*** Prosser skate park closer to completion ***

Prosser, Washington -- 04/20/2004
Bill Petersen still needs a little more money, materials and
manpower, but by July he hopes kids will have a place to
skate in Prosser.

After four years of planning and raising money,
construction has started on the Prosser Skate Park.

Petersen, the transportation supervisor for the Prosser School District,

was the impetus behind the project, said City Administrator Ken Carter.

"This wouldn't have happened without Bill," Carter said.

Petersen said he didn't know what he was getting into when he
volunteered at a 1999 Kiwanis Club meeting to help start a
skate park project.

"I signed up as a general helper," Petersen said.
"I didn't know I was going to be chairman."

Make that chairman, volunteer coordinator,
chief fund-raiser and overall good guy.

"He's done a heck of a lot of work on this,"
Carter said.

The city donated a corner of E.J. Miller Park, across from
Keene-Riverview Elementary School, and agreed to use city
equipment and employees to break the ground, but the rest
of the work must be done by volunteers.

Petersen talked his wife, Mary, into writing a grant proposal for
the park three years ago. She previously had worked for the city
and had experience in applying for grants.

He also started selling hot dogs, hamburgers and yards of concrete
to raise money to build the 80 foot by 100 foot concrete pad and
furnish it with ramps, fly boxes and quarter-pipe sweeps so skate
tricksters can practice freestyle moves.

Kevin Hanlon, a Boeing concrete architect who
lives in Prosser, volunteered to design the park.

"We put the grant together, had public hearings
and did the footwork," Petersen said.

Being prepared paid off by placing the grant high
on the state's ranking list -- fifth out of 44 applications.

In August, Petersen was notified of a $60,000 grant,
but they had to match it with $30,000 in cash, labor
and material donations.

"Right now we are about $4,000 away from meeting
that goal," he said. "I want to have kids skating by July."

Although Petersen had put the sweat behind the project, he said
it couldn't have been done without the city, which sponsored the
grant, and the Kiwanis Club, which is tracking donations.

And area skaters have been a big help
in raising money as well, Petersen said.

"The kids are hard to keep excited because they expect instant
results," he said. "But we are trying to do everything we can to
keep them inspired."

Many times, Petersen said, kids who speed down the city's
sidewalks or skate in parking are seen as loiterers. But skating
is a healthy, athletic pastime that builds coordination, and it's a
popular sport that isn't going away, he added.

"When I go to skate parks I see young kids with the parents,
young adults and even middle-aged men," he said.

But in Prosser, there isn't any place for them to go.

"If they don't have any place to go, they find a place," he said.
"Right now, the kids in Prosser have to go to Kennewick or
Yakima to find a skate park. That's a long way for an 8-year-old."

Petersen still is accepting financial and material donations for
the park and needs skilled volunteers to help pour and level
the concrete. He can be reached at 973-2776

Geneb...Wenatchee,Washington-USA
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