ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 18, 1996 TAG: 9612180029
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
A planned playground for Pulaski County has drawn protests from a nearby resident but got renewed support Tuesday from the Economic Development Board of the town of Pulaski.
J.B. Warner, who lives on Oakhurst Avenue not far from where the Pulaski YMCA is making a site available for the project, said it would be "within 125 feet of my bedroom window."
Warner lodged his protest Monday night before the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors, although he acknowledged that the board was in no position to do anything about it.
"I want you to feel my pain," Warner said. "I look forward to spending the declining years of my life in some kind of peace and tranquility and not have a playground of this sort in my back yard."
The planned Fun Stop Station to be built on a 12,000-square-foot tract at the YMCA is budgeted at $100,000, with the money coming through donations. Volunteer labor will be used to build and assemble its equipment, as has been done in Blacksburg, Wytheville and other nearby localities.
The board had been scheduled to hear from YMCA Director Jack Leahy about supporting the project. Leahy's presentation was called off after Warner and others made their concerns known.
Warner became a major spokesman in the late 1980s for a group that tried unsuccessfully to block development of the Memorial Square Shopping Center on Memorial Avenue in the town of Pulaski. Residents near the since-completed shopping center were concerned about its effect on their properties.
The executive committee of Pulaski's Economic Development Board reaffirmed that agency's support of the project at its meeting Tuesday. The playground effort has been headed by David Venne, who serves on that committee, but other members brought up the move to support it.
Support for the project came earlier from the Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce, School Board, Office on Youth and Recreation Committee, as well as civic groups and businesses throughout the county.
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