March Madness
By Jim Palmer Jr.

 It’s beginning to look a lot like spring around these parts, which is encouraging to those of us who have become wearied by the short, dark days and the numbing cold of winter.  I saw my first red-breasted Robin the other day, whose migratory arrival usually signals the beginning of warmer days.  I noticed the same bird this morning while it was attempting to scrounge up a meal on the edges of my lawn that is still mostly covered with stubborn crusted snow.  Of course there are other indicators of spring, like the advent of road restrictions because of softening road beds and growing pot holes.

The other day, as I drove down a paved country road dodging some of those pot holes, I noticed that a lane that intersected the county road had become very rutted and bore significant signs of failure. I quickly assessed the damage because it was obvious that something was drastically wrong and that the road builder had probably cut some corners.  Some of the owners in the multiple-parcel-development had abandoned cars stuck at the beginning of the lane or had been stuck there recently, leaving deep gaping ruts where they had struggled in their efforts to reach their property located down the newly constructed access road.

It is usual for any road to take some abuse in the spring of the year as the snow and ice retreats from the surface and frost is driven from the depths of the soil by the warmth of longer days, but from what I could observe from my glance down this newly-created-lane, this break up was much more than normal wear and tear.

A couple days later, I received a call from a buyer whom I had represented on the sale of one of those lots.  The second I recognized the voice on the other end of the phone, I knew what the discussion was going to be about, and I was right!  The friendly chat quickly turned to concerns about whether the quality of road construction had met the minimum standards of the county and the fact that there had been no road mat installed. The mutilated road bed was going to take a lot of repair and maybe even require reparations from the developer who had obviously skimped on the original construction.   I voiced my commiseration, recommended a good attorney and wondered if March Madness had already begun! Go Zags!