Peace now reigns on Wendover’s ball fields, kind of.
According to softball organizer Luciano Munoz a compromise was reached between softball players and the West Wendover Recreation District Wednesday.
“We agreed to pay $160 for the rest of the summer,” Munoz said. “It will cool things down for now. But we do plan to attend the next Rec. Board meeting next Tuesday and make our voice heard.”
Tensions between soft ball players and the Recreation District had been growing after the establishment of a ad hoc after season season two weeks ago.
The central issue according to both Munoz and to District Parks and Recreation Director Shawn Gregory was whether the new quasi league should pay for liability insurance for the new season.
According to Gregory the answer was Yes.
“I really don’t want to be the bad guy here,” Gregory said. “And I know these are good guys but in these times where anyone sues at the drop of a hat the Recreation District has to protect itself.”
“We already paid the insurance for this summer’s season,” said Munoz . “Besides these are just pick up games. There are no formal teams. The umpires when we have them aren’t paid. We are just a bunch of players who want to keep our skills up for next season.”
Last week it appear the difference of opinion could land some one in jail. The district put up signs warning that the playing fields had to be reserved for all practices and that police would be called on trespassers.
Tuesday a confrontation was averted by bad weather and the intervention of West Wendover Police Chief Burdell Welsh.
“We had a nice talk for about two hours,” Welsh said. “I explained to them about a civil disobedience arrest and what were its consequences. With the weather being so bad they didn’t play.”
According to Gregory the cost of a liability policy would be between $300 and $400 or less than $30 a player.
In the end the district and the soft ball players agreed to about half that amount.
But while peace now reigns on the diamond, next week’s Recreation Board meeting could be raucous.
“There should be about 100 guys there,” Munoz said.
In a posting on the High Desert Advocate’s web page a blogger named Coach posted: “I think its horse sh** what the rec. Is doing!!! We r paying a big amount to play softball, sponsored or not, we pay too much money for our time to be cut short. I dnt understand why they wanted the season to be done n over with within 1 month of play.. three games a day is nessessry cause we paid for lights… now we r doing our own thing by trying to play pick up games, but if we dnt pay more $ they not gonna let us play?? Seems to me all they want is more $? We are all vaulentery players vaulentary umps we keep our own score why should we have to pay any more money on top of the 700 $ we pay to start a season (late season at that) a lot of ppl look forward to softball season in wendover, but right now our (1) month season is a joke!!!! We pay the money show us the respect we show the rec. With paying our fees??? That’s all I’m saying. …..”
This is unbelievable! These guys who play softball only care about the passion of the sport; nothing more. I have no understanding why the Rec is stonewalling them, but I agree with the blogger – its horsesh*t. So far, there’s an agreement made, but we’ll wait and see for next year what will the rec committee do. Munoz’s got my support for the team, and I’ll be attending the games.
Well I guess Rec board does read the news paper;) I did say something about rest rooms in kids soccer game so they put 2 new removable restrooms. But the snack shop remains close