Kudos to the Parks Dept.

To the Editor:

As president of the board of directors of the Cape Girardeau Youth Baseball League, I would like to take this opportunity to thank and commend the Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department for an outstanding job this past summer.

Field maintenance, condition and availability have never been better. The attitude and spirit of the cooperation exemplified by all those within this department was extremely positive. The level of communication maintained by the department staff and our division heads helped our seasons run as smooth as can be remembered.

The willingness of the staff to take suggestions and implement available resources was instrumental in allowing our league to complete some much-needed capital improvement projects. Not the least of these was the construction of a new concession stand and storage facility as well as the renovation of existing shelter between fields 10 and 11. This project was completed ahead of schedule, allowing our league to use it for the entire season. This addition to Arena Park not only provides our league with a very nice facility but will benefit anyone from our community using these fields in the future.

Much too often the condition of our fields, and parks in general, is taken for granted. When things aren't just right, it is easy to point fingers and complain. We certainly understand that weather, manpower and budgets affect this equation. This being said, we feel this makes the efforts of all those involved even more commendable given the budget constraints of the city, and more specifically the Parks and Recreation Department, have had to deal with.

Without the efforts of Dan Muser, Scott Williams, Kaed Horrell and everyone else in the department, none of this would have been possible. Thanks to all for a job well done.

PERCY HUSTON,

Cape Girardeau