That text can wait

A group of North Hardin High School students recently got a better idea of how dangerous it is to text while driving when AT&T brought a simulator to the school. Students got into a car, put on simulation goggles and attempted to text. Wearing the goggles, the teens saw a virtual road with other drivers and pedestrians.

While texting, the young drivers ran off the road, hit other cars and even killed pedestrians, all in a virtual situation. But the scary truth is the virtual damage and loss of life mirrors reality.

Although Kentucky law prohibits drivers younger than 18 from using personal communications devices and all drivers from texting while the vehicle is moving — except to get medical help or contact police — texting at the wheel happens. And it can have fatal consequences.

In public agency reports, texting commonly has been lumped in with distracted driving, which caused 53,900 crashes, 15,000 injuries and 176 deaths in Kentucky last year.

AT&T’s simulator is one facet of a large campaign, “It can wait,” trying to get the no-text message to teens. The campaign includes some powerful advertising that features the messages teens were texting or reading before fatal crashes.

As a service provider, AT&T is doing the responsible thing here, putting up some of the company’s creative and financial resources to help save lives.

Supporting her school. Sierra Howard, a fourth-grader at G.C. Burkhead Elementary School in Elizabethtown, wants all students at her school to be happy. Her part in that, she decided, was to raise money to replace playground equipment that caught fire last year.

So, this industrious and charitable young lady, held a yard sale, selling her own stuff to “raise a ton of money for the school,” she said.

The student body is out to raise $10,500 and will hold a walk-a-thon Sept. 14. The PTA will use the money to buy new playground equipment. Sierra’s efforts certainly will help. She’d raised $150 before running the yard sales.

Great job, Sierra.

Recognizing outstanding women. Last week, All Nations Worship Ministries in Radcliff honored four local women during its annual Women’s Equality Day celebration for their contributions to equality and civic duty.

Maria Batistoni, a retired educator and pillar of North Hardin High School, business owner Shirley Caldwell, Command Sgt. Maj. Mitzi Hinton and Lydia Drexler, a developer and Realtor were recognized.

Women’s Equality Day, Aug. 26 — the anniversary of the 1920 passage of the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote — is a day worth observing.

Women have overcome great obstacles in modern history and, still, great women are at work. They champion equality, breaking barriers and glass ceilings. They serve others, bettering their communities and future generations. And they work hard, many rising to the top of their fields.

Those women, including the four honored in Radcliff, should be applauded, as should organizations, such as All Nations Worship Ministries, that take the time to show their appreciation.

Headquarters expansion. The local economy is a little sunnier after STC Management Group, which manages Sun Tan City and Planet Fitness, announced plans to expand its Elizabethtown headquarters.

The expansion could create up to 15 new jobs at its offices on College Street Road.

Sun Tan City has been the fastest-growing, privately held tanning chain in the county and its CEO, Rick Kueber, has been named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Successes such as these and the planned expansion are something the company and the city it calls home should be proud of.

While large companies are a key piece of the economic development mix, helping small and medium-size businesses grow is critical to local job creation and prosperity.

Programs and incentives, including performance-based tax incentives STC Management Group could receive for the expansion, are important. The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority preliminarily approved up to $150,000 in tax incentives for the Elizabethtown company.

This editorial represents a consensus of The News-Enterprise editorial board.