As the heat from summer subsides I still sweat, daily.  My heart pounds a little faster as I avoid someone.  I am breaking the law.  Though there is a slight rush of adrenaline, a little cricket on my shoulder reminds me that I am in the wrong.  He tells me that no excuse will suffice from the hammer wielded by the boys in blue. 
As many of you have read, and some experienced firsthand, the helmet law of Starkville is strictly enforced. 
This is a hot subject right now and I cannot pass on the opportunity to opine.  I am a commuter.  I ride my bike and am always on the lookout as I make my twice daily illegal ride from the Cotton District to the university bridge.  Each time I do so I feel like Frodo Baggins, desperately fleeing from the wraiths until I reach Buckleberry Ferry, where for a while I can catch my breath.  I know, though, that I am nowhere in the clear yet.  I could be if I wanted, but I am stubborn. 
Some part of me feels it is my right to decide whether or not I should wear a helmet when I ride.  I don’t live in reality with this law, though, and it may come back to bite me in the wallet one day.  So be it.  A part of me has half a mind to buy an old viking helmet and let that be my protection.  Would this pass?  My guess is no.
The deeper issue here is where does the city get the right ticket me for failure to protect myself?  If I get hit without wearing protection, that is on me.  I am in no way risking the well- being of anyone but myself by abstaining.  Given, I am putting a lot at risk here, as it takes one person in an over-sized Z-71 to not see me and leave me in on the road like an opossum, but that’s my call; I know the danger and yield to it every day.  It is my responsibility to look out for myself and I don’t take it lightly.  I don’t ride at a blistering pace while I know I am not safely secured. 
However, I do ride a little quicker on this stretch because I want to get in the clear faster.  Maybe if I didn’t have to keep an eye for a bike cop I could spare that eye toward other danger.  Just a thought.
What really chaps me, though, is how this bike law was enforced after a few local accidents.  Compare that to the amount that die at the hands of Joe Camel. 
If we are going to stifle an evil here why are we going after the little guy?  A part of our right as humans is to be responsible for our own actions.  How can we do that if we aren’t given the chance to be in the wrong and own up?  Let smokers smoke, drinkers drink and cyclists ride without protection.  If they are harming no one but themselves then it is none of anyone else’s business.  
If we continue to pry into the lives of others, mandating for the betterment of the people, we could land on a slippery slope. 
I am completely nonplussed at the idea that me not wearing a helmet warrants a fine.  Ohio doesn’t even require motorcyclists to wear them and we are fining for a bike that most can’t even ride past 15 miles an hour?  That’s ridiculous.  Can’t we find better ways to allocate our law enforcers’ time?
I feel like issues of similar mandates have been floating around the country for a while now.  Should I be required by law to have health insurance?  Should the NFL become two-hand touch due to the recent studies released that relate head trauma the contact of the sport?  What about the amount of runners that die during a marathon?  Should they be cleared by their doctors prior to registration?  There needs to be a line somewhere.  I say it should be drawn at a level of understanding. 
The involved person should understand his or her responsibility for engaging in the event. 
Dear Starkville,  please allow us to take our responsibility back and be accountable for our own actions.  Isn’t that a part of learning to be an adult?