By Jeff Noble

Editor

After being told last month by Mayor Mike Miller to meet with the board of the Jackson Parks and Recreation Department, some skateboarders and some of their parents met face-to-face Monday evening to state their case about having a place to skate.

A group of nine persons headed by Genevive Neace-Miller sat in with the Parks Board at the meeting at Douthitt Park, armed with a petition containing the signatures of almost 1,700 people. “My son just turned 14, and he enjoys skateboarding, but people run him off, saying ‘You can’t do that here.’ He and his friends got the signatures, and that’s over half of the city of Jackson’s population who wants a skate park,” Neace-Miller told board members, “and this has the support of Judge (Harvey J.) Richardson.”

“What kind of support will you get from the county?”, Boardmember Sharon Hendrickson asked Neace-Miller, who replied, “The county said they’d pay half if the city would do so as well.” Parks Board Chairman Terri Sewell then said that if this was done in the city, then the city parks and recreation department would totally be in charge of the facility. Those in favor of the skateboard park, which they want placed at Douthitt Park, mentioned the Board to see the Knott County Skate Park in Hindman as an example of what could be done.

Lisa Fugate from the Clayhole-Hardshell area of Breathitt County, spoke up in favor of a skate park. “We just want them to have a place they can go to and play,” saying she has a teenage son who skateboards. Four of the teenagers in attendance - Tyler Meadows, Jeff Bailey, Alex Howard and Brent Hall - also expressed their support, and also answered questions put forth by board members.

“We have to think this over very quickly,” said Sewell. “Obviously it’s a land issue. Those in favor say the land needed would be a slab of concrete about the size of a tennis court.” “Liability is something else to consider,” added Hendrickson. “We’ll have to go to the City Attorney and our insurance agent. The three main concerns about this are land, insurance and funding.” One of the teenagers in the crowd then replied, “Right now, we’re not allowed to skate anywhere in Jackson.”

Parks Director Tony Turner asked another teenager in attendance, “When someone vandalizes the park now, they close it down. Would you take care of it if something like that happens?” “Yeah, we’d take care of that,” was his answer. Afterwards, Sewell told supporters, “It speaks alot when all of you have come tonight. You must want it awfully bad. We will take this under advisement. We’ll talk to the Mayor, and the City Attorney, and we’ll take a good, hard look at it.” Sewell also promised another meeting on the subject, which has been set for Monday, April 2nd at 6:30 p.m., in the Parks and Recreation Building at Douthitt Park.

In other actions, Director Turner discussed new signage at the parks that will list the hours opened and the park rules. One of the signs will be marked that “The park closes at 11 p.m., gates will be locked”, which was approved by the Parks Board. Turner also went over the maintenance schedule for Kiwanis Park (which is in the process of renovation), and discussed the new security camera system now in place at Douthitt Park. Policies on concessions, personnel and park volunteers were also discussed by board members at the meeting.

Along with Sewell, Hendrickson and Turner, the meeting was attended by Boardmember Harold Douthitt, and newly-appointed Boardmembers Jon Couch and Phillip Watts.