It's time to mend the fences and move on to the needs of the county.

One of the main reasons families move into our county is our school system. I know that had a tremendous effect on our family when we moved to Fayette County 10 years ago.

The main goal of any county should be to provide the best education for our students; however, I believe they have lost sight of the importance athletics play in the growth of a school or school system.

Granted, we do not send our students to school just for athletics, but it plays an important part in the growth of those that choose to participate, along with providing the non-athlete an opportunity to show school spirit and unity. Also, our recreational program is one of the largest in the state in participation.

When they get to high school, are we going to deprive them of an opportunity to continue in athletics? In some of the recent articles that have been printed in the newspapers concerning booster clubs, it is obvious that our school system monies should be spent on improving educational needs, but when you build a new school, educational and athletic needs [sic] to meet that school's need. This has not been done in the last two schools (Fayette County and Starr's Mill) that have been built.

The first example is the new Fayette County High School. We built a new school and, due to the existing athletic facilities, only a new gym was needed. However, the existing facilities included dingy locker rooms for football, a small wrestling room for practice and a weight room. The locker rooms were used by not only Fayette High, but visiting teams and, the last two years, by Starr's Mill High School. These locker rooms have shower and bathroom facilities that need to be gutted out and completely overhauled to be of any use.

Just think of the impression our county is making when we have facilities like this.

Now you say what about the new locker rooms at the new school? Well, they are located in the gym and since some people who are not sports oriented complained about the size of our new gym (I guess they wanted to build another box like we had at the old school), they decided to put the gym on the other side of the world instead of its original location which would have been right across Tiger Trail next to the football field. So therefore those facilities are of no use for football.

So why didn't the [school board] take that into account and refurbish the existing facilities? The wrestling room was converted into a new weight room by the county and plans are to use the old gym for our new wrestling area. We must thank the [board] for at least finishing two projects before our 1998 football season was complete.

Those include our new plaza that allows us to close Tiger Trail during football games to allow our fans and visitors to cross the street without worrying about traffic. Also, the [board], at our request, knocked some walls out of the existing facility to allow Starr's Mill to have a dressing room for their football games since they were having to play their home games at Tiger Stadium.

But, I must say that these projects took longer to complete than all of us expected because of the shortage of manpower in our maintenance department. It seems that the [board] is still trying to run its maintenance department like we only have two schools.

If the maintenance department, which is responsible for all of the schools in Fayette County, is understaffed by the [board], then the head of maintenance should have the [board's] approval to bid out the jobs so that they get completed in a timely manner and not drag on as they do now.

If the [board] would realize their responsibilities and do it right from the start, then they could put the responsibility back on the booster clubs to expand and maintain their facilities instead of trying to burden them with the [board's] responsibilities of building or repairing them.

For the past five years I have been and continue to be a booster club board member with Fayette County High School. We have raised thousands of dollars to improve our facilities over the past five years, and will continue to do so in the future. We take our responsibilities seriously and spend our money wisely among all the sports.

I welcome any and all school board members to come to our meetings and see what we are faced with in raising funds just to allow all of our student athletes a chance to participate in all sports.

Without the booster club, Fayette County would have to scale back the number of sports and teams that are now available today. That would mean less participants, which means we now have more students without something to do unless you call meeting in an Accord parking lot a viable thing to do.

It is time to repair the feelings between the school board and the citizens of Fayette County. Not only are the student athletes being punished, but the future of Fayette County education.

I urge all citizens of Fayette County to support our new school board by asking them to place on the ballot once again for vote the monies that are needed to keep our [school system] running in the efficient manner that we all expect.

In the meantime, they must repair the damage that has put them in the position they now stand. Complete all repairs and refurbishing of the existing facilities at Fayette High School. Build a softball field on campus which if I'm not mistaken was part of the original bond issue, which if that's the case, this must be done now.

Build Starr's Mill a football field, baseball field, softball field and locker rooms. They may not meet what Starr's Mill is looking for, but if they had something to build on, I'm sure their booster club could expand on what the [board] provides. They already have a tremendous burden on them by starting up a new program without the [board] adding any more pressure on them by not providing them with these facilities.

If the school board replies to these issues in a positive manner, I'm sure that the citizens of Fayette County would rally around their needs to see us into the next century. I urge and challenge the school board to accomplish these projects in a swift and timely manner.