By A. Finn Moss | Sidewalk beat

Anyone walking down Trout Lane in downtown Bass Lake already knows the trouble Cooper Sanderstroms has seen.

Sanderstroms, along with the rest of the Trout Lane merchants, has been suffering through the longest sidewalk repair in the town’s history.

And unless the council plans to hold an emergency sidewalk repair funding session in the next few days, it’s unlikely that anything will be done to quash the uproar among the merchants.

The trouble began last year when work to replace the sidewalks on Trout Lane ground to a near halt.

Crews had no problem tearing up the crumbling sidewalks. They even got help from budding juvenile delinquents, who amused themselves by chucking chunks of cement at unsuspecting motorists.

The difficulty seemed to lie not only in preparing the ground for new concrete but in assigning blame for the delays.

Councilman M. Adam Bradbury (R-Bass Lake, Ph.D. history), who was chairman of the Bass Lake Sidewalk Beautification and Replacement committee, said questions should be directed to Timely Concrete Sidewalks, the company hired to do the work. 

Timely vice president Justine Timely said whoever put Trout Lane so close to buildings in the first place was to blame.

“We can’t work that close to structures,” Timely said. “Plus those tree roots are a bear!”

Larry Karen and Jen Sparkle, of Karen’s Ribbon & Scissors Warehouse and Jen’s Ribbon Cutting, respectively, said Sanderstroms is having a nervous breakdown, which he blames on the delays.

“Cooper spends most of his time talking to his chickens,” Sparkle said. “The sad thing is he thinks they’re talking back.”