Skateboard Park Repairable, Should Be Open in Two Weeks
By M. D. Drysdale

The skateboard park in Randolph- which town officials said earlier would have to be closed all summer - can be fixed and opened to the skating public in just a couple of weeks.

That was the news Monday evening from Selectman Ken Goss, who has been working with the town's insurers at the League of Cities and Towns.

The most recent visit showed that the condition of the equipment was "better than we thought," he said and can be put into use about the time school gets out.

That brought a "Good work!" from Selectboard Chair Jim Hutchinson.

However, part of Goss's presentation was challenged by former selectboard member Dawn Butterfield, who serves on the Recreation Committee.

Goss proposed that the ramps and other equipment be completely repainted by the town, noting that the current paint job looks somewhat like graffiti and might encourage other graffiti artists.

Butterfield, however, advocated strongly that the young users should be allowed to paint the structures themselves. When the current equipment was first put up, she said, the users were invited to paint it, and for that reason the appearance was not vandalized until recently.

The town's best response, she suggested, should be to invite a new group of artists- today's younsters- to decorate the skateboard park, within guidelines, of course.

"There are excellent artists in the community," she said, "and this would make them invested in the equipment."

Resident Pamala Yerrington suggested that the town put a primer coat on the equipment and then create a "youth event" that would celebrate the re-opening of the park as well as decorating it.

Butterfield said she would organize such an event, and selectboard members generally agreed that inviting the kids to a painting bee was a good idea.