Rabbi Mark's Blog: Be A Booster And Vote "No"

SUPPORT OUR TEAM 

ESPN senior writer Jeff MacGregor, in Football, Heat, and Preventable Deaths: When Will We Ever Learn; Another Series of Unnecessary Tragedies Plagues The Game   wrote “At a 100-degree core temperature, the body works to shed heat… Above 107 degrees, coma… We have lost four kids to football and summer heat the last three weeks… That we still have an annual body count in high school football should be a national disgrace…”

Geo-Turf has been documented at 107 degrees on a day when air temperature was at only 71 (see Geo-Turf Heat Study 1 on the HOH Union Free School District website). And no plan to “move to Burke” when temperatures go above, say, 90 degrees will be sufficient to protect our children. Geo-Turf temperatures are known to rise very quickly (the study showed a 23 degree spike in a matter of hours). With the best of intentions, we’ll be in the middle of a practice or a game when it happens, and then it will be too late. Folks, do you really want that on your hands?

SUPPORT OUR ENVIRONMENT 

You may have read that Geo-Turf promises “perfect drainage… with no harmful water runoff.” But if you go on-line you can find a Q&A with a California school (Piedmont) where Geo-Turf admits that its plastic blades can be expected to migrate off the field, entering the storm drainage system. Why in Hastings are we being told “perfect drainage… no harmful water runoff”? Because Geo-Turf must surely know that polluting our storm drainage system violates the objectives of the “Hastings Sustainability Action Plan.” 

Eco-friendly? Deep within Geo-Turf’s website you’ll find that their “eco-friendly” grass is plastic. Recyclable? No Geo-Turf field has ever been recycled; polyurethane cannot be recycled. And the Seal of Approval from the so-called “Green” Energy Council? This is not an environmental group, folks, it’s a racket. Go to their website and you can read it for yourself: they sell their exclusive endorsements for $100,000 a pop. Does the FDA do this? Does UL? Of course not.  

SUPPORT OUR TAX PAYERS 

 “The Geo-turf field is expected to cost $1,721,969… about $1.2 million more than a new grass field…. Taking into account installation costs, annual depreciation, expected life span, annualized cost of resurfacing, and annual maintenance, the grass field would cost $60,024 a year over 15 years and the Geo-turf field would cost $87,702…” (From “Board` Schedules Vote for $8.6 million Dollar Plan,” The Rivertowns Enterprise, August 30, 2013). 

“Rising school taxes are threatening the economic diversity of our community and this bond will not help.” (From www.SaveReynoldsField.og) 

Support our athletes, our environment, and our tax payers. VOTE NO on October 22… and we’ll vote for a better bond later. Reynolds Field is more than 20 years old, but recent improvements to grass fields have been dramatic.