A NEW PLACE TO PLAY; FORMER STUNTMAN BUILDING HAVEN FOR DISABLED CHILDREN.Byline: Bhavna Mistry Daily News Staff Writer Pete Porteous is building a town in his back yard. The 39-year-old former stuntman stunt·man n. A man who substitutes for a performer in scenes requiring physical daring or involving physical risk. stuntman n → especialista m stuntman is creating a small western town - wooden buildings labeled Blacksmith, Barber, Saloon and Telegraph Office; hay bales; hitching posts; and horse-drawn wagons, including a buggy Refers to software that contains many flaws. Many in the software industry swear that bugs are inevitable, and perhaps they are right. As long as we work in the competitive, pressure-cooker environment of our high-tech world, products will more often than not be developed too hastily and he says was owned by lawman Wyatt Earp The references in this article would be clearer with a different and/or consistent style of citation, footnoting or external linking. Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp . The town is transforming into The Stunt Ranch Equestrian Fun For Handicapped Children, a place for disabled children to ride horses and enjoy entertainers like old-time singing cowboy Chuck Ryaan. Porteous feels a special bond with handicapped children because a stunt accident left him paralyzed par·a·lyze tr.v. par·a·lyzed, par·a·lyz·ing, par·a·lyz·es 1. To affect with paralysis; cause to be paralytic. 2. To make unable to move or act: paralyzed by fear. on his left side for a time. ``It's just going to be a great place for the kids to be,'' he said. Father of boys ages 14, 12 and 10, Porteous gained his interest in the Old West when he was a child, hanging around the old Corriganville and Spahn movie ranches outside the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . ``The old stuntmen used to teach me some things,'' he said. Porteous began doing stunts at motocross motocross Form of motorcycle racing in which cyclists compete on a closed course marked out over natural or simulated rough terrain. Courses vary widely but must be 1.5–5 km (1–3 mi) in length, with steep inclines, hairpin turns, and mud. races and live western stunt shows at community fairs. As his interest grew, so did his career. Within a matter of years, Porteous was flipping cars, being set on fire, doing falls and participating in gunfights. But on Sept. 13, 1981, tragedy struck. During a live performance to raise money for handicapped children, a shotgun used in the act turned out to be loaded with live ammo. The pellets hit Porteous. ``I had 57 holes in me from the chest up,'' Porteous said. ``It broke my jaw, gave me severe head trauma and blew part of my left lung
The Left lung is divided into two lobes, an upper and a lower, by the oblique fissure, which extends from the costal to the mediastinal surface of the lung both above and below the hilus. away.'' The injury left Porteous paralyzed on his left side. It affected his speech, his spelling and his ability to do mathematics, and he couldn't remember how to spell his last name. ``They said I would never recover,'' Porteous said. ``But I fooled them.'' He still has pellets embedded in his body and on occasion suffers from lung infections. ``I just try to keep moving forward. I just made up my mind I was not going to be disabled.'' CAPTION(S): 2 Photos PHOTO (1--Color in AV Edition only) Cowboy entertainer Chuck Ryaan built this stagecoach stagecoach, heavy, closed vehicle on wheels, usually drawn by horses, formerly used to transport passengers and goods overland. Throughout the Middle Ages and until about the end of the 18th cent. for a John Wayne movie in the 1960s. (2--Color) (Ran in AV Edition only) Pete Porteous is transforming his yard into an Old West town where handicapped children can ride horses and see shows. Jeff Goldwater/Daily News |
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