Don't Dent And Run
To The Editor:

I have a gripe this week and it is something I think many of us surely may have experienced at one time or another. Now that is when we park our cars and we may be shopping, going to the doctor or just doing errands, when lo and behold, we come out and we find a ding or a dent on our car that wasn't there before.

Well, last week I was out shopping with my wife at Stop and Shop in Little Neck and when we came out, we found our car was hit and had a nice dent on the right front end. The thing that really got to me was that no one even put a note on our car. In my book, that's a hit and run. The thing is, no matter where we have parked our car, our car was dented several times in the last few years while parked. We have spoken to a number of people and they say that has happened to them too. There seems to be an attitude with some drivers and that is if no one is looking, who cares, and they just take off.

I think we all should be good citizens and when we see someone hit another car we should take down their license and put in on the parked car that was hit. For, as the slogan goes. "If you see something say something." For the next car that gets hit could be your own.

Now as a special note, let me share an experience I recently had: Last December I was driving home to Glen Oaks Village and it was snowing and I hit a patch of ice and hit a parked car early one Sunday morning [mind you, my first in 35 years] and gave that car a slight dent. No one was around and I could have taken off but I would not have been a good neighbor or a good citizen. I stopped and I put a note on the parked car and told the owner what had happened and to call me. He called me and said he didn't even know his car was even hit. We both did what was necessary to correct the problem. He thanked me and said, "It is a shame that there are not more people like you who would do the same."

I hope anyone who reads this might take to heart what I had to say and try to be good neighbors and good citizens.
Sincerely Yours,
Frederick R. Bedell Jr.
Bellerose