FREE - The Cherokee Ledger-News

10 THE CHEROKEE LEDGER-NEWS NEWS JULY 15, 2009
FROM PAGE 1
“I use the park a good bit to walk.
While doing this, I push my children
in a stroller, and I usually have
my young son riding his bike along
side me,” wrote Jennifer Long. “If
this park was active, it would be
dangerous for my children.”
Ward 1 Councilwoman Pat Tan-
ner, who helped
draft the passive
parks ordinance,
said that Canton
has active options
in Boling
Park that need to
be explored.
Dizzy Dean Baseball
and the
Cherokee Youth
Soccer Association
(CYSA) use
the park’s softball
and soccer
fields. However,
the city has not been able to locate
written agreements with either
Dizzy Dean or CYSA for their use of
the parks.
“People say they are being denied
access to fields controlled by
these groups,” Tanner said. “If
they are public fields, why can’t
people be on them?”
CYSA President John Brandeth
said that his organization, which
built and maintains Boling Parks
soccer fields, is open to letting some
groups use the fields.
“When people talk to us, we don’t
have a problem with that,” he said.
“If they want to
make the parks
passive, that’s
fine. Just don’t
throw us off the
fields we’ve built
and maintained
for the past 30
years.”
City Attorney
Billy Hasty said
the purpose of
the passive parks
ordinance was to
“balance the interests
of the people
who use the parks.”
Jessica Harrington, 19, of Ball
Ground, who came to the meeting
to show her support of active
sports in Canton, thinks that “one
side’s a lot heavier than the other.”
Ward 3 Councilman and Parks
and Recreation Committee Chair
■■■
PROTEST: Officials say ordinance was geared at balancing the interests of park users
AGGRESSIVELY REPRESENTING CLIENTS IN THE AREAS OF:
•Divorce
• Child Custody
• Child Support
Modifications
‘It seems as if the city is
trying to mask its ageism
and xenophobia against the
more active Hispanic
population.’
Austin Swords, 20
Ordinance protester
AGGRESSIVE
REPRESENTATION
THE LAW OFFICES OF
ABBOTT & ABBOTT, PC
“Family Law Is Our Business”
• Paternity
Legitimations
• Contempts
CALL FOR A FREE CONSULTATION
678-290-7650
EMAIL: bj@abbottandabbott.net
2 convenient locations
2205 Riverstone Blvd, Suite 204 • Canton, 30114
367 Atlanta St. • Marietta, 30060
Lester Cantrell said that the he
wasn’t “trying to be some tyrant”
about the parks. However, with an
influx of non-Canton residents
coming to the two parks to play
ball, he thinks the passive parks ordinance
was necessary..
“They were destroying our
parks,” Cantrell said.
But Harrington, who used to
meet friends for Frisbee games in
Canton’s parks, said it shouldn’t
matter to the city council where
she and her friends live because
“we all went to high school in Canton.”
Lucas Bazemore, 18, of White,
thinks the fact that he lives in Bartow
County shouldn’t stop him
from playing sports in Canton.
“(Canton) is a crossroads for us,”
he said of his group of Frisbeeplaying
friends.
“This whole thing has gotten out
of hand,” said Canton Director of
Public Works David Cangemi, who
maintains the city’s parks. “The
parks were built passive. The grass
wasn’t made for athletics.”
When the parks ordinance was
passed in April, the city council cited
organized soccer games being
planed by Latino groups in Heritage
Park and Boling Park as one
of the reasons the passive status of
the parks needed to be enforced.
Austin Swords, 20, of Canton,
said in his city council address that
“it seems as if the city is trying to
mask its ageism and xenophobia
against the more active Hispanic
population.”
Tanner, who is African-American
and the sole minority member
of the city council, was absent from
the July 9 meeting. However, when
Swords’ statement was relayed to
her, she became incensed.
“Being a minority, having lived
through the Civil Rights Era, having
marched with Martin Luther
King, and having been discriminated
against, I object to that comment
being used,” Tanner said. “I
don’t know how many times Mr.
Swords (who is white) has experienced
discrimination.”
Swords and Sghiatti both told the
city council that, in a struggling
economy, active parks are more important
than ever – as they present
the only option for physical activity
for many Canton residents.
“(The passive parks ordinance)
affects the young boy who wants to
go throw a football with his dad because
they live in an apartment
and can’t throw it anywhere else,
and it affects the family who wants
to play a whiffle ball game and cannot
because their backyard is too
small,” Sghiatti said.
“Many don’t have the means to
afford gyms or country clubs,”
What’s possible when
you care completely?
Swords agreed.
Tanner said that she wants to encourage
physical activity in the
city and is especially concerned
with ensuring that families can
toss a ball in the park.
“We may have to revisit decisions
we’ve made in the past, and
I’m not sure how we’re going to do
that,” she said.
However, Mayor Gene Hobgood
doesn’t think that the parks ordinance
needs to be revised.
“Our police are not going to be
giving citations to families who are
picnicking and a father is throwing
a football with his son,” he said.
When you’re committed to creating a true continuum of care that puts the needs
��������������������������������������������������������������������������������
�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������
�����������������������������������������������������������������������������
������������������������������������������������������������������������������
���������������������������������������������������������������������
������������������������������������������������������������
��������������
CONSTANCE COOPER | LEDGER-NEWS
TOP: WGCL interviews a group of
Canton young adults who came to
the July 9 Canton City Council work
session to voice their opposition to
Canton’s passive parks ordinance.
LEFT: More than 20 people in their
late teens and early 20s came to
the July 9 Canton City Council work
session to voice their opposition to
the parks ordinance.