Support The Skate Park

To the Editor:

The Donate to Skate campaign is patiently waiting to hear the verdict at the next Fairfield Hills authority meeting. At the February Fairfield Hills meeting, Donate to Skate asked the authority to consider giving the newly forming campaign a different location than the previous one. The fundraising campaign hopes to produce a professionally built skateboard park and donate it back to the Town of Newtown to operate.

In last week’s Bee (March 9), I was excited to see that Donate to Skate is not alone in the endeavor to provide Newtown’s youth with recreational sites. New recreational sites will prove to be beneficial in the fight against drug and alcohol abuse in our town. The Prevention Council Survey done months back produced the alarming facts about the prevalent substance abuse problem in our community.

The suggestions on how to prevent our youth, as well as adult population, from being lured into addiction were to rally as a community to provide facilities for recreation that can help deter our young residents from substance abuse.

Ignoring the facts on the use of substances and the suggestions on how to attempt to stop the problem is an act of negligence from the community as a whole toward our underserved and sometimes misunderstood teen youth population.

In not offering a variety of recreational outlets to all age groups, we can’t blame our teen youth and their parents/guardians assuming they can correct these types of problems on their own.

Drug and alcohol abuse holds no prejudice. It doesn’t matter if you’re smart, religious, good looking, rich, or the opposite of these characteristics; becoming addicted to any substance or destructive behavior doesn’t require any prequalifications.

Newtown is lacking sources of entertainment and recreation (not including organized sports), and in this light, we all should be thinking of ways to combat the threat it bears in potentially ruining the lives of our community residents. The reality is, “even if we do provide choices in leisure/recreational activities, some youths will still be seduced into using substances as a way to escape.” Boredom can affect every age group and isn’t a well tolerated feeling by most people.

I think boredom is most dreaded by teens because of the unique stresses they are forced to cope with in their sensitive adolescent state. In recent articles the words used to describe the interest in providing recreational choices in our town are “Good” and “Nice.” How about — “Life Saving.” Fighting the war on drugs is not a new cliché.

Any group or individual setting out to provide healthy choices of diversion should receive as much support from the entire community as possible. Even if the type of recreation site is not of interest to you, volunteering in any effort that can only bring a positive impact on the war against drugs in our community should at this point be understood as an obligation and responsibility of all our community officials and residents.

Although Donate to Skate won’t have a decision about the property needed to build a skateboard park for about two weeks, we remain positive until further notice. To volunteer, email Donate2SkateKAG@yahoo.com.

Sincerely,

Lori Capozziello

Donate2SkateLC@aol.com

123 Toddy Hill Road, Sandy Hook                              March 14, 2007