League gets second field of their own

Mayor signs over Mechanic Street property to Little League

By Owen Boss

GARDNER — With a single flick of his wrist, Mayor Mark Hawke signed over the deed for the 90-96 Mechanic St. property to the Gardner Little League Monday, making the seven-year dream of a second baseball field a reality. The field, which is expected to be built sometime in the next year, will be located where the L&Z Kamaan property was formerly located behind Burger King. It will provide the more than 500 youth participants of the league with an secondary field, which will limit the persistent scheduling conflicts. For Stanford Hartshorn, treasurer of the league, the finalization of the sale of the property has been something he has been working toward for the better part of a decade, and said that it is the first of several steps toward putting a field at the location. “We have been working at this for a long time, and we will anticipate a lot of help from the community,” said Mr. Hartshorn. “We have the seed money to get started on the first step, which is engineering and development, and we already have that lined up.” Although there were many different individuals that played important roles in securing the land for the league, Mr. Hartshorn made a point to recognize the help he received from the mayor’s office and Director of Planning and Development Robert Hubbard. “I would especially like to thank Rob Hubbard who has helped us since inception,” said Mr. Hartshorn. “And the current and prior administrations at City Hall that have worked so hard behind the scenes to make sure that this happened.” Mr. Hawke, who was working as a grant writer when the project was originally conceived, said that he is happy to see it come to fruition during his term in office. “I have e-mails about this going back to 2002 and I think it actually started before that,” said Mr. Hawke. “It’s a combination of a lot of efforts; this project has been in the making for many years and through several terms, I’m just proud that we were able to get this done while I was in office.” Although the addition of a secondary field will allow the league to operate smoother, Mr. Hartshorn said that it will also give more area children the opportunity to get involved with a team. “This league is important because it involves so many youths, both boys and girls, at such an impressionable age,” said Mr. Hartshorn. “and youth sports teach teamwork.” oboss@thegardnernews.com

Appeared on Page 1 on 6/24/2008 (Vol. 206 No. 149)