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Just an ordinary day for a toll collector: The man waving the gun A Night To Be Remembered . . . Thankfully, the gun the man was waving wasn't for the Edmonton toll plaza workerThird of 3 articles remembering work experiences on the Cumerland Parkway toll road By Geniece Leftwich Marcum Marty Wilson is another veteran of the Toll Road Days with some pretty unusual experiences of his own to look back on and have a good chucklenow that they're over with. One evening Marty stood at his post, watching a semi-truck coming in. Knowing Marty, he'd already sized up the truck and classed it 5-axels, going thru, soon as it came in sight. Some time they fooled you though, as this one did. As that truck reached the gate, instead of rolling into his lane, Marty's eyes must have popped wide open to see the driver deliberately jackknife it, blocking all three lanes for west bound traffic. What in the world did he think he was he doing? Marty ran out of the booth waving his arms and hollering. "Hey!" he yelled at the driver, "You can't do that!" But by then Marty saw that the driver was already climbing down from his truck. He saw something else too, that trucker had a gun in his hand and he looked hopping mad about something. At that point Marty likely decided not to argue with him about how he parked his truck. "Y-You can do anything you w-want to," he told the driver. As it turned out though the gun wasn't for Marty, it was for the car load of men who had been harassing the trucker along the parkway. This was it, he told Marty, they weren't going through this gate. The toll attendant wasn't sure just what the trucker meant to do, but things were looking pretty serious here. Marty then called the State Police. In the mean time the car load of hecklers arrived at the toll gate to find their way blocked by a tractor trailer truck and one very angry truck driver, gun in hand. Marty watched helplessly as the trucker approached the car and at gun point ordered the two men in the front seat to get out, which they did without returning a word. Going around to the other side of the vehicle the trucker pointed his gun and ordered the remaining passenger out of the car. Does he intend to shoot all three men right here, Marty wondered, holding his breath and wishing hard for the Trooper to get there on the double? Marty saw that the last passenger had made no move to get out of the car but spoke to the truck driver instead, "Open this thing up." he said. "We are going through or one of us will die." "It may be me, or it may be you, but one of us will die." Marty now realized both men had guns and were drawn on each other. Looked like it was going to be a shoot out and Marty was not sure he had the stomach for that kind of thing. Well, the truck driver was in a fix now for sure. Whatever he had intended to do with these men, it was clear he did not want to back down. It was equally clear he didn't want to take a chance on dying now either. For a few tense moments the trucker stood wrestling with his decision, then turned to his big rig and started to mov it out of the way. The other men climbed back into their car and drove away. After they were gone the trucker parked his semi just below the toll gate and waited until the Trooper finally arrived. They had a long talk, Marty remembered, and then each went their separate way. "Best I remember, the Trooper never even asked us any questions," Marty said, speaking for himself and the other two collectors on duty, Juanita Mosby and Janice Poindexter. "We never heard whether the truck driver had more problems out of the men further down the road or not." In a recent conversation with him, Marty said the event was as clear in his mind today as on the night that it happened. This story was posted on 2007-04-10 09:05:43
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Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. (AD) - Many Reunion organizing efforts are also advertised in our REUNIONS category in our CM Classifeds. These are posted at a very low cost. See RATES & TERMS More articles from topic Local History:
Cumberland Pkwy Stories: Just an ordinary day for a toll collector Fonthill, KY: A wonderful and peaceful place to reside Victory today will give ACHS boys 4th trip to State Tournament Local history: The Great Edmonton Toll Plaza Robbery Jason Harmon: The photo of my Great Great Grandpappy Feedback: Cabins in the Sky photo brings back memories History on Wigwam Villages tidied up, enhanced, a bit Letter: More from McGaha from Jason Harmon Feedback: More on kin of folks at McGaha Store Letter: Odis Sinclair adds information on McGaha store View even more articles in topic Local History |
 
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