EDITOR: The Live Oak High School basketball teams have begun
their drives for the Tri-County Athletic League titles. Both
varsity and junior varsity boys teams were victorious last week
over Hollister at the Live Oak gym. Very exciting basketball
games.
EDITOR:
The Live Oak High School basketball teams have begun their drives for the Tri-County Athletic League titles. Both varsity and junior varsity boys teams were victorious last week over Hollister at the Live Oak gym. Very exciting basketball games.
Yet that same gym was dark dirty and dingy. Only the emotions of the players made the shadows disappear for a while.
Thanks to the Class of 2003 there is a new double scoreboard system mounted on the north and south walls. The gym’s wooden floor has the Live Oak Acorn logo with the wording, “Presented by the Class of 1993.” That once beautiful flooring is rather hard to see through the wear, grim and discolored varnish. Take a look at the chipped and worn lines painted on the floor.
The dirt and trash that occupies the floor beneath the bleachers is at best several years old. When has any of the school board or Live Oak administration taken a tour of the gym. No parent would ever allow their child to have such a dirty room.
As to the darkness, I mentioned this a year ago. In the first row of overhead lights (counting from the north wall) the fifth light fixture is missing. They moved it in 2003 to the fourth position over the basket. In the second row the second light is burned out as is the sixth light in the fourth row. Even if all the other lights were at full illumination, three are out of service. Why should it take an act of Congress to replace a few lights?
The overall effect is a dimness that you will not find in the gyms of Overfelt, Gunderson, Watsonville, Hollister, Salinas, Pioneer, Branham, Los Gatos, Santa Teresa, Sequoia or any other gym that Live Oak teams have visited over the last three years. Most are as old or older than Live Oak.
Due to inept handling of problems, the school board and Live Oak administration have just paid out $1.1 million to settle a lawsuit. I wonder what an audit of the financial books would show? Frankly, I don’t see anyone paying attention to the nuts and bolts of the school system, except teachers. Supervisors and administrators need to pay attention to the people below them not just to higher ideals and empire building.
Come and see exciting basketball. These kids are good and they win. They are very talented athletes and they deserve your support and that of the entire community. Maybe we can find an equipment manager when sweat or other moisture needs to be wiped up from the gym’s playing surface. It is a little uncomfortable as a Live Oak fan to watch that awkward moment when the referee looks to the Live Oak bench for a towel and an operative to do a wipe up. Half of the time it is the visiting team who provides the towel.
Follow the Acorns! Their brand of basketball is great entertainment. For the older crowd come and be young again.
Douglas Wright Sr.,
Morgan Hill
