My desire for an ice rink in Peachtree City transcends my use of ice skating as one of my own personal activities.

I have been an artistic skater for over 50 years and I’ve always been grateful for the presence of the business community and/or local government to build and maintain skating facilities for the public. It is a sport that can engage the body and mind of youngsters to octogenarians.

And who wouldn’t prefer that their children be involved in a sport such as skating rather than glued to their Nintendo or computers for hours on end? Skating can teach a young person the value of discipline and practice and build the strength and agility of their bodies as they grow.

This project offers us a unique opportunity to have such a facility at an auspicious time. The land is available and waiting (and it’s not being given to the facility operators).

Of the five ice rinks in the Atlanta metro area, there is no public rink south of Marietta, so a rink in Peachtree City would draw from the entire southern half of Atlanta.

Several thousand Northwest Airlines employees will be moving from Minnesota to the Atlanta area, an easy majority of whom are either hockey fans or players and would be delighted to live close to the airport and to a major ice rink complex.

A man I met at the Peachtree City Classic run said 500 of his company’s employees will be soon moving from Quebec to the Atlanta area and many of them will undoubtedly be ice skating fans, too.

The cost of this facility bond will be between $2 and $3 per month per household depending on the assessed value of your house. How many things can you think of that cost so little?

Very few; perhaps the cost of one Starbucks latté or a fast food burger, and that’s just one each, not per month. It’s certainly less than I spend on gas for driving 120 miles roundtrip to the Cooler in Alpharetta to ice skate. What a bargain this is.

Peachtree City is a desirable place to live and such a sports facility will make it even more so, drawing new residents here, which could help our property values to rise again to the historical values of 10-15 percent higher than the metro area.

Please vote “YES” on the Recreational Facilities Bond on Nov. 4. See The Citizen article, “PTC Rec Bond Vote” article in the 10/18/08 issue for more details.

Chuck Fulton

Peachtree City, Ga.