across the US are passing bylaws to permit the use of golf carts on their streets as an alternative to cars, not just as a crime-fighting tool but for ordinary citizens.
“You can definitely save on gas — my cart’s electric, but even the ones that run on gas hardly use any of it,” said Paul Heideman, mayor of Ashkum, a town in rural Illinois.
Numerous other towns in Illinois, Indiana and North Carolina have implemented similar regulations or are considering them. And in several places where the carts are an increasingly common sight, another benefit is becoming clear. With no windows or doors to separate drivers from each other, or from pedestrians, the texture of daily life is changing.
“It leads to a friendlier atmosphere,” Heideman said.
A few hours away in the small town of Cerro Gordo, golf carts will become lawful street vehicles from today, thanks in part to the campaigning efforts of Shamarie Allen and her husband, who run a golf-cart customization business. Golf carts have a serious image problem, however, as many people associate them with old age and pensioners.
But with the help of Allen’s company, LG Custom Carts, carts can be kitted out with chrome wheels, leather seats and high-end gadgetry — an effect slightly marred by the legal requirement to display a sign declaring that the cart is a slow-moving vehicle.
Despite the potential for savings on fuel, the carts may not be an ideal solution for those worst hit by the current economic downturn. A basic vehicle costs around US$2,000. And the danger of injury or death, especially in the event of a collision with a car or truck, is high.
Despite its limitations, though, Jones said they had transformed the job of policing Pine Lawn.
“Now people can talk to [the officers] more easily,” he said.
OUTRAGE: The former strongman was accused of corruption and responsibility for the killings of hundreds of thousands of political opponents during his time in office Indonesia yesterday awarded the title of national hero to late president Suharto, provoking outrage from rights groups who said the move was an attempt to whitewash decades of human rights abuses and corruption that took place during his 32 years in power. Suharto was a US ally during the Cold War who presided over decades of authoritarian rule, during which up to 1 million political opponents were killed, until he was toppled by protests in 1998. He was one of 10 people recognized by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in a televised ceremony held at the presidential palace in Jakarta to mark National
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday vowed that those behind bogus flood control projects would be arrested before Christmas, days after deadly back-to-back typhoons left swathes of the country underwater. Scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers — including Marcos’ cousin congressman — have been accused of pocketing funds for substandard or so-called “ghost” infrastructure projects. The Philippine Department of Finance has estimated the nation’s economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (US$2 billion) since 2023 due to corruption in flood control projects. Criminal cases against most of the people implicated are nearly complete, Marcos told reporters. “We don’t file cases for
Ecuadorans are today to vote on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases and the drafting of a new constitution that could give the country’s president more power. Voters are to decide on the presence of foreign military bases, which have been banned on Ecuadoran soil since 2008. A “yes” vote would likely bring the return of the US military to the Manta air base on the Pacific coast — once a hub for US anti-drug operations. Other questions concern ending public funding for political parties, reducing the number of lawmakers and creating an elected body that would
LANDMARK: After first meeting Trump in Riyadh in May, al-Sharaa’s visit to the White House today would be the first by a Syrian leader since the country’s independence Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in the US on Saturday for a landmark official visit, his country’s state news agency SANA reported, a day after Washington removed him from a terrorism blacklist. Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted long-time former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad late last year, is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House today. It is the first such visit by a Syrian president since the country’s independence in 1946, according to analysts. The interim leader met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during the US president’s regional tour in May. US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack earlier
RSS