Sometimes persistence does pay off. Just look at the effort of Warren County coroner Roger Mauzy and his ongoing effort to improve safety along Interstate 70 in his home county.
Mauzy has long battled with the Missouri Department of Transportation to force the state agency to place cable barriers in the median of I-70. The barriers have proven effective in reducing cross-over accidents along the interstate.
MoDot placed barriers along part of the stretch a couple of years ago but gaps remained. That's when Mauzy started his one-man campaign to close the gaps. Three motorists have been killed along the stretch in the past four months. All of the deaths involved vehicles that crossed the median and had head-on collisions with motorists in the other lane of traffic.
Well this week the Transportation officials finally relented and promised to close the gaps with cable barriers by next spring. The credit goes to Roger Mauzy.
State officials can sometimes be receptive if the public is persistent in their requests. Perhaps that's not an ideal way to operate state government but it proves that others will listen if you simply remain active and persistent.
We can all perhaps learn a lesson from Mauzy. If our highway needs in this region are legitimate and we provide that message often enough, perhaps someone in a position of power will listen. A group in New Madrid County is lobbying for safety improvements along Highway 61. It's that persistence and determination that may finally win the day with state officials.
If the squeaky wheel indeed does get the grease, then we need to squeak away.