Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 29, 1993 TAG: 9303290059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Too many Roanokers take for granted the parkway, the mountains and the Roanoke Valley's beauty, he says.
"Mill Mountain is unique. I'm going to miss being able to look out my window at it," says Fenton, Roanoke's departing parks and recreation manager.
As he leaves Roanoke to become director of parks and recreation in Columbus, Ohio, Fenton says he'll miss the mountains, landscape and parks.
"As I flew out of Columbus recently, I found myself looking for the mountains," he said.
Fenton, 45, who has been parks and recreation manager for four years, said he is leaving Roanoke with mixed emotions.
But the opportunity to oversee parks and recreation operations in a city the size of Columbus was too much to turn down, he said.
Columbus, the state capital and home of Ohio State University, has a population of 650,000, with an additional 600,000 in the metropolitan area.
Fenton will head a department that is four times larger than Roanoke's.
Still, Roanoke's parks and recreation program is comparable to Columbus' on a population basis, he said.
"There is nothing to be ashamed of here in Roanoke," he said.
Fenton is returning to the area in Ohio where he started his career nearly 25 years ago.
After graduating from Southern Illinois University, he worked in parks and recreation in suburbs of Columbus and in Marion, Ohio.
In 1984, Fenton became chief of recreation in Chesterfield County in Virginia. He remained there five years until he came to Roanoke in 1989.
Fenton said he is leaving Roanoke' parks and recreation program in good condition.
"If you had asked me that before the city's last two bond issues [that included funds for parks], I might have answered it differently," he said. "We are not all the way to where we want to be, but we are on our way."
But Fenton said the city needs to do a better job of marketing the programs so more people will use them.
The city has hired someone to develop a marketing strategy just as Fenton is leaving.
"I had been wanting such a person on board since I came here," he said.
For many years, parks and recreation programs were considered to be fluff that could be cut if localities got into a budget crunch, he said.
"But that concept is changing as more people learn that parks and recreation affect the quality of life and have an economic impact on a community," Fenton said.
Fenton, who City Manager Bob Herbert said has done "an outstanding job," is leaving behind some suggestions for improvements.
The city has many environmental resources, such as the Roanoke River, that could be used for a nature interpretation and appreciation program, he said.
A possible center for such a program is the building in Wasena Park that housed the Virginia Museum of Transportation before it moved to the old Norfolk and Western freight station, Fenton said.
The museum was moved after it was heavily damaged during the record flood in 1985.
Fenton said the city needs to provide more recreational programs for disabled and elderly people. The city also needs a recreational center for elderly residents, he said.
Regardless of whether Roanoke's Victory Stadium continues to be used for stock-car racing - a move that he opposed because of plans to develop a high-quality running track there - Fenton said the stadium is badly in need of renovation.
"It is a terrific resource for the community, but it is something we need to give attention to," he said.
City officials have estimated that it would cost $750,000 to upgrade the locker rooms, restrooms, seats, stairways and other facilities.
If the stadium is renovated, Fenton predicts it would be used more frequently.
If the people in the community are willing to support college football in the stadium, he believes that's a possibility.
Fenton is concerned that too many people, especially parents, take youth sports too seriously - something he's seen in Roanoke and expects to see in Columbus, too.
Parks and recreation departments need the support of volunteers and parents, Fenton said, but he is worried that some are putting too much pressure on young people to win.
Youngsters are being taught that winning is the only way to be happy, he said.
"We want parents and families to be on the sidelines and we want them to cheer positively," he said. "But we don't want them to be screaming at the referees, coaches and other players."
When kids are lectured by their coaches and parents all the way home about what they did wrong in a game, he said, the benefit and fun of athletics are lost.
"You can learn life skills in sports, but you don't to do it in one year or before you get out of tee ball," Fenton said. "If the stress on the ball field becomes as high as in the classroom, then we have failed."
by CNB