Thou shalt not skateboard on campus

     During my time at Murray State, I have been stopped numerous times by law enforcement while on campus. Once in particular, I was stopped for something completely unexpected.
    I wasn’t stopped for running a stop sign, illegal turns or even speeding.
   I was stopped for riding my bicycle “improperly.”
    I couldn’t believe it. I am a freestyle bike rider from Paducah. I have a skate park back home and am used to being able to ride all over town.
    When I came to Murray State a year and a half ago, I found out I no longer had a skate park to frequent every day after classes.
    At Murray State, I saw the campus had many ledges, rails and hills I could use to sharpen and maintain my skills. I thought this wouldn’t be a problem and I began to freestyle off, onto and in between every obstacle on campus. I soon learned the public – well, at least Public Safety - did in fact mind.
    After my run-in with the police, I was upset because I know the old saying, “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” I didn’t want my skills and riding to suffer, but I didn’t know what I could do.
    I was talking to other skateboarders and bike riders when I had an idea: Murray needs a skate park.
    I knew it helped a similar skateboarding and freestyling bike riding situation in Paducah, and I know it would have the same effect in Murray.
    In Paducah, the skateboarders and bicycle riders had no place to ride. Whenever we met in groups to ride, the police would always make us leave.
    We finally got fed up, went to city hall and asked for a place we could call our own. After numerous meetings, votes and presentations, we got our wish: The city of Paducah built us a skate park at an estimated $300,000.
    After its opening, the number of citations given out to riders in the downtown and business areas of Paducah dropped drastically. We now had a place we could proudly call home and the community was happy as well.
    Jamey Spears of the Paducah parks department said its skate park “allows youth in the community an opportunity to get out of the house, exercise and to socialize in person, rather than via Facebook or e-mail.”
    She said it also keeps us off of empty lots and private property, which reduces the number of calls police receive about us.
    I thought this sounded like a solution to the problem many of us found here on campus. But I was still interested in what the University thought about skateboarders and bike riders practicing on campus.
    David DeVoss, director of Public Safety, said Murray State police receive about 40 complaints about skateboarders and bike riders each year, and most involve non-students from the community or out of town.
    To me, this shows not only other students but the Murray skate community is in need of a place to call home.
    Murray State student and skate boarder Alex Villanueva summed up our situation well when he said having a skate park in Murray would keep us off campus but still give us a place for fun, recreation and meeting new people.
    Where there is one skater there are many more. We all just want a place to call our own.