Editor:
Dave Uphoff
The Minonk City Council was blindsided at last Monday night's council meeting when hearing of a request from Fieldcrest's baseball coach to move the home games from Minonk to Wenona. The coach, who goes by the name Mr. Brown on the Fieldcrest website and teaches at Fieldcrest East in Wenona, is supposed to submit the request to the Fieldcrest Board of Education meeting at Wenona on Thursday, February 15. Ostensibly, the reason for the request is that the ball diamond at Minonk does not drain well and supposedly has caused some game cancellations. However, the fact that no prior complaints had been registered with the city makes the request look more like a convenience factor for the coach not having to drive to Minonk to coach the team. I hope the Fieldcrest Board of Education is wise enough to see what is going on here and reject the coach's request to move the baseball games to Wenona's baseball diamond. Mayor Bill Koos was correct in stating that Fieldcrest personnel should have contacted the city first to see if anything can be done to improve the drainage at the ball diamond instead of doing an end run to the Board of Education. If they had, they would have found out that the city is planning to spend $25,000 this year on improvements to the ball diamond. The City of Minonk has been a good neighbor for the Fieldcrest School District. The city built the baseball diamond and has maintained it for over 45 years and has also provided free use of the football field as well. The city owns both the football field and the baseball diamonds, not the school district. Minonk resident Christie Ruestman made an excellent point at the Minonk City Council meeting last Monday night when she said that it would require more travel time for the players to have to drive to Wenona for practice and games on Route 251 in which 2 teenagers have lost their lives in traffic accidents in the last two years. To rank the safety and convenience of our children below the convenience in a job is deplorable. Another point that was made is that Minonk's baseball diamond has better parking and viewing facilties than Wenona.
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The final point made by Ms. Ruestman is that Fieldcrest High School is located in Minonk and that is where the ball games should be played. Amen! This case will become a test for the Fieldcrest Board of Education. Only two of the seven board members are from Minonk. Three are from Wenona and two are from Toluca. If the Board, makes a "homer" call and grants the unreasonable request to move the baseball games to Wenona, it will smack of favoritism and regionalism and will only serve to deepen the schism that exists between the communities. If the Board denies the request, it will indicate that their decision is based on what is best for the school district as a whole and not what is best for a given community or a given individual. Congratulations to Fieldcrest Seventh Grade Basketball Team
As a final note, congratulations go to the Fieldcrest Seventh Grade basketball team for winning the State Class 7-3A championship last week in Clinton. The junior Knights finished with a perfect 28 - 0 record. Winning the state title reflects many hours of hard work, discipline, and practice and the community should be proud of their success . This experience should serve them well as they prepare for the future. Let's hope their success will continue into their high school years.
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