Friday, March 29, 2024
36.0°F

The ongoing turf debate at War Memorial Field

| May 31, 2020 1:00 AM

With the ongoing debate over artificial turf at Memorial Field I wanted to touch on a few more points that haven’t made it into the limelight. Not yet, anyway.

1. Turf cleats will likely be required for any sports where cleats are worn, applying to both home and visiting players. Are North Idaho parents able to afford an extra hundred bucks or so to buy new cleats for each kid?

2. Turf burn skin abrasions hurt like hell and cause far more injury than grass. Will the city be paying for ER visits after little Jimmy gets his face raked with turf?

3. Turf gets hot as hell under sun. By July and August, nobody is gonna want to stand on or near that $3 million heat sink.

4. Can’t pound tent stakes through the turf mat. No more canopies and shade tents, no more Festival at Sandpoint. (But the county already kicked that major economic driver to the curb, so moot point.)

If you think our local government grasps fiscal foresight and common sense, think again. The $4,000 solar trash cans sitting around Sandpoint are proof of that.

JIM LITTLEBIRD

Sagle