To the Editor:
The Veterans Memorial Pool has been in existence for as long as I can remember. The Vet’s Club allowed the school district to use the pool for swimming lessons when I was in grade school in the early 1970s. As a gesture of good will, the Vet’s Club transferred ownership of the pool to the school district in 1988 with the stipulation that the district return ownership to the Vet’s Club when they no longer want it. Up until last year my family and the families of countless other county citizens used the pool for summer recreation. And now the district plans to sell the pool, even as the Veteran’s Club asks them to uphold their end of the bargain.
The district cites tax laws as the reason for reneging on the agreement. But, when given the pool, and with the Veteran’s request of its return clearly written into the agreement, they did not point out they would not be able to return it for any reason. They entered into the agreement without disclosing any inability to follow through with the arrangement. The Carrollton School District committed theft by deception and the entire transaction should be considered null and void. The pool should be returned to its rightful owners and the district should make a public apology for its actions.
There should be a few dictionaries somewhere in one of our school buildings. Use one to look up the word memorial. The pool was built by veterans who put their lives on the line. They named it the Veterans Memorial Pool in honor of those who served and in memory of those who died for our rights and freedoms. They have an attachment to the pool for the work they put into it and for what it stand for to them. And the district is doing its best to cheat them out of it. Shame on the district now and to those board members who knowingly entered into the agreement with their fingers crossed behind their backs.
Terry Cheuvront
Salineville, OH
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