BECKLEY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Dozens of members of the Raleigh County community came together at City Hall on Tuesday to make their voices heard regarding the likelihood that the Sharon Dempsey (New River) pool will remain closed for the 2023 summer season.
The rally was quickly organized last week following news that two of Beckley’s primary public pools, the Sharon Dempsey (New River) Pool and Black Knight Pool, will likely not be opened for the upcoming season.
Tuesday’s gathering began at 6:00pm and saw Beckley residents hoisting signs and voicing their general displeasure with the circumstances as they have been presented. Visible signage displayed a variety of messages including, “LET ME SWIM,” “Keep The Pool!!,” and “We Don’t WANT The ‘Poolice’ Pool!,” as well as several others.
Many passing vehicles acknowledged roadside ralliers by sounding their horns and waving. Nonetheless, the gathering was a generally peaceful event, with no incidents or law enforcement involvement.
Local businessman and realtor Brian Brown – who has been one of the most adamant voices in the collective public outcry against the closing of the pools – expressed his concern for the direction of the city at the event, encouraging members of the public to organize and make their voices heard.
“There’s not a lot for kids to do in this community anyway, so the pool is a worthwhile outlet. It gives kids access to swimming lessons as well as the health benefits of swimming. Without those pools a lot of kids don’t have access to a swimming pool any time of the year, and that’s their one opportunity to learn a life-saving skill,” said Brown.
“I think the next step is to let the mayor and city council know that this is a decision that is not acceptable,” he said when questioned on what his thoughts were on potential next steps in the community process of combatting this development. “This continues to be a problem in Beckley. If we don’t have people who can create positive solutions for these problems, we need new people. Because this is something that should not even be an issue in the City of Beckley.”
Commenting on the ongoing lifeguard shortage which as impacted pull operations for the past several years, Brown asserted that perhaps recruitment attempts by the city have not been genuinely executed.
“If you have people who are not interested in opening the pool to begin with, there’s no way you’ll ever have enough lifeguards,” he said. “There’s no shortage if you create an applicant pool, you train people, you develop a leadership program, and you go out and work with schools and pay for them to train; you would be able to generate a constant pool of candidates. But as it stands now, putting a job advertisement one time a year or two times a year does not get the job done.”
The local realtor would go on to imply that the city has been making pre-meditated efforts to manufacture a necessity for a pool shutdown.
“This pool has been on the agenda to be closed for quite some time and we thwarted that effort last year. Adding a pool manager [requirement] at the last minute with unreasonable qualifications absolutely added another layer of problems to create a plausible deniability for opening the pool. I think it’s time we take positions of power away from people who aren’t interested in doing good.”
Indication was given by some community members present at the rally event on Tuesday that a similar event would be held at the same location next week as City Council convenes for their bi-weekly session.
Community members rally for opening of New River Pool
