Town needs more for kids to do

Dear editor:

My name is Charles Strauch. I am 20 years of age, born and raised in Mountain Home.

There really has not been a suitable facility for the youth to go to to have fun. The youth center was run down and there really hasn't been any funding for the building or its activities.

With these problems I had to find new things to get out and do. For instance, I started smoking right behind the youth center, where there was no supervision and it was easy to just walk out back and light up. The building was right next to the bars, right smack dab in the middle of trouble. I remember kids getting away with a lot of things, bikes being stolen from out front or being vandalized and nothing really to do.

With how much this town is growing we really need to build a facility that is suitable for handling activities not just for the youth but for the whole community. There needs to be a safe place for kids to go with things for them to do. Up at Nampa they have a terrific rec center with even a climbing wall. There is a good center on base and a big swimming pool, but not everyone can drive all the way to Nampa or have access to the base.

I plan to stay in Mountain Home and some day to raise kids here. I hope there will be more here for them than there was for me.

Charles Strauch