Commentary: Miracle League Is Just What Rogers Needs

It’s Time To Move Foward With Public Arts Plan For City

Great news from City Hall: Officials are considering building a Miracle League ballpark as part of the Mount Hebron park complex in southwest Rogers.

This is a much-needed addition to our parks system.

Many of you may not be familiar with the Miracle League, which was formed in 1997. That was when a youth baseball coach in Georgia, Eddie Bagwell, invited a child with a disability to play on the team. Michael was 7, in a wheelchair and there cheering on his little brother, according to miracleleague.com.

Michael blazed the path for other kids with disabilities on those Georgia fields, and soon so many kids were playing, a league was form. The Miracle League was born.

It soon became evident the fields for America's Pastime weren't designed for kids in wheelchairs, on crutches and with visual impairments. So the good folks in greater Atlanta built a special field designed to protect kids, just in case.

Anyone who knows Gary Townzen, alderman, barber, historian and baseball aficionado, isn't surprised this St. Louis Cardinals fan is leading the charge to get a Miracle League in Rogers. He eats/sleeps/lives baseball, and no doubt wants to pass his love of the sport on to others.

There are only two Miracle Leagues in Arkansas, the nearest in Springdale. Kids in the league play two, seven-week seasons at Tyson Park. One is ongoing if you are interested in seeing what Miracle League is all about, or if just want to enjoy a day at the ballpark.

If the Miracle League comes to fruition in Rogers, there will be many opportunities to support the league and its players. It's never too soon to let the Parks and Recreation departments know you want to be involved.

If you think this is important for young people in our area, show your support now. Let your alderman and the mayor know.

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It's been a while since the proposal to establish a public art policy in Rogers was broached. Word is there has been some discussion as to how this might be approached, but apparently it has been on the down-low -- today's equivalent to the smoky, backroom.

I was in Wichita earlier this month, and they have public art there. Yep, Wichita, Kan., home of wind, flatlands and a lot of the nation's aeronautics industry.

Wichita wasn't the first place I thought of when I thought of public art, but, driving down the street, I spied a cow and calf. In days gone by, the real thing probably wasn't an unusual site on city streets. These appeared to be cast in bronze.

After checking into our hotel, we hit the walk alongside the Arkansas River, where we could see the Keeper of the Plains statue, which is one big piece of public art. He stands at the confluence of the Big and Little Arkansas rivers, a sacred location to many Native Americans.

He's 44 feet tall and stands on a 30-foot tall rock promontory. An adjacent pedestrian suspension bridge is held by structures which, to me, evoke the flames that burn at the Keeper's feet each night. They are pretty arty, too.

In addition to the Keeper, I saw a bear and a buffalo, or maybe he was a bison, or maybe just a bull with horns. This was Wichita, mind you, and it was too cold and windy on this early April day to find a parking space and hike back to his spot near the river to see if he had an information plaque. But he was striking -- you needed sunglasses to look at him, he was so shiny.

The Keeper was erected in 1974 , and in 1991, Wichita adopted a plan by which public art was included in capital improvement projects. Art decorates everything from tree grates to bridges to street pavers and retaining walls.

That's what we need in Rogers: a plan, one that is proactive in seeing that art is added to public spaces. With all the capital improvement projects ongoing, it makes sense public art be tied to them in some manner. Private money can still be used, but it takes someone, or a group of someones, to seek out these resources.

It is time to move forward; Rogers is already late to this game; there is no need to get further behind.

Besides, I have this vision of gleaming apple trees and eagles and trains, all saluting our history -- today and in the future.

Commentary on 04/24/2014

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