CALIFORNIA:Crashterpiece meant to slow motorcycles

OFF THE WIRE
http://www.pe.com/columns/bobpratte/stories/PE_News_Local_E_ebob24.409a12a.html Crashterpiece meant to slow motorcycles
10:00 PM PST on Tuesday, November 23, 2010
By BOB PRATTE The Press-Enterprise
Dore Capitani erected an alarming sculpture that might be more effective than the 25 mph caution sign on a curve near his art-studio compound along Highway 243 between Mountain Center and Idyllwild.
As motorcycle riders sweep through the turn, they see a motorcycle that looks as if it crashed into a stack of logs. Big letters spell out, "Ouch!"
"So many bikers go by real fast," said Capitani, who creates artistic, metal shapes by cutting metal. "The ouch works real well."
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Bob Pratte / The Press-Enterprise Dore Capitani, who creates metal sculpture at his art studio compound along Highway 243 near Mountain Center, installed an old motorcycle on a protective barricade of logs as a message advising bikers to slow down. Highway 243 branches off Highway 74 in Mountain Center, a short distance downhill from Dore's Mountain Art Garden, where he and other artists create and display art. Motorcycles frequently crash on both highways. Riders sometimes die.
Motorcycles have lost control on the curve near his art compound. He fears his studio could be hit. Fortunately, only the bikes have suffered severe damage when they crashed on his property. The riders lived.
Worried that a motorcycle might sail right into his studio, he and a friend piled up a stack of big logs to form a safety barricade. To try to convince riders to go slower, he pieced together a motorcycle sculpture from spare parts and attached it to the log pile, making it look as if it crashed.
It was quite realistic. The "Ouch" let drivers knows that it was a warning display, not a real accident.
Tourists often stop to take pictures of his crash sculpture. Mostly, he hears positive comments about his roadside crashterpiece.
Motorcyclists who object to the display might consider one thing. Capitani is trying to prevent them from being killed in a crash.
Chip and Gail's RV
Gail Polvoorde, of Valle Vista, could be sure that her husband, Chip Polvoorde, knew nothing about plans for his 50th birthday.
Polvoorde, an assistant physical therapy professor at Loma Linda University, invited people to their home Saturday to celebrate the big birthday of her husband, who operates the Horizon Home Center mobile home dealership and Horizon Solar Power on Hemet's west side.
She planned to use their motor home as a guest room.
To make sure it was perfectly nice, she paid to have it professionally cleaned and equipped it with a new mattress pad.
That night, she was surprised when friends showed up. They told her that they were picking up the motor home. Their plan was to park it in the high desert so they would have a prime spot for the Thanksgiving weekend.
The birthday boy promised to let them use it -- without telling her.
"I just kind of looked dumbfounded," she said.
She graciously handed them the keys. They drove away with a very clean RV.