City in Wisconsin Seeks to Outlaw Bicyclists & Pedestrians 
Photo: psd via Flickr/CC BY In what is not an alternative draft of the screenplay for Footloose but an actual news item, a town in Wisconsin has moved to solve its bicycle and pedestrian safety issues by making a simple law: No more walking and biking. It looks like the city of Hull may just become the least green city in the entire world. From the Stevens Point Journal (via Grist): A town public safety committee, which examined general safety on town roads this summer, came up with a draft ordinance in September that requires biking, running or walking groups to register their travel plans with the town or bans them from using roads outright. The ordinance is in response to what town officials say is a growing problem with road safety, but local groups are concerned about the impact on biking and running in the town. Well, desperate times call for desperate measures, right? But, um: “According to data from Portage County’s Planning, Zoning and Land Conservation Department, in the past 10 years, the almost 32-square-mile town has had five pedestrian-car crashes, and one bike-car crash. The town hasn’t had a crash involving a bike or pedestrian since 2008,” the Journal reports. So why would a town that hasn’t had an accident with bikes or pedestrians in three years suddenly seek to eliminate them? One can only assume the town is being run by the modern-day equivalent of the witch from Hansel and Gretel, who is secretly orchestrating a plot to fatten up, and then eat, all of the city’s residents. It’s quite simply the only explanation.
Tag Archives: Safety
Five severed heads left outside Mexican school
BBC News – Five severed heads left outside Mexican school.
Mexican police have found five decomposing heads left in a sack outside a primary school in Acapulco.
Handwritten messages were also found, reportedly threatening the state governor as well as local drug lords.
It was not clear if the discovery of the heads and five decapitated bodies elsewhere in the city was linked to extortion threats against teachers.
Dozens of schools have been closed since last month after teachers went on strike over security concerns.
Police were called to a street in the Garita neighbourhood of Acapulco on Tuesday morning.
There they found a sack inside a wooden crate placed near the school, officers said.
Inside were the heads of five men, as well as the threatening messages.
Threats
Police had earlier discovered five headless bodies in another part of the city, left either inside or near a burned-out vehicle.
Acapulco, on Mexico’s Pacific coast, has seen several episodes of gruesome violence as drug gangs fight for control of the resort city.
But as the government crackdown on cartels continues, criminal organisations here and in other parts of Mexico are fracturing and increasingly turning to extortion.
Last month, as the new school year began, dozens of teachers in Acapulco said criminal gangs had threatened them with violence if they did not hand over half their salaries from 1 October.
They and colleagues have since been on strike, leading to the closure of more than 100 schools.
Guerrero State Governor Angel Aguirre has promised a series of measures, including increased police patrols and the installation of security cameras and panic buttons in schools.
But teachers say they still fear for their own and pupils’ safety.
One striking teacher told the BBC that although they welcomed the governor’s proposals, they could not expect the situation to improve overnight.
