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Skate park enthusiasts might need to suit up Talent council weighs safety gear requirement By WENDY SIPOREN TALENT -- Helmets and other protective gear would be the dress code at the downtown skate park under an ordinance suggested by the City Council Wednesday. Currently such gear is strongly recommended but not required for use of the park. Parks Commission chair Cheryl Nadler-Voss came to the council to suggest the city provide free helmets to encourage their use. But discussion turned to whether they should be required for safety and liability reasons. Adding fuel to the idea was the report that less than an hour before the meeting began, a 15-year-old boy fell off his BMX bike at the park and lost several teeth. He owned a helmet but wasn't wearing it at the time of the accident. "Of course it's a lot cooler not to wear a helmet, but ... if there's a chance we can prevent (an accident) ... I think it's critical that it be mandatory," said council member Lisa Shapiro. Council member Vince Mazzi was the sole voice for personal choice, saying that education was preferable to more rules. Mazzi, a motorcycle rider, said he wasn't sure a $20 fine would get kids to wear a helmet if the threat of injury isn't enough. Helmets are required at the Ashland skate park, and almost all skaters comply, said City Planner Nancy Kincaid. "Our facility is more extreme than Ashland," she said. "We're attracting the outlaw riders" who want a more challenging ride and who resent wearing a helmet. Council members directed staff to draft an ordinance, and a public hearing will be held on the matter July 7. The council also acted to crack down on skateboarders jumping over a short fence between the back of the park and the post office parking lot. One third of the vinyl-coated chain-link fence will be raised to six feet, and the remainder will be 10 feet. The city also plans to build a four- to six-foot fence between the park and railroad tracks. Talent postmaster Jeannine Foucault requested the fence because skateboarders use the post office parking lot to get to the park and because of the possibility of skateboards being launched onto an adjacent parked car. The Parks Commission opposed the fence, saying a six-foot fence should be adequate and anything higher would send a wrong message to kids, reported Kincaid. "Possibly the problem is we aren't sending any message to the kids," responded council member Don Steyskal. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA