Dear Editor,
The pool situation has long passed the stage of lunacy. A few years ago it was determined that the arena was deemed unsafe, a cry went out that a new facility was needed, the citizenry united and the Agrena was built. All the same rhetoric that we are hearing now was thrown about – the taxpayers couldn’t afford it, it’s amount of use couldn’t justify the expense, yada – yada. However, you do what you have to do and the building was built. It is far from perfect, but it’s detractors are few to be found now.
The apparent errors with the pool situation in my humble opinion are many. The problems with the pool’s structure was to adequately communicated over the past 10 years so the community could have been kept up to date with what was needed. Not enough in-put was requested from the communities to allow for needs, affordability and future obligations to be factored into the planning of the facility. The County’s out-dated thinking that rural residents have no need to town recreational facilities and therefore do not need to share equally in their construction and maintenance. No communicating of actual usage of the pool so taxpayers have more of an understanding of the pool’s function in the community.
There seems to be a preconception that it is merely a place for the kiddies to splash around. Many seem unaware of the number of people who use it for their prime exercise, for rehabilitation from injuries and pain management, for pre and post surgical joint replacements and the elderly who need the weightlessness of the water to enable them to enjoy aquasize classes to improve their health. Canadians fixate on being producers of hockey players but on the world stage we are major contenders in all swim related sports and where do those athletes get their start but in pools across the nations.
Perhaps it is time the citizenry should rest this project from the arms of the politicians and put the zest and zeal of the caliber shown with the Agrena and most recently the Kraft Challenge for the Curing Rink and GIT ‘R DONE!
Roberta Conrad
