Jasiak, Allen object to borough’s
liability in event of accidents
By:Alec Moore
Plans for the BMX dirt bike trails as Memorial Park, although put on hold, still have not earned the full approval of the entire Borough Council.
Council President Stanley Jasiak and Councilwoman Senga Allan both said during Monday’s Borough Council meeting that they feel the trails should be leveled primarily for safety and liability reasons in case of an accident.
What was particularly disturbing to Mr. Jasiak and Ms. Allan is the fact that many of the youth who had frequently ridden on the trails and rallied to keep them from being leveled were not from Manville, but from neighboring communities.
"We don’t want to open a bike trail for kids from other towns and hold that liability over our heads," said Ms. Allan.
Councilman Ted Petrock also has expressed concern over the liability of the trails and weighs those concerns with the fact that "teens will be teens."
"I like BMX biking and extreme sports and I don’t want to see the trails leveled but if the kids are going to ride on them then they need to do it legitimately," he said.
BMX expert Aaron Graf, who is heading the youth who are organizing into a bike club for the use of the trails, said the club will be known as Mass3compound.
Mr. Graf, who was not present at the meeting, said he was disheartened that the preservation of the trails is not supported by the entire council.
"They don’t care about these kids; they’re just worried about getting sued," he said.