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February 2014
Children’s Classes at the Arlington
Library Focus on Being Creative
By Alda Booster, Librarian
Photo by Linda Ollio
Jerry Borwick explains how to take an interesting photo to participants in
“Let’s Be Creative: Photography”
Saturdays at the Sam
T. Wilson Public Library
are full of fun and
learning. Twenty children
ages 7 to 13 years
participated in one hour
long sessions facilitated
by Jerry Borwick of Jerry
Borwick Photography.
The first session
introduced children to
their cameras and the
second session reviewed
how to place a subject
into the picture. The
second session of the
Let’s Be Creative:
Photography series was
just as fun as the first!
The next Let’s Be
Creative session will
involve music and art. If
your child is interested
please contact the library
for more information.
The library is also
looking for volunteers to
help teach children how
to be more creative.
Contact Linda Ollio at
901-867-1954.
The library still offers
Story Time every
Wednesday at 10:30 am.
Arlington HS Student Injured in Wreck
Recovering at Home
By Terry Louderback
On January 9, AHS Junior Rachel
Hensley was on her way to work at
Brad’s BBQ in Oakland when her
vehicle left the roadway and wrapped
around a tree. After being airlifted to
The Med and emergency surgery, Rachel
is now at home and hopes to return to
school after Spring Break.
Brandie Walls, Rachel’s mother, is
touched by the outpouring of support and
love for the family shown by the
Arlington community. “People I didn’t
even know were messaging me on
Facebook and telling me that they were
praying for us,” Walls commented.
A fund has been set up at Triumph
Bank, 5810 Airline Rd in Arlington.
Please make all donations in the name of
“Rachel Hensley”.
Understanding Car Test Safety Ratings
By David Peel, Peel Law Firm
Cars
are
getting smaller,
and as an injury
attorney,
this
worries me. While
safety systems are
much improved,
you just cannot
beat basic physics.
Small cars are cheaper to
own and operate, as they
get better mileage, and
they are quite easy to get
around parking lots.
The
Insurance
Institute for Highway
Safety crashes millions of
dollars of perfectly good
new cars to gauge how
well they might protect
their occupants. They
once simply crashed head
on into barriers like most
government tests still do.
This spread the forces
over a maximal area.
However, to thei r
credit, they have recently
made some frontal impact
crash tests slightly off
center. These focus force
on one front corner, at 40
m.p.h. I think this better
indicates the real world
case of a drunk
crossing
the
centerline slightly.
It has also revealed
what
I
had
predicted: small
cars are generally
more dangerous.
The front end of a
car usually has a “crush
zone.” Often, small
notches are cut into the
frame that allow it to
crumple. This dissipates
the force more slowly,
which is better for the
occupants. However, the
newer corner impact tests
seem to mostly bypass
this crumple zone, and
this puts the passenger
compartment at risk.
I am not even
familiar with many of the
newest smaller models,
all under 2,500 lbs. I still
lope around in my
immense, gas-guzzling
5,000 lb.+ Suburban. But
out of almost a dozen
cars, only one known as
the “Chevy Spark” was
even acceptable. None
were ranked “good.” The
subcompacts that did not
even
make
the
“acceptable” cut included
subcompact cars from
Toyota, Kia, Hyundai,
Nissan, Mitsubishi,
Mazda, Fiat and Honda.
Safety ratings can be
deceptive. A large SUV
and a small sedan might
share identical safety
ratings, but they are rating
cars within the same size
class.
In general, occupants
of heavy cars and trucks
come out better in a crash.
Large, heavy vehicles,
like my behemoth SUV,
long, wide crumple zones,
and often shove the
lighter car backward at
impact. Thus, the rates of
driver deaths are higher
for the lighter vehicles.
Midsize and large SUVs
are safest, as SUVs are
also not prone to underride another vehicle in a
crash, while risk of roll
over is still significant.
And above all, drive
safely.