[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=37650.63

Martin Quizzes Fees For Programs
Councilwoman challenges difference between Midnight Basketball and AAU, Pirahna Swimming.

Jason Miller
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - City Councilwoman Virginia Martin asked Park Board members why Midnight Basketball programs were asked to pay fees to the city while AAU basketball and Pirahna Swim programs weren't.

Martin, D-at large, also wondered why the park department did away with Midnight Basketball, a charge refuted by park board president Bob McKee. He said school officials did away with Midnight Basketball for safety reasons.

"That's a question you'd have to ask the school district," McKee said Thursday night. "I'm a fan of Midnight Basketball. If we could have Midnight Basketball, I think that would be fine."

Martin, an outgoing council member, asked the questions on the heels of a meeting between park officials and Michigan City Area Schools officials. The meeting regarded the school district's edict the park department no longer use Wolves Den at MCHS for Sunday night basketball leagues.

McKee said he'd reserve comment on the results of that meeting until early next year. He will leave the board next week and take his elected seat on the city council in January.

Martin and Michigan City resident Hazel Thomas asked why AAU and the Pirahna club are covered under the park department's liability insurance and Midnight Basketball was not.

Both are sponsored by the park department, but neither receives money from the department, according to park superintendent Darrell Garbacik.

McKee said Becky Williams, the late founder of Helping Our People Excel, negotiated on behalf of Midnight Basketball. Williams didn't agree to the parameters placed on the program by the park board to be included under its liability insurance. Both AAU and Pirahna Swim programs agreed to the insurance parameters.

Midnight Basketball - which was designed as a way to give younger people an activity to get them off the streets - went away in the late 1990s and was revised by Bryant Dabney in the early 2000s.

Contact reporter Jason Miller at jmiller@thenewsdispatch.com.