Community involvement

Friday, November 20, 2009

Selectman Tad Putney is an enthusiastic supporter of a lot of Brookline initiatives and his latest endeavor is one that will be a boon to the entire community.

Last year, Putney spearheaded a drive to raise money to build an ice skating rink. That was done. Now, residents have donated more than $3,000 to increase the size of the rink by 50 percent.

Now all we need is some cold weather.

Putney specifically mentioned kids when he spoke to us about the rink, but as he well knows, ice skating is a sport in which nearly anyone can indulge, assuming relatively strong ankles. It’s graceful, it’s exercise, and for the most part, it’s perfectly safe. It’s also something that can bring the entire family off of the couch and out of the house for a few hours.

And thanks to a local contractor and an electrician, who have offered to provide materials to build and wire a warming shed near the rink, people can stay out longer because their toes won’t fall off from the cold. (As everyone knows, the great fear when one ice skates is the falling off of toes.)

The great thing here is that the ice rink is an entirely local, people-oriented project. Last year, it was residents who raised the initial $5,000 that got the rink started and this year, it is residents who have donated the $3,000 to increase its size. As our story last week reported, 60 families, individuals and businesses donated money to the project. That’s fantastic, but no surprise. In New Hampshire, people get involved when a project is worthwhile.

And an ice skating rink easily qualifies as a worthwhile endeavor. We live in a time when exercise is something that is eschewed by a large percentage of the population, especially young people who appear to be trying to set a new standard for obesity. It’s as if some people take pride in being, to put it delicately, a bit too large. It’s hard to understand why anyone would feel that way, but easy to understand how they accomplish it: They sit around, the eat too much, and much of what they eat is junk.

We can’t expect all young people to be athletes, of course. Not everyone can hit a ball or block a blitzing linebacker.

But nearly everyone can ice skate and Brookline residents are making it easier for them to find a safe place to do it. Will a lot of people take advantage of this opportunity? Probably not. But at least the town, through the generosity of residents and the work of Selectman Tad Putney, can say it tried.

That’s something of which to be proud.