Skate park proposal: : An open letter to the community of Lincoln.

Hello, we are the Lincoln Skateboard committee, also known as Straight Outta Lincoln. We are a group of kids aged 10 to 16 who are fighting to get a skate park built in our town.

As some of you may know, we were visited and offered a grant by the lead bassist of Pearl Jam, Jeff Ament. He is willing to donate 50,000 dollars to our cause, on top of what else we raise. Jeff runs a program that donates money to help build skate parks in small towns, much like Lincoln. In fact, he’s help build 23 skate parks in the past 20 years.

I know some people may frown upon the idea of a skate park, but when an average of 40 people die every year due to skating on the road or streets, that’s putting a large amount of kids who skate here at risk. Besides, the roads in Lincoln are rough and covered in gravel. Skateboards don’t have soft wheels like a bike or scooter does, and can’t ride over rocks. When you hit a rock, your board stops or shoots backwards while the rider is still moving forward. One of our leaders, Makenzie Storey, had a bad accident with the gravel roads which left her with a metal plate and eight screws in her right arm.

A skatepark would be highly beneficial to our community. Kids who do skate, or kids who want to learn, would have the chance to do so. It looks good when the community invests in the kids. Also, people from all over come to skate at new parks to try them out, which brings people in. There are also skating competitions, festivals, and just hanging out with friends and being social with each other instead of being glued to our phones or video games, which at this point is our only form of entertainment.

The health benefits would do great things for both kids and adults. Not only physical, but mental health as well. As most of you know, we have a serious drug and alcohol problem in our town. It may not seem like it on the surface, but it’s a substantial issue in Lincoln. A lot of good, innocent kids are at risk of getting caught in the trap of numbing themselves to make the pain go away, but skating can help. Skating is a coping method, and exercise releases endorphins that make you feel good and happy. Not only will we be getting fit, but we’ll be giving kids a place to turn to when they have nowhere else to go.

Along with the drug issues and the handful of students who are at risk of falling into drugs, or are already dabbling in drugs or alcohol, this the part of the stereotype of skaters. Skaters are known as the troubling kids who don’t follow or respect authority. Skaters are also known for trespassing, vandalism, assault and other illegal activities. Those facts may be true, but overall it is a stereotype. There is a bad person in every group, sport or activity but that does not define a whole group of people. A lot of those troubling teens do not have an outlet in life. Many of those teens can’t get on basketball, football or the track teams. So a way many teens cope is by skating. A good majority of those teens won’t be able to skate due to not having any skate parks, safe places to skate, or trespassing on someone’s property.

“Skaters are routinely confronted and ticketed by police. Skaters see this as an unwinnable situation; they are passionate about skating but every attempt to find a place to skate inevitably leads to a confrontation with authority.”(publicskateparkguide.org)It’s not that skaters don’t respect law and authorities, it’s that when skaters do find a place to skate, it ends up being private property. Empty parking lots are also used a lot, but the police are called due to suspicious activity.

Now, I know you’re all thinking about location and where might the skate park go. After some discussion and a thumbs up from Jeff Ament, we decided the best place to put it would be where the old horseshoe pit is. The horseshoe pit has hardly ever been used in the time that it has been made. Taking out the horseshoe pit and replacing it with the skate park would be beneficial. Having the skate park in Hooper Park and on the main strip of town would prevent any illegal activities from taking place. If the skate park were to go in Lambkins Park, teens or adults would be able to hide and get away with what they were going to do.

On top of the $50,000 Jeff Ament is going to be donating to us, the Lincoln Skateboard Committee will also be raising more money to go toward the skate park. Kyrmzen Dempster and Makena Copenhaver has already sold approximately $150 in cupcakes. Those girls went to the Wheel Inn and sold goodies there. Some of the fundraising as a group we have talked about doing includes silent auctions, bake sales, possible dances, raffles, and donations from local businesses.

Having a skate park in town would not only be beneficial to us kids but it would be beneficial to the community. The skate park could bring in great opportunities into this town. It could prevent any major injuries or serious accidents, and help those teens find a way to cope.

Overall, it would bring in a better environment to have teens and children around. Away from all the drugs and alcohol. We could finally have a place to escape.