A free nuisance is still a nuisance

If I really want to impress my parents, I will clean my room. It seems Mat-Su Valley youth still have not quite grasped that concept. After excitedly writing a story about the possibility of the Alcantra Disc Golf Course expanding to 18 holes, I learned Monday that the construction has been put on hold indefinitely.

At some point, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly will hear comments from members of the Woodfield Park subdivision. The things they will have to say most likely will not be nice, but they won't be false, either.

Drinking and rowdiness closed the Westchester Disc Golf course earlier this summer. If Valley disc golfers don't clean up their act, we may suffer the same fate.

Often I hear the complaint that there is nothing to do in the Valley. For those who are lazy enough not to take advantage of the miles and miles of trails, mountains and scenery surrounding the small towns we live in, then yes, there is nothing to do in the Valley; there is nothing here but your couch.

Disc golf offers a slightly less lazy alternative. The sport is inexpensive and requires minimal athletic ability. Frolf is really just taking a stroll in the woods.

However, the Alcantra Disc Golf Course has been the victim of an unfortunate few who litter beer bottles and cigarette butts, and are noisy and intoxicated after hours on the course. Hole diagrams put up at the tee pads have been repeatedly vandalized. Underage smoking and drinking laws seem to evaporate around the course, for these select few.

Last month I wrote a story about a man who had a plan and support for adding another nine holes to the course. His progress has been halted as the Mat-Su Borough Assembly waits to hear comments from the course’s neighbors.

The first nine holes were put up free of charge to the borough, and the next nine are also set to cost the public nothing. But for those who have the course as a neighbor, a free nuisance is still a nuisance.

If Valley frolfers want to keep our course, we're going to have to respect it and police it ourselves. Trash cans can actually be used for trash and not everything needs to be tagged with graffiti genitals.

This is not the first incident of Valley youth taking our recreation for granted. The A-Moose-Ment Park has suffered a similar fate. Teenagers have been run out due to the high probability that they're up to no good. Lighting a portable toilet on fire does not get you nine more disc golf baskets, either. Do not complain that you need a new skate park when the ones you have are full of graffiti.

If you use Alcantra, pick up the bottles you see. Don't let a group next to you do anything that has no place on a disc golf course.

Clean your room. If you don't, mommy won’t clean it for you, but she might just take it away.

Tim Rockey is a 2011 graduate of Palmer High School and a summer intern at the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman. Contact him at 352-2252 or tim.rockey@frontiersman.com. Follow @trockeynews on Twitter.