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Show STANDARD-EXAMINER SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 1994 FEATURES EDITOR: 625-4270 Mike Johnson (left) enjoys cruisin’ the 'Vard with his club of friends who favor mini-pickup trucks but — hey — anything cool goes (Below center) Teenagers and young adults who cruise up and down Washington Boulevard say they do it mostly to attract attention and to showoff their hobbies. (Bottom) Many cruisers change cars into low-riders and often put on wheels that are wider than standard. || a Fuaer == ot Lee me eaea Nagin? a a By CHARLES F. TRENTELMAN Standard-Examiner staff GDEN — The booming “Hrump! Hrump! Hrump!”of the stereo in the truck behind us filled our car, drowning out the engine and makingthe night air vibrate. Dewey Savage’s own radio was down, but only out of consideration, he said, for the older-generation reporter nding with him. Normallyhis, too, is mega-bassed up, making his dark green mini-pickup audible a city block away as he cruises down the road inches from the pavement. “Whydo we do this?” Deweysaid. “Mostly to attract attention.” He, and the half dozen other truckers in the line, low-riders all, were succeeding. Maybe too well. A police officer pulled up to a stop sign as the “Lasting ' Impressions” snaked downthestreet, doing their trademark “Checkerboard” maneuver. But if the officer noticed, or even cared, he didn’t showit. If he had, it wouldn’t have been the first time. Tickets are an occupational hazard Will it stay legal? Officials ponderthe issues for your serious low-rider. There's just something about cars half an inch off the ground, with tires extending three or four inches outside the wheel well, that turn a cop's head. It isn’t in admiration. “Fix-it” tickets for minor mechanical malfeasances are common. Noise CHARLES F.. REN TELNAN ordinance citations are a daily occurrence. Tickets for having the car too low or the wheels too wide are a given. Mike Johnson, the nominal head of the club, which favors mini-pickup trucks but is open to anything, had a ChevyS-10 Blazer last year that got him 37 tickets and 23 warnings in one summer. Ofcourse, it wasn’t just ANY Blazer. He'd improvedit. It was so lowit high-centered on thick shadows and “OK, I had the wheels all the way out.” “Yah,” said Savage, “It looked like a skateboard.” And Johnson didn’t argue with him. He finally sold the car before the tickets being asked to bar Standar mi Standard-Examiner staf Thepolice, however, say that things are hether it’s out on the street cruising, or just standing still, low-rider cars draw more attention from the police than their owners would like. Just two weeks ago, the Ogden City Council was asked to consider a ban on Another Friday night This particular evening started out, as most do, on a Friday night at the Pink Flamingo, a sandwich shop in Washington Terrace conveniently located at the top ofthehill that goes down to Riverdale Road and, yes, Washington Boulevard bankrupted him. “cruising,” the ritualistic driving up and down on Washington Boulevard, usually between 20th Street and 36th Street. (The governing body is set to make a decision at Thursday's council meeting.) The practice has been going on as long as anyone can remember, with several members of the council noting that they, See CRUISE on 6E getting worse than they werein the “50s and “60s. Hundreds of cars, not just low-riders, are doing it, especially on weekends. They say drivers are spending too much time admiring other cars or members of the opposite sex, causing accidents. A fatal accident May 27 involvedcruising, Ogden police said. Thecity council has yet to act on the ban. Thecruisers, and the American Civil Liberties Union, say such a ban wouldbe excessively prohibitive of the public’s right to-use the road Then, there are the cars themselves as teens, used to do what they were now See LAW on 6E Hydraulics makethis car hop, but cruiserstill has a long road ahead Dnvingfor the perfect car LMAN By CHARLES F. TRENTE Jara Exar ‘ ; : , GDEN — It's a °64 Chevy Manuel Barela, 24, boughtthis 64 Chevy Impala with Jesus on the back window anda lift , system that drops it right ‘ down to the ground and tries to keep * ~OiNg going Seriously. This sucker scrapes bottom. When Manuel Barela lets the hydraulics go. you hear this “crunch” — and hejust smiles. Chewing up impala when he was 16 years old. Eversince then, he has been making it his own. He’s got about $5,000 into the car, not counting the labor. pavement (not to mention the Standard-Examiner America must YW improve scientific literacy, especially conceming mating electrons (c) Sen. Howell Heflin 2. What is magnetism? (a) Invisible rays that shoot out of a compass (b) The force that causes dogs to bark when you ring the doorbell (c) The molecular attraction that forms between refrigerators and little ceramic vegetables 3. The Earth rotates: (a) Around the cosine (b) At might (c) In a direction away from Cleveland It’s a rm ihe car vou u Why a “64 Imi Why hydrau neat, Tals W ul ‘yr rOURn rrde it’s why Because | It makes peop NOC It's also something of a fan Barela is proud to say. lega this car from his tather. He got who bought See BARELA on 6€ samebasiclevel of scientific literacy as road salt this multiple-choice quiz (b) Clams burping in unison. the ground. Blah Blah”), which showed that Americans had the hat is your “Science 1Q”? To find out, take 1. Tides are caused by: (a) Gravity leaking out of the moon like he pulled them otf a lawn ral in Seinch eae OWer, dn “ITN Veided Chall Sa a Steering Wheel and a Ayan ie br ae a syvsiem thal can mak LTV, aide < ; i : Why do tat al ? bottom of the car) 1s a real danger “Ive been working on it for seven years: my dad worked on it for five vears before that, but he wanted 1 stock.” he said. You know. the way it TOM SZALAY came trom the tactor Barela has it anything fur stock — 13-inch wheels with tres that look x . : This does not surprise me. DAVE BARRY | constantly see evidence that Americans do not unders ind bas screntif principles. For example, the great mathe matician and deadperson Sir Isaac Newton (who also invented gravity) proved in 1583 that, no matter how hard you push, you cannot fit an object into an airplane Kright-Ridder Newspapers wks overhead storage compartment if the object 1s way bigger than the compartment Americans still do not understand this, | am writing these words on a flight from Miami to San Francisco ANSWERS:Thecorrect scientific answer to all three questions 1s: “(d) No Opinion.” If you did poorly on this quiz, do not feel bad: a flight I frankly thought was never going to leave the When it comes to scientific knowledge, a great man) Americans are every bit as stupid as you are. This was gate becausethe aisle seemed to be permanently blocked by a man and a woman whe the conclusion of a recent nationwide survey reported in The New York Times (motto: “All The News Blah after taking See BARRY on 66 | \ *% |