Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The city of Sweet Home closed and locked the skate park on March 6 after skaters tore down and later rebuilt a piece of equipment incorrectly.
“A group of skaters, on Saturday (March 4), decided to take the equipment apart and move it,” Community Development Coordinator Carol Lewis said. The same group or another group put it back together the next day.
When the skaters put the piece back together, they left the bolts up, Lewis said. One of the skaters apparently fell on one of those bolts and cut his knee open.
The skaters had taken apart a series of rectangular pieces, Lewis said. “At this point, those pieces were restored.”
The park will reopen (I saw skaters there the other day) after city workers can finish some additional work, Lewis said. The pyramid needed some maintenance work, and the city is in the process of constructing a security barrier behind the half-pipe.
That’s where the skaters who have been smoking have been going, Lewis said. The park is posted no smoking.
Two youths were cited for trespassing during the closure after they climbed the fence to get into the park.
With the park itself, “we have had almost no trouble” as far as legal issues, Lewis said.