JACKSON NOON OPTIMIST CLUB EXTENDS `SAFETY CITY USA' COURSE THIS SPRING

JACKSON -- The Jackson Noon Optimist Club is extending its "Safety City USA" child-safety program an additional two weeks this spring.

"We decided to extend the program two weeks because of the overwhelming response to our first Safety City USA program last year," said Beverly Nelson, a member of the Jackson Noon Optimist Club and chairman of the Safety City USA project.

"Last year we had to limit enrollment to 200 children because we only had 200 bicycle safety helmets. I had applications for at least 40 more kids that had to be turned down, so this year we decided to extend the program. This year we'll be able to enroll up to 250 students."

The program begins May 1.

Nelson said enrollment for this year's six-week-long program will be held on Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon at Jackson City Hall on South High Street.

Registration fee is $7 per child. A free bicycle helmet will be given to each child who registers. After the youngster completes the Safety City USA class, he or she may take the bike helmet home with them.

Three classes20will be held on May 1, May 8, May 15, May 22, June 5, and June 12. There will only be one class on June 5 because of "Kids Day in the Park from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Parents may register their children for any of the three sessions during the six-week period.

Nelson said Safety City USA is for children in kindergarten through fourth grade. "It is an educational program that teaches young students about traffic awareness and preventative measure that could help prevent an accident," she said.

"Nationwide, traffic-related accidents are the number-one killer of children. With so many latch-key20children in our society today, bicycles have become20a form of transportation for many children. It is important that children be taught the rules of the road and other safety measures that could save their lives."

The course focuses on traffic safety in areas of bicycle, pedestrian, school-bus, and seat-belt usage, but also20covers drug awareness, fire safety, and stranger danger.

During each two-hour class, students learn through their own involvement, using 1,300 feet of miniature concrete roadways that form a child-size town complete with buildings, traffic signs and playground equipment. Safety City USA is on the west side of the lake in the main Jackson City Park.

During each class children observe and participate in safety activities in an outdoor layout complete with crosswalks, park benches, buildings and well-marked streets where children practice and experience different traffic situations. Bicycles and little cars (Big Wheels with seat belts installed) will be furnished for use during the class.

The course is conducted by members of the Jackson Noon Optimist Club and a Jackson police officer.

Nelson said students who attended class last year are urged to participate again this year. "We find that children this age often forget a lot of what they learned last year. By coming back to Safety City USA again this year it will be a refresher course for them," Nelson explained.

Nelson said the Safety City USA was built almost entirely with donated materials,20time and money.

"It's a good example of what can be accomplished when everyone works together for a common cause," she said. "If the rain will ever stop, we have people who are ready to start building our miniature Little Red School, library, city hall, church and country store."