Melançon Enterprises • a multidivision multinational since 1980

Natick police officer Vitale, a very sad man.

Maybe he had no choice but to give a citation for my grandfather's expired license, even though he knows the state just stopped sending notices to people so everyone is getting caught with this, and even though he knows my grandfather lives in Cape Cod and that he will have to travel to Framingham to deal with. Without a license, yeah.

The inane citation for failure to yield to oncoming traffic on route 27, turning out from Fisher Street, however, is simply insult on top of injury in the circumstances. My grandfather saw open road, started to pull out, saw something coming, stopped, and that something was an idiot with a snow plow who hit the car and took off all the plasticwork in front of the hood.

There are larger issues here about how evil the artificial necessity of an automobile is for the old and the young, and of course the insanity of making driving without a license a crime that you have to defend yourself against in person.

But Mr. Vitale, you are on the front lines of interpreting this stupidity. To exercise authority without compassion will only cause disrespect for legal authority, and the social order itself. Temper your assessments before you bring down Western Civilization.

It could happen.