One thing that Bill has heard a number of times from residents is that there’s very little for residents, especially our younger citizens, to do in our county. Aside from 4H, FFA and high school sports, Torrance County is a youth activity wasteland. There are no organized sports programs like Little League baseball or YAFL football. Parks are rare except for the few run by municipalities, as are playgrounds except those at schools. Why? After all, the sole purpose of government is to provide services to the citizens.

Both the rodeo grounds on Heritage Road and the sports complex at the east end of Moriarty (pictured above) sit unused and neglected, presumably for lack of funding. Having been heavily involved in youth sports programs in the past, Bill is especially interested in the multi-field sports complex. Apparently, it was once an active location for youth sports, but when Moriarty could no longer afford to maintain it the people involved went to the County Commission to ask for funding, but were turned down. Although the property is owned by the City of Moriarty, the county and the city could establish a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a board to operate the facility and acquire grant funding to repair and revitalize the facility. It’s a large enough complex to accommodate not only baseball, softball and t-ball, but also to establish a field for flag football and room left over for a playground. With a little money and a lot of hard work by volunteers, that facility could become a go-to place for the kids and for fun for the whole family.

Additionally, softball tournaments are a favorite pastime for many young adults across the state, and some good fields could bring ball players from all over the region to our county, along with their dollars as they eat in local restaurants and make purchases from other businesses.

This is just one more example where elected officials being unable to think outside of the box have cheated the citizens of Torrance County out of services that could easily have been provided!