New pool fees are too high

Dear editor,

I'm writing in regards to the recent increase in cost to people who wish to swim in the Mountain Home Swimming Pool. The rates have not been increased for some years, but raising them 100 percent from one summer to the next is ludicrous. Parks & Recreation should feel ashamed.

Hiking the entrance fee to the Swimming Pool has now made it so that poverty level families or families with multiple children are the ones being punished, and I believe that someone should look into whether there is a way to help pay for their entrance fees. I know the rate hikes don't sound like a lot of money to some people, but for a struggling parent, it's the difference between allowing your children to swim or paying for something that is a necessity.

Bye bye, fun, for the kids, and now there will be more roaming the streets causing trouble when they could have been enjoying themselves.

WECRD is talking about building a skate park. Really? I think it's all good that it was brought to the table. But again, what has that to do with the majority of the population in Mountain Home? I doubt very highly that you'll find any senior citizens that will be out there with skate boards and not very many additional children will be using it.

Why? Because those same parents that now can't afford to send their children swimming, can't afford to spend the money on a decent skate board, helmet, pads and all the additional things needed for the skate park.

And let's not take into account the ruined clothing that will need to be replaced by accidents at the skate park and hospital bills generated by these accidents. It's rare that a swimming child will end up with head injuries or broken bones, as opposed to skate boarding. I hope the City of Mountain Home has a good insurance policy to go along with that mess.

The swimming pool allows children from different backgrounds to gather together for excitement and fun, interacting with one another, whether splashing each other or playing tag. It is a group-involved sort of entertainment that shouldn't be lost. I don't see skate boarding in the same aspect.

We're always talking about getting our children outside playing, instead of inside, but now I fear that we're going to seclude those kids that need a little boost in life.

Why doesn't the Mountain Home City Parks and Recreation and WECRD get on the same channel for something that is for the WHOLE community, not just a few selected age groups? Swimming is nearly for everyone.

Without the additional pool that would have benefited the entire community, put some of our taxes to a good purpose. Use it to help the swimming pool that now exists. By helping the pool, you are helping the community, and we should all stand as one toward helping our children.

-- Carol Anselment, Mountain Home