To the Editor...Artificial turf is the way to go

Talk about it

To the Editor:

As a proud parent of three Esko Eskomo students, and as a supporter of the original grass athletic field at Esko, I was suspicious that some individuals supported the athletic field, with the natural grass, knowing that they really wanted artificial turf all along. I’m sort of a “tree hugger” environmentalist when it comes to natural versus artificial anything. I checked into that suspicion and found no evidence that that was the case but if it were true, we should be thanking them for their foresight!

I have done a lot of research and the more I find out about the situation, the more I have come to understand that artificial turf is the only way to go for our Esko athletes. It is much safer! The newer the research, the more true that statement becomes. Every athlete who has ever played football knows, from experience, how unsafe natural grass turf is once it has frozen and anyone who has ever slipped and slid around after a heavy rain knows how unsafe that is, not to mention the wear and tear that occurs on a natural grass surface after a heavy rainfall.

As a fiscally moderate person, it is important for me to know that over a 20-year usage time frame, artificial turf is seven to 10 times cheaper than natural grass, mostly due to the maintenance that is required to maintain a healthy natural grass turf. From an environmental standpoint, the herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers that are necessary for a beautiful natural grass turf are not the kind of things I would want my children to play on. I don’t let my dog out on yards that have been recently treated with the kind of chemicals that are required, often, for natural grass fields. I sure wouldn’t want my children playing under those circumstances. Those who know about, even the best natural grass fields, understand that the natural grass fields must, pretty much, be used on a weekly, or every other week basis in order to maintain a beautiful field. Soccer practice and football practice must take place elsewhere, basically requiring two fields instead of one. With artificial turf, the more it gets used the more inexpensive it becomes.

From a cost savings for tax payers point of view, from a health and safety standpoint, for our kids point of view, and from a usage point of view, artificial turf for our Esko athletic field is the only way to go. You can also support this effort by pledging any amount at: https://www.facebook.com/EskoTurfClub.

Virg Boehland, Esko

Tags: letters to the editor, opinion