Folks--I'm writing a letter to the editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer about this. Please look over and edit.

Thanks.

In your article on the death of Judge Chip Henry of Geauga County, you did a great disservice to all cyclists out there. In this article, you cite that the Judge wasn't wearing a helmet and then you ramble on as to whether bike lanes would have helped. This implies that the act of bicycling was the reason he died, which is not true. The reason this man was killed is that Kelly Cox struck him from behind. Why couldn't she see him--it was daylight? Was she texting, talking on the phone, or drinking? Was she (not sure if Kelly is a she--please fix if Kelly is a he) even driving the car? We don't know the shady circumstances because the eye witness is dead and the driver didn't stop, a fact that the Plain Dealer didn't report. The driver says she didn't know what happened and didn't even realize there was an "accident" until she got home. I suspect she wondered if she could get away with it. Regardless of what she thought, it's the responsibility of the Plain Dealer to get to the truth, and in this it failed miserably. The focus in the article should have been on perpetrator leaving the scene, distracted driving, and due dillegence and responsibility for all.