‘Ill-gotten gains' used to benefit neighborhood rec center

Things were already looking up at the Fairview Recreation Center in Allen Park after Crestview City Councilman Tim Grandberry, at the request of a constituent, brought conditions at the center to the attention of city recreation staff.

Thursday morning, they looked even brighter. A pair of county jail trustees unloaded a brand new air hockey and foosball tables from the back of a police trailer and carried them into the center.

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The new games joined a ping-pong table and two new pool tables provided by the city’s Parks and Recreation department.

The newest equipment was purchased using drug forfeiture money. Ironically, some of it was seized in the neighborhoods served by Allen Park.

“Drug dealers tried to destroy our young people,” said Mayor David Cadle. “We’re taking their ill-gotten gains and using it to benefit the very people they tried to hurt.”

Cadle had requested Crestview Police Chief Brian Mitchell to determine if the money, which has stringent restrictions on how a community may use it, could benefit the Fairview Recreation Center.

Mitchell said the police department was able to use the drug money under the Safe Neighborhoods program, which in addition to allowing police to purchase equipment, can also be used to benefit youth facilities in residential areas that meet certain economic and crime statistics criteria.

“Under the parameters of Safe Neighborhoods, we are giving children something to do to get them out of harm’s way,” Mitchell said.

As the new game tables were carried into the Fairview Center, recreation aid Angie Hill exclaimed, “Oh wow! This is nice. The kids will love this!”

After her fellow recreation aid, Lurene Turner, and Grandberry set up the table, Hill engaged Grandberry in a game of air hockey, ultimately beating the councilman.

“She got lucky,” Grandberry laughed.

Getting serious, Grandberry praised the city’s efforts to upgrade the facility.

“The kids are really going to appreciate this,” he said. “They come in the evening and they’ll be really surprised. I’d like to see their faces.

“It gives them something else to do. With the economy the way it is, kids are going to come here. It keeps the kids off the street, that’s the main thing.”

Cadle said a future goal is to create a computer lab in an underused room at the front of the Fairview Center to serve kids who don’t have computers at home. “They’d be able to study for the FCAT here and do homework,” Cadle said.

“We’re going to look at improvements to the city’s other parks, too,” Grandberry promised. “This is just the beginning.”