Fields in poor shape

I write to highlight the issue of poor and lacking sports fields in our city. I have to admit I have not attended Albany Parks & Recreation meetings to survey and monitor what is being done for these sports fields, but I have participated in numerous field days and have personally devoted time and dollars to help improve the conditions for the children of our community. I can personally attest to tens of parents who donate their time and money to prep fields just to make them usable. These honorable actions are great, but the city needs to step up and plan/manage our park systems within acceptable limits.

I recently reviewed 12 months of Parks & Rec meeting minutes to survey the action plans for field improvements and I can barely find mention of planning and/or maintenance of our sports fields. Why is this?

Our family has had three children in sports: baseball, softball, soccer, tackle football, basketball and tennis. The condition of these facilities are hazardous in terms of pit holes, granite-like dirt conditions, no baseball dugouts for protection of kids from foul balls, very little or no field improvements and essentially no maintenance and no watering of the green spaces. It is totally wrong for our community to have such downtrodden facilities.

When we travel within Oregon for sports events, we can easily see that Albany is a third-class operation when it comes to parks and recreation as compared to cities north, south, east and west of us. Albany easily claims the honor of having the worst-kept and least-maintained facilities for our children.

It is time for our city leaders and the community to provide ample, sufficient sports fields for our children. Are there not funds for any of these fields? Is the money being routed elsewhere?

I request interested persons to call, write and demand that our city take an active role in changing these conditions.

Leo Clarke, Albany

Change is mandatory

Perhaps many of us may be unaware, but this country has reached the crossroad where we could lose our identity as a government. Because of the war in Iraq and the immense national debt, more than 60 percent of this country is owned by Islamic and European financial cartels. Once these institutions call in their loans, we are fried!

A change of administration is mandatory to allow us to recover from this situation. Dickering about wanting a female president or a black president in the White house should be furthest from our mind.

It is essential that Democrats be placed in Congress and a Democrat placed in the White House.

This is not the time to fuss over having our country elect the first female president or the first black president. Another four years of continued Republican administration will turn this country into a theocratic dictatorship of the very wealthy.

Think about it! Move your mind beyond the local insignificant squabbles.

Allan Jay Silver, Albany