Natchez: Where the old South still lives and the new South can’t seem to build a new ball field to save its hoopskirt legacy.

Natchez and Adams County have literally been talking about improving recreation for more than a generation.

Yet, virtually nothing has been done.

In fact, we’re going backward.

A generation ago, Natchez youth had access to a public swimming pool at Duncan Park.

Eventually, the leaking, out-of-date pool was closed with the promise and hope that the City of Natchez would work on finding the funds to build another pool, a newer, safer, easier-to-maintain pool.

Another school year has just begun, signaling another swimless summer for thousands of Natchez-Adams County students.

In the last 20 years, recreation officials have worked hard to maintain what we’ve got, but it’s a battle we’re slowly losing.

Like Havana auto mechanics, who must patch up 1950s cars without access to modern replacement parts because of the embargo, the volunteers and paid recreation staff who keep the city’s existing facilities operating deserve great respect.

Few people can work as much magic as these people can with a few gallons of paint, rakes, shovels and lots of hard work.

But enough is enough.

We need some new, modern facilities.

Heck, I’d be willing to say that if the city and county could simply come together and find the land required, the community could practically build the facilities needed with volunteer help and donated funds.

Our community raises massive money for charities such as the United Way and the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.

We’ve even managed to create a sizable stockpile of matching funds for the Natchez Trails Project. Almost certainly some of that fund-raising drive and the let’s-roll-up-our-sleeves-and-get-to-work attitude could make some amazing progress.

Somehow one almost has to believe that a similar, grassroots effort could give a new recreation complex the boost that it will not get from the political leaders.

Almost everyone says they support efforts to bring a new recreation facility to Natchez-Adams County, but few people in positions of power have the guts to stand up and fight for the youth.

At the city level, we’ve managed to accomplish — through public and private funding — a visitors center, convention center even a federal courthouse. Yet our children play on the same ball fields on which their grandfathers played.

It’s all about money, critics say. Everything is. But chalking it up to only money is missing a huge opportunity.

The county appears to be poised to have a nice surplus of cash this year. Some supervisors are already jockeying to give it back to taxpayers in the form of a temporary tax decrease.

It’s difficult to imagine a decrease — for most folks, probably $50 to $100 on their annual property tax — as having much of an impact on the economy.

While giving a tax cut may seem like a politically smart thing to do, it’s a temporary tax cut that will be quickly forgotten.

Wiser use of the funds would be in building some new, something that could change the course of recreation and quality of life in our area.

It is truly a shame that our community has continually failed to provide top-notch recreation facilities for our youth.

And the children of the new South deserve better.

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com