In the aftermath of Saturday’s tragic skateboarding accident involving a 12-year-old middle school student, Jason Green has decided to take his plea for a skateboarding park to the City Council.

Green, owner/operator of Jason Green’s Skateboards, a downtown shop that specializes in skateboards and skateboarding attire, equipment and accessories, spent most of Monday waiting for a call from family or friends of Charles Drew Wildman, who was seriously injured in a skateboarding accident involving a vehicle Saturday.

According to eyewitnesses and Cullman police investigating the incident, Wildman, a seventh-grader at Cullman Middle School, was injured just before noon when he fell beneath a car he was reportedly holding on to while it was in motion on Sixth Street Southwest between Hickory and Austin avenues.

The 12-year-old’s skateboard is believed to have hit a bump as he was holding on to the driver’s side of the vehicle. He reportedly fell and the vehicle “ran over him,” witnesses told police.

Wildman, who reportedly suffered head trauma and other injuries, was airlifted by MedFlight helicopter to Huntsville Hospital where he remained in critical condition Monday in the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit.

“We know the family. We know the kid. I sold him his first skateboard and it’s probably the one he was riding when he had the accident. I just feel terrible about what happened,” said Green, owner/operator of Jason Green’s Skateboards, located at 114-A Fourth Street SW in Cullman, a shop that specializes in skateboards and skateboarding accessories.

While a “good skater,” Green said Wildman doesn’t have the skills a more experienced skateboarder possesses and never should have attempted a stunt as dangerous as holding on to a moving vehicle.

“He should not have been holding onto a car, but the truth of the matter is that every skater on Earth is guilty of doing it whether the driver knows about it or not,” Green said. “I’m just sick about this.”

If worrying about Wildman’s welfare and recovery weren’t enough, Green said he’s been the recipient of insults and criticism from those who see him as responsible for the accident.

“I operate a skateboard shop downtown and I have two giant ramps at my home that the kids skate on and automatically there are people who blame me for this accident,” Green said. “What they don’t realize is that there are close to 300 skateboarders in this town and that’s the reason I opened a store here, not the other way around. These kids live, eat and breathe skateboarding and yes some are more responsible than others. You can’t label everyone the same because of one accident even when the accident is as tragic as this one.”

Skateboarding, Green said, is all about one thing — having fun.

“And like anything else, whether it’s riding a bike, hitting a baseball, or flying a kite the more you do it the more you enjoy it and the more chances you take because of it,” Green said. “Yes, this was a terrible accident and I wish it had never happened, but accidents happen. That’s no reason to label an entire group of individuals as a nuisance or high risk.”

Instead, the more productive approach would be for community interaction and involvement by providing skateboarders with an alternative to riding their boards on the streets and sidewalks through the creation of a skateboarding park, Green said.

Green will present that proposal to members of the Cullman City Council when they meet at 7 p.m. Monday at City Hall.

“My wife and I are putting together a power point presentation for the city council meeting on Monday. What I want to do is show them some examples of what can be done to provide a park for skateboarders that would be both inexpensive and long-lasting,” Green said. “And there will have to be some thought put into it, if the council were to decide to do this. You have to give the skaters a reason to use the park. If you put crap out there they’ll smell it a mile away and they won’t come. That’s something I could help with and I’d be willing to help with fundraising or anything else if this could be done.”



Skateboarding Park Proposal

Construction of a skateboarding park where skaters can practice their nosegrinds, Ollies, railslides and half-pipes is a concept Cullman Parks and Recreation Director John Hunt supports.

Hunt says more towns in Alabama are building skateboarding parks as a means of discouraging street skating, which can occasionally damage curbs, benches, handrails and other urban landscapes that appeal to skateboards and the tricks they do.

“Skateboarding parks also get skaters off the streets where accidents can occur,” Hunt said.

He also has a location in mind for the proposed park — the old tennis court area adjacent to Nesmith Pool in west Cullman.

“A lot of towns are doing these types of things to make better use of old facilities. In our case, the tennis courts at Nesmith are rarely used any more. Most tennis players play on the municipal courts across the street from Cullman High School,” Hunt said. “Research shows that old tennis courts, parking lots and so forth make excellent skateboarding areas and there’s nothing wrong with skateboarding. It’s just that the youngsters in Cullman who are into it don’t have a decent place to skate so the only option they have is street skating.”

With a little effort and the necessary funds, Hunt said the old tennis courts at Nesmith, which date back to the 1960s, could be transformed into a decent skateboard/extreme bicycling park complete with vert ramps, rails, benches and jumps and it wouldn’t have to cost the city a lot of money.

“We’re not talking about a lot of expense, especially if you put pre-made materials in there. It’s certainly not something we can do overnight. We’d have to raise the money first and the general concensus is that $50,000 to $60,000 would get us off to a good start,” Hunt said. “We don’t have the money in the budget for that now, but it’s something to consider for the future.”

To be successful, Green said any park the city decides to build needs to be big enough to provide a variety of thrills and challenges for the boarders, but not so outrageous and difficult that it sends the kids back to the street.

Green strongly suggests that when the city gets serious about designing a park officials don’t go the modular route.

“They shouldn’t go with wood, plastic or fiberglas ramps. Modular parks, for the most part are designed by people who don’t know what they’re doing. Besides it would be a lot more expensive to do that than it would to build steel or concrete ramps and jumps,” Green said. “They should get someone who knows what they’re doing — someone who can custom design the park to specific needs and not only will you have something that looks nice, but it’s also functional and challenging for the skateboarders. Remember, if you don’t keep it interesting for the skateboarders they won’t use it, so it would be a good idea to find out what the kids want.”

Hunt said he would definitely involve local skaters in the designing of the park.

“We would want the kids and the skateboarders to be a part of the process and help design the park because they’ll be the ones using it,” Hunt said. “They can use the tennis courts area now for skateboarding. The only thing is it’s flat and there are no ramps or jumps.”

Liability isn’t a concern, Hunt said, because most skateboarders accept the fact that their sport comes with a certain amount of risk.

“Typically there are less lawsuits associated with skateboarding than there are with say football or baseball because they realize they are going to possibly get hurt,” Hunt said. “In regard to the park, skateboarders would skate at their own risk. We’d also recommend that they use safety equipment such as helmets, knee and elbow pads, but we couldn’t require it.”

While you’ll never be able to stop all street skating, Hunt said he sees a skateboarding park as a very positive step toward getting the kids off the street.

“Some are going to break the rules regardless, but at least this would provide them a place to gather and show off a bit. More importantly it would be a place where they could enjoy themselves and get off the street,” Hunt said. “With a place to go, a police officer when he stops a skateboarder can tell them to get of the street or sidewalk and go to the park. These kids have no place to go right now.”



Councilman Gudger Supports Park

Garlan Gudger Jr., the youngest and newest member of the city council, recalled Monday skateboarding with his friend Jason when both were a bit younger.

“When I was a kid Jason and I would ride our skateboards around town. That’s what you did then and that’s still what a lot of kids do today,” Gudger said. “It’s an age of adolescence when you’re learning about yourself and your friends. Without being able to drive at that age you hang out more with your friends and the more young kids congregate without a lot to do the more potential there is for mischief and incidents.”

In the case of Saturday’s accident, Gudger says he’s not sure having a skateboarding park available for skaters would have prevented it from happening, “but it could have.”

“Young people who engage in these types of activities still have to make rational decisions and use good judgment,” Gudger said. “I, for one, am in favor of a skateboarding park that would provide skateboarders with a site off the streets and in a controlled environment.”

Having skated himself, Gudger says he understands there is always an inherent danger of someone falling and hurting themselves, “but the risks in a park aren’t as great as those on the street.”

“I think there will be support on the council for a park, especially if we already have the facilities and we can keep expenditures to a minimum,” Gudger said. “What we’ll need to determine is if the benefit to the public is worth the expense involved and I believe it is, especially if it will prevent a tragic accident like this one from happening again.”