Aquatic center worth price

To the editor,

I just recently came across a letter to the editor from Patty LaRoche written some time ago. This is an expansion of some of her observations and comments.

I, just as Patty did, moved back to Fort Scott from Texas about 10 years ago to raise my children in my smaller hometown of Fort Scott. She and I lived only a few miles apart in the Houston suburbs and we laughed about the fact we were returning to Fort Scott at the very same time...

But it was disappointing to my children to move them away from Spring, Texas with all of the wonderful athletic facilities for children there and return here where they were so lacking. My children would miss the wonderful ball parks, great soccer fields, plentiful pools with active swim teams and huge gymnasium facilities in the Texas suburbs. They have now grown up and have left Fort Scott, most likely never to return. I too found this was not the friendly environment for young people as it was for me when I was a child and we had the YMCA, roller rinks, movie theaters, summer recreation programs, teen town, and downtown shopping, etc.

There isn't anything any longer for children or young adults to do. I believe we will continue to lose our youth, never to see them return, unless we improve the situation for recreational outlets for all of our citizens. And believe it or not, everyone is not interested in fishing or hunting.

Do we want Fort Scott to be just a place for people to retire or a vibrant, progressive city that will attract new young citizens and therefore new business?

I believe the new pool facility is well worth the small price we will pay....We lose much more then money when our young people leave or worse, have nothing to do.

Barbara Doherty Woodward

Fort Scott