DEAR EDITOR:

I read with great interest the artificial turf story in the MDJ (page 1, March 6, 2010) in which Pete Borden states he would be willing to drop his lawsuit against the CCSD if the artificial turf is used anywhere but a stadium or football field. As the parent of a Kennesaw Mountain High School student, and as an active parent volunteer who helps with field maintenance for both fall and spring athletics, I feel he could not be further off mark in his understanding of facility usage.

Education takes place both in the classroom and throughout our high school campuses. This includes auditoriums, libraries, cafeterias, gyms, and yes - athletic fields. As a whole, Cobb County is fortunate to have well maintained classrooms, and some of our long-existing schools do have adequate non-classroom facilities. However, for those of us at schools built with just the most basic of taxpayer funded athletic facilities, and no private endowments, the possibility of our SPLOST dollars being used for a meaningful capital improvement to this element of our educational facility was welcomed news.

Mr. Borden's impression that artificial turf is somehow just the realm of football season "Friday Night Lights" use is very misguided. At most schools, athletic fields are needed year round, and if available would serve students in boys and girls soccer, lacrosse, marching band, and football multiple days of the week. Similar to the natural grass in Piedmont Park, too much broad-based demand, and either too much or too little water has effectively put these educational assets largely off-limits to any activity many days of the year at several turf-less schools.

I would welcome Mr. Borden coming out to help with field maintenance at our school so he could see the whole picture. Perhaps understanding the many thousands of fundraised dollars and thousands of volunteer man-hours that are needed season after season to simply provide our students with a basic facility would change his mind.

David A. Becker
Marietta