The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Creighton Town Council dealt with one key issue at their regular meeting last Wednesday. After struggles and damage being done to the Creighton skate park, council has gone one step further in their mission to keep the park the way it was meant to be. The lights have been turned off with Alderman Kevin Elliot saying it's "too bad it had to come to this, but it had to be done." Skaters will still be able to enjoy the park in the daytime. Previous to the power shutdown, people had been going into the skate park at all hours of the night, and there was a lot of costly vandalism as well as garbage thrown all over. As far as damage goes, Town Administrator Paula Muench says broken ramps and spray-painted graffiti have been the most expensive acts of destruction. Alderman Elliot says it's impossible to stop vandals from going there at night, but since the lights have been out, there has been a lot less damage. "We spent about $90,000 between the skate park and the soccer field, so we would like them to stay the way they were meant to be," says Elliot. Alderman La Verne Hinzman says he also thinks it's a shame it has come to this. "Kids want to hang out somewhere, but nowadays they don't do it in a responsible way," says Alderman Hinzman. The solution to the problem, as he puts it: "let's not give them a nice bright area." The town and the RCMP came up with the solution to turn off the lights as the "simplest way of doing things," says Alderman Hinzman. "For right now we're just trying things out to see what is going to happen," he says. And he adds, "a small percentage had to screw it up for everyone, which is unfortunate." According to Alderman Hinzman, turning the lights out was what had to be done. "We don't want to lose the park and we don't want to have to take it away from the community, so we're taking this step, to see if it will help," adds the hopeful alderman. "We have decided one thing: we need some solutions," he says. As far as the park itself goes, there is one thing that Hinzman just can't wrap his head around. "What are these kids doing out at all hours of the night? Where are their parents?" he asks. As for the time frame for the lights staying out, Alderman Hinzman says, "how can you put a time frame on something like this? We don't really know what's going to happen." Alderman Hinzman asks anyone with information on the vandalism to contact the police.
