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To the Editor:
A call out to all bike riders! Please, please wear a helmet when you ride. I feel like I’m alive today because I was wearing a helmet! The Lord was certainly watching over me on June 25 when I had a bicycle accident on W. Elk Avenue. This was my first serious accident in over 50 years riding all over Carter County.
A big thank-you to all the kind people that stopped and assisted me while I was lying on the ground, and calling 911 for me. I wish I knew all of your names. I found out a young couple, Katie and Zach, stayed with me until the Rescue Squad arrived and took me to the hospital. Katie got my phone off my bike and just so happens the number they chose to call was my wife’s number. She and Zach and two park rangers from Sycamore Shoals Park, and the EMS director stayed on scene and helped load my bike when my wife arrived. God was directing and in charge.
I also want to thank Lisa for stopping, the medical personnel at the Carter County Rescue Squad, Elizabethton Police Dept., Sycamore Shoals emergency personnel, Johnson City Medical Trauma Emergency Room and ICU. Thanks to Valley Forge Free Will Baptist Church and Valley Forge United Methodist Church and to everyone that said a prayer for me. The prayers were felt and very much appreciated.
I’m recovering well, but still have a ways to go. God is the Great Physician and is in control. God bless each of you.

Joe Nave
Elizabethton