Kingstown Vs. Rhode Island
So. I was in Rhode Island last
week, promoting middlefingerparty
.com’s free Ad program. I instructed
my GPS to find me a BP gasoline
station. After searching, it told me
there was one a few miles away.
I said, Let’s go. When we got there,
it turned out to be a Gulf Station –
whatever – I needed to use the facilities.
Inside, on the bathroom marked,
“men,” a sign on the door said,
“No Public Restrooms.” I went
to the clerk, a pleasant gentleman
with gray hair and a kind demeanor
. I didn’t feel kind just then. I asked,
“Do you not have public restrooms?”
He said, “No.”
I said, “If you don’t let me pee,
I will not buy gasoline.”
As he unlocked the bathroom
door, he explained, saying that Kingstown has no sewer system. The state’s Health Department has been bringing pressure to bear against the city to install a sewer system.
As part of that effort, the state has mandated that certain public
facilities that have public restrooms, including gas stations, convenience stores and certain fast food restaurants would either lock their restrooms or be closed by the power of the STATE.
I searched for news of this on Google and found essentially – nothing. I did find a document alluding to the “Rhode Island Cess Pool Act of 2007”
(RIGL23-19.15)
I did not read the entire (very lengthy) document. I have no way of verifying that the story this man told me is true , but it sounds to me like Rhode Island and the City of Kingstown are having
a huge Pissing Contest. I wonder
which will go the distance?
