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Some members of my church family and I are returning to the small village of Maraita, Honduras this summer to continue our ministry to the people of the country. Through Baptist Medical & Dental Mission International ( www.bmdmi.org), we will be providing medical care as well as eye examinations and administering medication. Last summer, we helped build a church and were able to attend the dedication service of the church.  This year, our team will be building the pastor’s house as well as doing some construction for the village (basketball hoops for the school, etc).  We have an early team leaving before the main group to teach in the church that we built last year. We will be teaching the local congregation as well as pastors from the surrounding area. Two local physicians, E. Fritz Braunlich, M.D. and Kenneth Gainer, M.D., will be returning for their third time as well.  Dr. Gainer has also volunteered much of his time not only in the villages, but also at the Good Shepherd Children’s Home and the Emmanuel Orphanage there in Honduras. We offer “Project Life.”  If we see a person who has a medical need that is beyond our scope of care, we pay for the transportation to a hospital, lodging, and all the medical care they need. Much of this care is provided by volunteer medical and surgery teams who staff the BMDMI Baptist Hospital in Guaimaca. We also provide a clothing distribution.  Last year, we ran out of clothes really fast.  This year, we are doubling up on what we took last year.  If you would like to donate clothes, please send me a message! But most importantly, everyone who enters our clinic hears the gospel!  The needs of the less fortunate people in the mountains of Honduras are overwhelming, but it is amazing to watch such a small team of people work together to share the love of God.  Thank you Rick Harris, team captain, for all your hard work in organizing and equipping our team.  I’m looking forward to another great opportunity to serve the Lord!

This is how one of my Monday mornings started. Some of you might have seen my post on Facebook, but for the rest of you, here’s a funny story. First thing on a Monday morning as I was getting ready for work, I was heading down the steps to let the boys (the dogs) outside while carrying a load of laundry. There was a gathering on the landing of our steps. I guess the boys where holding a meeting on how they would attack the snow and ice outside. I asked them to please move, but I guess the meeting was still in session. I went to step over all of them when they decided to take me down. All I heard was yelping, barking, (telling one another to get out of my way), screaming, running and did I say screaming? Down I went! Laundry went flying, the dogs ran and did I mention I heard a lot of screaming? Well if I didn't mention it, I sure did hear it and a lot of it! I hit like a ton of bricks and came to rest on the tile floor. I jumped up and yelled, Are we all alright? Not one of the boys would come near me. When I opened the door for them to go outside, all three ran out like the dog catcher was after them. (No offense. The dog wardens rock in our area.) And then it hit me. I was in pain. I went out and sat in the hot tub. That didn't help, so I iced my back and that didn't help. I then took Bayer Back and Body aspirin and waited and that finally took the edge off. I'm a little sore and my pride is hurt, but I am feeling a little better with the pain. The boys where all fine. I checked each one of them out, after they would come to me. I think they sent the youngest of the three, Guinness, to test the waters to see if anymore screaming was going to take place. I kept moving as much as I could so I didn’t stiffen up. Since I survived the day after, I’m hoping all will be well. I’m also  hoping that I didn't knock a kidney stone loose. Life lesson learned. When the boys are having a meeting on the landing of the stairs, get them to disband and disburse and don’t trying stepping over one or all of them. Falling at my age is no fun.  Wish I could have videoed this fall, because I feel I could have won a prize on a funny video show. One point for the boys, no points for me. Bark on, Bordas Dog Nation, Bark on.

Every six weeks or so, one of the girls and, yes, it’s usually Marilyn,sends an e-mail out to our fellow staff membershere at Bordas & Bordas about getting together to get something to eat at Drover’s Inn and Restaurant and to (invariably) talk and talk and talk. Not everyone makes it each and every time there is a get-together but it only takes two to say, “I’m in.” I think the anticipation of going is high and since it is usually a week in advance, or more, that this get’s set into motion, someone usually mentions it by asking who’s going, when are we going and then counting down the days. Some of us drive alone but others take turns at car-pooling but once we’re on our way it seems to be non-stop talking to the restaurant, while we’re at the restaurant and even on our way home.  Since our favorite haunt is Drover’s in Wellsburg which takes about 35 minutes or so to get to from Wheeling, there is a lot of chatting going on during our evening out. Once at Drover’s, each of us has our favorite appetizer which we share amongst us.  Some order the exact same thing every time we’re there.  Some of us relax with a drink or two.  A couple of us always have quite a substantial take-out bag stashed in the trunk on the way home.  Mine is for my hungry guys waiting for me to get there. So whether at Drover’s or some other local restaurant, whether it’s a small group of us where the conversation flows on and on, or a larger group with many different conversations happening all at once which can get a little loud—sometimes very loud—it’s always a good time and so much fun!!   And for those of us who share a ride with Becky, the evening is topped off with something frozen from the Dairy Queen. So, here’s to a great group of girls, lots of chatter, our favorite food, Ellie’s good health and the next, Who’s Up for Drover’s?

One morning, I woke up to find three inches of snow on my car and a forecast that predicted another three to four inches by evening, followed by temperatures dipping below zero, then more snow. Wonderful!  This means that the chances of the snow on the ground melting before the next blast of snow was nil.  With a lot of grumbling and whining, I slipped on my heavy coat, gloves and boots and went out to begin the tedious job of shoveling my walkway and then “sweeping” the snow off my car to prepare to go to work. Back in the house, I eat a quick breakfast, shower, get dressed, again don my heavy coat, gloves and boots and trudge out into the blustery morning to go to work, saying a prayer that I would make it down the hill safely as I drive slowly down the treated, but still slippery roads of North Park.  I finally make it to the bottom of the hill with a grateful sigh and turn cautiously onto Route 40 making my way down Wheeling Hill toward my office that is located out the pike.  As I park in the lot, I again say another small prayer that I won’t fall and break a hip or both wrists trying to catch myself when I fall, and begin to walk tentatively along the treated, but still slippery roads and sidewalks into my office. This is a typical winter morning in January or February in Wheeling, W.Va., and it seems the older I get the more I dread it. Safe and settled in my office, praising the Lord that I made it safely, I stood gazing out my office window at the snowy morning and noted that there wasn’t even four inches of snow on the ground! All of this angst and stress over less than four inches of snow! When had winter become so loathsome to me that even four inches seemed like a major blizzard? As I pondered this thought, I ran my tongue over my front right tooth and felt the familiar chip that had been there for years and it brought back memories of a much simpler time in my life when I was a little girl in the late 1950’s, a time when “a snow day” filled me with excitement and wonder.  I remember wintery evenings when I would watch out the window as the snow fell and covered the ground and then, just for fun, lean out our back door and stick a yard stick in the snow to measure how deep it was getting. It wasn’t unusual for the snow to be over a foot. A foot of snow nowadays makes the city stand still! I can’t remember school ever being closed because of snow back then. Of course, most of us went to local neighborhood schools and didn’t have to ride buses as the children do now. On the days when we didn’t have to go to school and I would awake to a beautiful winter wonderland, I remember that feeling of pure excitement as I hurried to put my coat, boots and gloves on to go outside and plow my little body through the untouched snow to make snow angels, build a snowman, to have a snow ball fight and sled ride. I would grab my sled and meet my friends at our favorite sled riding hill. In my neighborhood, it was a dirt road that winded downhill around a parking lot that belonged to a local business. I can’t remember that business owner ever complaining about us using that road for sled riding. He did keep a chain across the entrance on the weekends, but we thought it was just to keep vehicles out of the area!  We would prop the chain up with a stick and ride our sleds underneath it. One of our favorite things to do was to make a train with our sleds. This was accomplished by lying flat on your sled and hooking your feet into the front of the sled behind you. There were usually more kids sledding than we had sleds so we used to buddy up. When we would make the sled train, we would have to pile on top of each other to share a sled. Because I was small I was usually the one who road on top of somebody. One day, I was riding on the back of my one of my older playmates on the second sled. The leader of the sled train was a neighborhood kid who had the kind of personality that made him think it might be funny to yank the stick out and try to knock some of the other kids off of their sleds tailing down behind him. As soon as he pulled the stick out the chain dropped in front of me, caught me right across the mouth and knocked me completely off my friend’s back onto the road. When the others came back up the hill, they found me sitting in the snow, bleeding with a busted lip and near tears. They walked me home where my mom, who no doubt took it all in stride by this time in my childhood and also being the youngest of four kids, cleaned off the blood, examined my wound, discovered my front chipped tooth, comforted me because I was more upset about the chipped tooth than hurting from my busted lip, made sure I wasn’t seriously injured and released us to run gleefully back outside to play in the snow. We would spend the day sledding down that snow covered road and as the day wore on the road became increasingly icy, making each trip down the hill faster and faster until it seemed we were flying down that road just to skid in sideways at the bottom! Then we would walk back up, slipping, sliding and falling, laughing, having fun, just to fly back down again. All day long…nonstop, ignoring the cold…until our mothers would call for us to come in to eat. But we wouldn’t stay inside long before we were putting those damp clothes back on again and running back out into the wondrous snow…to squeeze as much fun out of it as we could before we had to go in for the night.  We didn’t want to waste a minute of enjoying it because we knew that it would be melted away the next day. I suppose enjoying the snow that much is a pleasure that most of us leave behind us as we grow older.  We have jobs and other important things that we need to do during the day that the snow and icy roads interfere with and make it more difficult.  There are more school closings now because of the weather because children are transported to their schools by a bus, from kindergarten through high school. I do admit that I still enjoy the beauty of a new fallen snow as long as I don’t have to leave my house or drive anywhere in it, just stay cuddled up in my easy chair, dressed in my comfy clothes, safe and warm, and only view it from the window. Not as much fun, I know, but at least I won’t break a hip!

Please take a minute to peruse the Central Blood Bank notice I received in the mail yesterday. Check and see if you are available to donate blood at the above blood drive located at Wheeling Hospital, 1 Medical Park, Wheeling, W.Va., in their Auditorium B (Basement Level) during the hours of 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. So many lives can be saved when you donate blood for a “life saving” transfusion.  If you have never donated blood before, see the Central Blood Bank’s donation process below.  I have donated blood in the past and it is very easy, but my hemoglobin has not been up to par the last few times I attempted to donate, so I was rejected.  You will be checked out as well to make sure everything is up to snuff before you are approved to donate blood. Step 1: Registration – In the reception area, you will be asked general information, such as name and address.  In order to maintain accurate records, all donors are asked to present proper identification (e.g. driver’s license, personalized Central Blood Bank donor ID card or military ID card, birth certificate and a picture ID with full name, etc.). Step 2: Mini Physical – During the mini-physical, your temperature, pulse and blood pressure will be checked.  Your hemoglobin will be tested as well — which involves a small drop of blood drawn and tested to ensure the donor has enough iron-carrying red blood cells to safely donate blood. Step 3: Medical Interview – Y ou will meet privately with a Central Blood Bank staff member to review your medical history.  This information is kept strictly confidential. Step 4: Pre-Donation Refreshments – Before the donation, you may be asked to drink a glass or two of decaffeinated fluids to help hydration levels. Step 5: The Donation – In the donation area, a trained phlebotomist will sterilize the area of your arm before drawing the blood.  When donating whole blood, one unit (approximately one pint) is removed. An automated or apheresis donation means you are donating the individual component(s) – everything that you are not donating is returned to you.  For example, if you donate platelets, whole blood is withdrawn and spun in a sterile, self-contained centrifuge to separate the platelets; then your red blood cells, white blood cells and plasma are all returned to you through the same needle.  Apheresis and automated processes take longer than the whole blood donation process. All materials used during each donation are pre-packaged, sterile and disposable.  These materials are used only once and then discarded. Step 6: Refreshments and Relaxation – After the donation, you will be directed to the café/canteen area, where you will rest while enjoying light refreshments.  After 15 minutes, you will be permitted to leave that area and resume your daily routine. The average platelet count is between 150,000 and 450,000 platelets per microliter of blood. The donation does not significantly decrease the number of platelets in the donor’s body, and the donated platelets are replaced in approximately two days. Platelet donors can donate every seven days and up to 24 times a year. The qualifications for platelet donors are similar to those for whole blood donations. The minimum age is 17 (16 with signed parental consent form*), and platelet donors must weigh at least 125 pounds (110 lbs. with a high-enough platelet count). The WHOLE BLOOD donation process, from registration to refreshments, takes approximately one hour. The DOUBLE RED BLOOD CELL donation process takes a little more than an hour. The PLATELET donation process takes approximately two hours. ThePLASMA donation process takes approximately 45 minutes. So, it is not hard to donate blood and only takes approximately 45 minutes to an hour.  Please consider scheduling an appointment or just walk in on Monday, February 23, 2015, between the hours of 11:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. to donate “life saving” blood. You never know when one of your loved ones may need a blood transfusion for whatever reason and they ultimately survive because of that transfusion – GO AHEAD AND MAKE THAT DECISION TO DONATE BLOOD SO YOU CAN POSSIBLY SAVE A LIFE. To schedule an appointment, you can visit www.centralbloodbank.org and click the “make an appointment” link and search with the Group Code W382.  You can also schedule an appointment by contacting Beth Zebick at 304-243-3339 or Cara Poludniak at 304-243-8309.

Did you know that several states have laws on their books that you must remove all ice and snow from your vehicle before moving it or you can be fined? It only makes sense to clear off all of your windows before driving, but I did not know that you must clean the roof and hood as well.  If ice or snow falls from your vehicle while driving and hits another vehicle causing property damage, or hits a pedestrian causing injury, you can be fined. In 2010, a West Virginia delegate from Kanawha County introduced a bill that would get tough with drivers in West Virginia who failed to clear snow and ice off their vehicles, but IT DID NOT MAKE IT INTO A LAW.  Some cities and towns have adopted their own laws requiring snow/ice removal, so check out the ordinances in your city or town to make sure you are abiding by the local laws. For example, here are some laws for the states of Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New Jersey. Pennsylvania’s Snow/Ice Removal Law, which went into effect in 2006, requires motorists to remove all snow and ice from their cars before heading out on roads, including the Pennsylvania Turnpike. If snow or ice flies from a vehicle and hits another vehicle or pedestrian, drivers face fines of $200 to $1,000. Pennsylvania law also requires drivers to turn headlights on whenever windshield wipers are in use or they could face a fine of $25. In Connecticut, they have the "Ice Missile Law" for commercial vehicles and non-commercial vehicles.  This law requires drivers to clear vehicles of snow and ice before driving, “including the hood, trunk and roof."  Violation of the law carries a fine of $75. New Jersey – Ice & Snow - Remove It Before You Go – Remember to remove all ice and snow from your vehicle before driving, especially from the hood, windows and roof. It’s the law in New Jersey! Motorists who fail to do so face fines of $25 to $75 for each offense, regardless of whether the ice and snow is dislodged from the vehicle. If flying ice or snow causes property damage or injury to others, motorists face fines of $200 to $1,000 for each offense. Check out this cite from theclda.com for all states with regard to trucking snow removal requirements: Also, most people do not realize this, but more than 50 percent of the reason you have lights on your car is not for you to see, it is so others can see you. Many states require drivers to have their headlights on whenever windshield wipers are in use or you can be fined. A handful of states, however, have more specific laws for headlight use that could catch an out-of-town driver (or a resident not up on current laws) completely off guard. The most common requirement is to use headlights when wipers are in use. More obscure requirements include Pennsylvania, which requires drivers to turn on their headlights in construction zones, while Alaska requires headlights at speeds above 45 mph on designated highways.  Because keeping track of state laws can be difficult, owning a car with automatic headlights (which turn on when it's dark) as well as daytime running lights (which use a low beam headlight during the day) can be handy. Each year, there are approximately 500 fatalities in the United States due to icy road conditions. This winter, please use common sense when driving in tough weather conditions, i.e. remove all snow and ice from your vehicle and turn your headlights on whenever your windshield wipers are in use.  Be Safe!!

All too often we tend to view e-mails and text messages as informal means of communication. We joke with our friends using our work computers and say things that we would probably never say in a written letter.  Just a word of warning about that.  The content of e-mails and text messages can often look very, very bad when examined later on. As an example, an employee of a business wrote the following about a difficult file:   “Burn the files, delete them and pretend we’ve never heard of them – I’m joking.”  When that relationship fell apart, that e-mail was uncovered.  As you can imagine, whatever the “joke” was supposed to be, it wasn’t all that funny anymore and I am sure the author of the e-mail regrets what he or she wrote. Although perhaps an extreme example (destroying important files is not a joking matter under any circumstances), we should all keep in mind that although we think our e-mails and text messages will never come back to haunt us, things that made sense or were supposed to be funny in one context can seem malicious or at least embarrassing in another context. When it comes to e-mails and texts, before hitting send, spare a brief moment to reflect on how that e-mail or text would look under other circumstances and ask yourself if you would be willing to sign your name to the same words in a formal letter.  If not, exercising some care before you hit “send” might be in order.

“If you are early, you’re on time. If you are on time, you’re late.  And, if you’re late, don’t bother coming.”  This is what my son told me that his Wheeling Central baseball coach told his team the other day about their being on time for their hitting/pitching clinics. These clinics are held about three minutes from my house and my son wanted to be there about 30 minutes early.  I, of course, had just gotten home from work and wanted to just relax for a little bit before going back out in the cold.  After he spoke those words to me, I immediately put on my coat and took him down the road. I began to think about the individual who is instructing these clinics and how he is giving up his time to help out young enthusiastic players.  It isn’t fair to him to have to wait on any one person to begin the clinic.  His time is not any less important than mine or my child’s.  We all are important with very important and unique situations in our everyday lives, but it’s an expected rule of conduct and just simply polite. Being on time is a very valuable common courtesy to instill in your child and it goes hand-in- hand with treating others respectfully.  I am extremely grateful to my son’s coach for helping me teach my son this important life lesson. EndFragment �If you are early, you�re on time. If you are on time, you�re late. And, if you�re late, don�t bother coming.� This is what my son told me that his Wheeling Central baseball coach told his team the other day about their being on time for their hitting/pitching clinics.

There is an assault upon personal responsibility and accountability occurring in our State Legislature all in the name of purportedly making West Virginia more business friendly.  I am not here to debate the merits of any particular “tort reform” proposal.  My colleagues are doing an excellent job in exposing the fallacies of the positions being espoused by the tort reformists who have declared a mandate was set forth in the past election to change the West Virginia legal system.  I am here to say to those in our State Legislature that if you believe that West Virginians have abandoned their value system in favor of the corporate welfare legislation being pushed through the halls of our State Capitol Complex, you are mistaken. I spent enough years in Charleston, including in the Capitol Complex to know that it’s all about how you frame the message. The smoke and mirrors will soon disappear and you will not be able to credibly reconcile your positions to the ordinary West Virginian who values personal responsibility and taking care of the innocent and infirm beyond all else. A few examples of the inconsistencies in tort reformers’ positions: Social Welfare – Those pushing “tort reform” such as damage caps, limitations on liability for deliberately injuring workers and “comparative fault” legislation are also advocating reduction in social benefit programs, such as food-stamps, welfare, assisted living, and Medicaid.  The question that the tort reformers need to answer is who is going to pay the bill when the sole breadwinner of a family is injured or killed by a company which puts profits over safety or an individual who drives intoxicated, but is subject to only nominal liability due to damage caps or statutory immunities created to “create jobs.”  These businesses can and do factor in the potential liability as a cost of doing business without regard for the impact their conduct has on the lives of the innocent victim and his family.   The wrong-doer will get to go on with life as if nothing happened. The innocent victim, however, is left with no recourse.  Injured and unable to work, the victim has no income to pay medical expenses necessary for treatment of the injury, no income to provide housing and food to survive and has lost the benefit of the insurance he paid for to protect himself and his family because, oh, by the way, if the “tort reformers” get their way, the wrongdoer gets a set off for anything covered by the victim’s own insurance as well.   He and his family will likely end up dependent upon social welfare programs to survive.  But wait, the tort reformers want to eliminate those as well.  Now the innocent victim and his dependents are left to depend on family, friends and charitable and religious organizations to survive while the wrong-doer goes about their business as if nothing happened. Punish the criminal – The tort reformists often present themselves as hard on crime.  The Bible says you must pay for your sins they say.  However, they are not picking and choosing who is punished for their sins and who is protected.  Crime must be deterred by increasing jail-time for individuals who commit a crime according to the tort reformists.  But when a business commits a crime or intentionally injures someone, it should be immune from punishment in the name of making our State “business friendly”.   How can those two positions be reconciled? Protect the innocent and those who cannot protect themselves.  Tort reformists also often invoke the Bible to say you must protect the innocent life and those who cannot protect themselves.  These are words to the tort reformists designed to evoke emotional responses.  I would like for these tort reformists to spend some time answering the calls we take at Bordas & Bordas from people who have lost loved ones or been injured through the negligence of others.  I want them to try to explain to someone whose own life or that of a close family member has been forever changed (or lost) due to the negligence of another that, in light of the damage caps in place, holding the wrong-doer responsible is just not economically or emotionally feasible due to the exorbitant litigation costs necessary to counter an aggressive defense. But wait, say the tort-reformers, the caps only apply to non-economic damages for things such as pain and suffering.  You can still recover for economic damages such as lost wages or medical expenses.  I would like for the tort reformers to have to explain this “reasoning” to the family of a 90-year-old nursing home resident who was given improper medication resulting in brain damage.  The nursing home resident will have relatively little economic damages.  However, when a similar medication error occurs with a 35-year-old coal-miner with a wife and three children, the economic damages are huge.  Same error.  Different result.  One victim is elderly and infirm.  The other victim is young and income generating.  The first victim’s recoverable compensation is limited.  The other victim is able to recover more than just the minimum allowed by the cap.  So, are the tort reformers really protecting the innocent and infirm as they say the Bible instructs them to do?  You decide. I was born and raised in Wheeling, West Virginia.  I went to Catholic school my entire life.  I remain a member of the Catholic Church.  The sense of personal responsibility, accepting the full extent of the consequences of my actions and choices, good or bad, and the responsibility to protect those who cannot protect themselves was instilled in me from an early age and has been reinforced again and again throughout my life.  My friends and neighbors have similar values.  I left West Virginia for several years, but I came back.  Many others I know have left and came back.  We came back because we believe in personal responsibility and caring for others.  We are the people the tort reformists say have been driven from West Virginia.  What I have to say is we have not.  We are here and the changes you are trying to make to our beloved State are not what we are about.  If you want us to listen to you, be consistent with your positions.

This past weekend my husband and I went to our place in the mountains for him to ski. We always take Barley, Guinness and our grand dog, Jackson, with us, but this weekend my youngest son didn’t have to work the whole weekend, so he kept the two younger pups. Therefore, Barley was the top dog for the weekend. Barley was so happy. We walked, went to the lodge and watched the skiers come down the mountain. He was having a good old time. By the end of the day, you could tell he was missing his brothers. Barley started to look for his canine colleagues and I felt bad for him because he just looked a little lost, but he sat with my husband and watched some TV. When it was time to go to bed, he went up and got into his doggy bed and fell fast asleep, only to be awakened by my husband telling him he would make him a special breakfast the next day and the rest is history. Barley is a very good boy. We are not sure, but we think he doesn’t know he’s a DOG. So here are just a few pictures of him waiting on my husband to cook for him.  Funny, my husband didn’t make me breakfast.  Something is up. I just know it... I love our time with our pups and it doesn’t matter if it’s one, two or all three of them. Enjoy these pictures of Barley and I hope it brightens your day, I know it did mine. Bark on, Bordas Dog Nation, bark on. Remember, adopt. Don’t shop. Please contact your local animal shelters if you have room in your heart for one more family member who needs a furever home. Also, remember to spay or neuter you pet to help control the animal population.

On Saturday, February 7 th,the varsity cheerleaders of Wheeling Park High School won 1 st place in the 5A division of the OVAC cheerleading competition. This is the 18 th win for Park in this competition.  The win was especially significant to this squad as they also won the coveted WV State Championship title in the AAA division back on December 13, 2014 for only the second time in the school’s history. As a mother of one of these girls and a former Park cheerleader myself, I can say that this team has worked immensely hard since August preparing for these competitions.  Hours of practice, hard work and extreme dedication go into this sport…..yes I consider it a sport, as these girls are competitive athletes.  For anyone who has never watched a cheering competition, these girls are incredible.   Some have been practicing gymnastics since they were able to walk and they are definitely impressive.  The strength and agility these girls possess to jump, tumble and throw each other high in the air repetitively is amazing.  However, this immense wear and tear on the body is often accompanied with injuries of every type; almost every girl has had an injured knee, ankle or wrist at one point with some of these injuries requiring surgical intervention.  But through it all these girls push on for themselves and the team.  And they are a true team – you would think that a group of teenage girls who spend so much time together would be the perfect environment for drama…..not with these girls.  They are teammates and friends. Cheerleading has perhaps the longest season of any sport, but the girls never really have an “off” season.  Summer months bring cheerleading clinics, camps and gymnastics classes.  In the spring many of the girls also participate in track to stay in good cardiovascular shape.  More importantly, however, is that these girls work just as hard in their classes in school.  Many nights I have watched my daughter come home from a long practice and put in three more hours of school work to prepare for the next day.  Her schedule is filled with honors classes and even a college class and she has managed to maintain over a 4.0 average all year.  But it doesn’t end there.  These girls are known for giving back to the community as well.  They participate in Relay for Life, read at the local elementary schools and volunteer for the Miracle League of the Ohio Valley. Needless to say these girls are amazing individuals and unstoppable as a team.  They are outstanding in uniform and in the community. I am so very proud of my daughter and every one of her teammates.

I went to the Kroger over the weekend and since there were no empty spaces close, I had to park nearly at the end of one aisle. I parked and started walking back toward the store, being careful to stay over to the side of the lane to let cars pass while simultaneously watching for cars with drivers in them backing out so I wouldn’t unintentionally be run over. Not everyone does this.  I know this from experience when I have been backing out of a parking space at a busy store.  Many times when I thought the way was clear, I have had to slam on my brakes in order to miss hitting someone who decided to walk behind my vehicle.  The irony is I usually have to suffer through angry glares and (thankfully) unheard comments from these almost-flattened pedestrians.  Most people just expect the driver to see them walking behind their car. This made me start wondering if there were any laws to govern the pedestrian and drivers of a parking lot.  So I Binged it and did a little research. It seems that the laws vary from state to state.  If there are speed limit signs and directional signs, i.e., stop or yield signs, you should be attentive to abide by them just as you do out on the open road.  However, because the store parking lot is considered “private property,” the police cannot give you a ticket and usually if there is a fender bender won’t even show up if called and merely suggest that you exchange insurance information with the other driver.  As far as I can tell, the person backing out is usually the one who is considered “at fault” because the laws say you must have your vehicle under control at all times.  So if you run over a pedestrian while backing out of a parking space you will have to prove that you were doing everything possible to avoid hitting the person.  I think there is a major flaw in this law.  Unless you are capable of literally pivoting your head completely around on your shoulders, at some point in time you are going to almost run over someone!  It’s hard enough while backing out of a tight parking space watching for oncoming vehicles that it should really be the responsibility of pedestrian to be the on the lookout for cars backing out. I suppose it boils down to a simple matter of parking lot etiquette.  But though most of us do act appropriately and do practice good driving etiquette in and out of parking lots, there are a few who drive and tromp carelessly through life expecting “the other guy” to do the watching.  So unless your car is equipped with one of those new back-up cameras, which in my opinion is one of the greatest inventions since rearview mirrors, be careful and back out slowly, watching for other vehicles and pedestrians.  Stealing a phrase from the old TV series Hill Street Blues, “Let’s be careful out there!”