June 6, 2003

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LOCKHART – Take one community issue. Stir in one good idea and add a committee with a dedicated chairman and concerned members from different agencies. Blend in some local and area support, focused fund-raising efforts and a beautiful late-spring day. The result is a community service project as successful as the May 17 "Helmets for Kids" safety rodeo in Lockhart.

Each year for the past four years, the safety rodeo has fitted about 300 area children with safety helmets, and given them some wheels-on-the-pavement instruction about bicycle safety and rules of the road, said Dorothy Buckner, chairman of the Helmets for Kids committee and originator of the idea behind the safety rodeo.

Wearing properly-fitted helmets while on any "kid-powered" wheeled vehicle – whether bicycle, tricycle, skateboard, in-line skates or scooter – can reduce or prevent head injuries, Buckner said. "Wearing a helmet reduces the risk of head injuries by 85 percent for bike riders."

Among the co-sponsors of the event is Texas Cooperative Extension. Two county Extension agents – Debbie Watt, family and consumer science agent, and Lytle Arche, agriculture agent – are members of the committee.

"Extension has been involved for four years," Arche said. When Lockhart and Caldwell County took part in the Texas Community Futures Forum a few years ago, youth safety was identified as one of the biggest community concerns. "This (effort) fit our parameters of youth safety," he said. "As agents, we are partners with the committee to provide youth safety education."

Although children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade are the primary target audience for the rodeo, "anyone who comes here and requests a helmet, gets one," Buckner said.

After a visit to the registration table, Buckner said, the children were directed to nearby tables, where Preston Tyree, education director for the Texas Bicycle Coalition, and several volunteers from Austin Cycling Association fit each child with age- and size-appropriate helmets.

Tyree and the volunteers not only fit the children with the right helmets, they also taught the children and their parents the best and safest way to wear the helmets and instructed them on driving regulations they must follow.

Too many young riders don't realize they "have the same rights and responsibilities as drivers of other vehicles," Tyree said.

Tyree had the help of Max, a child-sized, remote-controlled puppet on a bicycle. Max helps teach children about wearing helmets for safety and obeying traffic rules, Tyree said, as he watched two or three fascinated children start a conversation with Max. (Tyree instructs the children about bicycle safety through a microphone connected to Max's mouth.)

"Bicycling is not a dangerous sport," he said, "if you can teach the kids to stop and look both ways before riding into traffic and to constantly be aware of other traffic, especially cars that may turn in front of them."

That's why the next stop for young participants was the obstacle course, manned by Explorer cadets, aged 14-22, from the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office, along with their adult leader, Diane Richards.

Richards explained the five areas of the obstacle course: At the first station, the children learned about stop signs and safe ways to cross the street; at the second station, they learned how to focus their attention on a fairly narrow path, simulating a bike trail; at the third station they practiced riding in figure eights in order to polish their fine-turning skills; the fourth station taught them about making quick turns; and, at the fifth station they learned more about focus by riding in circles.

After completing the obstacle course, participants visited the pavilion, where they could have identification numbers engraved on their bicycles, get their fingerprints recorded, watch a video on safety and enjoy a free hot dog lunch, courtesy of Wackenhut Corrections Corp.'s Lockhart facility, Big Red and Lockhart HEB.

Darryl Anderson, warden of the correctional facility, said the agency has helped out at the safety rodeo for its entire four years. "We like to give back to the community," he said. "The prison has been here for 10 years and the community has accepted us, and we want to give back.

"Also, it's a good cause, helping kids out."

That's why 4-H'ers Jack Watt, 17 and a member of the county's 4-H council, and Brittany Witte, 16, also volunteered their time on that recent Saturday. "I just like helping out here with the kids," Witte said.

In addition to Extension, Wackenhut and the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office, other sponsors were: Seton Health Care, which provided a mobile children's health-care center; Bluebonnet Electric, Sons of Hermann Lodge 64, The Dance Center Unlimited, The Insurance Team, First Lockhart National Bank, Hochheim Prairie Insurance Branch 211, Gladders Gourmet Cookies, American National Bank, Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union, GBRA, Lockhart Kiwanis Club, Edward Jones/Doug and Carla Field, D.L. Zea DC, Mike Tate/Farm Bureau Insurance, Big Red of Austin, HEB Food Stores, Raymond's TV, G and C Printing, LCRA and the City of Lockhart as well as Lockhart EMS, Fire Department, Parks and Recreation Department, Police Department and Technical Center.