Costa Mesa High concerns resonate

I read the Pilot every morning, and I enjoyed your series about the

problems at Costa Mesa High School. What a shame. The kids are the

ultimate losers in all of this.

It was sad to read the article Wednesday (“Firing forces Mesa to

call off scrimmage”) online. That one kid had lost all his coaches

for his senior year.

AGUSTIN HEREDIA

Fallbrook

I read with interest your Tuesday article in the Daily Pilot about

the situation in Costa Mesa with field availability and maintenance

(“Joint-use miscommunication”).

It just so happens that I was issued a citation Sunday for

practicing with a team of 11- and 12-year-olds at Adams Park in Costa

Mesa. I am the manager of a group of youngsters from the Costa Mesa

area who organized to compete in a tournament in Cooperstown, N.Y.,

on Aug. 13.

This tournament was started back in 1996 and has flourished to its

current level of 64 teams per week from all over the country

competing throughout the summer.

The tournament is for boys 12 and younger.

The majority of the boys on our team are members of the Costa Mesa

National Little League of which I have been a manager and board

member for more than 10 years. Most of the boys are from your

typical, middle class Costa Mesa families, so this experience is a

once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for all of them.

The cost for the tournament is $525 for each player and coach. In

addition, we need to pay for airfare and transportation to New York.

Due to the high cost, the boys and their families have been working

very hard since the beginning of the year raising funds through

various fundraising activities. To date, we have raised more than

$10,000 and are coming down the stretch trying to raise the final

funds to cover the cost of our transportation.

Now for our dilemma. With All-Stars and Tournament of Champions

completed, we have only 11 more practice days until we leave for

Cooperstown. The city of Costa Mesa has been extremely uncooperative

in allowing us to practice on any of the Costa Mesa fields. On

numerous occasions, we attempted to practice on the farm field on

Sunday afternoons. In spite of the fact that no one at all was using

the fields, we were kicked off the fields by Costa Mesa city workers.

When we went to the city to obtain the appropriate permits, we were

told that because we had two players outside of Costa Mesa we would

be required to pay $62.50 per 2 1/2-hour practice session.

One of my coaches and parents paid more than $400 out of his own

pocket to cover a number of Sunday practices for our team earlier

this year. With only two weeks left and 10 practice dates before our

trip, the cost of $625 was financially prohibitive. So I took my team

to the Adams school park to practice. The Adams school park is an

open field with a couple backstops that I have used since coaching

T-ball. It is also the local neighborhood park for me and a number of

families on the team. There were no signs requiring permits, so I

figured that I could practice there for the next few weeks before we

leave. This past Sunday the park workers observed our practice and

returned about a half-hour later with the Costa Mesa Police.

We were the only people in the entire park. The park workers

informed the policeman that I was practicing without a permit and

instructed him to cite me for practicing without a permit.

As a Costa Mesa resident, parent, coach and volunteer (manager for

Costa Mesa National Little League, AYSO, YMCA Basketball, etc.), I am

extremely disappointed and frustrated by the lack of city support,

lack of city facilities and the confrontational nature of city

officials with local youth groups that I have experienced in my 16

years of living in Costa Mesa.

Here we are, a group of parents volunteering our time, resources

and providing our own financial support to provide an outstanding

opportunity to a group of 11- and 12-year-old boys for an adventure

of a lifetime. Instead of embracing this type of effort and providing

support to the families and local youth of Costa Mesa, our city

officials have set up a system that ignores common sense and

establishes restrictions and obstacles for a group of 11-and

12-year-old boys to simply play baseball.

As a frustrated and concerned Costa Mesa parent, coach and

volunteer, I felt that it was time to share my thoughts on a subject

that seems to be affecting more than myself.

RICK CAMPO

Costa Mesa