Go Cart journey!
06-01-2005, 12:55 PM
#1
Go Cart journey!
Check out this link in my local paper. It's about an 8 year old kid who takes a trip on his Go-Cart!!! 
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/cg...s.pl/email.txt
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/cg...s.pl/email.txt
06-01-2005, 02:41 PM
#3
VIP Member
VIP Member
Re: Go Cart journey!
Wednesday, June 1, 2005
Boy, 8, takes 20-mile midnight ride
By GREGORY D. KESICH, Portland Press Herald Writer
Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
E-mail this story to a friend
Paul Gilfedder couldn't wait to try his new go-cart, so after his parents went to bed, the 8-year-old boy went for an unsupervised spin.
Hours later, Gilfedder was found standing beside a highway - lost, out of gas and 20 miles from his Cornish home.
"He was scared and tired," said Penny Thorne, who discovered Gilfedder on Route 107 around 4:30 a.m. Friday after mistaking him for a deer. "He is a brave little boy."
The saga began Thursday when Steve and Wendy Gilfedder gave Paul a gas-powered go-cart for his birthday. His mother said he was disappointed that he couldn't drive the cart in the rain, and the boy desperately wanted to show his gift to a friend in Standish.
The Gilfedders parked the cart in the garage, never imagining their son would sneak out in the middle of the night. Paul apparently waited for his parents and three siblings to fall asleep, then opened one of the garage doors and pushed the cart out. He grabbed his father's gas can for extra fuel and headed toward Standish to see his friend.
"He knew the route because we had driven it many times," Wendy Gilfedder said. The family just moved from Standish to Cornish last week.
From her conversations with her son in the past few days, Gilfedder learned that Paul drove along the road as if his cart were a regular car. He drove through Baldwin and into Sebago, where he ran out of gas near the post office. Then the boy started walking back toward home, at one point stopping at a house for help. But the homeowner came to the door with a rifle, and young Paul hid in the bushes, his mother said.
"He was terrified," Wendy Gilfedder said. "I think it was one of the worst nights of his life."
It turned out to be the worst night for his parents as well. They were roused before 5 a.m. by a police officer, who said their son had been found on Route 107. They told the officer their son was sleeping upstairs. Of course, they found the covers on his bed but no Paul.
"It was horrifying," Wendy Gilfedder said. "I have four children and I am always careful with them. Yesterday was the first time I could talk about this without crying."
Paul was spotted shortly before dawn as Penny Thorne was on her way to open the Whistle Stop General Store in East Baldwin, where she has worked for 14 years.
She told her husband to slow down for what she thought was a deer, which sometimes dart across the rural highway. As they passed, however, she saw that it was a little boy wearing a bicycle helmet standing along the shoulder.
"We backed up and asked him what he was doing," Thorne said. "We really couldn't get much out of him at first."
Paul eventually told Thorne and police that he had gone for a ride and even brought extra gas but lost the container along the way. He said his family had just moved to Cornish, Thorne said, and he didn't know his new telephone number or address.
Cumberland County sheriff's deputies came to the Whistle Stop while deputies from York and Oxford counties located his family. Steve and Wendy Gilfedder picked up the boy.
The parents have since had long talks with Paul about why his decision was wrong, and they also had a police officer sit down with him.
"He would never, ever do it again," Wendy Gilfedder said.
Staff Writer Gregory D. Kesich can be contacted at 791-6336 or at:
[email protected]
Boy, 8, takes 20-mile midnight ride
By GREGORY D. KESICH, Portland Press Herald Writer
Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
E-mail this story to a friend
Paul Gilfedder couldn't wait to try his new go-cart, so after his parents went to bed, the 8-year-old boy went for an unsupervised spin.
Hours later, Gilfedder was found standing beside a highway - lost, out of gas and 20 miles from his Cornish home.
"He was scared and tired," said Penny Thorne, who discovered Gilfedder on Route 107 around 4:30 a.m. Friday after mistaking him for a deer. "He is a brave little boy."
The saga began Thursday when Steve and Wendy Gilfedder gave Paul a gas-powered go-cart for his birthday. His mother said he was disappointed that he couldn't drive the cart in the rain, and the boy desperately wanted to show his gift to a friend in Standish.
The Gilfedders parked the cart in the garage, never imagining their son would sneak out in the middle of the night. Paul apparently waited for his parents and three siblings to fall asleep, then opened one of the garage doors and pushed the cart out. He grabbed his father's gas can for extra fuel and headed toward Standish to see his friend.
"He knew the route because we had driven it many times," Wendy Gilfedder said. The family just moved from Standish to Cornish last week.
From her conversations with her son in the past few days, Gilfedder learned that Paul drove along the road as if his cart were a regular car. He drove through Baldwin and into Sebago, where he ran out of gas near the post office. Then the boy started walking back toward home, at one point stopping at a house for help. But the homeowner came to the door with a rifle, and young Paul hid in the bushes, his mother said.
"He was terrified," Wendy Gilfedder said. "I think it was one of the worst nights of his life."
It turned out to be the worst night for his parents as well. They were roused before 5 a.m. by a police officer, who said their son had been found on Route 107. They told the officer their son was sleeping upstairs. Of course, they found the covers on his bed but no Paul.
"It was horrifying," Wendy Gilfedder said. "I have four children and I am always careful with them. Yesterday was the first time I could talk about this without crying."
Paul was spotted shortly before dawn as Penny Thorne was on her way to open the Whistle Stop General Store in East Baldwin, where she has worked for 14 years.
She told her husband to slow down for what she thought was a deer, which sometimes dart across the rural highway. As they passed, however, she saw that it was a little boy wearing a bicycle helmet standing along the shoulder.
"We backed up and asked him what he was doing," Thorne said. "We really couldn't get much out of him at first."
Paul eventually told Thorne and police that he had gone for a ride and even brought extra gas but lost the container along the way. He said his family had just moved to Cornish, Thorne said, and he didn't know his new telephone number or address.
Cumberland County sheriff's deputies came to the Whistle Stop while deputies from York and Oxford counties located his family. Steve and Wendy Gilfedder picked up the boy.
The parents have since had long talks with Paul about why his decision was wrong, and they also had a police officer sit down with him.
"He would never, ever do it again," Wendy Gilfedder said.
Staff Writer Gregory D. Kesich can be contacted at 791-6336 or at:
[email protected]
__________________
Happily retired and living in Heavens waiting room.
Happily retired and living in Heavens waiting room.
Platinum Member
