ATHABASCA – Some things just leave you scratching your head.
That seemed to be the sentiment in Athabasca town council chambers Feb. 1 as Supt. of public works Graeme Douglas delivered the January report from the Parks department. The headscratcher? Why would someone drive their sled through the playground at Riverfront Park which includes the splash park and the skate park?
Not Little Billy’s traditional wood toboggan that he got from Santa, but a full-sized snowmobile. Whether there was any damage to either the skatepark or splash park won’t be determined until spring.
“Snowmobilers were found to be jumping their machines in the skate park and have also been driving over the spray park surface. The concrete in the skate park already requires patching so I am hoping there is no damage to the surface or metal rails. The spray park toys have so far not been damaged but the snowmobile tracks could damage the rubberized coating, especially at cold temperatures,” read Parks foreman Warren Zyla’s report.
Coun. Ida Edwards wondered if the local snowmobile club had been notified, not because she thought it may be a member, but because they may have more knowledge to find who would do that, considering the dangers to themselves and the potential for damage.
“I can guarantee you that person does not belong to the snowmobile club,” said Douglas.
“But it’s good for them to know someone is giving snowmobilers a bad name,” said Edwards.
Coun. Loretta Prosser questioned why they haven’t been caught by either the community peace officer, or the police, but mayor Rob Balay pointed out these incidents were happening at night.
“Everybody knows who they are, it’s just a matter of catching them,” said Douglas.
“There’s other things that we’re looking at doing,” he continued, without going into specifics. “Especially around the spray park because of the matting on the spray park. Warren and I have been talking about putting up a snow fence. It won’t stop anybody, but it will make them go around. The biggest thing is keeping them off of that spray park. That matting is an insanely expensive surface.”
