By David F. Rooney
For the last few weeks Minor Ball President Lina Sihlis has been criss-crossing the city talking to people and asking them to sign her petition calling on City Council to save the ball diamonds at Centennial Park.
At times it has been a fruitless quest. Some businessowners have flat out refused to allow her to leave the petition on their counters and some potential signatories have simply given her the cold shoulder. But that hasn’t deterred her.
And now she has 1,152 signatures on her petition which she has dropped off at City Hall for consideration by Council during its August 23 meeting. 583 of the signatures were from local residents while 569 were gathered during the recent Glacier Challenge softball tournament, Sihlis said.
“We don’t to stop anyone from building a bike and skateboard park,” she said in an interview. “They should have that. We just don’t believe that the ball diamonds at Centennial Park should be destroyed in the process.”
Sihlis has been involved in Minor Ball since her kids were young and continues to promote baseball — especially for kids.
“There will be generations of young people to come who will want to play ball,” she said. “We’re doing this for them as much as for the young people today who want to play.”
