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37 °F 5 Day Forecast Monday, December 8, 2003 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | eSouthernOregon | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend November 25, 2003 Fund raising is workable, to a point Prep Notebook By DON HUNT Mail Tribune A hot topic in our news pages the past couple of weeks has been whether middle and high school athletes should have to pay to play sports. In response to all the budget cuts, the Medford School District has proposed a fee of $100 per sport at the high schools and $50 per sport at the middle schools. Some people have written letters to the editor saying the kids can raise the money themselves by doing odd jobs for neighbors or getting involved in organized fund-raisers. Parents of athletes have responded by saying their kids spend so much time at practice and games that by the time they get home, eat dinner and finish their homework, there isn’t any time left for another activity. Then there are the club sports parents and athletes who say, "Welcome to the real world — we’ve been paying to play for years." Advertisement As a parent who has been involved in numerous fund-raisers over the past decade or so, I know first-hand that it’s a doable venture. It might mean that you have to arise at 7 a.m. on a rainy December morning to fetch Christmas trees, or wash cars on a chilly Saturday in May. But as I look back on those times — my children are now in college — I realize there was a sense of purposefulness and accomplishment that extended not only to the parents and the athletes but also to those having their trees picked up and their cars washed. Those who toiled together also sweated and laughed together. I’ll never forget the time I led a group of 14-year-old girls on a bottle drive when a middle-aged man led us into his garage and pointed to a half-dozen garbage bags full of beer cans. "You’ll have to excuse my wife," he said with a chuckle. "She’s got a little bit of a problem." I felt like extorting some hard cash out of him by threatening to tell his wife what he’d said. On that same trip, we encountered a man in his late 70s or early 80s who said he didn’t have any cans or bottles but wanted to give us something just the same. He disappeared for a couple minutes and returned with a $100 bill in his hand. One of my daughters traveled to Scotland one year, Mexico the following year and Italy the year after that with various school groups — and fund raised nearly the entire cost of each trip. However, she also played high school sports, and had she tried to fund raise for those, it would have been difficult. As school budget cuts become reality, different ideas on how to deal with them are coming forth. Medford travel agency owner Kelly Rasmussen is working on a plan that could provide scholarships from the business community to athletes who can’t afford to play. His idea drew the wrath of an Ashland resident, who wondered how business leaders could go to bat for athletes when music programs, child-development specialists, book budgets and teachers themselves are being cut. If you know Rasmussen, you know that any school cuts bother him. As a sports enthusiast, all he’s doing is trying to help out a group in which he has a keen interest. "The amount (of money) I’m talking about is $80,000 — something you can put your arms around," he says. "What that person is talking about is the tier-one cuts, which amount to $2.4 million. "If someone wants to step up and salvage a different group, that would be great, but sports is what I love and know." One thing seems clear: Funding for sports and other extracurricular activities from taxpayers is headed south, especially if the tax increase passed by the state legislature last summer is overturned, as a recent poll predicted. With the closure of Miles Field expected to become reality in February, the North and South Medford High baseball teams have begun preparations to play their high school games at North Medford High next spring. Adequate seating is already in place, and a new clubhouse and rest-room facility is being built. North Medford High athletic director Mike Kay said the North and South varsity teams would play at the improved North facility, while the JV teams would play at South. Eventually, South High hopes to play its games at a proposed sports park in south Medford. A Wal-Mart super center, scheduled to be completed in 2005, is planned at the Miles Field site. Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Real Estate Showcase Food for Thought Hike of the Week Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Openings Prime Times