In response to Gina Niggel (Letters, "Skate Park of Athens becoming no place for kids," June 27) commenting on "inconsiderate" guys in their 30s using the skateboard park, I'd like to note that unsupervised small children are a serious hazard there. Many of them ride without looking where they are going. On several occasions, I have seen them simply stand in the riding area, oblivious to their surroundings, as parents sit in the bleachers reading.
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Riding at the park is a serious undertaking. Awareness of one's surroundings is very important, and injury is always a risk. That's why helmets and pads are required, and why skateboarding is termed an "extreme sport."
At the Athens-Clarke County park, there are blind curves that people go around at high speed.
There are places where people jump in the air and cannot see a small child until it is too late. In the less than three months the park has been open, at least three serious injuries have occurred, at least one involving a young child.
Please don't take offense when someone asks a young child to move or, as Niggel wrote "obviously think(s) the younger kids are getting in the way." This does not happen when a parent provides the supervision and guidance an inexperienced child needs in a dangerous environment.