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A Note Of Thanks For Our Local Firebrand

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By TOM JACKSON

tjackson@tampatrib.com

Published: November 21, 2008

This may be a trifle early, but rather than wind up mouthing platitudes for gratitudes when the family convenes for its traditional turkey feast next week, I'm leaning toward a little proactivity.

I'm thinking ahead. Making a list. Ranking candidates. So when my turn comes, I won't get stuck on describing why, as a perfectly stinky 2008 draws to a close, I am nonetheless thankful.

It is in that spirit that I say with all candor and sincerity: Thank heaven for Arthur Hayhoe. If the man did not exist, the Almighty would have to create one. Who else, after all, than Pasco's own Art Hayhoe has the gumption, the fortitude, the eloquence and - this cannot be overstated - the tireless desire to get into so many other people's business?

As a newspaper columnist assigned a redoubtable task - observe, examine, investigate and reflect on Pasco's events and newsmakers - Hayhoe is the gift who keeps on giving.

A formidable lifestyle critic best known for his energetic and high-profile support for gun-control laws, Hayhoe is hardly self-limiting. Wielding a populist's pen as a tireless correspondent for local letters-to-the-editor pages, Hayhoe often argues the benefits of governmental reconfigurations that seek nirvana through bureaucratic intrusions into the lives of private citizens.

This does not mean, however, that he has an established default setting.

Mixing It Up

In the past 12 months, Hayhoe has decried the Tribune's election endorsements (too Republican); a guest columnist's opposition to a proposed "hometown democracy" proposition (too developer-friendly); and This Space's reservations about the wish list of Spring Hill's Brian Moore, peacenik and Socialist Party presidential candidate (too predictable).

But he has also written skeptically about the state's intervention in the policing of fireworks (too distant); Pasco's pursuit of down-sized replicas of big-league ballparks as tourist destinations (too mysterious); and Tallahassee's heavy hand in the property insurance racket (too hostile to market forces).

Surely this is evidence of a complicated intellect. But inclusion at Thursday's thanks-fest requires extraordinary effort. (This Space, for instance, is grateful for Tim Tebow.) And with his eleventh-hour contribution to the letters page Wednesday, a hard-charging Hayhoe closed gap.

Wrong, Radical And Expensive

Brandishing raw haughtiness and a convenient misrepresentation of pertinent facts in the wake of a crash that killed a popular Plant High School teen last week, Hayhoe launched a condemnation of America's popular family mover, the sport utility vehicle.

Having seen his "fond hope" dashed - that staggering fuel prices "would drive this unsafe beast" to the junkyard - Hayhoe implored his "addicted" countrymen to park their SUVs, lest they kill again.

Early SUVs earn deplorable marks for safety, he says, and "should be banned." But the newer, lower-set models are scarcely an improvement. "Look at the numbers," he writes. How can we "still believe ... these vehicles are safer than the family sedan"?

Uh, maybe ... because they are?

Citing statistics spanning a three-year period supplied by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a July 2006 article posted on the Web site howstuffworks.com (owned by the Discovery Channel folks) found that "large and midsize SUVs are among the safest vehicles on the road." And their media reputation? Undeserved.

Despite a higher rollover risk, deaths in midsize cars ran about 30 percent higher than in midsize SUVs (per 1 million registered vehicles); large-car deaths were roughly double large SUV deaths. In fact, midsize SUV death numbers were lower than large car deaths, by about 10 per million vehicles.

Even if Hayhoe could cite countermanding statistics, his idea - to ban them - embraces the worst instincts of nanny state government. It's a solution in search of a problem, accompanied by a prohibitive price tag.

What, we aren't going to compensate SUV owners for the sudden loss of their conveyance? Or, in the United States of Arthur, is the evil of older-model SUVs so evident ("disproportionate carbon footprints") that we would suspend the "taking" provisions of the Fourth Amendment?

Hayhoe does not say.

But we are happy - indeed, thankful - for his latest addition to our civic discourse, and we look forward to his future contributions. Amen.

Tom Jackson can be reached at (813) 948-4219.

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