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Show American Fork Citizen - Thursday, October 7, 2004 - Page 2 Opinion Think safety first When the popularity of motorized motor-ized scooters and minibikes hit north Utah County nearly a year ago, many police officers cringed there were safety issues. Since common sense isn't always an acquired skill, cities have had to establish the next best thing for residents res-idents - a set of new laws desgined for these. On Sept. 21, Ileasant Grove was the first municipality to adopt an ordinance governing the use of small motorized vehicles to curtail potential accidents. Lindon has adopted a city ordinance similar to the state code. Lehi City leaders approved a law more strict than the state ordinance, ordi-nance, and it allows law enforcement enforce-ment officers to cite the parent or ' guardian if the law is not observed. Those cited can be jailed up to 90 days or fined up to as much as $950. Trie new laws take the motorized scooter, minibike and other street-type street-type vehicles out of the toy vehicle ordinance and place them in an ordinance of their own, setting down rules for using these potentially poten-tially hazardous "toys." The most important rule for drivers driv-ers of a motorized vehicle whether a child or an adult all traffic laws must be ol)eyed. Most experienced drivers would understand under-stand this is an essential requirement. require-ment. Children do not, nor do they have Learning the hard way My friend Peter (not his real name) learned a valuable lesson last weekend: never weld while wearing thongs (at this point I think I need to clarify that by "thongs" I mean the flip-flopping open-toed sandal kind of footwear - although, come to think of it, the lesson could apply equally well to any other kind of thong that may come to . mind). As with so many of the most powerful lessons life has to teach us, Peter learned this les-; les-; son the hard way. He was put-; put-; tering around in his garage ; working on a project when it became clear what was needed was some welding. "The first thing my dad told me when he was teaching me how to weld is, always wear gloves, long pants and solid shoes when you're welding," ; Peter confessed. "Of course, he ; didn't really need to tell me " that. I mean, it's sort of obvious, isn't it?" Well, yeah, it is - e'ven to those of us whose only experience experi-ence with actual hands-on weld-; weld-; ing was during junior high ; metal shop, when the teacher ; kept our spot-welding project to ; show to future classes as- an ' example of what NOT to do. We know who we are. i But even though he knew bet-', bet-', ter, Peter decided to go ahead ' and weld even though he was wearing thongs and shorts. He made this decision for two rea- ; sons. First, it was only a little bit of welding that needed to be ; done. In the time it would take him I to put on long pants and shoes ,' and socks, he'd have the weld '. completed. The second reason for his ' decision is . . . well, he's an ; adult male. ; Enough said. ; So he proceeded to weld, ; standing as far back as he could ' so the sparks wouldn't land ; directly on his exposed legs or '. feet. And for the most part, it worked - the weld was complet- ed without incident. But as he ; bent over the project and began ; to flick away the welding ; residue, one last glowing ember ; bounced onto the ground and onto his foot, nestling between : two toes. the necessary experience and maturity. matu-rity. This is why children younger than 16 years old must be supervised super-vised when using these devices. While riding a bike, scooter or other motorized devices, the driver must not exceed the speed set by law and the design of the vehicle, which is 25 miles per hour. Some scooter owners have had the motor modified so it can travel 35 rhph, exceeding the city's residential resi-dential speed limit. Others have gone so far as to remove one of two scooter brakes. When mufflers are modified, it becomes difficult for the rider to hear horns or activity going on around them. Children speed by cars and trucks in neighborhoods. Riders on their low-profile bikes next to or behind cars cannot be seen by the drivers until it is too late. Without safety helmets, rules and caution, kids on such "toys" are a hazard to other drivers and to themselves. Those found breaking these laws may not be cited, but their parents will be ticketed and fined. Teenagers 15 years and older could be sent to juvenile court. Most families have established their own safety rules for operating the scooters and bikes. For those who haven't yet, let this be your wake-up call, before someone gets hurt. 3r V V.Jy Yelping, Peter tried to shake the ember away, but it was so snugly ensconced between those toes that he had to pluck it out with his fingers, which made him yelp even more. Dousing the sizzling digits in cold water and applying some soothing lotion helped remove some of the sting but none of the embarrassment. "I know better than that," Peter said, still chuckling at the memory. "Dad warned me a million times about what could happen. He even showed me the scar on his leg." "The scar?" I asked. "Yeah," he said. "I don't remember the whole story -something about needing to weld something while he was wearing swimming trunks." Evidently Peter comes from a long line of men who learn lessons les-sons the hard way. As do we all, come to think of it. The guy who invented fire was probably also the guy who figured out that if you touch fire it burns. Still, people have been playing play-ing with fire - literally and figuratively fig-uratively - from that day to this, learning and re-learning life's lessons without regard to the warnings that inevitably come from those who have experienced expe-rienced stuff before us. We hear the warning, and we think, "I need to remember that." But when the time comes to put the lesson into practice, we decide that we're smarter or stronger or a better welder, and we think things will somehow turn out better for" us. And we get burned. Which reminds me: I asked Peter how his wife had reacted to the welding incident. "I didn't mention it to her," he said. "She would never let me hear the end of it." It sounds to me like he's learned another lesson. The hard way. No helmet, no turn fignd, going ovw tha i peed limit d petting us. What do m do? I won't know what to do All jobs are different, I understand under-stand that. Each has its good points and bad points. Those which require a lot of training pay more than those which do not. Those with a lot of flexibility in some aspects may have absolutely no flexibility in others. Everything has its trade-offs. In the newspaper business, reporters and editors often have some of that flexibility. When we have finished "putting the paper to bed" on Wednesday afternoon, we pften leave the office and do a little fdeep breathing before we start on the next week's interviews inter-views pnd stories. That's a plus. Thei drawback is when something some-thing is happening perhaps a fire, major accident or some other event we have to work. It doesn't matter if we are "off duty" or not, we have to respond. Whether we are on vacation or not, our readers expect the same amount of information from us. We try to take days off on Thursday Thurs-day and Friday, but that kind of Fire Chief thank you Editor: Thank you for supporting MDA and American Fork Fire Dept. Why am I standing out in the street with a boot in my hand? I hear voices! Some are voices from the past, maybe from Irving Pratt, a fire chief I did not know. For years his enthusiasm encouraged his men to unify the community by selling turkey tickets prior to Thanksgiving. Thanksgiv-ing. The collected money funded a sacking operation by the Department Depart-ment of peanuts, candy and an orange for every grade school child in town. Then they delivered Santa to visit the children. As economic The Republicasn Party Lehi 3rd Precinct is hosting a Meet-the-Candidates Night at the Lehi City Hall, 153 N. 100 East, from 6 to 8 p.m., with the Lehi Area Chamber of Commerce, the Lehi American Legion Post 19 and the Lehi Free Press and Pony Express sponsoring the public event. It will be a panel forum. The Utah 56th District House of Representatives candidates David bonner, incumbent David 7 backfires when Monday rolls around, and we have to work triple time. Somehow it's just not worth it. This week, however, I have the luxury of having an actual vacation. vaca-tion. By the time you read this, I will have returned from my trip. This year's time off has brought with it some good scheduling. Because of the way our trip had to be scheduled I have been unable to attend two city meetings meet-ings in a row. I have had to get a substitute for those duties. She is very capable and our readers won't miss me at all, I'm sure. What it means is I can go away from my desk, away from my phone and away from my computer and actually have a Reader's Forum conditions improved and the number of children increased this became impractical. Some are voices present of citizens citi-zens and returning families to American Fork City Cemetery on Memorial Day who have missed the Fireman's Breakfast since we've been out of the station. No one comes because it is the best breakfast in town, but to reunite with family and friends who have come back to town to honor their own on that day. Some are voices from inside the cars as we collect money for MDA (more than $18,000 this year), "Don't get run over," "Be careful," "Get the heck out of the road," and "How are we doing this year?" But, the one that rings loud and Cox and write-in Craig Lawrence will be in attendance. Eagle Mtn. Fire trucks, police cars, and even Chief, the Safety Dog, were attractions at a Safety Fair for Eagle Mountain on Friday. Sheila Curtis, Eagle Mountain's emergency manager, planned the event with the purpose of informing inform-ing residents about safety. The governor declared September Emergency Preparedness by IC. OavU with myself time to rest and relax. I haven't had to work too much extra time to get ready to go, and I won't have to do a tremendous amount of catching up when I return. Usually when I am with my family on a trip, my mind has a tendency to wander elsewhere. I am thinking of who I need to speak with when I return. I am jotting lists of questions needing to be answered. I will be thinking how a photograph would best illustrate a point we want to make. This year I will actually be able to concentrate on the scenery and the company of family fam-ily members. We will be able to hike and soak in the hot tub whenever we decide, and I will be right there with everyone else. My worry is I won't know what to do how to really relax and enjoy the situation. Wait a minute. We will also be in the company of a three-year-old and a 17-month-old. There won't be any relaxing. clear is, "Thanks for reminding us to give." Some are voices from the future that are sincerely grateful that the effects of Muscular Dystrophy Dys-trophy will be lessened or gone forever. Remember every selfless act unifies our community and makes us all stronger. Thank you to those who donate in every boot they pass, those who donate in small and large amounts, and those who give all they can, sometimes just an encouraging smile. Thank you. -Chief Robert Chadwick American Fork Fire Department Month," Curtis said. "We wanted to do different things to teach people about safety." The Safety Fair also gave residents resi-dents an opportunity to sign up for family disaster plan classes. The classes will be held Nov. 6, 13 and 20 at the City Council Chambers and is free of charge. Also, there will be a class on self-defense self-defense for women on Oct. 7 at 6:30 p.m. Enrollment is limited. Those interested, contact Tiffany Ulmer at 789-4777 for more information. |