Before I get rolling with this week’s column, I just want to take a moment to thank everyone who has passed on their words of congratulations on my award win this past weekend, whether it was in person or through texts or messages on social media. It means an awful lot, and I don’t mind saying that I’m pretty proud that this little nook of a column struck enough of a chord to afford me the title of ‘Columnist of the Year’. Apparently, the win also afforded me my very first appearance on the front page of this amazing newspaper; actually *making* the news instead of writing it. I don’t take this honor lightly, and it goes without saying that I hope to return to the same awards banquet next year to “defend my title”.
We now return you to your regularly-scheduled ranting and raving…
The new swimming pool facility in Outlook has hit the proverbial deep end. Well, at least that’s what it looks like on paper, according to the people who’ve read the announcement by the Town of Outlook last Friday.
The town has said that the pool’s originally-intended opening date of July 1 wasn’t going to happen, and that it would be early August before the work is done and the facility is good to go. The culprit? An unseasonably long winter season that we all “enjoyed” in this area, coupled with all the fun elements that come with building new infrastructure such as land settling. The fact that winter decided to extend its stay long into April meant that the completion date sure as heck wasn’t going to meet July, and the proposed date of early August resulted in the town deciding to postpone the opening until next year.
In other words, Old Man Winter and Mother Nature tag-teamed up on the new pool and dropped an epic elbow smash, the likes of which have delayed the project’s official grand opening until next year.
Is the news disappointing? Without a doubt. Outlook has scores and scores of young kids who will now go without a swimming pool in town for the fourth summer in a row. On top of that, the tireless efforts of those who’ve been busy raising money for it for four years – a ridiculously small group of people who desperately need some new blood and ideas – might feel like the rug is being pulled out from under them in a sense, seeing how the dream of a new pool facility in Outlook was this close to becoming reality.
That all being said, there’s also the other side of this coin. Now I’m not saying this is good news by any means, but I also don’t believe it’s all that bad. Look at the two options that were on the table:
One: The town moves forward on getting the pool done by early August and opens up shop, limiting the “season” to the roughly four weeks left in the summer before the gates are virtually closed before people even realize they were ever open to begin with. Keep in mind, this is a facility that is still being fundraised for and is in need of roughly a few hundred thousand dollars in order to be fully paid off and square.
Two: The town decides to delay the official grand opening until next year, not only giving the fundraising committee a lot more time to raise the necessary money to pay off the project, as well as making sure that every square inch of the facility is 100% finished and runs as smooth as silk, but perhaps leaving the door open for a grand opening that takes place earlier than intended.
In short, I’m subscribing to the theory of ‘Good things come to those who wait’. Outlook has been without a swimming pool since 2015, so really, what’s one more year if you’re absolutely guaranteed that a brand spanking new one is waiting in the wings for next summer?
People will talk for the next little while about this decision by the town, and it’ll be the tried-and-true mixture of the truth with some classic coffee row “truth” blended in. That’s perfectly fine because that’s just life in a small town area; no matter the facts, people will stick to “what they heard”. I could probably write a whole other column solely dedicated to debunking all the chatter surrounding the project that I’m seeing on Facebook and hearing in the grocery store and restaurants, but the people who make the decisions in this town are grownups who can answer for their own choices.
I just wish people would be a little more positive, even in the deep end.
For this week, that’s been the (award-winning) Ruttle Report. (I couldn’t resist…)
