TO ALL: CITY, PARISH AND STATE OFFICIALS, and The BUISNESS COMMUNITY:

I believe that it is time for the Officials of Natchitoches Parish to get together and come up with some plans to build a Basketball Complex for the children of this Parish. I say Parish because not all the children that play basketball live in the City limits. There are AAU BASKETBALL TEAMS that have no support and no place to practice. There is no place for tournaments to be held. These kids play their hearts out and are trying to make a difference. They represent Natchitoches with grace and honor and respect. They travel to other cities for tournaments and the complexes are amazing. There are as many as 6 to 8 games going on at one time. If a baseball park can be built, surely a basketball complex can also. After all, not all the children want to play baseball. And the baseball park can only be used at certain times of the year, whereas a basketball complex is an indoor facility that can be used year-round.

The NJH – FRJ School is being closed. If a new building can’t be built, perhaps this building can be renovated and up graded. Since the School Board didn’t maintain and keep the building updated, perhaps they would consider donating it. There is plenty of space and the areas outside could be used of a play area for the smaller kids while the tournaments are going on, and teams could use parts of the grounds to cook or bar-b-cue and feed the players.

But I feel that if all that money could be spent to build Parc Natchitoches for baseball, then it’s only fair that some money be spent to build a BASKETBALL COMPLEX. WAKE UP NATCHITOCHES PARISH and DO SOMETHING. IT IS PAST TIME!!

Rosa Shields
Contact information: (318) 652-0753 or rosa@cp-tel.net