HOOPS: Town Taketh Away but the Lord Giveth
Local youths take advantage of the Baptist Church basketball court on the last day of 2013. (Wave photo)
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
January 1, 2014
Here’s some good news to start off the New Year: Thanks to Cape Charles Baptist Church, local youths’ prayers have been answered — there is now a place in town to shoot hoops.
The church has installed two temporary-type goals on an asphalt pad beside the church edifice. While not offering regulation play, it’s a lot better than nothing, and nobody is complaining.
The Town had been hoop-less since December 26, 2012, when Assistant Town Manager Bob Panek gave orders to Town maintenance workers to remove the hoops and backboards at the Central Park basketball court. The court no longer belonged to the Town, having been sold along with the former Cape Charles High School building to real estate developer J. David McCormack a few days earlier for the price of $10. The terms of sale did not give the Town rights to the basketball goals, but McCormack clearly did not mind that the Town took them down at taxpayers’ expense.
Bob Panek ordered Town staff to take down McCormack’s hoops.
The day the hoops came down, a Wave reporter asked Panek why Town employees were removing private property. Panek (who was in charge while Town Manager Heather Arcos remained on vacation) said he was concerned about liability. If the hoops remained, people might assume the Town owned the basketball court, and if anyone got hurt they might sue the Town.
Later the story changed: McCormack had no desire for the hoops, so they were removed for safekeeping until they could be reused by the Town at a new basketball court.
Last May, two local civic leaders, Lenora Mitchell of Concerned Citizens of Cape Charles, and Wayne Creed of Old School Cape Charles, wrote a letter to McCormack asking him to allow the goals to be temporarily reinstalled. “During the four months since our Town Council gave our school property to Charon Ventures, the young people in our town have been without a place to play basketball.
And McCormack refused residents’ request to allow them to be temporarily reinstalled.
As a condition for rezoning the basketball court property from Open Space to Residential, the Cape Charles Planning Commission stipulated that the court be relocated, but the Town never took any action.
Also in May, Shanty Restaurant owner Jon Dempster urged the Town to build a new basketball court on two Town-owned lots adjacent to the skateboard park on Madison Avenue across from the Old School. Dempster said a full-size court could be built for approximately $30,000, and that the group Citizens for Central Park had offered to be a managing member of the project.
At the time the president of Citizens for Central Park was Bob Panek. Town Council has yet to take any action.
Before the Baptist Church provided a court, youths with nowhere else to go played around on the hoop-less court at Central Park. (Wave photo)
Thank you for this anniversary story. The Cape Charles Baptist Church deserves our thanks for stepping in when the Town dropped the ball and it deserves our gratitude and support for its many other good deeds that benefit the youth of Cape Charles and their families.
Hashing over old news and doing something about it is two different things. Since I live on Madison Avenue approximately 1/2 block from the school, I observed on a daily basis who used the basketball court. I can tell you this — it was not the youth of Cape Charles most of the time, it was adults, parking their cars and using the courts. Now maybe the YOUTH will be able to enjoy the benefit of a place provided for them to play, as when the other courts were in use the children didn’t have a chance to even get on the court most of the time, and frankly if I had a child of that age I probably would not have let them go near it because of the language that was being used during their “shooting hoops.” JUST SAYING.
Thank you Janet! I held my nose long enough to read your comment on the Wave. This “Johnnie-One-Note” article needed your very apt response!
The reason we didn’t find that many kids on the Old School courts, and folks had to drive to get there is because most families have been run, or priced out of Cape Charles. However, my son (who is pictured — the little thug with his cap turned backwards) who is a four-sport athlete, played there many times. The Old School court did host a pretty urban, competitive game, and even my son realized he would have to stand on the sidelines when the big cats were playing (every little kid understands this). No one likes to hear a bunch of cussing, but I’m sure they weren’t inventing anything new that athletes in the heat of competition don’t already hear all the time.
As usual, Pastor Goodrich and the Baptist Church continue to work hard to fill the gaps for our kids. The basketball hoop behind the church helps, but it is not a replacement for the Old School court. The concerns voiced by Mrs. Pruitt and Mrs. Dudley also highlight another dilemma. Where and how are we ever going to replace the courts? As was noted, the old courts hosted a pretty competitive game, and attracted players from all up and down the road, not just kids in Cape Charles. The Old School courts were about as insulated as you are going to get in a town this size. It seems anywhere else, someone is going to have to endure the collateral noise and bustle that will accompany urban ball.
And who exactly, Mr. Creed, has been “run out” of Cape Charles? Names please.
Why Mr. Chandler, have you not noticed the grand Halloween of Cheriton? They can provide their personal identifiable info if they wish, yet if you could only find someone to purchase my home and I could be shut of all this glory, I would gladly turn over my information and wait to respond to your purposes….
Hmm — someone “taketh away” the basketball hoops from beside the old school. I don’t think that actually happened in 2013 but anyway, I live one block from the old basketball court and I can tell you that unless our Cape Charles youth drive a Cadillac Escalade, Nissan Armada, Jeep Grand Cherokee, or a tricked-out Cargo Van (with a boom box that could be heard blocks away) it was not our youth using the court. In fact most weekends, more often than not, the children sat on the grass with their basketball under their arm while the big boys went at it. The obscene language coming off the court was only exceeded by the trash being played on their car stereos. I’m not talking about an F-bomb or the like. Sadly that seems to have become part of the lexicon these days. I’m talking misogynistic, sexually perverse, brain dead filth. I’ve been courtside at pro games and the language can get a little dicey but I’ve never heard anything remotely close to what I heard booming out of those SUV‘s. They were down there off and on all summer.
I saw on tv where they closed some courts in Virginia because the Chief of Police couldn’t keep up with the calls. I read on Google that town councils around the country are closing or re-thinking basketball courts for the same reasons. They create the facilities for local youth who are routinely muscled out by transient older folks who bring behavior problems. No one has the money for supervision and so it goes. It’s become a quality of life issue and harms adjacent property values. You can say it’s not “all that”; just boys being boys. Of course you can say that is as long as it’s not across the street from you.
So along comes The Wave (of which I am a big fan) to give its perspective. Following a long, venerated newspaper tradition of editorial bias via photography, they show an endearing picture of the young boys playing ball with no hoop. But maybe, to be fair and balanced, they should also have shown a picture (w/soundtrack) of one of the SUV’s with the filth spewing out of it for all those children to hear. Supreme Court Judge Potter Stuart when asked to define obscenity said “I know it when I see it.” In this case you would know it when you heard it. Do you want your children exposed to this kind of thing? I don’t think anyone should have to deal with this. I guarantee you won’t hear that coming from the new hoops at the church.
I’m not particularly religious but it seems to me Cape Charles is very fortunate to have our churches. They appear to be the last reliable bastion of decency. They are very good at what they do. No one administers social programs cheaper, better, or faster. They routinely work miracles (I wonder why?) with little or no public funding. We should support and consult with them on matters of sports and youth. Municipalities seem to be incapable of effectively managing things of this nature. No one wants to deny kids a place to play ball but let’s not stick our heads in the sand and ignore the reality of everything that was at the old school court. We did a bad job of managing it — real bad.
Pastor Goodrich saw a need and filled it. Thank God we have good people in Cape Charles who will take the lead where our Town Council fails. The Council did not keep its promise to relocate the courts even though the town owns several vacant lots that are not adjacent to residential zones. Why not next to the Shanty? We just gave away another piece of town-owned land for the Waterman’s Memorial. Surely there is enough space there to include a basketball court.
I hope Pastor Goodrich will consider running for Mayor or Town Council this spring we need people of good conscience and positive action to bring this town together. You’ve got my vote Pastor!