10.11.06

Fremont closes its skate park
By Don Bowen---Tribune Staff

Fremont's Skate park is closed ---- at least temporarily.

At the regular meeting of the Fremont City Council Tuesday night, council members unanimously voted to fence in the skate park and post closed signs.

The vote, which was not on the original agenda, was taken because the state's municipal insurance cooperative informed its member cities a recent Nebraska Supreme Court ruling voided previous protection against lawsuits for skate park injuries.
Fremont City Attorney Dean Skokan told council members the ruling means the city's skate park at Miller Park is no longer insured.

But the attorney said the fence and signs around the skate park aren't enough. Either Parks and Recreation Department staff or police officers will have to monitor the area to make sure Fremont's skateboarding and inline skating youths don't disregard the situation and use the park anyway.

A memorandum from the director of the League of Nebraska Municipalities' insurance cooperative, League Association of Risk Management, states the group's board of directors will "consider if it will provide coverage for skateboard parks."
Interim city administrator Derril Marshall said that means the group has to find an insurance company willing to underwrite the coverage.

The timetable to remedy the situation is up to the League Association of Risk Management officials, Skokan said.

"I have no idea how many companies cover this or even if we can buy insurance separately for the skate park," he said.

Council member Scott Schaller said he's worried about the teens and young adults who use the skateboard park. Without it, many of the skateboarders are likely to ride their skateboards in other areas around the city, creating a potential danger for them and a potential nuisance for other residents and business owners.

Council member Mary Marsh said the city needs to reach out to them to let them understand the situation.

"They need to know that this may not be permanent,"said Marsh. "We hope we're able to reopen the park."

Schaller actively helped raise about $75,000 of $125,000 needed to build the specialty park for skateboarders and inline skaters that opened in early 2003. The park was developed after skateboarders using downtown sidewalks and parking areas became such a problem that they were outlawed six years before the park opened.

With the memo from the insurance cooperative, North Platte has already closed its skateboard park, said Marshall. The skateboard park at Columbus, however, remains open because Columbus doesn't use the cooperative to insure its park.

jake walker
photo: tyler roberts


jake walker
photo: tyler roberts


lucas webber
photo: tyler roberts


tyler roberts
photo: jake walker


shawn root
photo: tyler roberts