Newtown Warning

The East Hampton Village Police Department has dipped a nightstick, so to speak, into social media, joining Twitter a while back and posting alerts about incoming weather and the like. One recent tweet, as the 140-maximum-character messages are known, got our attention. In its entirely, it read: “Traffic Hint: Mid day or afternoon heading toward Main Street? Avoid Newtown Lane = Gridlock.”

Years ago, if we recall, a plan was drawn up that would have closed Newtown Lane to vehicles from about Main Street to the middle school. This was in a more idealistic age, perhaps, one in which it was thought that people might actually get out of their cars and stroll along a verdant median, enjoying an ice cream cone or reading a newspaper from the comfort of a park bench.

These days, you might practically be able to leaf through your paper while sitting behind the wheel as the weekend line of vehicles creeps up Newtown toward the train station, not that this is advised. Avoidance, as the village police’s Twitter voice says, is just about the only strategy left.