After the disgusting display of Adults fighting over a 13-year-old umpire’s call in a 7-year-olds’ baseball league game in Lakewood (“

I had the not-so-great pleasure of officiating Adult (pre-school) basketball games in the winter/spring of 2018. Each night was filled with physical and verbal abuse toward officials and breaking up fights between these pre-schooler teams.

I made my concerns known to Cathy Metz, the director of Parks and Recreation, and never heard back from her directly. I understand Adult Recreation Leagues are a great revenue builder for the department, but in all my years of officiating I have never seen such blatant disorderly conduct on a daily basis.

Hire La Plata County sheriffs and let these pre-schoolers keep their own score and call their own fouls. The disorderly conduct citations would be a great revenue builder for the sheriffs’ department – a win-win for the La Plata County Sheriff’s and Durango Parks and Recreation departments.

Jonathan Felsen

Big Bear Lake, California