SKATEBOARDERS, used to getting shooed away by shopkeepers, policemen and other representatives of the forces of civilization, are partial to the declarative bumper sticker: "Skateboarding is not a crime.'

Now they might add a new proviso to that rallying cry: "It's not a huge liability risk either.'

Thanks to some creative lawmaking, skateboarding has achieved that rarest of victories in contemporary America: It has beaten back the trial lawyers and carved a little niche for heedless, risk-taking freedom.

It wasn't long ago that skate parks, the concrete wonderlands created for skateboarders, seemed headed for the dustbin of history. Skate parks were big in the mid-'70s, when the sport was enjoying a surge of popularity as it switched from clay to urethane * wheels *.

Fortune magazine endorsed the parks in 1976 as a great investment - as it turned out, just ahead of the bulldozers. By the end of the decade, up to 80 percent of them had been shuttered for liability reasons.

According to a New York Times * report, of 200 skate parks built in 1976, only two remained in 1998 *. "Most,' reported the Times, "closed due to the threat of injury lawsuits.'

Only in litigation-crazed America could one of the most American of all activities - a sport born in California *, involving getting a couple of pairs of wheels and just going - get chased from the public square.

Well, actually, that's not quite right. The skateboarders simply left the skate parks for the public square itself, taking their grinds, flip and ollies to seemingly every available (and even unavailable - hence the skate term "barge') plaza or sidewalk in America.

This trend wasn't welcomed by the average citizenry, annoyed by the racket, the occasional damage to public property and maybe just the sheer collection of so many "punks' in one place. But where were skateboarders to go so long as parks exclusively for them couldn't be built?

In 1997 *, the unofficial skateboard capital of the world, California, came up with a solution. Since common sense was in such short supply among the nation's lawyers and in its courtrooms, California would write it straight into the law: It designated skateboarding as a "Hazardous Recreational Activity.'

It doesn't take an intimate knowledge of skateboarding (of "bailing,' "carving' or "locking') to know that it might be hazardous, but the official designation made it impossible to sue over injuries incurred while skateboarding. Tree climbing is also considered a "Hazardous Recreational Activity,' which has prevented California from having to chop down all trees in its parks, lest someone get hurt trying to climb one.

The law (up for renewal this year) became a model for the rest of the country. As other states passed similar language, or figured that their governmental immunity laws provided enough protection, skateboarders had some place to go again.

According to the SkatePark * Association of the United States * of America, there are now roughly 1,000 skate parks in the United States, up from 200 in 1996 *. The liability threat still creates distortions. Many municipalities don't staff their parks (or in some cases even require protective gear), because that is thought to implicitly take some responsibility for safety - and, hence, encourage lawsuits.

So far, attempted injury claims appear to be remarkably few.

"Maybe these kids have a different mind-set than the injured soccer players who come running to us to pay for their broken legs year after year,' says one Colorado * insurance agent.

So, the nation is now safe for skateboarding - whether it can yet be made safe for delivering babies, throwing keg parties, jumping from a high dive or any number of other once-common activities is an open question.

Maybe Congress can pass a law designating all of life a "hazardous activity.' Until then, everyone who loves the American way can smile on the minitriumph of all those scruffy kids who want nothing so much as to catch some "air,' free and unmolested by the trial bar. Rich Lowry is editor of National Review.

This article was originally entitled "Lawyers out; let's have a little fun", and was found at http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/ 0,1413,200%257E20951%257E823135,00.html?search=filter

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