Thursday, July 06, 2000
Bridges pleads not guilty
Garrison residents push city for safer street
By Terry Flynn
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NEWPORT — Fort Thomas resident Philip Bridges was arraigned Wednesday on a second-degree manslaughter charge in the death of a 10-year-old boy who was struck by a car on Garrison Avenue in Fort Thomas last week.
Meanwhile, residents of Garrison Avenue plan to meet with Fort Thomas city officials in the next few days to discuss ways to improve safety on the one-way street.
Mr. Bridges, 51, entered a plea of not guilty before Campbell District Judge Gregory Popovich, who scheduled a preliminary hearing for July 13 and continued bond at $5,000.
Mr. Bridges' attorney, Gailen Bridges of Covington, said he would seek to have the bond lowered at the preliminary hearing. He had no other comment on the case.
Fort Thomas police say Philip Bridges, who lives on Delta Avenue two blocks from Garrison, was traveling a minimum of 40 mph in a 25 mph zone June 28 when his car struck Stephen Schroder. The boy died a short time later at St. Luke Hospital East.
Neighbors and the boy's parents attended a Fort Thomas City Council meet ing shortly afterward, armed with a petition signed by 250 people asking that the city take steps to slow traffic on the street.
“The (city) staff is going to move ahead immediately on this,” Fort Thomas City Administrator Jeff Earlywine said Wednesday. “We're working with two residents, Dick Lienhart and Carla Crabtree, who agreed to serve as representatives for the neighborhood. We'll meet with them and evaluate a number of options they presented to City Council.”
Among the suggestions the city will consider are:
Reduce the speed limit on Garrison.
ćInstall speed humps, with appropriate signage, to slow vehicles.
ćEvaluate the possibility of closing one end of the street and constructing a cul-de-sac.
Closing the street would probably require obtaining private property, Mr. Earlywine said.
“And it would eliminate parking on both sides of the street because the street would be two-way. Many residents don't have driveways and must park on the street.”
He said the city also will look at installing a small traffic island to create a curve that would force cars to slow.
“What we are doing immediately is installing "No Through Traffic' signs at the top of the street to inform motorists they are not per mitted to use the street to access River Road,” he said.
Residents have complained that Garrison has long been used as a short cut to River Road and Ky. 8.
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