Is this best choice for recreation?

To the editor:

Would you send your children to a garbage dump to play? I think not.

Then why are we sending our children to play football and soccer to the Jay County Landfill Park? Is someone just trying to prove how safe it is?

There is no running water for drinking fountains, obviously. It is built on the landfill, this would not be safe. Football and soccer are two of the most active running games these children could play, yet there is no clean running water at the field where they play!

These children are pre-school and first and second grade age, and the only restroom facilities are pit toilets. Pit toilets are not safe for people of any age, especially for  this age children and their even younger siblings.

Saturday was much too cold and windy for the children to be out there. There was standing water between the parking lot and the playing field, so their feet were wet before they even started playing and the wind was brutal. The games should have been called off.

The gravel parking area is not big enough for all the vehicles and the grassy area was much too wet to park on. When the drive isn't wet, it is very dusty and a danger to people with allergies.

Portland has as much or more park area than most cities it's size, why can't these games be played in one of our nice parks or, heaven forbid, one our school play areas?

Has the health department approved this arrangement? It just seems obvious to me this is not a good situation for such young children.

Sincerely, 

Susie Martin

Portland

Lay off

To the editor:

I'm in 7th grade. I hear people say negative things about President Obama and I just don't understand it. Why can't people just stop insulting him and leave the guy alone?

Maybe not all of his ideas seem the greatest, but that doesn't mean that things will turn out terribly.

Besides, we aren't in the White House and don't hold the title of "The President of the United States of America."

A lot of the people who insult the president probably wouldn't do any better at the job. What good will insulting him do? It just makes you sound grumpy.

Obama just became the president officially not too long ago. It will take time for him to fix the economy.

People need to be patient and respect him. After all, I don't see a lot of you people running for president.

He has enough pressure on himself without all of your mean comments. Let's all try to give him a chance and support him.

Deanna Brenner

Portland[[In-content Ad]]