Attention will turn to softball and the new "complex"

Study this please, then go over and look

Basketball ends most abruptly today (Saturday) for Morris Area Chokio Alberta. Is it possible to start thinking about spring sports yet? Well why not? 

Take a walk past the softball complex on east edge of town, take a look. Compare what you see with the original drawing that was presented to "sell" us on the project. 

What nightmares await for the coming spring? The nightmare of rows of vehicles parked along the shoulders of Prairie Lane, like last year? Vehicles squeezed into the grassy area? They tried a barricade for that for a while last year. Just for a while. Now there's a bunch of tree stumps there. 

Mark Ekren alerted us all about the substantial safety issues created by the parking mess out there. He did this in a public meeting. So if nothing changes or improves, and someone gets hurt there, well it could be hell to pay for someone, or should be.  

Below you'll see a portion of an email I sent to a Morris city councilman this past week. The councilman is someone who I think has a modicum of intelligence. I've known his family a long time. Intelligence seems to be in short supply here sometimes.

 

It is spring so we will have to start watching the "softball complex" again. I am guessing that behind closed doors, certain people have already starting calling this a total fiasco, perhaps with some colorful language. The place is nowhere near to being done, if you look at the original drawing. The high school activities director has stated at a public meeting that the safety issues there are enormous, with the parking. This spring, will we see cars parked along the sides of Prairie Lane going all the way out toward the bypass? Will the new fields be lighted? The funeral home has already gotten headlines for purchasing lights for the place. Where are they? Why does the funeral home do this? They charge a fortune for funerals. Well, Sydney Dietz is a softball player, maybe there's a clue.

The new Holmberg Field is absolutely terrible for accommodating fans. It could not be worse for this. Where was the oversight? Is there oversight now? Is it just a big money pit? What about the ballfields on the public school property - I counted four diamonds up there when I took a walk last summer. A couple of those could have been upgraded, and you have the benefit of the huge paved school parking lot. As for UMM softball, they had a 100 percent great place to play already, no improvement needed at all. I saw where Blaine made a public comment about how the city would not make a second $ contribution. And then the school board disgorged about $220,000 and did this with the pledge that it would be valid even if other entities decided to bow out (like the City). So I congratulate the city on not making a second contribution, but maybe we should be upset that the city made the first contribution. 

I watched part of a Tiger softball game at Wells Park last spring and I couldn't think of a single thing that was missing from the experience there. There was even some off-street parking on the south end. Maybe the bathrooms weren't open yet - I know Blaine had to go to the radio station to explain why bathrooms couldn't be open so soon. Are porta-potties really so terrible? How often do you have to relieve yourself anyway? Wells Park accommodated both the varsity and 'B' team. 

Maybe the story of the softball complex is this: some young professional dudes who just wanted to put this on their resume. I am insulted when I look back at the original groundbreaking photo, and how they gave the impression that this complex was going to be so super. What about the diamond on the east end? It's just a sandlot. What about the diamond on the south side - it is clearly far from finished. And now the old UMM diamond has been torn up? They'll have to remove the old brick dugouts - more trouble than it's worth. They want the diamonds in a tight radius around the pressbox. UMM had a perfectly nice place to play. And, their fans are now going to be shafted at the new diamond. They were very happy at the old diamond, I actually observed it.

The councilperson responded in short order, informed me that the city only had "monetary" involvement with the softball complex, was thus not involved in its planning. I take that to mean the city wishes to wash its hands of it. He also said he thought my issues would be addressed in "phase 3" of the project. 

Fine, but I doubt anything can be cone to remedy the horrible fan viewing experience at the new main varsity field. Why isn't the local commercial media highlighting this? Too many suck-ups, to be sure. All it takes is one person to start asking questions, then people can feel more free.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com