Dirt bike riding is an emerging sport in Ames, so much so that dirt bike enthusiasts built their own course — only to have Ames Parks and Recreation workers take it down.

The kid-built BMX dirt bike course existed south of 6th Street near Brookside Park for several years when the city “decommissioned” the track by flattening it during the first week of May.

Nancy Carroll, director of Parks and Recreation, made a presentation to the Ames City Council Tuesday favoring Greenbriar Park off S. 16th Street as a place for dirt bike riders to enjoy their sport.

“Because of age and ability, we think two courses are better than one,” she said. In her presentation she said the track would be built by volunteers using the mounds of dirt already existing at the park. Each track would be eight feet wide.

Ed Leeson, 25, competes in national BMX racing events. He said he was “very” upset over the city flattening the Brookside Park course. On the other hand, he also said he liked the city’s plans to build a new track.

“Yeah. I was upset that they only gave us two or three days notice when they took down the old course. We didn’t get to say anything, although I’m very pleased with Nancy Carroll’s effort to get this thing going.

“We got a bunch of kids getting rid of the mountain bike and getting a BMX bike. I would definitely say there are so many mountain bike companies getting into BMX biking — including Schwinn,” he said.

In other city council action:

Story County Museum

The city council heard an update on plans to use funds from a grant application to turn the old water plant into a Story County historical museum. The $17,700 Historic Resources Development Protection grant, applied for by the Heritage Association, will help fund a study of the site, just off Highway 30 near the site of the future Youth Sports Complex.

The council approved a request from the Heritage Association for carryover of funds. The council also wanted to set aside 15 acres for a future city park.

Kathy Svec of the Heritage Association said, “Its a very exciting idea: combine a museum with a park.”

Christopher Gartner Park

The city council passed a resolution to name the undeveloped 2.5 acres of land off Abraham Drive in west Ames “Christopher Gartner Park,” if the South Dakota Neighborhood Association (SDNA) raises the $55,000 necessary to purchase the parcel of land.

All 10 acres of South Dakota Park, which was leased to the city, was owned by St. Thomas Aquinas Church prior to being purchased by Cochrane and Associates in May 1995.

Cochrane and Associates has agreed to sell the land on the condition that the SDNA raises the money before Aug. 1. The SDNA had $44,000 as of June 7.

A letter was submitted to and published in The Daily Tribune by the SDNA offering to name the park, with city council approval, whatever the donor of the remaining $11,000 so chose. The editor of The Daily Tribune, Michael Gartner, accepted the offer and asked that the park be named in honor of his late son, Christopher.

Cutoff Street Lighting

Several members of the Ames Area Amateur Astronomers received approval from the city council to continue to install cutoff lighting shields at customer request and expense so that the astronomers may see the night sky easier and reduce “up-light”

Up-light, they said, was light from the city’s streetlights that does not travel down to the street as it should because of the style of many light fixtures, which expose the bulb and allow 30 percent of the light to shine upward.

“People are ignorant about lighting,” astronomer David Oesper said. “That’s why we try to educate them. They see the glare and think its good.”

Astronomer Jack Troeger said, “If you waste light, you waste energy. If you waste energy, you waste fuel. If you waste fuel, you waste money.”

Troeger said if the city installs shields that direct all of the light downward, then the light is where it should be. He showed a map of lights of the United States taken from satellite photos at night which indicated Ames as one of the points of light. “If we start now, by the year 2000 this dot can disappear,” he said.

Officer Bob

The council also heard a report on the School Resource Officer program from Shelli Hayes, juvenile detective.

“It’s a successful program,” she said. “The kids really identify ‘Officer Bob.'”

Council member Ted Tedesco said, “The kids are more aware of what’s happening out there with their peers than their parents.”

“One of the problems is that there is not a lot of parent awareness,” said ‘Officer Bob’ Robert Selby.

Selby said that in most cities it takes three years for the program to get going, but it has taken Ames only one year.