Posted on 12/14/2003 11:31:21 AM PST by hawkeye101
Edited on 05/07/2004 6:40:36 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Pierson, Ia. - A snowmobile accident that claimed the lives of four young girls - ages 10, 10, 11 and 13 - is among the deadliest in state history.
"This is probably the most tragic and devastating snowmobile accident I've ever heard of," said Rod Slings, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources' head of recreational safety.
(Excerpt) Read more at desmoinesregister.com ...
No, Laura is a big city girl who is all wet trying to make this generalization.
Used to be (a while back) that Iowa school bus DRIVERS had to only be 17 years old (and I think a Senior) to drive a route between the school and their home. A number of my classmates were such drivers. All were very solid and self sufficient farm boys who grew up with heavy equipment, and could maneuver those buses and their valuable cargo through blinding blizzards and over slippery roads with aplomb. (Many could probably do a full engine overhaul if needed.) Their accident rate was lower than for "traditional" school bus drivers.
An advantage for small school districts was that these drivers would end their route at home and park the bus overnight in the barn on their farm. Next morning they would pick up their load of kids and drive back to school. (Another advantage, if the bus didn't start on a sub-zero morning, their Dad could pull it with a tractor to start it.) This student/bus driver was a great Iowa tradition for many years.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I suspect you are the type who would also require a drivers license to operate roller skates, or a bicycle in order to cross a public roadway.
And how do you feel about children operating electric trains and windup toys, not to mention truly dangerous things like swings and bicycles? Something tells me you don't live in a rural area at all, and certainly don't have even a clue about growing up on a farm.
My pleasure. Any time.
Really? Is that the same "something" that tells you 10 and 11 year old children should be operating snowmobiles capable of achieving highway speeds?
I'd stop listening to your "something" because he doesn't have the sense God gave a retarded hamster
True, and with the nations farm population down from over 90% to well under 5%, in one century we are seeing the passing of a whole different way of American life. The era of children growing up strong and self-sufficient is disappearing as most now grow up in little boxes on little lots with no open space in which to find themselves. Many 12 year old boys and girls from farms and small towns were more mature and certainly more responsible than many of todays urban based 20 year olds.
Children today have little opportunity to work with their Father in literally bringing home the bacon, and learn how to cook real food from their Mother and otherwise learn how to play their role in life. TV and government schools are their new Father and Mother role models, and politically correct organized activities provide the only "approved and sanitized risks" in their lives.
Urban based children (and some of their parents) have only the vaguest (and generally wrong) idea of what they and their children have missed. (Let the flames begin...)
I live in NW Iowa about 45 minutes from where this accident occured... so incredibly sad for all the families. My daughter just turned 12 -- the same age as these girls.
When I lived in Maine, the snowmobiles had trails to ride on but around here, they ride in the ditches on the sides of the roads!!! There are even little mini STOP signs and YIELD signs put up. I just hate it. What is amazing to me is how fast they go through the ditches alongside the highway and who knows what might be in that ditch?! Dead deer are pretty common, not to mention all the other things... at our own property in the country, I see snowmobilers FLYING across the front of our acreage in the ditches. I don't even want my daughter near the front when she's outside sledding on our hills. There is no way the snowmobiles could stop if she were in their way and often times you can't see their headlights until they are right there.
Yes, it is a tragedy and I feel badly for all concerned. The children were so vital and full of energy and living their rural life to the max. It is very sad.
Until you have cleaned out farrowing houses in 100 degree heat or smashed thru the ice in an automatic hog waterer, you haven't really lived.
I told my kids about this accident last night. They are 10 and 8, and we have a go-kart on the farm at grandpa's. Sobering...
You got that right! Or at least you don't really comprehend where your food comes from.
There are some city knowitalls who would insist your kids have government issued drivers licenses to drive those go carts or the lawnmower around the farmstead. But be careful anyway.
Niether. Since the oncoming car is in your lane, the lane to the left is unoccupied. Drive around the oncoming and don't crash at all.
License doesn't make the least bit of difference.
I live on the water and every Summer a select group of irresponsible morons ride their personal watercraft like total idiots with total disregard to all around them.
Inevitably a few die every Summer, sometimes an innocent bystander is killed. Lots of injuries every year and then I'm supposed to feel sorry for the idiots and their idiotic parents.
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