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 Members of the Wapakoneta Middle School Student Council pose for photo outside the classroom earlier this year. To date, the group has raised nearly $2,300 in which they have donated to various local and area organizations throughout the 2009-2010 school year. Photo provided By KRISTA HAYES
Staff Writer
With the end of the school year nearing, Wapakoneta Middle School Student Council members are hoping to end their term on a positive note.
During the school year, the school government raised nearly $2,300 for various local and area organizations.
“Each year, we try and raise as much money as we can for various clubs and organizations that we vote on and decide to help support at the beginning of the school year,” Wapakoneta Middle School Student Council President Neal Maxson said.
Elected a Student Council representative of his homeroom, Maxson, a seventh-grade student, said this is his second year serving on the council. This year as president, his main responsibility is to set forth an agenda and preside over the group’s monthly meetings which are held the first and third Thursday of each month.
“I joined the Student Council because I was looking for a new activity to do and thought it’d be challenging experience,” Maxson said. “Politics have always been one of the things to stick out in my head and when I grow up, I want to be a lawyer.
“Overall, as president I think I have done a pretty good job,” he said. “Being president is a lot harder than what I thought it would be since I have to make the agendas, run the meetings, and keep the advisers in the loop. I have the whole weight of the council on my shoulders, and at times it can get frustrating, but I would recommend it to all the kids coming to the middle school next year because it’s a fun activity to be involved in.”
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Friday, 06 February 2009 |
By KAREN CAMPBELL
Assistant Managing Editor
High gasoline prices and a struggling economy may be reasons more people are driving less often and fewer miles and thus reducing the number of lives lost on highways, according to a national traffic study released this week.
Automobile fatalities declined in 40 states during 2008, according to a survey of state highway safety agencies. This could be a sign traffic deaths could dip to their lowest levels in four decades.
According to the survey released by the Governors Highway Safety Association, vehicle deaths dropped by an average of 10.7 percent among most of the 44 states and the District of Columbia, which were surveyed. In Ohio, fatalities decreased 4 percent.
“It’s been six months since we’ve had a fatal here,” Sgt. Tom Brookhart of the Wapakoneta Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol said of the decrease in fatalities locally.
“I don’t know that we’ve ever gone that long without one,” he said. “That’s been through bad weather and the holidays and the fall. Usually, with an average of six to 10 a year we’re having one or so a month.”
Auglaize County has not had a fatal traffic crash since July 25 when Arthur Schaub rode his scooter off Cemetery Road.
Mercer County, which troopers from the Wapakoneta Post also cover, has not had one since Sept. 5 when two people were killed on Ohio 219.
“I don’t know that we’re doing anything different,” Brookhart said. “Cars aren’t getting any safer. I don’t have any traffic counts, but when the price of gas went up, people started driving less. It still seems like there are fewer vehicles on the road even now that the price is back down.
“I think we’ve hit a lucky streak and combined with less people driving, I’m going to keep my fingers crossed that it continues,” he said.
Besides luck, Brookhart thought a steady increase in people wearing seatbelts also may be helping keep people alive during crashes.
He said typically the number of crashes increases during winter months. Troopers were busy in December, handling 120 case — more than he remembers in similar time periods — but most of them were minor.
“A lot of little things add up to whether a crash is fatal of not, how hard the impact is, where it was, and the age and physical condition of the driver,” Brookhart said.
Throughout 2008, Auglaize County had four fatalities. Six people were killed on Auglaize County roads in 2007 and eight were killed in 2006.
Throughout Ohio, the state reported 1,074 fatalities in 2008, 89 less than in 2007, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
While high gasoline prices in the beginning of 2008 and difficult economic conditions in the later half of the year are being cited as big factors in the decline of traffic fatalities, other factors add up to fewer deaths, Governors Highway Safety Association Executive Director Barbara Harsha said.
She said declines also could be attributed to seat belt use reaching a record high of 83 percent in 2008 and increased enforcement of traffic laws. Many states also reported that drivers were reducing speeds to boost fuel efficiency.
Alaska, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Virginia, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia all saw fatality declines of 20 percent or more during 2008.
Among large states, Florida saw a drop of 6.8 percent in highway fatalities, Illinois’ rate fell by 16 percent and Michigan’s declined by 7.7 percent.
Fatalities increased in Vermont, Wyoming, Delaware and New Hampshire. Several states, including California, Texas, New York and Pennsylvania did not participate in the survey.
Results were consistent with a report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in December that reported with 31,110 auto fatalities, rates dropped 10 percent in 2008 from the months of January through October.
If the trend continued during the last two months of 2008, highway deaths could reach their lowest level in the 42 years the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been keeping record
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 07 February 2009 )
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