Before I begin with an update about FORS, I wanted to give you an update about Deputy Tim Johnson. You might remember from last month’s update that this Milwaukee County, WI deputy was in a coma after being struck by a car. From the last update that I was able to receive, Tim is now home and on his way to recovery. Although he is in recovery, Tim has a great deal of therapy he must go through. If you want to read more about Deputy Tim Johnson, a website was designed by his friends and family… http://www.deputytim.com/

Now on to a few FORS and Move Over updates. We have a lot of wonderful news this month, so I have to pick one place to begin. Let’s start with an 18 million dollar drug bust…

On April 2, in Iredell County, NC, Iredell County Sheriff’s Deputies along with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement were working I-77 when a van failed to MOVE OVER. When officers went to write the driver a ticket, what they found was something they had never seen before…A table packed with 165 pounds of cocaine!!!! The seizure, valued at around $18 million, was one of the largest in state’s history! To read an article about the incident, go to… WCNC.com.

FUNDRAISERS!!!!!!
FORS is doing our FIRST OFFICIAL FUNDRAISER! On MAY 10th, FAT BUDDIES (Waynesville, NC location ONLY) will donate a percentage of that day’s proceeds to FORS. This will include lunch, dinner and take out!! Each paying check will receive a ticket for one of our drawings. Additional tickets can be purchased as well. The grand prize will be an outdoor table and chair set from INGLES of Waynesville, NC. We will be e-mailing reminders about this event! If you live in the Haywood County, NC area, we hope to see you that day!!! PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!

EBAY…If you are an EBAY seller, you can select Families for Roadside Safety to receive proceeds from your sale! We will eventually have a link on our new website where you can click and get up to sell on Ebay! For now, when you enter your listing, on the page where you set your price there is a section that says “Donate Percentage of Sale.” Select Families for Roadside Safety and the percentage amount you want to donate. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!

PAYPAL DONATIONS…On our new website, there will be a homepage link to make online donations to FORS. For now, if you would like to make a donation online, you can go to… http://www.f-o-r-s.com/donate.php. Otherwise, you can still send in your donations. Our mailing address is: 141 Spirea Drive, Waynesville, NC 28785.

SHIRTS & BUMPER STICKERS… Don’t forget that we still have MOVE OVER T-Shirts and Bumper Stickers available. Please let me know if you need an order form!

The next bit of good news… Effective July 1, 2007, there will be FORTY-THREE STATES WITH A MOVE OVER LAW!!!!!! That is an 80% increase since 2001. Mississippi is the latest state to pass a Move Over Law! The law was inspired by the request of Mississippi Trooper Calvin Magnum to the Mississippi Troopers Association. NICE WORK MTA!!!!!

The remaining states WITHOUT a Move Over Law include: Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland (proposed law has died three times in committee), Massachusetts, Nebraska (died in committee twice, but their highway patrol still does public awareness), New Jersey and Rhode Island. From what we understand, the states where the law is getting killed in committee, the common concerns are: (1) Too much traffic and (2) Why pass a law that is common sense. RIDICULOUS! If states like Florida, Georgia, Texas, California and New York can pass a Move Over Law AND be able to enforce it with their traffic, then these states can, too. Also, isn’t not drinking and driving common sense? These laws are designed to bring our loved ones home. That is common sense.

If anyone is interested in a state by state analysis of Move Over Laws from statutes and if tow truck operators are covered to which states are doing ANY public awareness, please let me know. I have spent the past few weeks trying to get the information as up to date as I can. As our new website reaches completion, we hope to have the information available there. For now, I can fax it to those who are interested.

Speaking of our website… WE ARE REALLY CLOSE!!! I have spent some time editing the pages and we have a few tweaks to go, but we are hoping to release soon!

On a personal note, I had the privilege of attending a wonderful event a couple of weeks ago in High Point, NC. As many of you know, I have a five-year-old son with autism. My best friend and I (who also has a son with autism) attended the Autism Society of NC’s Annual Conference. What I learned that weekend amazed me. There is a crossover between roadside safety and people with autism (or any special need). If you are not familiar with autism, please feel free to visit http://www.autismsociety-nc.org/html/what_is_autism_.html for more information. In a nutshell, autism effects social, behavioral and communication skills. The hardest part for many people with autism and for parents of children with autism, is that people with autism usually look like anyone else. They might seem odd, or do “strange things” like jumping clapping, or maybe not looking at you when you are speaking to them. They might seem to be undisciplined.

Have you ever been to a restaurant or grocery store and a child is jumping around, crying, screaming and the like? Your first thought, and please don’t deny it because I do it, too…”Why can’t that parent control that child?” The next time you come across that situation, please take a moment and know that we are trying, but it just doesn’t work. Maybe offer a helping hand? Does it mean that child has autism? You just don’t know. However, 1 in 150 kids are now being diagnosed with autism. So, before you shoot a nasty look at the out of control child and their parents, take pause and think that there might be more going on than what you are seeing.

SO… What does autism have to do with roadside safety and the Move Over Law? Imagine a child or person with autism is involved in a serious car accident. People with autism can have serious sensory issues to light, sound, touch, etc. What happens at this accident scene when there is the trauma of being in an accident, loud sirens, bright lights, strange people around you, talking to you or even touching you? A person with autism could be SO EASILY impacted by all of this, that if they are able to, they may try and run away from the situation. What happens when you are flying past that accident scene? You can come to your own conclusions. All of this time I have been worried about your moving over for my husband, but now I ask that you move over for my son as well.

The Autism Society of NC ( www.autismsociety-nc.org ) is doing an amazing job in trying to keep people with autism safe in our communities. They have done many things including the creation of window clings for your home or vehicle that state “BE ADVISED, PERSON WITH AUTISM MAY NOT RESPOND TO VERBAL COMMANDS.” The ASNC is working hard to raise awareness in law enforcement and emergency agencies. For more information on how to receive educational information for your agency, please contact Betsy Thompson at mailto: bthompson@autismsociety-nc.org.

Additionally, if you have a child or person in your home with special needs, please contact your local emergency services agency in order to have that person registered in the 911 system. If there were a fire at my home, I am not entirely sure that my son would respond to someone just calling out his name. Someone might actually have to say, “Jared, I am a firefighter and I need you to walk to me or yell out to me.” This knowledge that 911 would share could save someone’s life.

Once again, I thank you for all of your support. Please stay tuned for further updates on our website, our Fat Buddies fundraiser and… a possible Move Over story with ABC’s Primetime or 20/20! We’ll keep you posted…

Be safe, move over, slow down and save a life. The life you save might be your own.