PHOTO CAPTION:  Speed limit signs are posted all over Newtown, but some residents say drivers don’t heed them. 

 

By Yvonne Powers, SPN Editor
 Summer is here, and children are everywhere.  In the Newtown Subdivision, there is a posted speed limit of 15 mph for the residential area.
  Safety has become a big concern for Honor Court resident Cecelia “Sky” Solis, who says that cars travel through Newtown at high rates of speed.
   “They need to go 15 miles an hour--the posted speed limit,”says Solis, “people are going like 30 through there.”  Kids are always in the same place, playing and Solis says she’s afraid someone’s going to get hurt.  “I’m really concerned about the little kids,” she says.  “School’s out and they’re in the road from 8 a.m. until dark.”
   Milton Tybo, executive director at the Duck Valley Housing Authority says speeding has always been a problem.  
   “People drive faster than they should,” he agrees.
   Another Newtown resident who wishes to be unidentified,

said someone just yesterday afternoon sped down his street going what he describes as “50 miles an hour.”  Shaking his head, the resident said in a low voice, “It’s a good thing there were no kids around.”

   Speed limit signs are posted all over the subdivision.   One mother of small children said she believes it is the teenagers that drive too fast.  Wishing to remain unidentified, she said the speeding continues because there’s of a lack of enforcement.      “There’s little enforcement,” she said, referring to BIA Law Enforcement patrol.
   Joe McDade, BIA superintendent out of Elko, says if there is a problem, he’ll work with the Council on whatever they want to do—get speed bumps in, more frequent patrolling—whatever would help to decrease the speeding.
   The problem is at the Thomas Loop subdivision as well.  Almost every home in Newtown has children living in it—which means children will be at play in the subdivision.
   Parents must also do their part in keeping their children away from the subdivision roads.  Tybo says that teen driving is commonplace in the valley in the summertime.  “There’s not a whole lot for kids to do in the summer,” he said.
   Says BIA superintendent McDade, “If something came from the Tribal Council that we needed to do something on that road, the BIA would work with the council on whatever they wanted to do to address it.”

Update:  Vice-Chairman Dennis Smith, Sr. will present a resolution to the Business Council requesting the installation of speed bumps in the subdivisions.