NEW CASTLE Pupils request water park

Council is considering water fountains in a planned city park.
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- They may have been some of the tiniest people to ever bring their concerns to city council, but that didn't mean their message went unheeded.
Second- and third-graders from West Side Primary Center presented their idea for a water park to city council Tuesday.
Teacher Bret Trotta said his pupils came up with idea through their reading class and with a little encouragement from Mayor Timothy Fulkerson gathered 225 signatures on a petition.
Sixteen children walked up to the microphone, which had to be bent downward, to tell city council about their ideas.
What they said: Each read statements explaining how they came up with the water park idea and how they think the city should implement it.
"We need money, land and workers to build the water park. We thought you could ask the taxpayers for the money or we could hold huge yard sales, sell candy, set up bake sales and sell lemonade," one young girl said.
They even thought about where the water park should go.
"Many of us wanted to use our back yards," said one boy. "But Mr. Trotta told us they wouldn't be big enough, so we thought you could use one of the parking lots downtown or put it underground."
Sprinkler system: But the children realized that a water park on the scale of Six Flags might not be possible and asked council to consider putting in a sprinkler system at a park being developed along the Neshannock Creek as part of downtown redevelopment.
Council will ask the project architect to look at putting some water fountains in the park.
"That's something 20 years from now they can say they'd had a part in creating. Maybe we can have a dancing water fountain system that they can run through," Fulkerson said.