Jacksonville City Council members watched in awe as a 13-year-old Kennan Johnson demonstrated an oli – the basic stance for every skateboarding trick – for them.Earlier, roaring wheels had echoed as skateboarders waiting to make a plea for the city to build a public skate park zipped through City Hall’s parking lot.
The message they wanted to deliver?
“I skate anywhere I can find ledges around town,” said 10-year-old Joey Lohnes, who has been boarding since he was only 3.
Twelve-year-old Dalton Crow has only been at it for about a year but say it’s already a favorite pastime with him. He also has to search for places to skate.
“I go anywhere I can get about an hour of an empty parking lot,” Crow said.
Fourteen-year-old Ryan Bishop has been skateboarding for four years.
“I like to try anything with stairs,” Bishop said.
Trouble is, often where they choose to skate is illegal.
Fred Couch of Couch’s Jewelers is trying to help. Couch said his campaign started when his daughter, Katie, showed interest in a group of skaters and pointed out the shared problem of finding a place to skate.
Couch, who would like to see the park located in Jacksonville, presented a two-part question to skaters present, “Would you skate here in Jacksonville if there was a park – and would you bring other folks from other cities?”
Couch led a group of approximately 50 skaters and parents who attended the City Council meeting on March 13 to petition for the new skate park. Couch is spearheading a movement to bring a skate park to Calhoun County, in part through funds from grants from the Tony Hawk Foundation and American Eagle.
Couch detailed plans to apply for a $25,000 grant from Hawk – a famous skateboarder – and $8,000 from American Eagle. He also detailed other fund-raising efforts including the commitment of $2,000 donation by the Anniston Rotary Club and a raffle of a bike that Couch hopes to use to raise a portion of the $7,000 startup cost of the project.
Any grants would come with the expectation they would be matched by various local government agencies, including the city of Jacksonville.
Earlier that week, Mayor Johnny Smith and Councilman George Areno took a trip to Ashland where they researched one of only seven skateboard parks in Alabama.
“I was impressed with the way their facility was set up,” Smith said. “I think it is definitely worth some consideration.”
The estimated cost to construct a 50 x 100 square foot skate park like the one in Ashland is $400,000 and that would be a six-inch slab of special concrete constructed on flat ground. Parks and Recreation Director Bo Batey the facility would probably need to include some type of pre-made ramps for the skaters as well.
He told the Council he had combed the city looking for places to put such a park and that most will take considerable renovations.
“What we’re looking at is a slab with pre-made ramps and someone to build those ramps,” Batey said. “One place to consider is the old park location where the basketball courts are.”
Another major concern for council members is insurance liability.
Couch provided the council figures that indicated that the injury rate for skateboarders is far below that of many other sports. Quoting from combined research pulled from nearby Ashland and the online Web site www.skateboardparks.com/california, Couch said that skateboard injuries run at about six percent yearly compared to 16 percent for baseball – the highest of any sport.
Physical therapist Jerry Klug was in attendance and was asked to address the injury issue.
“I don’t see too many injuries in my line (of work) from skateboard injuries,” Klug said. “Statistics say some of the injuries come from novices or 10- to 14-year-olds who are trying stunts without helmets or using ramps too big or not in regulation.”
Insurance liability is a big question for the council, however. Recommended insurance on the park would run the city $50,000 annually. It is not required by law but almost certainly will have to be put in place if the park is built.
It was suggested that a sign be posted advising skaters that they would skate at their own risk, releasing the city from responsibility from any injuries.
The interest is there, however, as some 50 interested skaters and their parents attended the meeting and 191 people signed a petition they had circulated earlier in about 165 churches around the county in favor of the park.
Patrick Wigley, owner of Wig Wheels and a skater himself, told the council that skaters have nowhere to practice legally other than the confines of their homes and implored council members to build the park.
“There’s no place for them to skate now,” Wigley said. “It has left some to trespass onto public property, but most skaters don’t hold grudges when officers are forced to ask them to leave.”
