Ellet residents flooded City Hall on Monday to demand more of their elected leaders as Little League baseball limped back to the mound at Davenport Park, where gunshots forced children to cower a week ago.
Most visiting baseball teams have decided to return to the park after an unsolved shooting May 16. No one was injured after a fight among teenagers on a nearby basketball court ended in seven reported gunshots.
The local baseball association has since hired an off-duty Akron police officer to patrol the ball fields. Before that, not a single team outside of Akron would play there.
Some teams rest assured that the violence is gone after the city closed the basketball courts. But others — including baseball teams from Wadsworth, Barberton, northern Cuyahoga Falls and Brimfield — are staying away out of an abundance of caution.
“We pulled all games back to our fields, as much as we could,” said Justin Croft, commissioner of Barberton Diamond Sports baseball and softball leagues. “I think there is still one [game] scheduled [at Davenport Park]. Most likely, that one will get rescheduled too. It just hasn’t happened yet.”
Green and Tallmadge originally decided to stay away, too, but have since reconsidered. A message from the president of the Portage Girls Softball League, which holds games in Akron, reads: “there will not be any PGS games rescheduled or moved as Davenport Park is as safe as any park in any community.”
Davenport Park, like other city-owned plots, will host peewee football and cheerleader practices after baseball ends in July. Residents on Monday walked their dogs after at least two years of complaining about the bad element drawn to the basketball courts — and loitering in nearby parking lots.
Some local parents and community members, including the 70 or so who attended Monday’s City Council meeting, say too little is being done too late.
About 10 Ellet residents spoke at Monday’s council meeting. Together, they described years of increasing violence among unsupervised youth.
“This isn’t an isolated incident,” Lorie Kim, who lives near the basketball courts, said of the shooting on Tuesday. “This isn’t a once in a while thing. Nobody wants to close the park. Kids need the park. But something needs to change. Right now, the bads outweigh the goods.”
According to city records, there have been 15 police reports filed relating to incidents at the park since 2013.
The gunshots scattered the crowds. “To see those children running for their lives is something I will never forget,” said Lorie Lenington-Stewart, who was there.
A coach familiar with the layout of the park said the T-ball fields were so close to the shooting that the youngest ball players were “caged” with nowhere to go. Adults stood like human shields as they crouched in corners.
Suggested changes
The public did offer solutions, including turning the basketball courts into permanent batting cages, providing around-the-clock adult supervision or more police patrols or mentors and job counselors for youth, installing cameras, eliminating trees that block views, and requiring youths to sign up to use the basketball courts.
“In [the city’s] opinion, they’ve stepped up patrols. In the [Ellet Baseball] Association’s eyes, we haven’t really seen any changes,” said Brad Isenhart, president of the local Little League and baseball organization.
On Sunday, Isenhart met with two police officers, Ellet Councilman Bob Hoch, At-large Councilman Jeff Fusco and Mayor Dan Horrigan, who assured Isenhart that the basketball courts would remain closed through baseball season.
“There’s nothing more important than public safety,” Horrigan said after listening to residents at the meeting.
Horrigan echoed the Rev. Greg Harrison, who stressed moments earlier that the park is necessary to keep youth busy. Neither said it should be closed.
Closing the courts
Hoch has received numerous emails from concerned constituents, most initially wanting the courts closed indefinitely and some not wanting to punish all youth for the actions of a few. In an interview Monday, Hoch said: “My idea, right now, is to leave [the basketball court] closed until the investigation is completed.” The councilman is inviting residents to attend his next regular monthly meeting at 6 p.m. June 13 at the Ellet Community Center, 2449 Wedgewood Drive, to discuss whether to keep the basketball courts closed forever.
After the Sunday meeting, Isenhart hired an off-duty Akron police officer. From 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. each weekday, $102 daily buys a personal cop and cruiser.
Hoch said he acknowledges the issues building for years at the park.
“This one kind of exploded,” Hoch said of what he thinks was a prearranged fight between teenagers. “Day in and day out, the warm weather and basketball brings in youth from around the area. It’s not just from Ellet. They cuss at each other. And they fight.”
He repeated reports of marijuana and alcohol use.
“We just want these kids to have fun at the park and be safe,” said Isenhart, who encouraged residents to email Hoch and attend the council meeting Monday night.
The fate of the courts will be a community-based decision, Horrigan and Hoch agree. Anyone who says it should be kept open, though, “should spend some time down there unannounced to see what’s going on,” Isenhart said.
Isenhart, who only opposes the reopening of the courts if there is no plan to supervise them, said he and baseball coaches confronted problem youth at the basketball courts two years ago. That led to a confrontation.
“We’ve just been tolerating it ever since,” he said.
Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @ABJDoug .