Skaters complain

about rule changes
By Scott Nicholson

Advocates for the Appalachian Skatepark Council turned out in force to address rules changes that they said limited use of the park, and the commissioners gave them one final chance to follow safety rules under expanded hours.

Buzz Berry, chairman of the Appalachian Skatepark Council, submitted a list of concerns about limited hours, supervision of the park, and lack of input on the facility’s operation.

The commissioners approved changes to limit the park’s usual hours of operation on school days from 3 p.m. until dusk.

Skaters are also required to sign a waiver before they can use the park.

Berry said the council’s mission was to provide a safe community park for youths and adults, and said the facility was a public-private partnership. The document he presented to the commissioners said the skateboard park is the only one in the country that has a security guard supervising it instead of an attendant. This “makes the facility resemble a juvenile detention center,” Berry said, and the council asked if the county would lease the park property and allow the council to operate it.

The county has already addressed some of the council’s concerns. The county will install water fountains near the site, and rest rooms are open until Dec. 15 each year, when they are winterized to prevent freezing.

Bathrooms are available in the pool facility during regular pool hours. Some maintenance repairs are also underway at the site, which is at the county recreation complex in Boone.

Skaters complained about the congestion when everyone showed up at 3 p.m. to skate. Jeremy Wright, an Appalachian State University graduate, said it was hard for people to get to the park during limited hours.

Brandon Crockett said he’d been skating for two years and said an attendant would relate to the skaters better than a security guard would.

Commissioner Jim Deal asked Crockett how to get skaters to wear helmets and said, “All of this grew out of the fact that people out there refused to wear helmets and refused to wear pads,” he said, saying the rules were for safety and estimating three-fourths of the skaters weren’t using helmets.. “I’ve been out there maybe 25 times and I’ve never seen everyone wear helmets.”

Berry said he told skaters, “They didn’t know how good they had it.” He said the changes could be considered a “wake-up call” for skaters and acknowledged a state statute required the county to enforce a helmet ordinance.

Deal said skaters in the parking lot had also been a problem and said someone would get hit by a car. “If you’re not going to follow the rules, you’re going to have a consequences,” Deal said, noting the rules changes were not a desirable solution and were punishing skaters who had followed the rules.

County manager Rocky Nelson said the decision to hire a security firm was economic, because the county would have to hire several county personnel instead of hiring a firm on contract.

Nelson said vandalism had increased by 1,000 percent since the park opened.

Parks and recreation director Stephen Poulos said the department had fielded complaints about lack of helmets and parents dropping off children there and leaving them unattended. He said five holes had been cut in the fence Saturday night, and said since the new rules had been enacted, the largest crowd was 15 skaters.

Commissioner Billy Ralph Winkler challenged the skaters in attendance to wear helmets and make a security guard unnecessary and said he was open to changing his mind. “If you want to convince me we’ve taken the wrong actions, convince me with your actions,” he told the skaters.

The county granted approval for the park in March 2006. In July 2006, the commissioners adopted a ordinance that removed county liability for the park. On July 15, the commissioners approved new rules with the limited hours and a $40,000 annual allocation to hire a security firm to supervise the park.

The commissioners asked the skatepark council and parks and recreation department officials to explore common ground and a possible resolution to differences. The commissioners agreed to open the park at 10 a.m. for 30 days and then revisit the decision on the park hours.