June 20 — This is the time of year with the growing heat and humidity that people tend to want to spend time at the neighborhood pool.
Many of us have very fond memories of idyllic days of our youth splashing around.
But it’s important to remember there are rules and when they are violated, you may be asked to leave.
That exact situation came up recently at the Chambersburg Aquatic Center, where a 17-year-old was banned after arguing and causing a disturbance, requiring Chambersburg Police to be called into the pool.
A community member remarked at the most recent borough council meeting, “The thing is the guards do not like to call management. We’ve been told to call management, not deal with it. But the guards don’t like to do that because they think that’s a blemish on them that they can’t handle it and I know that’s why they don’t like to call them.”
Attorney Clint Barkdoll said, “I’m sure there was a deterrent element to this as well. As we said last week, these kinds of problems in a municipal pool, you really need to stay in front of and try to cut it off immediately. I have a feeling that probably went into this decision and word will spread very quickly in those circles about what happened to the 17-year-old. I don’t know if it’s a temporary or a permanent ban, but I think it’s good that Chambersburg seems to be getting proactive in keeping this kind of element and that kind of behavior out of the municipal pool.”
Michele Jansen of NewsTalk 103.7FM noted, “They didn’t tell us exactly what was the bad behavior, but they did say how he became very argumentative and aggressive and I wonder if that had as much to do with him being banned as anything else.”
“Could be,” Barkdoll confirmed. “I mean, that in and of itself would be a violation of rules that would justify a ban. The borough may never release the details of it. That remains to be seen, I suppose.”
