Dear Editor,

For over 20 years I sat on the G.F. Rec Commission and during that time the creation of Dick Bartlett Park as a multi use athletic field occurred.

I was also on the Little League Executive at the same time, and between those two fine organizations and the good works of the city of Grand Forks and its outstanding employees, a very decent field of play for multi sports was established.

Volunteers and city employees reached agreement to be able to work together to keep construction costs down and to be able to include the washroom/concession building in the plan.

At the same time there was a ball field at City Park, if one can call a backstop on a lawn a ball field. At that time the city decided that City Park should be more open to other pursuits besides sports. The city park field was decommissioned with the inclusion of the Dick Bartlett complex.

Dick Bartlett fields as well as other sports fields are scheduled through the recreation office and Rec Commission and have never, in my memory, excluded any group wishing to schedule sporting events or tournaments, including those with beer gardens.

Yes the Boundary Wanderers need a place to attract out of town teams to come and play in tournaments. The question is where is it most suitable to multi use and when will the city, Rec commission and others involved come to a decision that includes all user groups both sporting and non-sporting alike?

If together we cannot solve a problem such as this, how can we solve the greater economic issues facing the city today?

One question that must be answered is just how many tournaments will be played in a season by the Wanderers?

This is important as the BMX track for instance, has marketed itself very well in City Park and continually, during their season, brought in out of town guests and interested spectators.

There are certainly some alterations and adjustments needed at Dick Bartlett Park by all user groups to be able to accommodate all users – for instance, placement of the rugby goal posts.

As well, there is a good rugby field at GFSS for practices and individual games, but may not be suitable for tournaments for the Wanderers. At one time there were three ball fields at Hutton school and one at the USCC field on Highway 3 that were included in the scheduling mix, but may not be used at this time.

Certainly there is a workable answer here with a little bit of good communication and a lot less name-calling.

Hopefully common sense will prevail and everyone will understand the benefits of physical activity and the importance of a city serving all its citizens.

Dennis Thome, Christina Lake