This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Andrew Riggle, public policy advocate for the Disability Law Center in Salt Lake City, says he owes a debt of gratitude and possibly his life to University of Utah police.
Riggle, who uses a powered wheelchair, was on his way to a building at the U.'s Research Park to talk to occupational-therapy students about advocating for their clients with disabilities.
Crossing Foothill Boulevard, he discovered there was no way to access the sidewalk on the east side of the street. By the time he realized this, he could not safely return to the west side. He had no choice, he says, but to head into the fast-moving traffic in the right-hand turn lane.
"All I could do," he says, "was hope each driver saw me in time to slow down and swerve."
Fortunately, a passing U. officer noticed his dilemma and pulled over. He refused to allow Riggle to go farther until his partner arrived to stop traffic at the end of the block. Then he had Riggle follow him to the corner, where he was able to get back on the sidewalk and continue up Wakara Way.
"Unfortunately, while the experience gave me a perfectly timed ironic anecdote to share with the class, this is not the first time something like this has happened," Riggle says. "The area from Research Park through the medical complexes is extremely pedestrian-unfriendly. If you happen to have mobility limitations, it is downright dangerous, especially considering many of the individuals traveling along this stretch are more likely to use wheelchairs, walkers, crutches or other devices."
• On Oct. 24, Terri Ludlow dropped her wallet somewhere between her car and the office building at 6975 Union Park Center. A person found it and drove it to her home a few minutes away. Her daughter was home, but was upstairs when she heard the doorbell. By the time she reached the door, the good Samaritan was driving away. She was able to see a gentleman driving a silver or light-colored BMW sport utility vehicle with a partial license plate of C41 who had left her wallet — with everything still in it — at the front door.
Once Ludlow realized she didn't have her wallet, she had retraced her steps hoping it would be somewhere along the route she had walked, but to no avail. In a panic mode, she was getting ready to cancel her credit cards and apply for a duplicate driver license when her daughter called with the good news.
• Last month, Jenny Macfarlane posted on her Facebook page the disturbing news that a tandem her family uses for recreation had been stolen.
After that Oct. 23 note, she posted a follow-up gleefully announcing that the bike had been recovered.
Many of her Facebook friends shared her link on their pages, and one Facebook user, unknown to the Macfarlanes but whom they now refer to as Robert the Superhero, saw her post about the swiped tandem. Later, while he was out with friends, he saw two young men riding around on a bike that matched the description Macfarlane had posted.
He chased them down and hollered that he knew the tandem was stolen and that he had called the cops.
"The dudes left the bike and ran away," Macfarlane posted. "What a brave and courageous thing to do for people he doesn't even know."
• Holly Mullen, executive director of the Rape Recovery Center in Salt Lake City, wants to publicly thank Scott Hale Plumbing, Heating & Air, "a longtime supporter of the RRC."
Scott Hale noticed the aging energy-sucking furnace — held together by duct tape — that the center has used since the Reagan administration.
He and his employees brought over a new high-efficiency furnace and installed it for a "huge discount," Mullen says.
• Two dozen senior citizens play tennis twice a week at Cottonwood High. One of them recently complained of chest pains and said he was going home to rest. He left the court, but a few seconds later, another member of the group, Pete Peterson, decided not to let him go on his own. Peterson intercepted the man at his car and insisted he be driven to the hospital. He finally consented. Later, the emergency-room doctor confirmed that he indeed had suffered a heart attack and if he hadn't been immediately admitted, he would have suffered permanent damage — or worse.