Proposed skateboard ban draws ire

By BOB GIBBINS

TAHLEQUAH DAILY PRESS — Tahlequah city councilors voted 3-0 Monday night to take no action on a proposed skateboard ban in Norris Park.

Prior to the vote, the council listened at length as several members of the audience spoke in opposition to the proposed ordinance. Ward 3 Councilor Maurice Turney suggested the tabling action.

“It’s unfortunate that Mr. Spears isn’t here tonight,” Turney said. “I think we need to have a full council here to vote, and I think we need some time to reflect on the things that were heard tonight.”

Mayor Ken Purdy announced at the opening of the discussion that Spears was “regretfully out of town” and read a letter from the councilor that called for protection of an invaluable resource – Norris Park – and suggested continued support for a skate park, provided skateboarders heeded the ban and refrained from vandalizing Norris Park.

City Attorney Park Medearis, also listed on the agenda as a sponsor of the ordinance, was also not in attendance.

One member of the audience, Jeremiah Easterling, became agitated when he returned to the podium to speak for a second time about the ordinance and took offense that the council was asking the skate boarders to refrain from vulgar language and act responsibly when Assistant City Administrator Kevin Smith tried to fight with him at Norris Park and called him a “punk” and “fish hook,” referring to Easterling’s lip piercing.

“You made your point with the police department,” Purdy told Easterling in an attempt to stop his comment. “There’s two sides to every story and I’m not going to ask Kevin to make any statement tonight.”

Easterling continued to speak about his exchange with Smith, as he returned to his seat in the back of the council chambers and Purdy said, “It’s against the law to disrupt a peaceable assembly.”

Smith, when asked after the meeting, said he didn’t try to get Easterling or any of other skateboarders to fight. He said he did call Easterling a punk and fish hook, but only after Easterling allegedly threatened him. “He said he would crush my throat with his skateboard,” Smith said. “Did I think he’d try it? Yeah, there was a chance.”

Smith said he was in the Norris Park area trying to address concerns of business owners in the area concerning the condition of the park. He said he called the police department and Police Chief Steve Farmer was also in the area attempting to respond to business owners' concerns. Smith said he, Purdy and Farmer received an e-mail about the concerns earlier that day.

On his first visit to the podium, Easterling said he’s been skateboarding for eight years and banning skateboards from Norris Park won’t stop the vandalism problem.

“I’ve fixed the gazebo more than once,” he told the council. “I’ve picked up trash. I’ve painted the gazebo.”

He suggested installing monitoring and surveillance equipment in the park.

“They [vandals] won’t do it if they know they’re being watched,” he said.

Jered Burright said he has skateboarded and has children who do now, and all the police do is drive by Norris Park real slow and attempt to intimidate people.

Farmer said officers can’t make arrests for vandalism unless they personally observe it committed or someone signs a complaint.

“We try to patrol all areas of the city as much as possible and we’ve done some walk-throughs in the parks,” he said. “It’s going to take a community effort to stop [the vandalism].”

Fire Chief Ray Hammons said firefighters have gone to Norris Park on occasion and cleaned up after the vandals.

Other parents said they don’t allow their skateboarding children to go to the area the city is building as a skate park for safety reasons. They said paint huffers [inhalers], drunks, drug sales and other activity occurs in that area.

“The skate park is secluded,” said Bryan Jones. “It only draws people who want to be secluded.”

He suggested the people involved get to know each other and talk. He said he lives in Hulbert and works in Tahlequah. He said Hulbert has a good skate park that skateboarders use. He also downplayed the city’s use of an expert from Texas to design its skatepark and suggested asking the local skateboarders what they want.

“I was a party to bringing in that expertise,” Purdy said. “We had about 50-75 kids here at a meeting and we asked them. If you want to find fault with the way we did that, that’s your opinion.”

Jo Ashing said she also has problems with the skate park. She said she had more equipment in her back yard than the skate park has.

“None of us were perfect adolescents,” she said. “They think you’re trying to stifle them. Norris Park wasn’t put there for a chosen few.”

Lori Smiley said she supports a skateboard ban at Norris Park. She said the proposed ban isn’t for children, but rather for an item – skateboards. She said an incident mentioned earlier that occurred during the movies in the park involved skateboarders. She said a stronger police presence could help.

“We’re wasting a lot of money cleaning up debris,” she said.

Parks Supervisor Charles Poteet said the vandalism is higher at Norris Park than any other property his department maintains. Michelle Schmidt asked the council to remember that Norris Park is also near some bars.

Burright said he’s only heard the skateboarders say they’ve helped with clean up and suggested others help, if it’s a problem.

Purdy said no one has said the vandalism is exclusively because of the skateboarders.

“The city does have a problem with the vulgarity, profanity and profane graffiti in that area,” he said. “The people who complain to me, Mr. Smith and the police department tell us it’s the skateboard users.”

Smith agreed.

“It’s not necessarily just about the skateboarders,” he said. “I don’t think this ordinance is going to take care of the vandalism.”

The ordinance will return to the council agenda at a special meeting June 21.

What’s next

The Tahlequah City Council will meet Monday, July 21 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at City Hall.