Letters: Skate park needs everyone’s support

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To the editor:

I would like to encourage anyone who is opposed to, or apathetic about the proposed skate park to talk with the young men and women and the adults involved, and then listen.

As a Brown County resident with family roots going back generations, I am very proud of the “kids” involved. They have the same concerns you do. They do not want trash, or drugs, or danger, or a place where trouble brews. They have a plan to prevent all that. A lot of “homework” has been done and there is evidence that just such a park would benefit Nashville in ways I would have never imagined.

In many ways, I believe the skate park initiative is better organized than others I have seen in town. The kids involved have been open to feedback from the very beginning. They listen, a virtue incredibly lacking among all generations in our information age where so many already think they have all the answers.

They have a lot of material you can view to see potential models of the park, to see models in other real locations, and to understand the proposed costs and potential community impact. They have spoken with many businesses already and know, they know what they are getting into.

I especially want to encourage the good folks who own or operate businesses in town to ask these questions and listen. I think you will be surprised to find you will want to support this park and these wonderful kids.

This generation is neither hopeless, nor just “me”-oriented, and these young men and women exemplify promise and potential for our community’s future. They are setting an amazing example for the other youth in our county.

If adults will nurture faith in the youth of today, and find courage to speak with them and listen, everyone benefits. We can and should be willing partners with them.

Lori Haggard, Ford Ridge Road

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