Skateboarding

I was glad to see The Advocate tackle the thorny issue of skateboarding in Greenville. Kids want to do it, and adults don't want them to do it anywhere near their property.

In my opinion, the discouragement of skateboarding in Greenville leads the kids into other activities that may not be quite so wholesome, such as drinking, having sex (need I remind you about all the teenage and out-of-wedlock parents traipsing through the maternity ward at Greenville Regional?) and taking drugs. This was a problem when I was in high school and it seems to be more of a problem today. Do you want to encourage moral activities like skateboarding, or do you want to ban it everywhere and get these kids involved in bad stuff? I guarantee they're not going to sit around their houses knitting once they're banned from skateboarding.

I was particularly discouraged to see a sign banning skateboarding at the First Christian Church in Greenville. Why not just put up a sign saying, "We accept no liability for any sort of accident you're involved in on church property from skateboarding" and let the kids have a bit of fun?

I'm glad the Kingsbury Park District is looking into building a skate park, but I suspect the cost is going to keep increasing way above $100,000, just as all their projects do. Why exactly is $100,000 needed for this? Just throw up a few half-pipes (such as that that was once found at Agape) and let the kids go at it. They'll have a ball without the $100k pricetag.