Helmet

How do you spell stupid? Let me count the ways. Paraphrasing an old saying, it is with a high sense of anxiety that I am writing this particular story. The reason for the anxiety is because I am admitting to something I did not do, that I have preached about time and time again, to do. What am I referring to? Wearing a helmet when riding an ATV, no matter how small the distance one rides. In my particular case I was hunting with some friends and needed the ATV to get to the back 40 to begin the hunt.

Last week was an especially deadly one for motorcycle riders in Kentucky. According to Kentucky State Police records, between Aug. 4 and 10, three riders lost their lives in motorcycle crashes - in Graves, McCracken and Harlan counties. Two of those were not wearing helmets. It's a story with a tragic ending that's repeated far too often. Just last month in Clark County, Johnny R. Perry of White Conkwright Road died when his bike struck a guardrail near Trapp and he was thrown over the handlebars.

One balmy, beautiful evening this past week, I made the inevitable weekly drive to Wal-Mart. I actually looked forward to it. Jessamine County is breathtaking this time of year. Soon we pulled up behind a fifty-ish-year-old man on a motorcycle. I have to admit, the laid-back ease and grace with which he rode made me slightly jealous. I'm much too timid to relax and enjoy the pavement passing below at 50 mph with hardly anything between my body and instant pain. He wore a bandanna of some kind tied on his head.

A three-day, 60-mile walk through Atlanta, Ga., might sound like torture to some, but it's a small price to pay to raise awareness in the fight against breast cancer, according to Junction City's Christy Wesley. “You definitely have to train for that one,” Wesley said with a laugh.  She will participate in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day walk in October. This will be the second time Wesley has made the venture, the first being five years ago, after her grandmother passed away during a battle with breast cancer.

Their headgear firmly attached, the students at Creative Montessori School in Nicholasville peddled their way around the bright circle of cones, arrows and stop signs. The course was the creation of Doug Beckhart, a bicycle safety educator with Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville. Beckhart visits 150 schools a year in Kentucky to teach fourth- and fifth-graders about being safe on their bikes. He made a stop for the preschoolers and kindergartners at Creative Montessori on Friday, April 15. “The main thing I teach kids is put your helmet on,” Beckhart said.

Bike-riders reminded to wear helmets The Lincoln County Health Department would like to remind everyone to have a safe summer by wearing helmets while riding their bikes. Wearing a helmet can lower the risk of head injury by 85 percent. Approximately 70-80 percent of all fatal bike accidents involve brain injuries. For more information about helmet safety, contact the Lincoln County Health Department at (606) 365-3106. Corrections The name of Amy Matthews was spelled incorrectly in an Around Town item Sunday because of a reporter's error.

I have been lucky enough to bring down a bird for the pot. The pot has already gotten hot, and the bird has already been consumed. If it does not rain hard Friday, I will try to harvest another bird since there is a two-bird limit. Then again, I will defer to the property owners. They may want to limit their guests to one bird. I'll find out for sure before this story hits print. Of course, that's assuming if I get to hunt again that I will even see another bird or even hear one for that matter.

A Breathitt County man who led police on a motorcycle chase beginning on the Mountain Parkway on Friday has died of injuries sustained from the crash. Christopher Pelfrey, 27, was clocked driving at 140 m.p.h. at 1:40 a.m. Friday. He led police through Clark, Powell and Lee counties before losing control of this motorcycle and being thrown from it. He was not wearing his helmet. Pelfrey died Friday afternoon at the University of Kentucky Medical Center.

Eddie and Tracy Montgomery were honored with a key to the city on Monday but seemed especially touched by a special presentation from Danville Fire Department. Fire Chief Mike Thomas gave Eddie Montgomery a personalized blue and white fire helmet and said due to the Montgomerys' donations, the department's annual toy drive continues to exist. "Twenty-five years ago, we were lucky to serve 60 kids. The past year, we did it for 300," Thomas said as Montgomery began to cry. "Sorry for this," Montgomery said through tears and deep breaths, wiping his eyes while he held the helmet.

Gabby Henderson was elated. The first-grader was the proud owner of her first set of wheels: a shiny, blue training-wheel model with glitzy streamers and painted cherries. "This is my first one," Gabby said as she gripped the handlebars. Gabby was one of five kindergarten through second-grade students who went home Thursday from Shearer Elementary School with a new bicycle. The school gave away the bicycles, along with T-shirts and wooden toys, to students who behaved well during the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS)

A three-day, 60-mile walk through Atlanta, Ga., might sound like torture to some, but it's a small price to pay to raise awareness in the fight against breast cancer, according to Junction City's Christy Wesley. “You definitely have to train for that one,” Wesley said with a laugh.  She will participate in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day walk in October. This will be the second time Wesley has made the venture, the first being five years ago, after her grandmother passed away during a battle with breast cancer.

As fall approaches, there will be an increased enthusiasm for hitting the trails with friends on their ATVs. Sadly, there will be many folks of all ages who will ride outside the envelope, or in other words, push the edge of safety with their vehicles. There are as many uses for ATVs as there are various types, styles and sizes. Hopefully, prior to purchasing an ATV, the adult rider or parent of a young rider will determine the best size and type based on the intended use, and match the rider to the vehicle.

Their headgear firmly attached, the students at Creative Montessori School in Nicholasville peddled their way around the bright circle of cones, arrows and stop signs. The course was the creation of Doug Beckhart, a bicycle safety educator with Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville. Beckhart visits 150 schools a year in Kentucky to teach fourth- and fifth-graders about being safe on their bikes. He made a stop for the preschoolers and kindergartners at Creative Montessori on Friday, April 15. “The main thing I teach kids is put your helmet on,” Beckhart said.

A friend was looking over his recently purchased property and took another friend along with him. Both of these friends were riding all-terrain vehicles; one rider was experienced, and the other was not used to this type of machine. The experienced rider was trying to reach the top of the ridge that was, I’m told, almost perpendicular with his “noble steed.” However, the “noble steed” hit something that was hidden under the kudzu and caused it to rear up in the front.

Webster’s dictionary has several different portions of the definition for the word “quick.” One portion reads “that is over or completed within a short space of time.” That portion of the definition could certainly apply to a friend of mine. This friend was working with his all-terrain vehicle in the woods and as I understand it, he was using an ATV to beat down the weeds around a tree stand location close to a creek. This activity would soon put him in a dangerous situation.

It's before 8 a.m. on a recent weekday and the procession of teachers filing into the Bate Middle School parking lot is well under way. They arrive in sedans and pickup trucks, stationwagons and SUVs, vans and minivans. But one teacher arrives not in a vehicle but on one ? a very small one. Debbie Lamblin, a seventh-grade math teacher, pulls up in front of the school on a sleek, black scooter. She rolls the scooter to a spot just outside the entrance to the school, removes her helmet and enters the building.

None of those killed on Kentucky highways over the Labor Day weekend used seat belts or safety helmets, suggesting that at least some deaths might have been prevented, according to a news release from the Kentucky Department of Transportation. Thirteen people were killed along Kentucky highways during the long holiday period, Friday through Monday. Nine were in motor vehicles. Three other fatalities involved a motorcycle, a bicycle and an ATV. One pedestrian was fatally injured.

During 2007, 11 percent of all highway fatalities involved motorcycles ? and that number may grow higher in future years as more motorcycles take to the road. Already, during the 10-year period from 1997 to 2006, the number of motorcycle deaths doubled from 2,116 in 1997 to 4,810 in 2006. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that, per vehicle mile traveled, motorcyclists were about 35 times more likely than passenger car occupants to die in a traffic crash.

Editor's note: The author was recently in a motorcycle accident and believes that wearing a helmet allowed him to walk away from it with only a severe case of road rash. Five motorcyclists died in collisions on Kentucky roads last weekend. So far this year, 62 bikers have been killed in accidents in the commonwealth. Last year, five motorcycle riders were killed in Lincoln County, more than Boyle, Garrard and Casey counties combined. In the last three weeks, Lincoln County bikers have suffered one fatality and two cases where the motorcyclists were so severely injured they were air lifted to a level-one trauma center for care.

Families also victims of motorcycle crashes To the Sun: I read with dismay the letter from Richard "Pops" Fisher on Aug. 20. Mr. Fisher suggests, "Why don't you know-it-alls stick to things you know about and let us bikers do what we know about - namely, riding?" He said he has ridden for more than 50 years and wears a helmet when he feels conditions require it. That, in his view, should be enough. If Mr. Fisher's choice to wear or not wear a helmet only affected him, I could see where he might feel comfortable telling all of us "do gooders" to mind our own business.