On Monday, Nov. 13, Tim Weidenbach of Parkston came to Woonsocket to speak to all high school students in grades seven through 12. The students from Sanborn Central were bussed over for the presentation, as this is a hot topic with all law enforcement trying to get people to cut out distractions and drive safer. 

Weidenbach gave some of his background as the owner of Higher Power Sports out of Parkston and that he works with athletes from Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell and the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. He trained a dog to be a therapy dog, named Gracie, but she is now reaching an age where she can no longer travel with him, so he brought his new dog, Remme along for the ride. Remme is well-trained and is working on the therapy dog part of her training as she is still rather young.

Weidenbach stated that he has been giving this speech for over seven years and has done it about 500 times, but it doesn’t get any easier and the statistics are still ridiculous. He informed the crowd that 25 percent of all accidents are caused by someone texting and driving; 60 percent of all accidents are caused by someone doing something on their cell phone. He said that the strange statistics are that 94 percent of people state that they know it is dangerous, but 70 percent of them say it’s dangerous for other people, but not “me.” 

…Read on and see a picture in this week’s issue of the Sanborn Weekly Journal!