OLD BLASTARD: Real fun until a drunk knocks you down

Yesterday a man who killed a rider in Stuarts Draft a year ago in April was sentenced to 14 years in jail.

Curtis Riley, Jr., 46, of Greenville, had already pleaded guilty to three charges including aggravated involuntary manslaughter in the vehicular killing of Dale Scott Callison, 55.

According to the Waynesboro News-Virginian, Riley was also given suspended 10-year sentences for convictions on failing to stop at the scene of a crime and possession of methamphetamine.

Riley’s blood-alcohol level was .31 when his pickup ruck struck Callison, of Staunton, who was riding his Harley on Tinkling Spring Road in Augusta County

The News-Virginian reported that police found cans of beer in Riley’s pickup truck and a meth pipe in his pocket.

In Albemarle, police continue wrapping investigations of the three motorcycle fatalities they've had this year. On July 18, Jason Thomas, 26, of Nelson County, went off the road on Secretary Sand Road and hit a fence. The crash occurred just before midnight.

He died at the scene.

During the July Fourth holiday weekend, Ethan Kenney, of Crozet, died at the University of Virginia Medical Center after his cycle struck a pickup at Gordonsville Road and Klockner Road.

On May 14, David Anderson, 49, of Orange, was killed when his bike hit a car head on around 9:15 p.m. on Stony Point Road.

He died at UVa Medical Center.

The good news, of course, is that thousands of riders have been logging thousands of miles with nothing but smiles. Keep the rubber on the road and ride well.