| In our view: Common sense is the best reason to applaud helmet law
If you have wheels under you, better have a helmet over you. That’s the message from the Vancouver City Council, which on Monday passed a law requiring helmets on riders of bicycles, skateboards, roller skates, roller blades, scooters and unicycles on public streets, sidewalks and trails. The helmet law is the first in Clark County but is similar to regulations in Seattle, Spokane and Tacoma. We hope Clark County commissioners and other cities in the county follow suit. Both supporters and opponents of the helmet law are able to debate this topic ad infinitum, and anecdotal references often cloud their arguments, but our preference is to rely on basic common sense. It just stands to reason that riders of these wheeled implements should be required to wear helmets in public places for reasons of public safety.
Dublin police to ride three-wheeled scooter
DUBLIN Police will soon be patrolling the city's busiest shopping center on a three-wheeled, clean-energy scooter. The T3 scooter, which has a top speed of 25 mph, looks like a beefier version of a Segway. It runs on batteries that need recharging every 30 miles. The police department now uses patrol cars and bicycles to navigate the shopping center on Hacienda Drive and Dublin Boulevard. The scooter, which was donated by center businesses, will give officers a good option, said Dublin police Lt. Glenn Moon. Patrol cars have more visibility, a good deterrent to bad behavior, but they are harder to use in crowded areas, Moon said, while bikes can be used when officers don't necessarily want to be seen. The motorized scooter is the best of both worlds, he said. "It has the (visible) deterrent of a patrol car, but somewhat of the stealth" of a bike, Moon said.
The changing cycle
India may be the second largest producer of bicycles in the world but precious little has been done to promote the cause of cycling in the country. Shveta Pathak reports that the cycle industry is today churning out beauties that could easily make a style statement but the road ahead is rough for the two-wheeled bikes. And, the status-conscious still refuse to adopt them as a mode of transport. DO you remember the tinkle of the bell as daakiya Rajesh Khanna delivers the post in the song Daakiya daak laya? Or, the very urbane Aamir Khan making your breath stop for a while as he competes for the famous race in Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander? If you do, you mustnt have forgotten the spirit lent to these moments by the good old bicycle. India is the largest cycle manufacturer in the world after China.
Bellview Grange, school at odds over easement
The Ashland Planning Commission was blindsided at its Tuesday meeting when it learned the Bellview Grange would not agree to a "perpetual easement" the Bellview Elementary School needs for parking and access through its property. Howard Barash, president of the Bellview Grange Board, told commissioners that he wants to work with the Ashland School Board to find an amicable solution to the problem and that the two boards currently are in negotiations with each other. He said he presented the school board with four alternative options, one being that the school district purchase all or part of the Grange's property. Commissioners John Fields and Michael Dawkins looked shocked when they heard the news. Commissioner Melanie Mindlin said, "I feel like this is coming out of left field." Tom Dimitre said he felt it was kind of late in the game to learn that there are property problems.
Gaza’s Factions Take Their Fight into the School Playgrounds
The armed men who assaulted eight-year-old Shahab al-Akhras on a street corner in Rafah covered their faces with balaclavas. Shahab, who is small for his age, was wearing the hata, the black-and-white checked scarf associated with Fatah - the party once led by the late Yasser Arafat. The four men who pushed him into a corner and thrashed his hands on new year's day were wearing the uniforms of Hamas's Executive Force, these days Fatah's deadly rival. 'They took off my shoes and put them on the scarf and stamped on them,' he said. 'Then they told me to put out my arms in front of me and beat me with a stick. They said that if they saw me wearing the scarf again they would shoot me in the legs. I hate them!' The internal struggle between the Islamist Hamas and the Fatah movement in Gaza - which Hamas thought it had won after three days of fighting last June - has resurfaced.
Ankeny to Woodward trail gets DOT money
Ames, Ia. - The Iowa Transportation Commission awarded a state grant of $565,960 today to pay for construction on a key stretch of a planned 25-mile recreational trail between Ankeny and Woodward.
The state money will be used for work on a 5.25-mile section between Madrid and Woodward, including a bridge over the Des Moines River, state officials said.
When the project is completed, the multi-use trail will link Ankeny, Sheldahl, Slater, Madrid, and Woodward, extending through parts of four counties as part of the proposed Central Iowa Trail Loop. The corridor was purchased by the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation two years ago from the Union Pacific Railroad.
A section of the trail in Ankeny is now open to the public, and another stretch in the Woodward area will open this fall, said Rich Voelker of Snyder & Associates, who is the lead engineer for the trail project.
January 2003
Jackson Murphy says this past week's protests against a possible war in Iraq weren't impressive in numbers and certainly not in logic. They were, he writes, ignorant to today's realities
Pro-lifers must change more than the law: When it comes to political activism, the anti-abortion movement can claim many successes. W. James Antle III says while that's fine, the movement needs to do more
Control the language, control the debate: Israel may hold its own militarily but Avi Davis says it's the Palestinians who are winning the worldwide war of words
Anti-gobalization: The left's violent assault on global prosperity: Edwin A. Locke says we should ignore the anti-capitalist protestors and welcome global capitalism as the best means of creating worldwide freedom and wealth
Single federal code redux: Bruce Walker responds to W.
Who Needs Nuclear?
For developers, a no' in a reasonable time frame can be better than a yes' over three or four years." The SNP government has promised to boost the proportion of Scotland's electricity demand met by renewable sources to 31% by 2011 and 50% by 2020. Around 20% of Scotland's electricity is currently generated by renewables. But the huge backlog of wind farm applications is jeopardising progress, with dozens of major projects waiting up to five years for approval. Altogether there are 74 schemes for which planning applications have been submitted, 64 for which applications are being prepared, and 15 that are under appeal. According to the latest data from the renewables industry, projects which have been rejected by a public local inquiry and then go to the Scottish government take an average of 45 months to win approval.
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