Kidsports gives boost to dreams

"Field of dreams" is a somewhat overused phrase derived from the 1989 Kevin Costner movie.

But that phrase is an apt description of a new ballfield to be built at the Kidsports Complex in Kalispell. The field will be specially designed for youngsters who today are relegated to the sidelines by physical or mental disabilities.

With a rubber surface, painted lines and bases and even wheelchair-accessible dugouts, the new field will be special.

The field will be a place for children who physically cannot swing a bat or run bases on their own. It will give kids in wheelchairs and walkers a place to play outside, without bumpy sod or rocks obstructing their movement.

This unique field will cost about $314,000, with the Kalispell Rotary Club promising to raise $100,000.

Long a dream of Kidsports leader Dan Johns, this field will be a great addition to the already impressive Kalispell complex. It's definitely a dream that deserves to come true.

Along with many other Americans this week, we mourn the passing of Lady Bird Johnson.

She first came to prominence as the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson - they were thrust into the limelight after the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Later, Lady Bird Johnson was known as a champion of the environment who pushed for beautification work and preservation of native plants and wildflowers. She managed to promote an environmental sensibility long before it became trendy.

ONE TREND we would like to see is an increase in community service work for people who have been convicted of crimes against the community.

A step in that direction is a new program by the Center for Restorative Youth Justice which has juvenile offenders removing graffiti and cleaning up utility poles in Kalispell.

As the program's interim director said, the idea of the program is that "crime is viewed as harm to an individual and a community rather than as a broken rule."

Therefore, the offender ought not just be punished, but ought to do something to make right the wrong they did.

It seems likely that some of those errant youths will develop a better sense of responsibility as a result of the program, and meanwhile the community will be benefiting from people who could instead be a burden.