Thanks to Rich Strucke for alerting me of the new web site (visit it here) created to provide information about the the Nazareth Skate Park, which has its official grand opening on Saturday at 10:00 a.m.
The site includes news, information about the Nazareth Area Skateboard Association (NASA), how to make a financial contribution to the Skate Park, and rules related to the use of the Skate Park.
It also has links of interest and allows comments.
The group did a great job getting this together in advance of the grand opening.
20 comments:
Bernie,
The news is on the home page and you can comment as I did.
The information about NASA is included under the link Mission (Top Left).
Contribution information is included under the link Donations (Top Left).
Rules of Use are included under the link Requirements (Top Left).
And I forgot to mention directions to the Skate Park under Directions link again top left.
All was working fine when I visited earlier and again now at 8:48
Have a great day!
Ross, After making my initial observation, I went back and checked the site and found it. My bad. I deleted my comment claiming I saw no such things.
Guys,
Im sorry..ive been reading these posts concerning this skate park and im just shaking my head.
Let me get one thing straight.. i dont know any one of these kids, and in the long run do i want to know any of them.. I read Ross comments, stating basically the truth of the matter, not really taking sides and "Bernie" feels the need to kinda just throw everything he says under a bus.
My question is simple.. Bernie please slowly..slowly..explain this to me.. I happen to be a local business owner, when i walk outside to MY parking lot, which i paid for, and see 6 kids riding skatebaords on it and i ask them nicely to go somewhere else and there response when walking 200 feet away is "---- you a****le".. bernie --here again.. lets suppose one of these kids was to have an accident on MY property. hmmmm who is responsible?? yeah thats right, im the first one that they come to? the parents first question usually is what was he doing on your lot? yeah exactly..
bernie--heres another one for you.. i happen to know another local business owner in town.. a gentleman who has owned and operated a business for over 40 years. he tells me one day 10 kids are boarding outside his place during business hours when trucks are backing in and out. He goes outside and tells them to leave.. There response was to threaten him to a fight!! He is over 60 yers old.. The kicker of this story was, that MYSTERIOUSLY the next morning his entire building was spraypainted. Bernie, maybe he should have went out and asked the kids to show him some tricks and get to know them though..
Sorry guys, my hands are getting tired i could sit on here all night and go over more and more stories. Truth is, for the lady on a previous post who has an honor roll student, well teach him how to read a big sign that says no skateboarding. they have a park right next to the basketball courts, go over there. Hey, this has been going on for a couple years and Jack Herbst wouldnt give 2 thoughts if his kid didnt do it.
Ross---everything you said is true.. sometimes for people the truth is hard to swallow. the kids are extremely disrespectful when it comes to private property and just plain courtesy. are they the only ones? no.. the arguments people make are reaching... football, baseball, wrestling?? ive never had to kick kids out of my parking lot or driveway for playing football or wrestling..
Ive always said show me some respect and ill return it to you. coming on my property (that i pay the outrageous school tax on), using foul language, then walking away like a coward...sorry thats not respect to me.. i hope they enjoy there park..
Ryan:
Don't apologize. It is one of the most sane posts on this topic to date. No one can get over the fact that a group that doesn't respect our town, property owners, or residents is being rewarded with this venture.
Bernie can talk all he wants but he doesn't KNOW these kids. He may encounter them, and even engage them, but he doesn't know them as well as parents of kids who are their peers do.
Yes, count me among the residents who has had to wait for them to get out of the road. Usually precede by a gesture and followed by an epithet.
You had the nerve to shoo them from private propert? You got spray paint? I got the old nail in the tire.
Your right, Bernie. These are great kids. Just ask their peers. Calling their entity NASA is an insult to rocket scientists because these kids definitely are not.
Ryan,
I like and respect Ross, but he has not been stating "the truth of the matter." He most certainly was taking sides. That is what provoked my responses in the first place. And it provoked responses from others, too.
I don't deny I'm an opinionated dude. I won't deny you had a bad experience. But because you and another business had a bad experience, are all skateboarders necessarily evil? You know that's not true. It's not even logical.
1) It is OK for Shawn Hummer and other police officers to curse and use profanity at Nazareth's childen?;
2) Is it OK for police to suddenly twist the table on kids and seize 18 skateboards, a bike and a dangerous ball when kids are skateboarding at a school, where police have always allowed them to skate before?;
3) It is OK for Nazarerth police to proscute a child for daring to skate in a basketball court, even though it's not even posted?;
4) It is OK for parks personnel to make two children dodge lighning bolts at nazareth park, out in the open, rather than let them take cover in a bathromm during a thunderstorm?;
5) It is OK for you and everyone else to pretend this harassement is nonexistent and deny things like seizures of skatebards?
What's really going on here? The simple truth is that many of us are just afraid of skateboarders because they wear strange clothing and are anti-establishment in a very conformist town. Nazareth just decided to follow the Sunshine Act in December, so this intolerance does not surprise me, but it's still wrong.
You want to talk about being intolerance? Last summer, I received a series of anonymous threatening emails simply for opposing the municipal center expansion in Nazareth. And after criticizing Naz police, it's happening again. How's that for intolerance?
So dude, this is not about disrespectful kids, but is about intolerant adults.
And really, the way Nazareth cops treat skateboarders is a warning sign that should tell all of us things are very much amiss. Borough council knows this. Whay are they scrambling so hard to find a new chief, and one who is not from around here?
1) Why have wages there gone up 67% in the past 5 years?
2) Why is there a 1261% increase in OT for part-timers from last year to this year?
3) Why does the force have an officer like Shawn Hummer? He was ejected from Flurer's a frew weeks ago aftyer getting into a fight. In May, he was in an accident in whiuch he admitted to drinking. The officer who refused to cite him had to resign.
4) Why did officers submit a bill for $1,300 when only $200 was for authorized equipment?
5) Why are officers drawing up their own schedules?
6) Why are officers using profanity at children?
You want to know who does the spraypainting around town? How about who sells the drugs? I know. It's not the skateboarders. But right now, the Nazareth PD is so out of control that it has become ineffective for law enforcement. That's what should really bother you.
Bernie,
Could you elaborate on how I have "not been stating "the truth of the matter." He most certainly was taking sides."?
Thanks!
Ross,
First, you twisted a neutral MC story and stood it on its head, attributing remarks made by Mrs. R to the reporter, and then contradicting them.
Second, you bemoan "the general lack of respect displayed by many of the skateboarders in town." That may be your opinion, but it is not a fact, and should not be portrayed as such.
Third, after criticizing a MC reporter for not getting her facts right, you screw up the facts yourself. You claim the board was never confiscated, out of some desire to cast the police in a good, rather than accurate, light.
You had to retract that assertion. You did so claiming yoiu never wanted toi get into "he said, she said," but that's why you should never have made that false claim in the first place.
Fourth, in comments following your posat, you made clear that you had no intention of trying to engage these kids.
Fifth, in other comments, you told Mrs. R that you would never put yourself in a situation where police might harass you in the first place. That translates to, "Don't skateboard."
Ross, I don't pretend to be neutral. You are the most neutral blogger I know, but you're also human. I admire and respect you, and please don't misconstrue my strong disagreement with personal animosity. You do have a bias against skateboarders. It is evidenty in that post. It's what got me fired up in the first place. I believe that bias has prevented you from looking at the real problem in Nazareth right now. It's not the skateboarders, but an out of control police force.
Bernie to your points:
"you twisted a neutral MC story and stood it on its head, attributing remarks made by Mrs. R to the reporter, and then contradicting them."
This quote from the article was written by the reporter: "The topic of skateboarding has recently become a sore spot for many parents of skaters, who feel their children have been unfairly targeted and cited by Nazareth police."
I wrote, "based on what I saw at the meeting..." And I questioned, not contradicted if it was "many parents" as the reporter wrote or the one who complained at the Council meeting along with one other. Does two people make many? Maybe there were others who called her. I simply asked the question.
"You claim the board was never confiscated,"
I wrote, "To my knowledge and understanding, no one confiscated the individual's skateboard."
I did not state it as a fact but instead my knowledge and understanding from what I heard and overheard at the meeting. As soon as you stated otherwise, I trusted your word and noted the correction in the comments.
"you would never put yourself in a situation where police might harass you in the first place. That translates to, "Don't skateboard."
As a general practice, if I know something is going to get me cited by the police, I don't keep doing it.
You say that these kids have no where to go except public and private property where it is posted no skating.
Now we have the skatepark, so it shouldn't be an issue, but what about their homes? If it is so important to skate, couldn't they build a ramp or get a picnic table and do it in their driveway or backyard like the kids I knew used to?
"You do have a bias against skateboarders."
I don't have a bias against skateboarders, but I do have a bias against people who are disrespectful. It doesn't matter if they ride a skateboard or type, if they are disrespectful, I don't like it and have an immediate bias against them.
I've said over and over again, I don't think every kid with or on a skateboard is a problem and that I think most of them aren't, but they will be perceived as such until the kids who aren't showing respect start doing so.
Yesterday I saw three kids skating off the curbs in the intersection of Whitefield and E. Walnut Street, not even a four way stop and if a car came they'd very slowly and casually get out of the way after finishing their trick.
Is that disrespectful, yes. Is it my opinion, I guess so, but I'd venture to say I'd have enough people sharing the opinion to consider it a fact for most.
Ross,
You keep talking about the kids in the street slowing traffic.
I can go downtown today with my camcorder and capture large numbers of ADULTS doing the exact same thing, only not on skateboards. They just walk across the street and stop traffic since they know someone won't run them over.
You say you don't have a bias against skateboarders, yet comments like this show it.
The police are out of control. They are using their badges to go after these kids. WHY?
Blanket statements are being made about all skaters out there. Yes, they dress different. Yes, they act different. But, to say they all act they same is just irresponsible by every adult and yes, police officer in this community.
The people you are talking about are crossing the street, correct?
Maybe some people have poor judgment when they cross, but there is a difference between using the street and people's private property as a personal playground and crossing the street to get from one side to the other.
On the other hand, as a person who walks a bit and uses the crosswalk, I can also say most drivers have little respect for pedestrians. A vehicle is supposed to stop if a person is in a crosswalk and should not begin to move until the person is back on the sidewalk.
I've had people start going as soon as I'm half-way across and I often have to wait until all the cars have crossed as they won't give a pedestrian a chance to cross.
Again, it's not the skateboarders in general I have a problem with, it is the people who are disrespectful board or not.
Ross, the reporter was simply paraphrasing what Mrs. R had said, and you went on to attribute what Mrs. R was saying to the reporter. That's what started you on your slipperly slope.
Usually most people who are confronted with a charge of bias will deny it vociferously, as you are doing. I won't rehash it. What really disappoints is that your bias has prevented you from looking at the real source of troube.
So you accuse me of misrepresenting facts and bias and if I don't defend myself, I appear guilty, and if I do defend what I wrote, I am guilty because I've pointed out the error in your accusations?
Tough spot you put me in.
Do consider the following as I think I've found how you are mistaken in attacking me over the reporter's statement and reporter summarizing an individual's statement.
In the article, her actual words were:
"The topic of skateboarding has recently become a sore spot for many parents of skaters, who feel their children have been unfairly targeted and cited by Nazareth police."
How does the journalist know it is many parents of skaters? I don't know. Neither do you. You can't take from this quote that it is a paraphrase of a parent. You can come to the conclusion that the reporter spoke with many parents and is reporting that the many parents who were spoken to feel this way.
I observed that after the meeting this reporter spoke with the parent who spoke out during the meeting and with one other parent.
The article was published on July 3, the meeting was night of July 2.
I questioned her use of the term "many" and asked if it in fact was two.
Later in the article, which is where I think you are referring, the story reads, "But they don't, and that's discriminatory, she said, adding that she is one of many parents who feel their children are feeling unfairly singled out."
Here, I would agree it is a reporter summarizing the comments of a person for a story. That is not the case earlier and that is why I brought it up.
For those interested in reading the whole thing it remains here.
Ross,
You said it right, be against people that are disrespectful. To lump all skaters in one group and treat them all as being bad IS disrespectful, and THAT is what the Nazareth PD is doing. THAT is what the parks people did to the kids in the lightning per Bernie's comments.
Why are some of these kids disrespectful? Because that is the way they are being treated.
Am I saying go out and hug a skater? No.
We want the golden rule only when it applies to treatment from these kids, but not the other way.
You stated about drivers when you are in the crosswalk. Does that make all drivers disrespectful? No. But, do you see the PD going after them? Not when there is a skater they can be going after.
Bernie
Youve taken this way way out of context.. first off the discussion was not about the police department. i agree with alot of the "facts" you found out about them. The part that im going to strongly argue with you on is that you think everyone is going to want to have a conversation with some person who was on your property.. the way your/and others comments are directed are very simple. you are saying because there isnt a place for skating to occur its okay for them to do it on your driveway/parking lot. It almost seems like those who wont allow it to happen are at fault accoring to you and Mr Herbst. I love the tone in one of the newspaper clippings, "now hopefully the businesses can take down there no skateboarding signs".
Im sorry to hear some kids couldnt use a bathroom as shelter, did it ever dawn on them to leave there skateboard outside and then come in? are you sure you have the whole truth in the police confiscating the kids board at the park? i had heard the officer repeatedly asked him to not skate there.. then after the 4th time, action was took. Bernie, dont always believe what kids tell you!! what was the cops take on all this?
I will agree with you on some other things, yes people do bike in the roads. yes, people do cross the roads without looking.. yes people do cut you off on the roads, yes people do alot of stupid things. shall we sit here and type all day discussing it? the point ross made was.. When im sitting a stop sign. and 4 kids block the intersection doing "tricks", knowing someone is waiting to proceed, that is disrespectful. If im driving down 191, and some poor slob decides he wants to walk in front of my car, thinking im going to brake, thats not disrectful, thats just plain ignorance.
Bernie, you can take any side you want. you really took one guys comments (Ross) and just totally twisted them around. its fine, you want to sit on here all day and write blogs talking anout what great kids they are, hey thats fine also. you want to set up a lawn chair outside the naz park and watch and see kids getting harassed, i have better things to do with my day. The cops needed to take more action because of the problem that your buddies the skateboarders brought upon themselves. Graffiti, loitering, trespassing, im sorry the cops are trying to crack down. is it right for kids not to skate in a basketball court? i see no problem with it, but rules are rules and when you break them you better be willing to pay the price.
Ryan,
Dude, I can assure you the last thing i want to do is be caught up in all of this. I'm writing about enough other things right now. I'm also glad to see that we agree on some things.
Bernie:
Just to clarify... i dont know who you are and never met you.. you have some really good points that you make on here.. and truthfully i agree with 90 percent of them. i didnt intend to get into a debate with you or anyone. My personal opinion is that Nazareth as a whole has a whole lot more serious problems than some kid skateboarding in a basketball court (i will agree 100 percent with you there). i will also say that if i were to tell these kids not to skate on my lot and they were to JUST go elsewhere, and possibly an "hey sorry man", i would not be writing anything about them nor would my opinion of them be bad.. kids in whole these days really need to grow up and start acting more responsible.. skaters, bikers, basically all of them.. its become a sad situation around here and the rest of the country.
and in the end im hoping that with this new park in place (agree or not it should be there), hopefully this will cut down on the trespassing/private property issues that have become a major issue in the area .
Ryan, No, I'm sorry, but I never had the pleasure of meeting you. Many of your points are very valid. And I share your hope that the skartepark ameliorates the unfortunate tension.
There has been alot of talk on these skateboard threads about dispelling rumors. Let me dispel another one here.
Mrs. R. stated that her child was an honor student. Maybe she is referring to another child, but the one who had his skateboard definitely is not.
This can be confirmed by looking at the Honor Rolls for Nazareth HS in this weeks US. No mention of an Alex R. there.
Making honorsback in 7th grade doesn;t constitute an honor student. So please don't misrepresent
to all of the hard working "perfect" american nazareth citizens who decide to make cute little comments on the lifestyles of us skateboarders,ya know how basically were the scum of society, should take one real long look in the mirror. who are you to judge anyone. you sit behind a computer screen and play god so you can make your miserable life have somewhat of meening to it for that 35 minutes it takes you to think up such witty comments. how about you do this try to ride 10ft on a stupid peice of wood with wheels on it and come back to me and tell me its not a sport or a difficult thing to do. how about the next time you go out to play golf i drive by and yell and beep my horn when your about to swing. how about that for obnoxious. i cant even go out and get a picture taken because people are doing that. or how about when i see you power walking down the street i slow down beep and curse and swear you out. you wanna talk about disrepect. you all are how old and you act like 5th grade girls. grow up! all we wanna do is skateboard why is this a problem?
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