Warning to parents about kids on ATVs
Re: “Kids on ATVs spell unnecessary danger,” Aug. 10 editorial.
We applaud The Denver Post for bringing attention to the tragic consequences of children riding all-terrain vehicles. The Children’s Hospital, unfortunately, sees many children who have been injured while on ATVs. From 2002 through 2004, 36 children were injured seriously enough to require admission or observation at the hospital. Already this year, 10 children have been admitted with injuries sustained from ATV use. Sadly, since 2002, four of the children admitted for ATV injuries have died.
In Colorado from 1999 to 2002, nine children under 15 years old died from injuries suffered in ATV accidents, and 170 children were hospitalized due to off-road-vehicle injuries from 2002 to 2003.
Most children under 16 years do not possess the physical size, strength, coordination and motor skills to safely operate an ATV, the cognitive capacity to look for and react to potential hazards or good judgment to avoid impulsive or excessive risk behaviors.
We remind parents:
There is no substitute for attentive supervision.
If you allow your child to ride an off-road vehicle such as an ATV, make sure they stay within sight and earshot at all times.
Have children participate in an approved ATV safety education training program and reinforce safe driving behaviors.
Insist that children wear a helmet approved for motorcycle use that is properly fitted.
Restrict the use of all off-road vehicles until a child has the physical, cognitive and judgment skills needed to safely operate the vehicle.
Moritz M. Ziegler, M.D., Surgeon-in-Chief, The Children’s Hospital, Denver
A fair way to choose congressional districts
Re: “An unappealing appeal,” Aug. 7 Fred Brown column.
“Congressional redistricting is purely political,” says Republican state Rep. Joe Stengel, as if to question the GOP’s 2003 redistricting maneuver is to question the air we breathe. Why? Are the Broncos allowed to reconfigure the gridiron whenever they win a game? Are challengers required to play according to gerrymandered yard lines? Part of a fair and level playing field is consistent, fairly drawn rules of the game.
If anything, the task of redistricting should be in the hands of those political parties that have little opportunity to dislodge the big two from power. A committee of members of the Libertarian, Natural Law, Green and other parties would most likely draw up district lines that don’t favor one party over another, making districts competitive and political races interesting.
Why is a level playing field actively pursued in business and good for consumers, but fair and unmanipulated electoral competition is not? Having one party delineate political boundaries is a coveted first step toward one-party dominance, something we used to denounce when it was practiced in the USSR.
John Wilkens, Boulder
Libraries’ mission
Re: “Denver libraries put in a bind,” Aug. 12 news story.
This summer, I’ve been availing myself of the Arapahoe County Library’s holdings to research the presentation of religion in comic books, specifically graphic novels, for a class I co-teach titled Religion and Popular Culture.
Many of these graphic novels contain excessive violence and sexual innuendo, and it’s been a challenge for me to keep them out of the hands of my curious, almost 7-year-old son, who’s enthralled with Batman and the Fantastic Four. Even though I disagree with the library’s decision to house these graphic novels in the “juvenile fiction” section, I monitor what my son reads and talk to him about the importance of libraries.
Thank goodness the Arapahoe County Library, as well as the Denver Public Library, is trying to stay true to what the purpose of a public library should be: to serve as a collective archive for a community’s culture, even when portions of that collection are not to everyone’s tastes.
Dan Clanton, Englewood
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