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<br />January 16, 1995 <br /> <br />Sl,bject: The Need for a Public Swimming Pool <br />From: Joan Mathis <br /> <br />When my now twenty-eight year-old son was only eight years old, I drove him and several <br />of his friends to a pool for an evening of swimming. Prior to loading the boys onto my <br />tlUck, I had called the manager to make sure that these young black boys would be <br />permitted to swim. He assured me that there would be no problem. With towels around <br />their shoulders, wearing swimming tlUnks, and the happiest of countenances on their <br />faces, they piled out of the tlUck, racing toward the swimming pool. <br /> <br />The gate keeper told them, "I'm sorry, you can't swim herel" I pushed through the cluster <br />of boys to the gatekeeper to assert that I had talked to the manager who had okayed their <br />swimming in the pool. "But he's not here," replied the gatekeeper. <br /> <br />The boys' laughter turned to sheer silence. Of the ride home, I don't remember any <br />conversation--just the silence. <br /> <br />n~l'ugh many racial barriers have been dissolved, a public swimming pool is still non- <br />n;stenl. Perhaps this emotional response to this indelible memory overrides any logical <br />I ~ason for the construction of a public swimming pool which would surely be financially <br />demanding for the City of Paris. Bearing this in mind, it may prove prudent to consider <br />the possibility of purchasing or leasing an existing large pool. <br /> <br />The demands of operating and monitoring a public pool would certainly be imposing; <br />however, it is not a project Paris is incapable of And I strongly feel that such a sacrifice <br />would benefit the youth of our city who have no access to a facility of this kind. <br /> <br />A concerned citizen, <br /> <br />QK4-- ~ <br />~an Mathis <br />