By Ralph Dollinger & MJF
Toledo, OH- This past Wednesday, a group of 14 women brought a class action lawsuit that promises to be the first of many, against Jeep for the firm's apparent unwillingness to fire or at least severely reprimand the Jeep water tower. "At first, I kind of liked the attention," confessed plant cafeteria cashier Sarah Harking, a partner in the suit. "But after awhile I started to feel dirty. No matter what I did, I found I could not cleanse the pain." A locker search of the tower's belongings yielded pictures of 11 Jeep employees, and a video of underage water coolers in compromising positions.
The Neo Freudian Collective tried desperately to contact Jeep officials on this matter but their lawyers declined an interview. Toledo mayor Carty Finkbeiner was candid on his views of Jeep's unwillingness to be forthright with all information. "Basically the question we should be asking is, what is Jeep hiding?"
Mary Atkinson, a sophomore studying art at the University of Toledo was among the first to step forward and expose what too many have hid for much too long. "I lived across from the 'Vermilion Sailors' tower for years. I never had reason to suspect it would do anything to hurt me."
That belief proved false on the morning of Valentines Day, 2002. The tower could be seen from her bathroom window. And she could be seen undressing for almost every shower she's taken growing up. "I rememer getting in the shower for a date that night. The tower just stood there across the street...nothing unusual. When I stepped out halfway through to get some apricot facial scrub, the tower was pressed up against my window, leaking. I've never felt so violated!"
One particularly troubling incident involves Findlay's water tower, affectionately referred to as "Sparkles". This twisted tower made a move one summer night. "We were starting a campfire when Sparkles invited us under for marshmallows and a sing along of 'My Ding-a-Ling'", recalls Anthony (whose last name is withheld for legal purposes). Anthony and his boyhood friends were camping out at the time. "Timmy had to go peepee and decided to duck behind Sparkles. Next thing we know, he's running out from behind the tower with his pants pulled halfway up and crying."
These incidents have caused a national backlash and quick steps have been made to pass legislation. Many front running presidential candidates including former Senator Mike Gravel have used it in their campaigns to gain precious votes. "We need to take a stand now. I don't understand how President Bush could drag his feet on this issue." Congress plans to follow Toledo's new zoning law banning the construction of water towers within 500 yards of a public school building. "This has gone far enough," said one distraught area mother of two. "I shouldn't have to make myself sick worrying my children will be gawked at like a sex object every time they pass that damn water tower!"
The backlash isn't all positive: Three weeks ago two inner city water towers were defiled with spray paint. Diane Feinstein (D, California) is pushing the Citizens for the Prevention of Water tower Profiling (CPWP) Bill to protect against a prejudiced precedent against innocent water towers.
Some people don't think the measures against the towers go far enough to be effective- or fair. Towers, instead of being dismantled or demolished, are simply shuffled around from city to city. "I remember driving through Defiance one day", recollects an area father, "and saying to my wife how familiar the city's water tower looked. Then I remembered, it was the same damn tower that molested me when I was growing up in Painesville Township 40 years ago!"
An outspoken Catholic priest had much to say on the subject. "Why is it that these towers can flagrantly molest God's children and receive what basically amounts to a slap on the wrist, but if I so much as shake an altar boy's hand I get hauled off to the Vatican to spend the rest of my life cleaning the papal toilets? Could someone please explain to me how this is fair?"
Whatever action taken against the towers, we must not lose sight of the fact that consoling the victims is our immediate priority. In such a time of crisis, everybody wants to focus on the criminal and not those suffering. In the words of one survivor, "Every time I flush that toilet, my haunted memories flood up to the surface and I realize my innocence is also spiraling down the drain along with my feces."
Copyright 2004 Neo Freudian Collective
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