Everybody talks about it but nothing gets done.

It’s a problem we have had for many, many years. City and county officials will say we do not have money for recreation. With the closing of three large plants, things looked bleak.

But let’s see what happened. A large tourist center was built close to the river bridge and a youth detention center was built. A large part of the cost was picked up by the state and federal government, but some cost was paid by local taxes as well as some operating costs for these facilities.

Then the convention center and city auditorium (a much needed project) was completed to the tune of $15 million. The money for all of these projects was found and we are still paying for them now.

We need baseball fields, softball fields, soccer fields, youth football fields and swimming pools. More money will be made from tournaments played in Natchez than from any of the other projects mentioned above. In addition, the people of Natchez can use the facilities or attend games their children or grandchildren play.

It’s something for everyone.

Take a drive through rural Mississippi and you will find athletic fields of all kinds in small and large towns. It would be nice to have all the fields and swimming pools in one place, but if this is too expensive, locate them where you can in the city and county.

Try building several small pools in different parts of town. As far as swimming pools being too expensive and hard to manage, let’s look around. Motels have pools. Garden clubs have pools, country clubs have pools, the Elks and Moose clubs have pools and even a trailer park south of Natchez has a pool. Natchez and Adams County cannot?

This call for recreation has been going on too long. Either our city and county officials don’t care or they do not know how to get this taken care of. Ask your elected officials and people running for office how they will solve this issue.

C.A. Bowlin

Natchez resident