KVAL News: Cottage Grove tries to save community pool

COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. - For 12-year-old Betsy Barton, saving the Warren H. Daughtry Aquatic Center means a lot of laps.

On Sunday afternoon, Barton reached the bulkhead of the center’s pool, made a swift turn and was off for lap 102.

It’s part of a "lapathon" fundraising effort where swimmers collect pledges of donations for each lap Barton swims, and the aquatic center is relying on fundraising efforts to keep the pool and its programs afloat.

“Running a swimming pool is expensive, but it provides such a service to the community,” said pool manager Carrie McCasline.

The aquatic center is on the chopping block after its owner, the South Lane School District, cut its annual cash flow to the pool.

The school district is facing a deficit of at least $3.5 million dollars and the pool was made the list of things to go.

“We know the struggles the school district is going through and all of the cuts that they’re making,” said McCasline. “Education is their priority. The pool is generally on the list that they look to cut.”

In previous years, the South Lane School District provided about a quarter of a million dollars a year to help operate the pool. But as budgets became tight, that funding was cut.

Now the pool operators rely on the money they’ve saved and are looking to fundraising to keep the pool open until the end of the year.

A local group of pool supporters, known as “Friends of the Pool,” are banding together to raise funds.

“We anticipated this cut,” said McCasline. “We got together to create Friends of the Pool with a goal to raise $25,000 to keep the pool open for the rest of 2011.”

For many in the community, the pool is something that’s doesn’t just provide a sense of community, it can save lives.

“Before the pool was built, back in the 1950s kids were drowning in all the lakes,” said pool supporter Rob Dickinson. “Now the kids have a program to learn water safety. If we lose this pool more kids could drown.”