Off The Cuff

— I saw a picture the other day which brought back a tragic memory. It also is my reason for relating an event that occurred on a cold, snowy night more than 60 years ago.

The picture I refer to showed a pickup truck with a cable behind it. Attached to the cable was a sled on which children were riding. It was a good picture. But the result of another sled behind a vehicle was bad. Very bad.

That sled in my memory was one being pulled behind a vehicle on then Highway 71 (now 59) between Gravette and Sulphur Springs. It happened Friday night, February 13, and the headline in The Gravette News Herald the following Thursday read: “Four Springs Teenagers Die in Auto-Sled Accident”.

The four who died were Hugh James Winchester, 14; Lee Lenox, 16, and Betty Kay Rethmeyer, 18, and her sister, Irene, age 14. The News Herald told the tragic story.

The four teens were enjoying a ride on a sled being pulled by a car. On a curve, the sled apparently crossed into the path ofan approaching vehicle. It struck the sled head-on.

I heard about the accident the following morning. I was 13 at the tune. What a shock for the students at Sulphur Springs School. There were no counselors to help with grief and shock adjustment. But somehow we lived through the funerals. I imagine any one of us who sees a sled being pulled behind a car shudders inwardly and we remember. And we invariably issue a warning.

So my warning this week is: Don’t pull a sled behind a vehicle.And there is another warning that is important on frigid winter days. Never, never venture onto a frozen pond or stream. What lies beneath what appears to be a solid slab of ice can be another tragedy.

Kids, enjoy the snow, the sledding, the thrills of winter days. Enjoy the memories you are creating. Just make sure those memories are not of tragedy.

And to parents, and the rest of us: Do your part in making sure that sixty year old headline is never repeated.

-Dodie Evans

Opinion, Pages 4 on 01/13/2010