Gov. Bill Ritter last week showed why bicycle helmets are so important. He took a hard fall off his bike and his helmet saved his noggin. But should state legislators pass a law requiring tots and teens to wear helmets when they bike and skateboard? The bill being considered doesn’t include punishment for not wearing a helmet, meaning it has no teeth. So what’s the point? If it’s just to serve as a public service statement, well, no better statement can be made than the one Ritter delivered: Wear your helmet, kids.
Also, to you Republicans who made jokes about bills requiring jockstraps for kids who play sports, grow up already.
Pass the formaldehyde and arsenic, please. Colorado lawmakers killed a bill that would have prohibited the sale of toiletries and cosmetics that contain 15 harmful chemicals, including formaldehyde and arsenic. It would have been the toughest of any state regulating cosmetics ingredients. Since there’s no clear science linking the products in trace amounts to cancer — and many of the chemicals appear elsewhere in the environment — it might be better if next time lawmakers simply went the disclosure route, requiring companies to tell us what potentially dangerous chemicals are in their products. And then consumers can decide if they want to slather it on their hands and faces.
A wild goose chase. Nine times over a two-month period, search and rescue teams tromped through the backcountry near Berthoud Pass looking for a distressed hiker or skier. A “personal locator beacon” was going off but they could never find anything. Using special “direction finding equipment,” they finally found the owner of the beacon. He had no idea that every time he turned on the beacon, given to him as a birthday present, a distress signal was broadcast to international satellites linked to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Air Force Rescue Coordination Center.
The lesson here: Register your beacon and know how to use it. They’re important tools but only when used properly.
And a tip of our cap to … all the spelling bee champions competing in today’s 70th annual Colorado State Spelling Bee. You all are S-T-U-P-E-N-D-O-U-S.
Short Takes is compiled by Denver Post editorial writers and expresses the view of the newspaper’s editorial board.
