Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Grammer Help Anyone?

I am known for giving a piece of my mind when I see something in the paper. lol Here's my latest and if you see anything grammer wise I need to fix. Post a comment before I send this off tomorrow. Thanks!


Disappointed and heartbroken are the best words to describe my feelings after reading that once again the City of Nickerson has nixed the idea of a water park. The sad part is that our family don’t even live in Nickerson. We as many other parents in the district, travel to Nickerson often for school, sports, Girl and Boy Scouts, and city activities such as Clear Nearly, The Easter Egg Hunt, and of course Berridge’s.

Are the liability issues that Randy Henry points out that our children may get hurt and the city be accounted for? Well if so , is there a difference between this and the fact that children could get hurt everyday on the old outdated playground equipment at the park? Or the fact that there is no safety mulch under any of the equipment? Oh yes, that’s right! The kids don’t actually play there at the park much anyways. They go to Nickerson Elementary where the PTO raised the money for brand new equipment that many of the parks in Hutchinson now have. May I also point out that last year our T-ball teams were shorted equipment and helmets from Nickerson Rec and when my husband called to ask why he was told there was no money? Who would have been liable if one of our children were knocked out by a flying ball since all the equipment was being used by the older children ball teams and the rec commission couldn‘t afford to buy anymore? Who’s going to be held liable when someone falls through the bleachers at the West Ball Diamond since they are completely falling apart?

Nickerson Council Members, I urge you to get your priorities straight. You have a growing school district and plenty of kids in the surrounding area looking for something to do. This is a great opportunity for the kids to meet during the summer months. I myself have 4 children who would benefit from this idea. Nickerson Elementary is growing one grade and teacher each year! Kindergarten, First, and Second grades have an average of 60 children each. That should tell you something right there. I have fond memories living in Buhler District as a child and my mother driving us to Buhler to the pool there. I think it’s great that Buhler and it’s residents took the initiative to repair their pool for their children. Where’s the dignity in Nickerson? Something we can be proud of?

I feel the need to add, and not to be rude to residents because many already know, but the town looks terrible. If you don’t plan on doing something for the kids then you better have a long To-Do list for landscape and street/downtown development. You have $167,000 surplus budget and yet you ALLOW the town to look like this? Is there any Hometown Pride? Although I do understand the need of a small nest egg and would agree that $167,000 doesn’t buy much, please look at other small towns with similar populations such as Yoder, Buhler, and Sterling. They are landscaped, clean and stores are usually busy. K-96 passes right through or by Nickerson, Haven, Yoder and Sterling but if I was passing through Nickerson on vacation I would most likely wait till we came to Sterling before getting out of my car.

I would encourage Deonna Brown to contact myself and others who would like to help make this a reality for our kids. I also would like to thank the Hutch News for reporting the story and also like to request the staff to keep reporting on what the council plans to “fix” in the city. Please. We are all dying to know.

6 comments:

Laura said...

Sabrina: I made some changes. Here is the new version.


Disappointed and heartbroken are the best words to describe my feelings after reading that once again the City of Nickerson has nixed the idea of a water park. The sad part is that our family doesn’t even live in Nickerson. We, as many other parents in the district, travel to Nickerson often for school, sports, Girl and Boy Scouts, and city activities such as Clear Nearly, The Easter Egg Hunt, and of course Berridge’s.

Are the liability issues that Randy Henry points out that children may get hurt and the city will be responsible? Well if so, is there a difference between this and the fact that children could get hurt everyday on the outdated playground equipment at the park? Or the fact that there is no safety mulch under any of the equipment? Oh yes, that’s right! The kids don’t actually play there at the park much anyways. They go to Nickerson Elementary where the PTO raised the money for brand new equipment that many of the parks in Hutchinson now have. May I also point out that last year, our T-ball teams were shorted equipment and helmets from Nickerson Rec and when my husband called to ask why, he was told there was no money? Who would have been liable if one of our children were knocked out by a flying ball since all the equipment was being used by the older children’s ball teams and the rec commission couldn‘t afford to buy any more? Who is going to be held liable when someone falls through the bleachers at the West Ball Diamond since they are completely falling apart?

Nickerson Council Members, I urge you to get your priorities straight. You have a growing school district and numerous kids in the surrounding area looking for something to do. This is a great opportunity for the kids to meet during the summer months. I myself have 4 children who would benefit from this idea. Nickerson Elementary is growing one grade and teacher each year! Kindergarten, First, and Second grades have an average of 60 children each. That should tell you something right there. I have fond memories living in Buhler District as a child and my mother driving us to Buhler to the pool there. I think it’s great that Buhler and its residents took the initiative to repair their pool for the children. Where’s the dignity in Nickerson? Something we can be proud of?

I feel the need to add, and not to be rude to residents because many already know, but the town looks terrible. If you don’t plan on doing something for the kids, then you better have a long To-Do List for landscape and street/downtown development. You have $167,000 surplus budget and yet you ALLOW the town to look like this? Is there any Hometown Pride? Although I do understand the need for a small nest egg and would agree that $167,000 doesn’t buy much, please look at other small towns with similar populations such as Yoder, Buhler, and Sterling. They are landscaped and clean, and stores are usually busy. K-96 passes right through or by Nickerson, Haven, Yoder, and Sterling, but if I was passing through Nickerson on vacation, I would most likely wait until we came to Sterling before getting out of my car.

I would encourage Deonna Brown to contact myself and others who would like to help make this a reality for our kids. I also would like to thank the Hutch News for reporting the story and also like to request the staff to keep reporting on what the council plans to “fix” in the city. Please, we are all dying to know.

Lindsay said...

Here you go! Thanks for giving the rusty English teacher in me some brain food! :)

Disappointed and heartbroken are the best words to describe my feelings after reading that, once again, the city of Nickerson has nixed the idea of a water park. The sad part is that our family doesn’t even live in Nickerson. We as many other parents in the district, travel to Nickerson often for school, sports, Girls' and Boys' Scouts, and city activities such as Clear Nearly, The Easter Egg Hunt, and of course Berridge’s.

Are the liability issues that Randy Henry points out, that our children may get hurt, really the city's responsibility? Well if so, is there a difference between this and the fact that children could get hurt everyday on the old, outdated playground equipment at the park? Or the fact that there is no safety mulch under any of the equipment? Oh yes, that’s right! The kids don’t actually play there at the park much anyways. They go to Nickerson Elementary where the PTO raised the money for brand new equipment that many of the parks in Hutchinson now have. May I also point out that last year our T-ball teams were shorted equipment and helmets from Nickerson Rec and when my husband called to ask why he was told there was no money? Who would have been liable if one of our children were knocked out by a flying ball since all the equipment was being used by the older children ball teams and the rec commission couldn‘t afford to buy anymore? Who’s going to be held liable when someone falls through the bleachers at the West Ball Diamond since they are completely falling apart?

Nickerson Council Members, I urge you to get your priorities straight. You have a growing school district and plenty of kids in the surrounding area looking for something to do. This is a great opportunity for the kids to meet during the summer months. I myself have 4 children who would benefit from this idea. Nickerson Elementary is growing one class and teacher each year! Kindergarten, First, and Second grades have an average of 60 children each. That should tell you something right there. I have fond memories living in Buhler District as a child and my mother driving us to Buhler, to the pool there. I think it’s great that Buhler and its residents took the initiative to repair their pool for their children. Where’s the dignity in Nickerson? Something we can be proud of?

I feel the need to add, and not to be rude to residents because many already know, but the town looks terrible. If you don’t plan on doing something for the kids then you better have a long To-Do list for landscape and street/downtown development. You have a $167,000 surplus budget and yet you ALLOW the town to look like this? Is there any hometown pride? Although I do understand the need of a small nest egg and would agree that $167,000 doesn’t buy much, please look at other small towns with similar populations such as Yoder, Buhler and Sterling. They are landscaped, clean and stores are usually busy. K-96 passes right through or by Nickerson, Haven, Yoder and Sterling but if I was passing through Nickerson on vacation, I would most likely wait until we came to Sterling before getting out of my car.

I would encourage Deonna Brown to contact me and others who would like to help make the water park a reality for our kids. I also would like to thank the Hutch News for reporting the story and also like to request the staff to keep reporting on what the council plans to “fix” in the city. Please. We are all dying to know.

Kristi Ann said...

I think they both pointed out what I would have.

I hope they reconsider!

Good luck!

Sara K. Parker said...

Bummer. Two experts got to it before I did. I love this kind of stuff. :)

Sara

Lucia's Mom said...

I would remove the paragraph on "I feel the need to add" because it detracts from your overall argument (that the city needs a water park) because it's a different discussion altogether, and makes it less likely to get printed.

Sabrina said...

Thanks for the help! I am sending it today. I cleaned it up with the corrections and cut out a few things making it shorter. I took out the Tball info but left the bleacher line in and told the Opposing Council Members to wake up instead of the priorities straight.

Thanks again!