Marion County letters to the Editor: Published on Oct. 7

Dear Editor,
If you are a resident of Marion, you probably at one time or another either played tennis on or at least seen the tennis courts located on Withlacoochee Street in Marion – behind Fox Field. Due to years of use and weather abuse and simply age, they have become a potential safety hazard. I’ve heard in recent weeks that they could be possibly locked up and people locked out. It is my understanding that the city has agreed to a certain amount of monies to replace the court but that comes approximately $30,000 short. The responsibility for the rest seems to be at question but at this time that is not my concern. I have two sons – both of which I taught how to play tennis on these courts. I learned to play tennis on these courts when I was a child. I have taught others – of all races to play, and I have worked with young people of both genders. In the grand scheme of things, I realize that tennis does not carry the weight of such local sports as football or basketball.
I understand from a financial standpoint, it does not bring a lot of fans at least at the local level. Thus, there is not a moneymaking aspect at least at this time. If it were, we would probably be more quickly to find a solution.
I know Marion is proud of its football teams, basketball teams, and baseball teams, so on and so forth. My question is simple, how can Marion ever “field” or “court” a competitive tennis team or teams is children aren’t taught the sport. How can a child learn to play tennis without access to a court? As I told some one recently, I don’t know of too many people with a court in their back yard. I have met a lot of young people over the last few months – of all races and genders, which have expressed an interest in trying out for the high school tennis team. How can they, when there are no courts to practice on? From my understanding the high school courts are in poor shape and not an answer, as it has been a common practice for many years than I can recall that the high school tennis teams practice as well as play matches on these courts. Back to the concern, let’s go a step further, how can a tennis team be taken seriously when all the local regions know or realize that our players are not as skilled as theirs due to the fact that we may not have tennis courts to practice on. You can’t play a match in your backyard and there is not a recreation center sponsored tennis league or etc…as there is with other sports. Not everyone can or wants to play football, basketball, and etc…so what are they to do. We all are citizens of Marion. To me, Marion has never been just a city, but a community of caring neighbors, and that should mean so much more.
I know that there are other concerns especially in these economic times but I constantly heat leaders from all professions and walk of life that we need to keep our kids off the streets, give them something to do, build self esteem and character. Why not use tennis? It builds self-respect, self-determination, self-reliance, responsibility and pride. My question to all you is this – How Can We Save the Courts? Remember, this is not just for us but also for future athletes who wish to dream.

Respectfully,
Larry Williams
A concerned parent and citizen

Dear Editor,
I wish to take a moment to tell you about one of your members.
This member is Mr. Scott D. Martin.
Now for the story.
This summer my wife and I were on a long trip in our motor home when one hot summer evening we found ourselves in your lovely town lost, tired and desperately in need of a RV park in which to spend the night. I might add we are both in our 70’s.
Stopping at the Martin’s Service Center for directions we found a true Southern Gentleman, a Mr. Scott Martin!
Seeing how tired and lost we were he went out of his way to make us feel welcome and insisted we use his empty lot behind his service center at no cost to us.
When it become obvious neither his or my electrical cords would reach and carry the load he contacted a friend who bought us a heavy-duty cord, which did.  He did all this at a good deal of trouble to himself and his friend.
If this were not enough he brought us some wonderful Jam’s and Jellies that his wife and daughter had made. (They were delicious by the way).
Not wanting to be any more of a bother we left early the next morning without getting a chance to thank him.
So it is my hope that you folks could let him know that the old couple from Boise Idaho thinks he is just about the greatest person in the world! We pray that God will bless him and his family and make his business prosper. We also pray for God to bless your wonderful town and this Chamber.
I would have also sent this as a letter to the local news paper but wasn’t sure which paper served Marion and just wasn’t sure how to do it. 

Thanks with love,
John and Lou Ann Fitzwater