Amherst News-Times, 2002-09-04

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Faith Baptist marks 50th — Page 7   | Garden Club lodges concerns — Pa*
Amherst News-Time
WEDNESDAY, September 4, 2002
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Helmet would not save Mirand
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by JASON HAWK
■ ■ ■ i n ■    — ■   i
News-Times reporter
The fact that neither girl was
wearing a bicycle helmet on Monday, Aug. 26, when Miranda Ward
and Jolynn Hardie were struck by a
driver on Pyle South Amherst Road
in South Amherst made no difference, according to Lorain County
coroner Paul Matus.
Although Hardie was examined at
the scene and released, her cousin,
Ward, 12, a seventh-grade student at
South Amherst Middle School, was
pronounced dead at EMH Regional
Medical Center in Elyria. Matus
said the autopsy indicated that she
died of severe head trauma.
"In this particular case, I'm not
sure that a bike helmet would have
helped in the least," he said.
"They're flimsy and may help if you
fall off your bike in the driveway,
but they're not meant to withstand
collisions with vehicles."
According to Matus, no safety
equipment could have helped avoid
the injuries that led to Ward's death.
The source of those injuries —
whether they were caused by a direct vehicular blow, from impact
with the ground, or from contact
with her bicycle — have not yet
been determined.
Matus is also not sure how far
Ward and Hardie were dragged by
the vehicle, although the State Highway Patrol estimated about 320 feet,
from which Ward sustained multiple
bone fractures and other serious injuries not detailed by the county
coroner's office.
Also undetermined is the speed at
which the vehicle was traveling.
"We're not sure how fast the car
was moving," said Matus. "But even
when a car is only traveling 30 mph,
and it strikes a pedestrian, he or she
can get carried way down the road,"
he said.
"It's like a cue ball," said Matus.
"When it strikes another ball that's
sitting perfectly still, the energy is
transferred, and that ball is instantaneously moving at high speed. It's
the same here. If she was only going
five mph and was struck by a car
moving at 40 mph, she would in
stantly have been propelled ahead at
40 mph."
In such a scenario, Ward and
Hardie were completely vulnerable,
no matter what safety precautions
were taken, Matus said.
The driver of the vehicle, Jo-
nathon Williams, 43, of Amherst,
fled the scene of the crash but later
turned himself in to Amherst police
later that evening.
CONTINUED on page 12
Administration
offers alternate
plan to change
voter districts
by JASON HAWK
News-Times reporter
Administrative staff and
two members of city council
have ironed out their differences over the reapportionment of voting district lines.
Safety/service director Sher-
rill McLoda met with Ward
Four councilwoman Jennifer
Wasilk on Aug. 22 to resolve
the dispute after Wasilk and
councilmember Nick Bnisky
accused the mayor and his
administration of gerrymandering the districts to favor his
political party.
McLoda presented revised
numbers and an updated map
that included changes requested by councilmembers.
"These were not minor
changes," said Wasilk, who
cited 29 changes to the map,
including eight instances in
which census blocks were
reassigned to different wards.
McLoda disagreed, admitting that while there were
clerical errors in the administration's map, wards were
still within an acceptable 1.S
percent margin of each other.
"The maps would have
been correct if council had
time in its July meetings to
listen to explanations for
some of the shuffling," said
McLoda.
"This was a very complex
issue. These differences between maps weren't just typographical errors. Things were
moved between our meetings.
We were trying to get it as
precise as we could," said
McLoda.
Wasilk and Bnisky accepted
the changes and retracted
their protests.
"I'm glad that these issues
were resolved so that the
Fourteenth Amendment rights
of the citizens of Amherst
have been preserved," said
Wasilk.
McLoda told the News-
Times that any disparities
were not the result of ill
intent
"I don't know where Republicans or Democrats live. I
don't care. I had no interest
in trying to make the voting
districts unfair," she said.
"That would be almost an
impossible task anyway," she
said.
The redistricting proposal
was tabled until council could
bold an ordinance committee
meeting earlier this week.
Smashing success
Comet Man and the marching band looked on while Amherst    "J08 Midview car at a pep rally sponsored by the Amherst Athletic
football team members took turns swinging a sledgehammer at      Boosters Club.
Cops reward McBucklers with McPrize
by JASON HAWK
News-Times reporter
They're everywhere you look.
They're on lawns. They're on driveways. They're on school busses.
Red and white signs that dot the
Amherst landscape send a clear
message about seat belt safety to residents, thanks to the efforts of the
Amherst Police Department.
• The department has been recognized as one of the stale's top 10
participants in the "What's Holding
You Back?" campaign.
Program organizers at the Ohio
Department of Public Safety challenged mare than 700 safety part-
den across Ohio to raise seat belt
usage by IS percent over the next
several months.
• Safety experts estimate that if
Ohio residents increased seat belt
lire by 80 percent, 120 lives would
be saved annually.
[ Ohio's usage rale jumped from 64
percent to 70 percent following the
program's initial enforcement wave
held over Memorial Day weekend.
High numbers of citations have
been issued for non-compliance to
seat bek laws along the Route 2
•pys-rinsi since the campaign's
calling the project Ohio's "largest,
most comprehensive seat belt campaign in state history."
The "best of the best" of Ohio
law enforcement participating in the
program gathered in Columbus on
Aug. 27 to be recognized for their
contributions. Amherst police were
among the top 10 to receive honors.
The other nine top contenders
were: Delphos, Hiram, Miami
Township, Niles, Oregon, Ravenna,
and Reynoldsburg Police Departments and the Stark and Summit
County sheriffs offices.
A committee of highway safety
professionals selected the 10 final-
isu based on their adoption of a zero
tolerance policy for teat belt violators in addition to public outreach
and community education efforts.
The 10 selective agencies were
rewarded for their hard work by being placed into a drawing to win
free safety equipment, including in-
car video and laser gun, each valued
at over $4,000, and a new patrol car,
valued at over $30,000, which was
purchased with federal grant dollars.
Officer James Triples of the Rey-
noldsburg Police Department pulled
the winning key that started the
prize cruiser.
Amherst police do not plan lo discontinue teat belt enforcement
efforts.
Amherst police officers hand out orxipone tor free burgers to i
bek users at McOonalda on Leavitt Road aa part of the **Whafa
Hotting You Back?" canpalgn. Those caught wNhout seat btkXt
onaeat bet
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