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An entrepreneurial Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader and her husband have teed off on a new way of getting around the city’s downtown: golf carts.

GEST Carts offers rides on weekend nights to attractions such as riverfront restaurants , a casino and other entertainment spots. Co-founders Patrick and Lauren Dye have rolled out the service slowly, with plans to expand in time for Cincinnati’s popular Opening Day festivities in late March when the Reds begin baseball season.

Long associated with retirement communities, golf carts are increasingly being seen as urban transit options.

Services similar to GEST (Green, Easy, Safe Transportation) are running from Auburn, Alabama, to Toledo, Ohio. They offer environmentally friendly rides at low rates – in advertising-sponsored GEST’s case, for free – at slow speeds suited for sightseeing or mingling. Patrick liked the one in Nashville, and he saw an opportunity in Cincinnati with its revitalized downtown area.

”I think it would be great anywhere,” Lauren Dye said as her husband drove past Cincinnati’s recently renovated Music Hall. ”It’s just a really fun mode of transportation.”

Prince was singing ”Little Red Corvette” in the background, part of the `80s music mix among the choices passengers can make for their rides.

The service comes as regional leaders have identified improving transportation as a key priority.

Cincinnati area officials last month announced a partnership with Uber to create the Cincinnati Mobility Lab. Uber will share transportation data and launch studies of such issues as curbside congestion and bus services in the Cincinnati-northern Kentucky region.

Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley said working with Uber is an example of looking to the future for better transportation options.

The Dyes , who operate the Scene Ultra Lounge downtown, launched GEST just before New Year’s, relying mainly on word-of-mouth. Attention grew quickly, especially as the city’s streetcar system suffered repeated shutdowns because of cold weather and ice.

Patrick Dye said the golf carts aren’t meant to compete with the streetcar, and they’ve had good cooperation with city administrators on getting their business running.

He said that they’ve averaged 300 to 500 passengers a night and will begin daytime service on Opening Day, March 29, with a cart fleet up to 10 from the current six.

”This is just one more piece to bring and entice people to come to downtown Cincinnati and another tool that people can use to get around,” he said.

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Follow Dan Sewell at Miami Dolphins receiver Kenny Stills vacationed this offseason in Africa, led several teammates on a training trip to Nebraska and returned to find the NFL’s national anthem debate again at peak volume.

”We’ve got to clean up how things are looking,” Stills said following the Dolphins’ first training camp practice Thursday.

The sixth-year pro is part of the debate because he kneeled during the anthem the past two seasons and has been vocal discussing social injustice issues that inspired the protest.

Stills would prefer the league had no anthem policy so players could do as they wished, and said he’ll wait until a policy is set to decide what he’ll do during the anthem this season.

”At some point before the season starts, the league and the players association are going to come to an agreement ,” he said. ”And at that point I’ll have a better idea what I’ll be doing.”

Last week the league and union issued a joint statement saying the two sides are still working on a resolution. Their statement came hours after The Associated Press reported Dolphins players who protest on the field during the anthem could be suspended for up to four games under a team policy issued last week.

The Dolphins subsequently issued a statement saying all options regarding the team’s policy remain open.

On Thursday, coach Adam Gase said he doubted a Miami player would be suspended for protesting during the anthem.

”I mean, if anybody knew actual rules in the NFL, good luck suspending somebody,” Gase said. ”It takes about 5,000 things before anybody can get suspended by a club.”

Gase said he doesn’t see anthem issue as potentially divisive for his team.

”I think they do a good job of when issues come up, they get together and hammer it out,” Gase said. ”These guys aren’t shy about speaking up. They’ve done a good job of making sure, as a group, they talk through things.”

Three-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Jurrell Casey also plans to continue protesting, but wants people to quit seeing this as an anthem issue. The Tennessee Titans lineman said he will continue protesting by raising his fist at the end of the anthem.

”The biggest thing that we have right now is the way the justice system is set up for minorities,” said Casey , whose wife is an attorney. ”And that’s just what the whole battle is about, trying to bring light to enlighten the things that’s going on around the minority community.”

The league hasn’t been able to reach an agreement. On Wednesday, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he’ll insist his players stand for the anthem.

Stills’ reaction to Jones’ comments?

”I wouldn’t expect anything different,” Stills said.

Stills said he hadn’t spoken much with Dolphins owner Stephen Ross about the issue since last year. Ross didn’t attend the first day of training camp.

Stills tuned out the anthem debate this offseason by traveling to Victoria Falls, Kruger National Park and Cape Town, where he learned about African culture, went on safaris and tried bungee jumping. More recently, he spent time in Lincoln, Nebraska, with other Dolphins wideouts and a receivers coach he has known since he was in the 10th grade.

”The anthem stuff was becoming a really quiet, quiet topic,” Stills said.

No more. Defensive end Robert Quinn , who protested during the anthem while with the Rams last year, was asked following his first Dolphins practice what the league should do about a policy.

”I’ll just say one thing: It’s called freedom of speech,” he said. ”Simple as that.”

Quinn, Stills and others have been targets of criticism for their protests, which they believe have been misconstrued as unpatriotic.

But Stills was nominated by teammates last year for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, a reflection of his standing in locker room. His latest community project is with the nationwide OK Program, which mentors young black men.

”I think I’ve done a good job of trying to figure out ways to continue to use my voice and platform for the right things,” Stills said, ”and put the messaging back in the right direction.”

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