Wednesday, July 14
A group of parents of children with special needs appeared before County Council at Tuesday’s meeting, and Betsy Hudson, Kyle’s mom and Autism advocate, addressed the Council on behalf of the group. Their purpose for being there was to promote an upcoming event, Disability Awareness Fun Day, which will be held on July 31, 2010, from 10 AM until 2 PM at Foster Park. They also talked about the fact that Union County offers many opportunities for baseball, softball, football, soccer, golf, swimming, cheerleading, and more, but none is geared towards children and adults in our community with special needs. Ms. Hudson went on to say the former supervisor was approached when the Timken Complex was first being discussed, and asked that children and adults with special needs be considered. She stated that they were told that the County Supervisor had already been talking to someone about this possibility and was informed that a Miracle League field could not be built within a 50 mile radius of one already in existence. That subject has not been brought up again until now. Ms. Hudson stated that the group just recently discovered that this was not the case at all, and that the former county supervisor had been told that they could have the Miracle league field in Union, and that it would be a wonderful idea because of our large special needs population in Union. He was given all the information about how to go about getting grants, and funding, for this project and had the support of our group to host fundraisers to assist. In closing Ms. Hudson said, “You cannot imagine the feeling we had in our stomachs the day we were told that our children could never have this in Union, but the feeling that we had the day we discovered that it was all an untruth was even worse. We ask that you recognize the desire and need of our children and families for a Miracle League field and special-needs playground, confirmation of researching the possibility of such recreational facilities, and ask that the county assist in promoting our first annual Disability Awareness Fun Day on July 31st.”
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