It seems that many – if not most – of the comments that are posted online have to do with someone expressing a gripe or a grievance.

I know in my own business it is often difficult to get customers to post positive comments the vast majority of times when everything goes to plan but let a small hiccup occur and you can be sure that you’ll be flame roasted in a review.

I am sure that I too have fallen into the negative review trap but I want to correct this by expressing a big thank you to the Odessa Police Department.

This last Tuesday – just as a day of run-off voting was concluding at the polls – Odessa was struck with some massive winds. These winds howled into town about 6:00 PM and persisted for several hours. The force of these winds literally exploded two of large plate glass windows on the south side of Paul Evans Flooring and scattered glass fragments out into the street and all over the sidewalk. These winds were so severe that the aluminum window frame was ripped loose of its screws.

Officers with the Odessa Police Department noticed the damaged and begin to track me down to let know what had happened.

I was covered up with election related activities all day and being out of pocket and distracted I did not respond very quickly to the phone calls that came in from both the OPD and one of my friends who had seen the damage. The OPD persisted and tracked down my wife at home and also messaged me on Facebook.

When I finally arrived to survey the damage two OPD officers were patiently waiting for me and were concerned about the security of my business due to the large hole the wind had created.

OPD had also contacted the Odessa Streets Department who arrived later that night and cleaned up all of the glass from the street.

I would like to say THANK YOU to the OPD, the City Streets Department and my friends who were on the job and concerned enough about my business’ well-being to stay on the task of finding me until I arrived and was able to assess the damages.

A big “Job well done” to all!