New idea may bring more cash to county

Friday night, 12 years of education was narrowed down to an hour and a half celebration as the class of 2008 was pronounced graduates of Warren County High School. Nunley Stadium was overflowing with tears of joy as family and friends gathered to watch their high school seniors walk across the stage. Parking lots were overflowing and even a few entrepreneurs cashed in on the large turnout. Several folks found some extra income by charging people to park in their yards. Not a bad idea, I only wish I had some land around Nunley Stadium. Maybe next year I can operate a shuttle bus running people to and from graduation. People can park over in the Bi-Lo shopping center and for a small fee ‘ let’s say $5 ‘ I will drive them to the stadium and pick them back up after the ceremony. My family and I arrived around 5:45 in order to get a good seat. If we had waited 15-20 minutes longer, there’s no telling where we would have been sitting. By 6 p.m. the stadium was starting to fill to capacity, with only the top rows and seating room around the bowl available. I’m glad we got there early, but it left me with over an hour of free time on my hands. So naturally I started thinking of ways to improve the seating problem and in the process, came up with a great way to put money into the Warren County school system. Over 4,000 people attended Friday night’s graduation, with some saying it was closer to 5,000. So let’s split the difference and use the number 4,500. Now, I know with the way the economy is today, things are tight. Prices are rocketing out of control. All the athletic departments at the high school have experienced extra fuel costs this year, and from the looks of things it’s not going to get any better. All the programs, including the band, are always in need of money for one project or another: New uniforms, field maintenance or even some much-needed money for coaches. So here’s a fairly rational solution to help fund our athletic programs: Charge admission to the graduation ceremony and, if they want to take it a step farther, add a parking pass in on the deal. Take 4,500 people and multiply that by $5 and we would have a grand total of $22,500, which would go a long ways in fuel cost for buses for all the athletic programs. Taxes wouldn’t have to be raised, and there would be no lengthy debate among the county commissioners on how to fund the rising fuel cost. Everyone would pay $5 bucks to see their kid graduate. Now, this may sound silly to some of you. and you know I’m just kidding, but I can say it sounds more reasonable than raising the cost of admission at the Gilley Pool. Paying $8 to swim is just not acceptable. Businesses close all the time because they price themselves out of business or make bad decisions, and from where I’m standing that’s exactly what the city is doing. All this squabbling between city and county over whether one group should pay more to use the pool than the other is doing nothing but causing more problems for a community, which has a real problem in the way of needing more jobs and new industry. That’s what we need, not an increase in pool prices. Provide the fine people of McMinnville and Warren County with new industry and new jobs and the $4 price increase won’t be a big issue. But with a slumping economy four dollars is just way too much for the average family to bear if using the pool on a regular basis. If the egos of the city and county administrators continue to clash, then the division between city and county will be the downfall of our community.