Playground Potpourri
by Stephen Kelly, regional editor
Students and Game Time to Build Playground for Gulf Coast Kids
Waveland, Miss., condos near the shore after Katrina.
New Orleans is intimately connected in people?EUR??,,????'?????<
Honegger and other volunteers worked with playground manufacturer Game Time to secure a grant to help pay for new playground equipment.
Nat?EUR??,,????'?????<
An example of the header for Colorado?EUR??,,????'?????<
The National Program for Playground Safety (www.playgroundsafety.org) was established by the University of Northern Iowa in 1995. Each April NPPS promotes Playground Safety Week. NPPS’s goal for 2005 was to get the governors of all 50 states to officially proclaim the week?EUR??,,????'?????<
The 10 states that did not are: The NPPS contacts all the state governors but may need your help because many states require a resident to initiate such a proclamation. You can view the proclamations and other information on Playground Safety Week by visiting www.playgroundsafety.org. Playground Safety Week 2006 is April 24-28.
Friend to Playgrounds
Queens Borough President Helen Marshall.
On Jan. 10, Helen Marshall took the oath of office for her second 4-year term as Queens Borough president. During her last term, she directed $50 million to improve parks and playgrounds in Queens, population 1.9 million. There are more than 400 parks, playgrounds in the borough.
?EUR??,,????'?????<
Hats are required for outdoor play in most Australian schools and many hats are of the broad-brimmed type with dangling cords.
Australian newspapers are reporting near deaths of ?EUR??,,????'?????<
Hats are compulsory in most Australia schools as part of the ?EUR??,,????'?????<
One mother is campaigning in Western Australia to have cords banned on school hats or made safer. If you wonder if these people have heard of caps or baseball hats, they don?EUR??,,????'?????< A new Scottish law goes into effect March 2006 to ban smoking in pubs (in those where food is served), restaurants and other indoor public places, but Scotland?EUR??,,????'?????< Childersburg, Ala., a rural area in the middle of the state between Birmingham and Montgomery, is touted as ?EUR??,,????'?????<
In its first six months of existence, the priority of the American Veterans Post 77 in Childersburg, Ala., has been helping the city renovate the city?EUR??,,????'?????<
The first renovation is for the Robert S. Limbaugh Recreation Center, built in 1976. The city is purchasing a slide and some climbing equipment with about a $6,000 price tag. Keeping playgrounds safe requires continual vigilance. Every playground in the 67 district of Penticton, British Columbia, Canada, receives a daily peripheral review to ensure there are no immediate problems and an annual review. Still, the creation of a new set of regulations from the Canadian Standards Association between 1998 and 2003 classifies most of the school district?EUR??,,????'?????<
In Canada more than 28,000 children are treated at emergency departments and hospitals for playground related injuries, according to the Canadian Paediatric Society and Safe Kids Canada. The majority of the accidents are a caused by falls from equipment. The Western New York Sustainable Energy Association plans to build a $3 million Solar Playground and Learning Park on the Buffalo waterfront centered around a 1904 carousel donated by the Herschell Carrousel Museum in North Tonawanda. The idea is to power the carrousel via solar panels. According to the museum, there are 148 antique, hand-carved wooden carousels in the U.S. and Canada today and 71 were manufactured by Herschell companies. Playground injuries usually result from falls, but it?EUR??,,????'?????<
On the weekends when two of the new books were released (mid-summer with good weather), emergency-room attendance rates for the study?EUR??,,????'?????<
In a light-hearted vein, the study concluded: ?EUR??,,????'?????< Fire investigators in Austin, Texas report arsonists set fire to the toddlers' play equipment at Dick Nichols Park on Sunday night Jan. 1. The city plans to rebuild the playground.
NO SMOKING
Vets Help Buy New Playground Equipment
What passed for a playground in Childersburg, Ala., in May 1942. Photo by John Collier.
New Standards Challenge Older Playgrounds
Sun-Powered Park Proposed
Reading in the Playground?
There?EUR??,,????'?????<
Not So Friendly
