Cardinal Tweets

By Cindy Cardinal

In my opinion, the Owen Council made a bad choice at their last council meeting. They decided to close the park bathrooms at Mill Pond Park down for the winter. In part, this was because of vandalism that has happened multiple times at the park. To me, this is a “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” type decision.

In regard to locking the bathrooms at night, I don’t have a problem with that. The park is closed overnight, so there shouldn’t be anyone there anyway.

I get it that the vandalism is expensive. I get it that it costs a lot per month to heat that building in the winter, but they don’t necessarily need to keep it at a comfortable 70°. I think a slightly lower temperature might be acceptable.

The problem with the decision is that they are punishing all the walkers who walk along the trail and might stop to use the bathrooms. They are punishing the kids who come to play in the park, and I think there are some adventurous types that still play there in the winter. They are punishing the taxpayers of the community who paid for that building and expect it to be open for use. Instead, they need to catch the vandals and punish them. If someone sees suspicious activity in the park, they need to call the police and report it. Then maybe the next person looking to vandalize the park will think twice.

One of the arguments the council gave was that people could use the bathrooms at CreekSide or Dollar General. That may be true, but those places are in business to make money, not to provide a public bathroom, and pay for extra water and sewer for non-customers.

It was also brought up that maybe the bathrooms should only be open, even in the summer, when someone rents the park or there is an event going on. The better question might be is, “Is the park there to be used by people or not?” It is an attraction that brings people into town when events are held there, but I often see a person or group in the park in the afternoon when I drive by. Maybe they do go to the Dollar General or across the street to CreekSide to buy something. Maybe they just come to watch the geese or to fish in the Mill Pond. Maybe they just come to sit and visit with a friend. There is a group meeting there now and walking once a week, so maybe they are just there for a little healthy activity.

It makes more sense to punish those that are destroying/vandalizing things in our community rather than to take away something that was bought and paid for by taxpayers, not to mention a number of community organizations that have put money into the park.

The council needs to seriously rethink their plan in regard to this issue.