For the week of August 15 - 21, 2001

Bad apples among ’boarders

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The cities of Ketchum and Hailey, as well as businesses and volunteers, have been unstinting and generous in creating skateboard parks for the Wood River Valley’s growing recreation sport among young people.

Hundreds of young people have welcomed the new facilities and use them safely and responsibly.

But the parks apparently are insufficient for some skateboarders.

A small, but abusive group of ’boarders, with the apparent instinct of a street gang, has now taken the sport to the streets at odd hours—and even onto private property.

The Gail Severn Galley in downtown Ketchum has been the scene of a pre-dawn fire and vandalism, as well as the reported roughing up of the gallery’s owner, all attributed to skateboarders attracted to the property by an underground parking area ramp.

Unable to quell what has become a regular occurrence, Ketchum Police Chief Cal Nevland is considering proposing a new law outlawing skateboarding on private property unless approved by the owner.

Irresponsible skateboarding hasn’t been confined to the gallery, however. Motorists on Ketchum streets are constantly avoiding a few skateboarders zooming down inclined streets. A serious injury or a death one of these days is inevitable.

The first impulse is to ask whether these skateboarders live at home with parents, and to wonder how they can defy parental control so irresponsibly and into the wee hours.

So, lacking parental control, skateboarders who defy rules for responsible behavior and who vandalize or trespass on private property as well as threaten the safety of public thoroughfares need to be dealt with more stringently.

Chief Nevland should be given whatever tools he needs to crack down on rogue skateboarders and end a growing threat to safety and private property in the community.

But Ketchum police can do only so much.

Other skateboarders and community businesses with an interest in seeing the sport conducted safely and responsibly should do their part to identify and try to control rogue ’boarders who turn recreation into reckless and delinquent misbehavior.

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.