Font ResizeA community is like an ecosystem. Remove one element no matter how small and the whole ecosystem is affected. It becomes like a pebble thrown into a pool of still water, the rings getting bigger and bigger until the whole pool has become disturbed by that tiny pebble. Leggett community is an ecosystem and the closing of Standish Hickey is a tiny pebble thrown into the still pool.
All of Leggett’s 300 residents feel the pain of its closure. No more picnics in the park. No more generations of children and grandchildren visiting for birthdays, anniversaries or just a camp over with out-of-town relatives and friends who come annually to the park. And what of all the generations of students that made their trip to the park to plant their seedling redwood tree. Then there are the many trips back just to see the seedling grow. Now multiply this 300 by the hundreds that visited the park every summer for its entire history since the 1930’s. Those affected add up to quite a few.
But this is not where the rings from the tiny pebble stop. Now there are employees that need to find new jobs. A student in college, a teacher’s aide who needed a summer job, a mother trying to support her children for the summer, a student trying to find a career in California Park Service.
This is not so many, you say. Let’s say that a few of those employees had children in the local school. They may have to move and take their children out of the Leggett area. Now an already struggling school will have fewer students to bring in ADA.
The local stores like The Peg House or the Redwood Mercantile might not be able to hire summer employees because of the fear of not having enough revenue from the summer campers. Both of the local stores also support the school. Maybe there would be no uniforms for the local soccer team. Soon the whole ecosystem finds itself stumbling and unable to function well.
So let’s go back to that one pebble. Let’s toss it in the pool again. This time we can hope that the ring from the pebble will reach the other shore to promote change.
Let’s take a band of ordinary people who live in Leggett that hope that the park can be reopened, and weekly campfires started, and Red Cross swimming lessons taught at the park, and kayaks rented to those adventuresome campers, and trails cleaned of debris and bring people back to visit the park.
Those people exist and they are hoping that everyone will throw their pebble into the still water to promote healthy change instead of destructive change. Contact Team Standish at email address info@standishhickey.com Write letters to editors. Make your voice heard and cast your pebble.
Camille Rosecrans
Leggett
