(The Pierce County Recreation Board discussed and/or voted on the following during their monthly meeting Tuesday, May 5.)
Patterson field rentals: Fourth District County Commissioner David Lowman addressed the board regarding fees being assessed for use of the Patterson Recreation Fields. The rec board leases the fields from the City of Patterson. Lowman said his grandson’s travel ball team uses the facility and the team has been charged. Rec department employees Constance Drew and Derrail Moore said they applied the standard fee for field rentals for teams that are not a part of the recreation program. Lowman said nine of the 12 boys on his grandson’s team are Pierce County residents. Recreation board members voted 3-0 to waive the fee if 70 percent or more participants of the travel team are Pierce County residents. Chairman Chris Wright and Members Brad Arington and Jake Stewart voted in favor of the policy. Board members Anna Saucedo and Trey Thompson were not present. Chairman Wright asked if the board’s schedule of fees has ever been approved by the county commission and discovered the answer is no. The county commission will approve the recreation board’s schedule of fees at one of their future meetings.
Post game prayer: Chairman Wright expressed concern coaches were asked not to hold on field prayer/devotions after games. Arington said he was asked to move his team off the field during post-game prayer last week. While no one directly took responsibility for the action, it was implied that omitting the prayer was a scheduling issue, not opposition to the prayer itself. “We should make it mandatory,” said Board Member Jake Stewart. “No one should ever get in trouble for having prayer. We need all the prayer we can get.”
