Ian Cloutier, Tom Costello, Michael Weiner
"Horrendous" was how Safe Rides driver Nancy Mace described her Saturday evening of October the 23rd, the night of Hastings High School’s homecoming dance. Ms. Mace went on to say that the night was worse than the now-infamous WESTMUNC dances of past years.
Ms. Mace, a middle aged woman of medium stature, has been the driver of the Safe Rides Chevy Tahoe for upwards of fifteen years, while the program itself has been running for approximately thirty.
"I’ve been here twenty-eight years, so it pre-dates me,"said Chief of Police of Hastings David Bloomer.
The Safe Rides program provides a taxi service to the Hastings youth free of charge from the hours of 10 pm to 1 am on weekends. The intended purpose is to make sure kids get to their destinations safely. One of the main reasons it was created was to combat drunk driving amongst the Hastings youth.
Ms. Mace described her main problem on homecoming night to be that, aside from the massive amount of calls she was getting for pickups, all the kids who called her had to move due to the increased police activity on Saturday night.
When asked about the relationship between Safe Rides and the Hastings Police Department, Ms. Mace said, "There really isn’t one."She went on to say that she makes sure to avoid the Hastings Police as often as possible and she tries to pick up kids in areas where there are not police present.
When questioned about the same issue, Chief Bloomer said, "I think the program is designed to not have a close relationship with the police. If it did have a close relationship with the police, it would undermine certain goals of the program."He went on to say the only time the police get involved is when passengers in the Safe Rides car are "clear dangers to themselves."
In her work for Safe rides, Ms. Mace is a paid employee of the Hastings Youth Council, according to Bill Finkleday, the organization’s director of youth services. Tax dollars go toward paying her salary.
"I think [the program] provides a very valuable and important service for the town," said Susan Arnold, a supportive taxpayer.
"It has to be money well spent," said Chief Bloomer when asked about Nancy’s salary. "Whatever she makes, if it has stopped even one kid from driving or getting in a car [with an intoxicated driver], then it is absolutely money well spent.”"