handrail skatingKinilau and Wes have been submitting photos to ASN and I’ve finally gotten around to posting them in the gallery. Kinilau’s camera has dust on the CCD, so please be patient with some of the ‘dirty’ images. Wes is rocking the point-and-shoot camera to great effect.

According to a story in a suburban version of the Houston Chronicle, a couple of kids got hurt at two of the Woodlands public prefab skateparks and now some of the residents are resisting the additional construction of neighborhood skateparks. They’ve already got about 11 of these metal-ramps-on-slabs facilities and are planning more. One of the kids has a broken neck from jumping a quarter pipe with his bike, while the other kid’s injury is described as having his scalp removed. Whoah! How does that happen? Sadly, details are thin. Very little discussion is given in the article about how more kids (and adults) are killed while riding bikes in public streets by hit-and-run drivers. Sadly, in early June, another skater was critically injured by a hit-and-run driver in San Antonio. That makes three for the year to date in SA.

Tom smith grindContinuing the knee-jerk-reactionism, the ex-mayor of Austin, Bruce Todd, is pushing for Austin to re-enact a bicycle helmet law. He had gotten a similar law passed several years ago when he was mayor, but four months after he left office, the new city council dumped it from the books. Recently, he suffered a bicycling accident where he smashed his face during a group bike ride and is now campaigning for a mandatory helmet law affecting all adult bicyclists. The Austin City Council will host a public input meeting after July 27th regarding this issue.

backside tailslideLil’ Moot has been dispatched on a deep cover mission to Central America. He mentioned something about scuba diving and surfing, and I noticed that he did not bring his skateboard when I dropped him off at the airport. The only pair of shoes he brought were the Geoff Rowleys on his feet.

Rumor has it that the Lakeway public skatepark will open July 4th.

While in high school on the other side of the globe, I came across an issue of a DIY skate zine from the east coast called ‘Lapper’. It was inspired by lapped grinds, but it featured photos of all manner of skate stunts. More importantly, it documented the scene surrounding one of the most amazing halfpipes ever built– the Cedar Crest Country Club Ramp. A guy has just now posted a website memorial to the long-gone ramp that’s worth a visit.

Wes’ photo album.
Kinilau’s photo album.