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Sullivan's Bunk Bed
Legislation Becomes Model For National Standard
OKLAHOMA CITY (Aug. 18) -- State Representative Leonard Sullivan
probably would never have met Lynn Starks if it hadn't been
for a bunk bed.
And the death of a young child.
"It was one of those meetings you don't quickly forget,"
the northwest Oklahoma City Republican said. "In fact,
I'll never forget. Never."
The pair met after Starks' youngest child, Whitney, strangled
to death when she slipped between the frame and guardrail
of her bunk bed.
Starks had put Whitney to bed the night of April 24, 1997.
Whitney shared a set of bunk beds with her older brother,
Matthew.
Whitney slept in the top bunk.
And sometime during the night she slipped between the frame
and the guardrail, catching her head. The next morning, when
Starks discovered the accident, she frantically called 911,
but it was too late.
Her youngest child, the one she described as "the outgoing
one," was dead.
And Lynn Starks was devastated.
Having lost her husband just two years earlier, Starks' grief
was almost unbearable-then she learned the facts behind her
child's bunk bed.
A friend, trying to console the distraught woman, contacted
the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to report
the bunk bed hazard and learned that 54 other children had
died in similar accidents since 1994.
"I'd grown up in bunk beds," Starks told this month's
issue of Good Housekeeping magazine. "I had no idea they
were unsafe. I was shocked-and mad-that this was going on
for so long."
Armed with those facts, Lynn Starks had a new cause. A cause
that would put her in touch with industry watch dogs, consumer
advocates, talk-show hosts and finally, State Rep. Leonard
Sullivan.
Although the CPSC quickly responded to her complaint and
forced the manufacturer of Starks' bunk bed to recall it,
Starks said she felt like she was "beating her head against
the wall."
Acting on the advice of a friend, Starks contacted Sullivan.
"That was one of the toughest telephone calls I ever
took," Sullivan said. "My heart went out to this
woman."
Sullivan quickly agreed to help Starks, offering to introduce
legislation the next year.
"Lynn worked with our staff and we filed House Bill
2828-the Bunk Bed Regulation Act-in 1998," Sullivan recalled.
"It moved quickly through the process."
The bill limited the amount of space allowed between the
guardrail and the bed's mattress. Reducing the space between
the guardrail and the mattress would prevent a child from
slipping through and strangling.
"As far as legislation goes, it's a very simple bill,"
Sullivan said. "But its effect is powerful: it saves
lives."
Sullivan said his bill was successful because of one reason:
Lynn Starks.
"When the bill went to the Public Health Committee,
Lynn came and testified," he said. "And when she
finished, holding up a picture of little Whitney, you could
hear the entire committee crying. There wasn't a dry eye in
the room. I knew then we'd have no trouble getting the bill
through the full House."
Working together, Sullivan and Starks guided the Bunk Bed
Regulation Act through the legislative process. The bill was
passed by the House of Representatives 99-0 and by the Oklahoma
Senate 35-12.
Not only did the measure require safer bunk beds, but it
helped Lynn Starks to heal.
"It gave me focus," she said. "When Whitney
died, I kept wondering why I was being punished. But I started
to see that God wanted me to help get this law passed to help
save another person."
On April 13, 1998, Gov. Frank Keating signed the bill into
law and Oklahoma became the first state in the union to regulate
bunk-bed safety.
At the time, Sullivan said, he felt he'd done something worthwhile.
"I was very pleased," he said. "I felt like
we'd put a good law on the books."
Sullivan wasn't alone in his feelings.
Other states followed, modeling their laws after Oklahoma's.
Then, just last month, the U.S. Congress passed the Witney
Starks Bunk-Bed Rule which set new, federal standards for
bunk beds.
"It's amazing," Sullivan said. "Lynn has done
great work."
Sullivan said the effects of the bill have been so profound
that Japanese bunk bed manufacturers have altered their construction
specifications to comply with the Oklahoma law.
"Lynn has had an effect on a local, state, national
and now global scale," Sullivan said. "And I don't
think she's through."
She isn't.
Starks told Good Housekeeping that she's now targeting the
older, unsafe beds which are sold at thrift stores and flea
markets. She says she won't rest until they, too, are off
the market.
"I don't want any parent to wake up and find what I
found," she says.
As for Leonard Sullivan, he too keeps a watchful eye on the
issue.
"I'll always be interested," he said. "This
one of those times where you get the chance to really make
a difference. That doesn't happen too often to an Oklahoma
lawmaker."
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