LINDEN, Texas - Outdoor basketball players and the city of Linden are cooperating with each other in an unusual fashion as the new year gets under way.
The players are getting lights at the Crow-Heath Park outdoor basketball court. Plenty of digital light will splash down upon their games if they can keep the park in a good state of upkeep and repair.
"We were asked by the players for lights," Linden City Administrator Bob Swisher said. "It's especially dark out there early during these winter months, and especially hot during the summer days. We understand the benefits of being able to play in the evenings."
The city began considering what it could do.
"Our first big break was a grant from SWEPCO that would cover the cost of the lights themselves.
"Then, we used some of our own materials, combined that with the skilled workmen of our town and developed a plan. It hasn't cost all that much. I'd gotten SWEPCO involved but our guys did the work."
The park's court already is a well-made facility. Its goal posts are thick and strong. Rims are firm, and the string nets are new and lasting. A tall, protecting net fence built by the city keeps the ball from rolling off into the parking area.
"In return," Swisher said, "the players and fans must do their part in protecting the court, keeping it clean of trash and being good citizens of the park. If not, then those bolts that attach the goals to the backboard can be unscrewed, and those lights can be turned off. That's our agreement we have with the players."
The city will also keep and service trash receptacles there, he added.
The lights will come on by the twisting of a timer, which will keep the lights on for an hour. The timer will then have to be pushed again for another hour of light.
Swisher was complimentary of the work being done by city employees Scott Ross and Billy Hankins. Ross, he said, has recently been given more responsibility for working with parks and recreation as well as building maintenance.
On the day pictures were made of the ongoing work last week, Hankins was using the back-hoe to dig some very straight trenches and Ross was doing the electrical connection work, sparing the city the cost of hiring an external professional.
The basketball court is adjacent to a lighted and concrete indoor racquetball court, which is in little use. Next to this is a lighted pair of tennis courts, which are being used by both the public and the local Linden-Kildare school district's tennis program.
The city has also recently made fence repairs and landscaped the grounds for drainage improvements in the area.
Just a few feet away from the basketball court is a path that leads off into the woods and turns into a paved walking trail for public use. This trail was recently opened and cleared of fallen limbs and blockage by people like Christophe Trahan, Lucy Trahan, Tommy O'Rear and other volunteers.