The lessons I have learned over the past seventeen months are many. I’m not sure however if any of them are useful. I know now that it takes two hours to paint a bedroom and that the detailed work makes a wonderful distraction from life’s torments. I know that it takes a week to read a book and you can momentarily loose yourself in another world that’s thankfully not your own. I know that it takes a matter of hours to fly to anywhere you want to be but you always carry the pain with you weather you intentionally pack it or not. I have discovered it takes about three weeks to recover from a lost love and about the same amount of time to believe you might have found another spark…but I still don’t know how to fill this empty space left behind by the loss of my Son. It is a hollow, dark, raw open hole that stitches wont adequately mend, possessions don’t make a dent in its depths and as the minutes turn to hours then days and the days become months then seasons pass it is still within me. My heart peeks out waiting for me to figure it out and I don’t have the answer. The weather changes from warm to cool and the butterflies are replaced by falling leaves and I watch and wait for the answer to the one question that perplexes me time and time again. One thing I know for sure; most of our dilemmas can be figured out, overcome or dealt with but the scars of some of life’s battles will just remain in wait for us, maybe not to figure out, but perhaps to accept.

I was realizing yesterday just how many of life’s little celebrations have become obstacles. J.T died on Friday . Friday, once a day of relief for the end of the week, is now an obstacle that I must pack up my trunk of existence and overcome. His Birthday, September 19th, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas…All days that once held the excitement of tradition and are now days that must all be merely survived. The more I speak to parents who have suffered the same loss the more I grasp that this feeling is universal. Lives that were once celebrated are now survived. Just one of life’s many gifts, taken with the loss of a child. Yes we find new ways to extract the joys out of life but its no longer as simple as just existing it now takes a great effort, focused intent, daily prayer for peace, and a stubborn will to make life worth living.

“This week a story about the Rhino ran front page in the Wall Street Journal . There have been several Spin-offs of that story running in papers today. I am pleased that it is bringing awareness to the accidents and deaths caused by the Rhino. Hopefully this awareness will help save other families from the painful path mine and that of other victims are on. -Heidi”



Here is one of those stories:
Date Published: Tuesday, November 4th, 2008

Federal safety officials are investigating the Yamaha Rhino, a popular off-road-vehicle that has been linked to 30 deaths. Unfortunately, the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) has not set safety standards for vehicles like the Rhino, which it classifies as a utility terrain vehicle, or UTV. Another class of off-roaders, all terrain vehicles (ATVs), are subject to safety standards.

While off-road vehicles are involved in hundreds of accidents every year, critics say the Yamaha Rhino ATV is even more likely to be involved in one particular type of mishap - rollover accidents. They charge that the Yamaha Rhino is top heavy, and it has tires that are extremely narrow. These design defects make it far more likely that the Yamaha Rhino will tip and rollover while going through a turn, even when the vehicle is traveling at a slow speed and is on a flat surface. Furthermore, the Yamaha Rhino is designed in such a way that passengers’ legs are unprotected in the event of a rollover accident.

Victims of Yamaha Rhino rollover accidents usually experience broken or crushed legs, ankles or feet. In some cases, victims have been permanently disabled, and have had limbs amputated following a Yamaha Rhino rollover accident. When Yamaha Rhino rollover accidents involve children, the results are often fatal. Just last month, two little girls were killed in such a Yamaha Rhino accident.

Critics of Yamaha has say the company has been slow to acknowledge the Rhino ATVs rollover problems since the vehicles were first introduced in 2003. In September 2006, Yamaha Motor Corp. sent a letter to the owners of Rhino ATVs warning that the Rhino was prone to tip while going through sharp turns. However, the wording of the Yamaha letter seemed to place much of the blame for Rhino rollover accident injuries on the victims themselves. Yamaha warned passengers of the Rhino ATVs to use seatbelts, and to keep their hands, arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times. The letter also included information on handling the Rhino if it should start to tip over. But since Yamaha sent the 2006 letter, it has become increasingly apparent that the actions recommended by Yamaha do little to protect passengers involved in Rhino rollover accidents.

It wasn’t until 2007 that Yamaha appeared to finally take the Rhino’s safety issues seriously. At that time, the company offered free modifications to the owners of new and used Rhinos. These modifications included the addition of doors to the ATV, as well as additional handholds.

The CPSC decision to investigate the Yamaha Rhino was based on reports of accidents and deaths involving the vehicle, as wells as the high number of product liability suits - 200 - filed by people who claim they were injured by the Rhino. Vehicles like the Rhino aren’t classified as ATV because of design differences such as having a steering wheel, in contrast to the ATVs’ handlebars. But neither are off-road vehicles subject to the much-tougher standards for cars.

Yamaha continues to stand-by the Rhino, and says it voluntarily complies with some federal standards for vehicle parts, such as seat belts. It also appears that Yamaha and other makers of UTVs are trying to head-off mandatory safety standards by proposing their own voluntary rules. Last year, Yamaha and other makers of the vehicles formed the Recreational Off Highway Vehicle Association, which will set those standards.

But critics of the Yamaha Rhino are still pushing for mandatory standards. Earlier this year, Congress passed such safety rules for ATVs, and they go into effect in April. Proponents of mandatory standards for UTVs say such similar rules would allow the CPSC to act quickly if it spots an apparent safety problem, because a failure to meet the standard can lead to a recall or civil penalty.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 at 7:16 am and is filed under Legal News, Accident.

Victorville man dies in ATV accident


October 27, 2008 - 12:22PM
FROM STAFF REPORTS
ADELANTO • A 56-year-old man died when his all-terrain vehicle rolled and dragged him through the open desert north of Adelanto, officials said.

Mikhail Ayrapetyan of Victorville went off-road riding in his 2008 Yamaha Rhino allterrain vehicle about 10 miles north of Adelanto at about 4 p.m. on Saturday, according to Officer Jeff Perez, spokesman for the California Highway Patrol.

When Ayrapetyan did not return to his friends' and family's base camp, they became concerned and began searching the area, officials said.

After about 45 minutes of searching, the friends located Ayrapetyan's dead body in an unincorporated area of Adelanto about 2.5 miles west of Highway 395 and just north of Buckhorne Canyon Road, officials said.

Ayrapetyan was riding at an unknown speed over a rough section of trail when he was ejected from the Rhino and became entangled within the left front side of the vehicle and dragged, officials said.

Paramedics pronounced Ayrapetyan dead at the scene at 7:43 p.m., officials said. The CHP is investigating the incident.

Ayrapetyan was not wearing a helmet or seatbelt, according to the San Bernardino County Coroner's Office.

At this time, alcohol or drugs are not suspected as a contributing factor to the fatal incident, officials said.

Memphis Commercial Appeal
Families, schools mourn girls killed in ATV crash

By Yolanda Jones (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal
Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The families, friends and schools of two 11-year-old girls killed over the weekend
in an ATV accident struggled to deal with their deaths Monday.
Emily Bates and Lauren Dilworth were killed shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday when the
four-wheeler they were riding in flipped as it went off the pavement in the Southern
Trails subdivision off Miss. 305 in the Lewisburg community near Olive Branch.

Neighbors reported hearing a loud noise and seeing the overturned 2005 Yamaha Rhino
and calling for help, police said.
Lauren, a sixth-grade student at Lewisburg Middle School, was pronounced dead on the
scene. Emily, a sixth-grader at Southaven Middle, was taken to Baptist Memorial
Hospital-DeSoto, where she died in the emergency room.
At both girls' schools Monday, counselors met with students and moments of silence
were held.
"She was very well-liked by her peers and loved by her teachers," said Lauren's
principal, James Brady, at Lewisburg Middle/High School. "She was a strong
student."
Levi Williams, Emily's principal at Southaven Middle, said, "She was an exceptional
soccer player, playing on two Southaven recreational leagues, and a member of the
Southaven Middle School band, where she played the trumpet."
He said her favorite subject was math.
Susanne Koenig, a friend of Emily Bates' family, said Emily, one of six children,
was "tough as nails" and "crazy about soccer."
"She had been playing since she was 5, and we just knew that she was going to go to
college on a soccer scholarship because that's how good she was," Koenig said.
She said Emily and Lauren recently became friends after the two families, both from
Alabama, were introduced.
The Dilworth family had moved to the area from the Tuscaloosa area four months ago.
The day of the accident, the girls were preparing to go to a Halloween corn maze. As
they waited at the Dilworth home, they decided to go around the block in the ATV.
DeSoto County Coroner Jeff Pounders said the Yamaha Rhino four-wheeler was not like
basic ATVs.
"This one had a top, room for two passengers, a steering wheel and was much heavier
than the basic ATV," he said. "There were seatbelts in it, but apparently the girls
did not have them on."
DeSoto County Sheriff Bill Rasco said no other vehicles were involved in the
accident, and the girls were the only ones on the ATV.
He said there were no witnesses, but authorities believe the vehicle flipped as it
hit the curb. There's no law requiring ATV riders to be a certain age, but Rasco
said the girls weren't supposed to be on the roadway.
Data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, a safety agency that monitors
ATV safety, reported there were 80 ATV-related deaths in Mississippi for children
under 16 from 1982-2002.
A total of 237 ATV deaths were reported from 1982-2006 in the state. This is the
first ATV-related death in DeSoto County this year.
"This has been really hard for the families," Koenig said. "Emily's classmates at
Southaven signed yards and yards of red paper and sent it to her family to let them
know how much Emily meant to all of them. She will be truly missed."
A memorial service for Emily Bates will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Trinity Baptist
Church, 7200 Swinnea Road in Southaven.
Services for Lauren Dilworth will be at 1 p.m. today at Corinthian Funeral Home
Chapel, 506 Kilpatrick St. in Corinth.
In lieu of flowers, the families requested all memorials be sent to St. Jude
Children's Research Hospital in Memphis.