Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!

On May 20, at 1:15 in the afternoon, there was a big surprise at the Brookside Neighborhood Office, 3 W. 63 St. An older lady lost control of her car and drove up-and-over the large outdoor planter box and crashed through the picture window, ending up with several feet of her vehicle inside the building! She slowly backed up to the spot where she had intended to park, and walked into the building saying, “I’m sorry about that, but don’t you worry, I have good insurance.”

On May 20, at 1:15 in the afternoon, there was a big surprise at the Brookside Neighborhood Office, 3 W. 63 St. An older lady lost control of her car and drove up-and-over the large outdoor planter box and crashed through the picture window, ending up with several feet of her vehicle inside the building! She slowly backed up to the spot where she had intended to park, and walked into the building saying, “I’m sorry about that, but don’t you worry, I have good insurance.”

Bob and Jody Thatch have owned/operated the store for almost 22 years, and never suspected such a crash would even be possible. Luckily, the window had a type of “safety” glass similar to automobile windshields, so there was minimal glass breakage. There were no injuries to persons inside the store or to the driver of the car. But there was a big mess, with a wrinkled sheet of glass, the broken window frame, furniture upturned and tossed about, and lots of dirt and dust.

A local contractor, Charlie Copeland, of CMC Remodeling, temporarily secured the window area, and over the next weeks the damage was repaired under the supervision of the property owner, Nage Damas, of Camel Investments, LLC. Along with the needed window repairs, Damas had the entire building repainted and the three other window frames rebuilt to “spiffy up” the place. The western part of the building is the Brookside Neighborhood Office, which offers copying, fax, other business services and office supplies. On the eastern side is Mail, Packages, Etc., providing shipping and packaging.