Odds and ends, 2/12/08

The first sign of spring is not the return of the robin or the hummingbird. It's not the person who has to mow his lawn at the first sign of 50-degree temperatures. It's the ever-present sound of ATVs going past my house on our secondary road.

I have no gripe against ATVs per se. I do gripe that some people who operate them have an overabundance of the hormones that stunt brain growth. They ride too fast, especially on paved roads and in blind curves.

Now comes this from the Legislature:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — All-terrain vehicle riders would be banned from paved roads unless local authorities decide otherwise under a bill approved Tuesday by a key Senate committee.

The measure would restrict ATV riding on paved roads to crossing from one trail or field to another, but would give county and municipal authorities wide leeway in regulating use of the vehicles. ...

Karen Coria, a lobbyist for the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America, which represents ATV manufacturers, said that in towns like Gilbert, where ATVs are regulated and allowed to be driven in downtown areas, there have been no recorded recent fatalities.

“The bill’s intent is to curtail the joyriding being done by those who abuse the privilege,” she said. ...

One thing that should be in the bill is a requirement that ATVs being operated on public roads be licensed and bear certain safety devices such as tail lights and turn signals. If they want to share the public road, they should bear the same burdens as other motor vehicles.

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Today's Columbus Dispatch had a story about people with an unnatural fear of snow. I don't fear snow, but the more I have to drive in it, the less I like it. To me the best snow is one that falls on Friday night and is gone from the highways by Sunday evening.

If I don't have to drive in it, it's wonderful. But there are too many people who don't know how to drive in snow that multiply the aggravation and terror for the rest of us.

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Pardon me if I've mentioned this before, but a lot of people on The Herald-Dispatch forums are bringing back variations of the "Don't drink the Kool-Aid" cliche, which started after the mass suicide at Jonestown. According to what I have found, the Jonestown people didn't drink Kool-Aid. They drank grape-flavored Flavor-Aid.