Well, as much as I admire Savannah for being so wonderfully enterprising at her age, I feel that I must point out something important. One of the main reasons that scooters, bicycles, skates, skateboards, and other recreational modes of "transportation" are not allowed on public sidewalks is to protect pedestrians from injury -- especially the handicapped and elderly.

In May of 1990 (I was 28 years old), I suffered a serious injury to my right leg. Not only did I break both my tibia and fibula at my ankle (Acute Bimaleolar Fracture, as your Orthopedic friend would call it, Brian), I tore most of the ligaments and tendons in my ankle and foot, including seriously tearing my Achilles tendon, and suffering life-long injuries to the tissues in my lower leg and foot. My injury was so horrible that all but one Orthopedic Surgeon suggested that the lower fourth of my right leg be amputated. Thankfully, I decided to wait one more day for one of our local surgeons to return from vacation before I made the decision for amputation. He bravely took on the years-long task of repairing my injuries and giving me the opportunity to live my life with my ankle and foot attached to my leg. After ten months of surgeries (which included implanting two plates, five screws and over a dozen pins ... yes, I do set off the metal detectors at most national and international airports, but that's another horror story for another time), and hours and hours and months and months of daily physical therapy, I was ready to learn how to walk again in a public environment ... first with the aid of crutches, then a walker, and finally a cane. Needless to say, it took a few years of painful, wobbly walking before I was able to "hold my own", and the best therapy during that time was to just get out and walk the sidewalks. At that time, there was no ban on scooters, skates, etc. -- I can't even begin to count the times that I re-strained/sprained ligaments and tendons in my ankle by dodging the thoughtless, careless persons (mostly under the age of 21), who fully expected me to get out of their way immediately. Trust me ... with an injury like mine, one can't dodge, step aside, get out of the way, etc. very fast. Even to this day sixteen years later, when, toward the end of a long week the tissues are so swollen that I can barely walk, and all that metal is making my lower leg aches, I am unable to easily get out of the way of those on wheels (I feel I should include those pushing baby carriages, who will run right over you -- without even so much as a "Pardon me, please"). Even though I walk with an obvious-when-I'm-tired (and permanent) limp, there aren't many who show mercy ... most could care less if they knock me over.

I am pleased to say that there are now local laws that ban recreational "vehicles" of all sorts on our public sidewalks so that those who have trouble getting around, but who also enjoy the luxury of walking the beautiful, brick-lined, shaded streets of Downtown Vicksburg, can do so without fear of being knocked over. A dear childhood friend, who was stricken with a rare form of arthritis while in high school and is now at a point in her disease where she can literally be knocked over by even the gentlest of nudges, especially enjoys getting out of the house and walking unafraid of those maniacs on wheels.

Those of us who have difficulty getting around truly believe that our right to avoid further injury from wheeled forms of transportation on public sidewalks fully outweighs the desires of those who would rather get around on aforementioned wheels by using the sidewalk ... that's what the streets were made for, and there are laws giving those persons the right to use the street, as long they follow those laws; i.e. going WITH the flow of traffic, not against it.

As for Savannah, I would suggest that she can do the same job while walking. Walking is a much-appreciated activity for those of us who aren't able to do it as well as much of the population. I, for one, don't have much sympathy for those who complain about how they had to "walk here from all the way over there", because I almost had that luxury taken away with the threat of amputation. I am grateful for the awesome surgical skills of one dear and incredibly talented Orthopedic Surgeon, who made it possible for me to be able to walk on the ankle and foot I was born with, even though that limp I mentioned seems to be a whole lot more inconvenient to those who are impatient than it will ever be inconvenient for myself. I am even more grateful to the local lawmakers who immediately created laws banning the recreational use of wheeled vehicles on public sidewalks with a unanimous vote once they were made aware of the hardships that wheeled recreational vehicles could cause to their handicapped and older citizens. Like one 85-year-old woman said, "Honey, how nice it is once again to be able to window-shop at Christmas without being knocked on your "hiney" (she actually used another three-letter word instead) by a skateboarder". I most humbly agreed.

Lessee, North Korea unsealed its nuclear reactors and turned off the UN cameras on same in December 2002. Now who was President of the US when that happened? Answer: It wasn't Bill Clinton! You can look it up.

And people wonder why I use the word "ignorant."

Brian,

I enjoyed the airline experience suggestion so much I re-ran it on The Way Kool Morning show at Kool 105 in Denver.

There's a reason we love NBC in my house. Nice job.

Kenny Campbell

Thanks for Martin Savidge's report about Savannah and her fight with City Hall. It's really inspiring to see such an enterprising young person, when much news lately about young people hasn't been very good--and Fayetteville's ban on scooters is a shade of the nanny state. I hope Savannah wins her fight--please keep us updated.

Yesterday's explosions in Baghdad were terrible, for more than two hours not one local television channel commented, we Iraqi's living in Baghdad were left in the Dark, nearlly every naghbourhhod in Baghdad felt like it was under attack until the Hounrable Minister of Interior declaired that "We were told that its an overheated ammunition dump near the durra are" overheated? by what?

Brian,
Thanks once again for your incrediable insight. I plan to go see "the Queen" this weekend. I have a few thoughts on "higher ups" underestimating the suffering after crisis of the ordinary folks.

I want to add I read the Bagdad blog everyday. I admire those journalist that deal with those horrors on a daily basis. I am glad to know that Richard is ok. Please keep us informed and tell Richard and Jane to stay safe.

it is not just women. men are financially strapped too. please share the resources you mentioned in your talk about how those ofus who are now in our 60's can get a little help. thank you, brian williams, nbc news.

HA, amen on that peanut joke you made at the end of tonights broadcast. Everytime I get that little package of peanuts on a flight, (which the packaging probably costs more than the peanuts, I might add) I look up to the ceiling with disgust, trying to tell my tummy not to get mad at me . . . but it growls anyway.

I think that it's important to get a chuckle in the news from time to time, even if it is after the dark stories that were reported before. Thanks, Mr. Williams. Keep up the stellar work!

The ignorant blue state masses sure don't understand that under Bill Clinton the US offered tons of money to the North Koreans in exchange for their stopping the nuclear weapons program. The north Koreans took the money and kept right on going.

NOTE:
I don't really think we should start a post here as "the ignorant masses of..." but I just did it to make a point.

The ignorant red state masses sure eat up that tough guy talk, but in the real world there are serious consequences to labeling adversaries as "evil" and refusing to talk with them.

The neocons advising Bush assumed that talking tough and then invading Iraq and overthrowing Saddam would scare other world leaders into submission, but it had the opposite effect. Such actions clearly only increased our adversaries' desire to arm themselves to the teeth for their own protection, as we see in North Korea and Iran.

Thanks to the yahoos in the White House the world today is a far more dangerous place.

About tonight's broadcast: I encourage NBC and the Nightly News to look at the current administration for blame in the North Korea case. I read somewhere that shortly after Bush took office, he let an oil exporting treaty from Clinton's administration expire. That was one of North Korea's only reasons not to contine to operate a nuclear program. Just a few months after this treaty lapsed, North Korea unsealed it's nuclear reactors. Who's to blame?

We laughed out loud at Brian's little aside tonight, about the poor people who got bumped from airlines. His tongue in cheek suggestion was to find a cramped, uncomfortable place in your house to sit for three hours, eating a dozen peanuts. Same sensation as actually flying. Nice job, Brian.

“We have to do better, and I deeply want a championship. It’s about time" has got to be the funniest line in all of baseball, as quoted from Steinbrenner today. You don't say, Mr. Owner? I imagine that's what every team owner says every October! This is my laugh for the day....

"We sill either live together as brothers or die together as fools"

- Dr. Martin Luther King -

For what it's worth, I started a blog thread out on the MSNBC message boards "Will Lasting PEACE ever be possible"

http://boards.msn.com/MSNBCboards/thread.aspx?ThreadID=104763