An uninformed and rash decision

To the editor:

As a member of Jackson Underground Dodgeball League, I want to thank the Southeast Missourian for coverage of the board of aldermen's ban on our tournament. However, I felt that some important things were left unsaid:

This motion was sprung without notice at the council meeting, ensuring that JUDL representatives were not there to defend their rights.

Very minor damage, if any, has been done to the upper tennis courts by dodgeball players. Alderman Phil Penzel himself said, "We don't know what kind of damage could occur by playing dodgeball on there." Exactly. When JUDL began playing on the upper courts years ago, the courts were cracked, nets were worn and fences were unkempt.

The parks and recreation director, Shane Anderson, is a major tennis supporter.

JUDL has had zero major problems with the park department or city since its inception three and a half years ago.

We hope that if coverage of this continues, it will not appear to be a benevolent alderman versus a group of roughhousing teenagers but represent what it is: the aldermen making an uninformed, rash decision with little to no regard for the hundreds of people it will affect.

TIM NICOLAI, Jackson