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By LOU HATTER
Rappahannock N«w* Staff Writer
The Flint Hill firemen’s carnival, traditionally the last and largest of the county’s summer events, had its festive atmosphere shaken last Thursday evening.
Two of the buckets on a small ferris wheel for children became entangled, and, , according to witnesses, before the ride could be stopped five of the six buckets were hanging almost upside down. The terrified children were removed from the buckets by their parents and other bystanders who climbed onto the ride, and none suffered serious injuries.
Several witnesses alleged that the ride’s operator, Ralph Nelson, had left his post at the ferris wheel. R. C. Cole, the ride’s owner, said Friday morning that the operator had stepped back from the machine to look at the “Moonwalk” ride, which was adjacent to the ferris wheel, and that he quickly returned to the machine.
Mr. Cole’s account was disputed by several parents who had children on the ride. They alleged that Mr. Nelson walked down the midway and had left a young girl at the controls of the ferris wheel.
Terry Seal of Front Royal, whose 21month-old daughter was riding the ferris wheel, said that she was standing by the ride with her husband, her 14-year-old cousin, Crystal Seal, and two other relatives when the operator turned to the young girl and asked her to watch the ride. Mrs. Seal said, “She turned to me and said, ‘Can you believe that he told me to watch this?’ ”
The words were barely out of her mouth, Mrs. Seal added, when someone screamed and she realized that the cars were becoming tangled. “She was just a bystander,” Mrs. Seal said of her cousin. “She didn’t know how to turn it off.”
Mtb. Seal said that she immediately jumped onto the ride to try to get some children off, and was struck in the back by a still-moving car behind her. Before the ride was stopped, five of the six buckets were either tipped upside down or tilted yjdOTrays, shesaid.
- *lt was -ihe iaftatteggihik experience<*» I’ve ever ggne through in my life,” she recalled. “You could see the fear in those kids’ eyes - hanging on for dear life.” Fortunately, she said, “it was just a matter of seconds” before the bystanders who rushed to the aid of the children managed to get them all off the ride before any fell out of the upturned buckets.
“The operator never got back to help the kids off,” Mrs. Seal said. When Mr. Nelson did return, she said her husband asked him where he had been. “None of your-business,” she said he replied.
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