SUMMER SAFETY TIPS

Summer is a great time for biking, but children need to follow safety rules for an accident-free season.

- Wear a bicycle helmet on every ride. Check to see whether your helmet should have a safety certification.

- Ride so drivers and cyclists can see you.

- Look both ways for oncoming vehicles before turning or crossing a street. Go only when it is clear.

- Watch out for potholes, cracks, rocks, wet leaves, storm grates, railroad tracks or anything that could make you lose control of your bike.

- Make sure your bike fits your height, weight and age.

- Inflate tires properly.

- Check brakes before riding.

- Bikers should ride behind one another and with the flow of traffic.

Source: Safe Kids Worldwide

AROUND TOWN

TODAY

GEORGIA-CAROLINA TOASTMASTERS: Noon, The Cotton Patch, 816 Cotton Lane; (803) 593-6605

THEOLOGY ON TAP: 7 p.m., Beamie's at the River, 865 Reynolds St.

ART AT LUNCH: The Arts of Poetry and Painting, noon Friday; Morris Museum of Art, 1 10th St.; Aiken poet Michael Lythgoe will read a selection of his poems written in response to visual art; $10 members, $13 others; lunch buffet by Washington Hall Catering; lunch reservations required by today; (706) 724-7501

THURSDAY

BOARD OF DISABILITIES: 7 p.m., Aiken County Board of Disabilities monthly meeting, 1016 Vaucluse Road; (803) 642-8800

FRENCH CLUB: 7 p.m., Borders Books Music & Cafe, 257 Robert C. Daniel Jr. Parkway; (706) 737-6962

HARMONY RIVER CHORUS OF SWEET ADELINES INTERNATIONAL: 7 p.m., Church of Christ, 600 Martintown Road, North Augusta; open rehearsals; call Mary Norman, (803) 279-6499

IDOL SHOWCASE: 7 p.m., Maude Edenfield Park, behind North Augusta Community Center, 495 Brookside Drive; part of the Music in the Park series; if it rains, concert will be in the community center; (803) 442-7588

SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN HOMECOMING: 8 p.m. through Saturday and June 15-16; 3 p.m. Sunday and June 17; Bartow Community Center, 1138 Academy Circle, Bartow, Ga.; $10 adults, $5 children; (478) 364-3340

JOINT EFFORTS: 11-11:45 a.m. Thursdays; Augusta Orthopedic Clinic, 1521 Anthony Road; seminar on hip and knee pain, tips for treatment, medicine, food, exercise; (706) 481-7604

A HARD DAY'S NIGHT: 8 p.m., Imperial Theatre, 745 Broad St., part of the Thirsty Thursday Rock & Roll Movies series presented by Cotton Patch; screening of the 1964 musical comedy starring the Beatles; $2; $1 for wristband to drink; (706) 722-8341