By SCOTT JORGENSEN
IVN Staff Writer

Potential liability and lack of maintenance is prompting the city of Cave Junction to shut down its skate facility in Jubilee Park.

Mayor Tony Paulson said the park’s deteriorating structure was brought to his attention when concerned parents phoned city hall. Paulson subsequently went to investigate, and found the park to be unsafe.

“We’ve got rotting wood under everything,” Paulson said. “There are too many issues here that are too dangerous.”

The park has been in place at Jubilee Park for around a decade. But the project was troubled from the beginning by a lack of proper planning, which has led to the current problems.

Good Intentions Paved Way for Future Failure

Paulson sat in his office Friday, March 23 going through the minutes of city council meetings as far back as 1996. The skate park popped up periodically, with the council taking a largely supportive but hands-off role, Paulson said.

No construction plans or schedule were in place, even well into 1997. Further complicating matters was the fact that Thom LeGay, one of the original supporters of the skate park, resigned from its committee in February 1998, citing lack of community support.

Paulson said that troubled origins plagued the park from the start, a pattern repeated to this day.

“There was nothing ever put in place to make it organized and make sure it was done right,” Paulson said. “It’s been 10 years of broken commitments.”

Shifting Responsibilities

Maintenance originally was taken on by the former Community Response Team (CRT), which evolved into Illinois Valley Community Development Organization. That group kept that responsibility until 2004, at which point CRT President George Fence asked The Shining Stars to take it on.

The park had already deteriorated considerably by then, said Sandy Lilly, the group’s co-president and skate park committee chairman.

“We took it over when it was already rotted out,” Lilly said. “It was a mess.”

That organization attempted to fix problems as they came up, but has reached the limits of what it can do, Lilly said.

“We fixed it as best we could to get us here today,” she said. “But there are no Band-Aids left. We can’t Band-Aid it anymore.”

Aside from that, Lilly said that the Shining Stars organization is down to five board members and that personal obligations have prevented them from taking care of the park.

“It’s disheartening. All our lives are quite full,” Lilly said. Current Problems Noted

Paulson said the decision to close the skate park did not come easily for him. But practical considerations left no other options.

“Everybody seems to agree that there’s a need for it,” Paulson said. “But nobody wants to take it over.”

The mayor estimates that fixing the park would cost at least $30,000.

“I’m thinking it’s higher than that,” he said.

Materials alone would run around $2,000, which does not include labor. Also, any structure higher than 4 feet needs to be engineered, driving costs even higher.

A Better Future?

Lilly said the ultimate solution would be to build a more permanent structure.

"We definitely have to have a new one built,” Lilly said. “The real goal here is to have a concrete one like all the different skate parks around, which takes a lot of money.”

However, Lilly is confident that Illinois Valley residents would be willing to band together to help make it happen.

“I hope people get involved — grant writers, or whoever it takes to make this happen in our valley,” Lilly said. “Every other little town has made it happen, so I know we can too.”

‘Nothing to Do, Nowhere to Go’

Thursday afternoon, March 22, Rick Butts sat at the skate park along with a half-dozen of his friends. Butts, 18, just started skating last year, but said he does it every day.

Among those gathered at the park that day, half don’t even skate. But the park is one of few places they feel comfortable hanging out, and they all admit they would otherwise be at home playing video games.

Butts and the other skaters wonder why a simple “Skate at your own risk” sign wouldn’t suffice to alleviate the city’s liability. Skaters, they said, are aware of the potential hazards that accompany their hobby.

“It’s a dangerous sport to begin with,” Butts said.

The skaters point out that the park gets a lot of use, especially during the summer, and even on rainy days. Closing the park may force them to skate on private property, and there are no police around to stop them from doing so.

Lilly said she is aware of those issues, and so is the city. But that’s why she feels it’s important for residents to step up and be part of the solution to establish a newer, better skate park.

“I really want our kids to have it. They need it. It’s a great outlet,” Lilly said. “We just need help.”