A couple of weeks ago while passing through several highway construction projects (federal stimulus money at work) driving back from Birmingham, Ala., there were hundreds of orange safety cones. As the road seemed to stretch longer and longer, I thought how I would not be fighting highway boredom and traffic if I had invented the orange cone. It is not like you have to come up with a different model each year. One mold, some plastic and orange paint is pretty much everything you need. Oh, you need a back account to put the money. How hard can that be?

To make sure the supply of cones does not end, our government has written into law and regulations they must be used to slow and move traffic safely through all work zones. What other business in this country has that kind of deal.

The first traffic cone was invented in 1914 by American Charles P. Rudabaker and the majority of the world’s orange traffic cones are made in China and Taiwan. I found this information on the Internet so I don’t know how reliable it is. If it is true, it is also sad that one of our countrymen invented it and we can’t even supply the overwhelming demand.

I read England even proclaims amnesty days for the cones. This is when too many have been removed from their public safety job to fun locations at beer parties and college dorm rooms. Even an orange cone needs a break.

Since I did not invent the traffic cone, I wondered how you get on the sales staff. Really you probably do not call them a sales staff but just “staff” since there can’t be any selling skills needed. Highway construction contractors should only need to have some sort of replacement plan. Again, how hard can any of this be?

About the time I got back filled with envy for the orange cone inventor, I opened The Valdosta Daily Times Web site. I see where someone may have figured out a way to take over the orange cone market. Now that we live in this “green” world another inventor is producing the traffic cone in the same size, shape and color but not plastic. The new cone is made from paper. The product is very dense and will withstand the outdoor elements such as water. This cone can have stripes or your logo printed on the side.

The price is $2.48 and, the more you buy, the cheaper it gets. When the cone’s days of standing in the sun and rain and being dragged down the highway by semi-trucks come to an end … the cone is recyclable.

I do feel better that someone has the guts to attempt a takeover of what looks to me like our country’s biggest monopoly. This inventor guy might want to pack a gun or get a bodyguard. The plastic orange cone people can’t be too happy.

A big milestone recently came our way. In case you missed this one let me tell you about it because it is a biggie. Four decades ago, President Richard Nixon signed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act and soon told the nation, “Public Enemy No. 1 in the United States is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new, all-out offensive.”

This war against drugs now costs the country more than $215 billion a year, according to a report by the Department of Justice. I wonder what percentage of the $215 billion is being spent here in South Georgia.

Drugs are somewhat like the orange traffic cones — there will always be a customer so there will always be a supplier.