Owning the roads?

Published 12:02 am Monday, January 23, 2012

BEN HILLYER/THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT — Despite what Holly Richardson’s truck says, the ACCS junior is not a slave to anyone. In fact, Richardson thinks the sign painted by one of her senior friends is cool and has kept it on her truck since the beginning of school in August. Below, Richardson has more key chain charms than keys on her key chain. Richardson collects key chain charms, including a sneaker and an eight ball.

NATCHEZ — Despite what may be written on the back window of her truck, ACCS junior Holly Richardson doesn’t take orders from anyone.

Richardson, 17, was inside enjoying a lazy Saturday afternoon getting ready to play Nintendo Wii when The Dart landed on her Weir Court house.

“Harley,” a white Ford F-250 Super Duty truck takes up half the road in front of her house as her parking spot.

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Unlike most XLT diesel V8 trucks in the Miss-Lou, her windows are covered with yellow and blue window chalk.

The message on the back window reads “Seniors own me 2012” in yellow, something she says one of her good friends, Sage Atkins, painted on in August at the beginning of the school year.

“It’s just a senior thing,” Richardson said. “Everyone else has washed theirs off or it has come off in the rain, but mine hasn’t.”

Unlike other trucks in the school parking lot, her truck remains painted and Richardson said she has no plans of removing it anytime soon.

“It’s cool,” Richardson said.

While senior and junior rivalries may be intense at other schools, Richardson said that’s generally not the case at AC.

“Sometimes in the lunch line they think they can skip everyone, but that’s about it,” she said. “It doesn’t really mean anything. We’re all friends.”

Richardson said since the seniors get out of school before everyone else, she was unaware of Atkins’ prank until after school.

“I just came outside and it was painted up,” she said. “After that I went and bought my own chalk and wrote on all the other windows.”

After buying her own blue window chalk, Richardson drew smiley faces and 2013, the year she will graduate, on all the windows.

But those drawings were short lived.

Richardson shares the truck with her grandfather and even though she said he only takes it every now and then, he had to put his foot down during one visit.

“He had to take a trip to Texas one time, so he made me wash some of it off,” Richardson said. “I left the stuff on the back though.”

Richardson got the truck last year as part of her 16th birthday present after she got her license and decided to name it Harley for obvious reasons.

“Because it’s really loud,” she said.

Just recently celebrating her 17th birthday last Thursday, Richardson said she was hoping she would be cruising the streets of Natchez in a new car.

“I wanted a car because I can’t take this to college, but that didn’t happen,” she said. “Maybe next year as a graduation present.”

Even though she didn’t get a new car this year, Richardson said she makes sure to let her mom know what kind of car she wants, just in case.

“I’ve always wanted a truck, and if I got a truck I want a big truck,” she said. “If I had to get a car, I’d want a muscle car because I don’t like wimpy cars.”

Instead of a new car, Richardson got cash and a sparkly Happy Birthday tiara that sits on the passenger seat of her vehicle.

Next to the tiara on the dashboard of her truck are a pair of what Richardson calls “blind shades,” also known as “shutter shades” popularized by hip hop artists like Kanye West.

Instead of having lenses, the glasses have shutters that are part of the frame.

Even though she does have friends who are sophomores now who will be juniors next year, Richardson said she’s not interested in painting anyone else’s car except her own.

“I’m going to paint a pair of ‘blind shades,’ on the back windshield,” she said. “Just because it’s cool.”