Kalispell helmet law upheld on tied council vote

Woodland Park skateboarders still are required to wear helmets - by default.

The Kalispell City Council deadlocked 4-4 Monday on whether to remove the helmet requirement.

When the council ends up in a tie, the status quo remains. In this case, the status quo requires helmets to be worn at the skateboard park.

The council split between a fear of head injuries versus frustration with a law that is difficult to enforce effectively.

Council members Kari Gabriel, Tim Kluesner, Wayne Saverud and Duane Larson wanted to keep the helmet requirement.

Mayor Pam Kennedy and council members Jim Atkinson, Bob Hafferman and Hank Olson wanted to remove it and replace it with a strong advisory to wear helmets.

Randy Kenyon was absent.

A skateboard park advisory committee recommended that the skate park's rules be changed to recommend but not require that head gear be used.

The committee's rationale was that fewer hassles on enforcing a helmet rule would lead to less rebellion and a better attitude by skateboarders toward keeping the park clean and safe.

"We want [the skateboard park] to run better and the helmet policy there isn't working" said committee member Mark DeLorme, owner of Spirit Skate Shop.

The city does not have the money to staff Woodland Park full-time. And police officers respond whenever someone phones in a complaint about skateboarders with no helmets or other park problems - stretching a limited force that has to prioritize calls.

Consequently, enforcement is uneven. And many skateboarders routinely don't wear helmets.

The potential for head injuries and the accompanying risk of legal liability were the overwhelming reasons for Larson, Saverud, Gabriel and Kluesner to want to keep that requirement. They compared it to laws that require motorcyclists to wear helmets.

"I feel compelled to err on the side of safety when in doubt," Saverud said.

Kennedy, Atkinson, Hafferman and Olson zeroed in on the fact that the current law is not being effectively enforced -with improvement unlikely in budget-strapped times.

"I don't care if you make 'em wear full body armor, they ain't gonna wear it," Olson said.

Kennedy said: "The only way for us to enforce helmets is to have police officers down there. … whenever the park is open. This ordinance isn't going to make kids wear helmets."

This bloc argued that the skateboard committee is attuned to park patrons and the skateboarding culture, so the council should follow its advice.

Atkinson wanted to remove the helmet requirement for a few months to see whether behavior improved around the skateboard area.

However, Gabriel said: "If one kid has a head injury in that period you relax [the rule], I can't live with it."

Right now, Kalispell is the only Montana city with an enforced helmet law.

Monday's deadlock also stalled two other skateboard park measures in the proposed change of the same law -measures that most council members apparently support.

These are:

n Eliminating a requirement that all BMX bikes in the skate park have protective coverings on the pegs.

n Giving the Parks Department the authority to close the skateboard park if vandalism or behavioral problems get out of control.

The council plans to vote on those measures again.