Editor’s note: Today’s letters to the editor are from Southwest Junior High students learning about persuasive writing.

To the editor:

I am writing to the City of Lawrence to propose an indoor skate park. If we build one, it could be located on one of the empty lots along Wakarusa Drive.

One of the problems at Centennial Park is that the use of illegal drugs has gone up dramatically for skaters along with underage drinking. Some people live across town from the skate park. And the local water supply is cutoff during the winter. These are only some of the reasons why I am proposing this skate park.

To fund this facility I propose that local skaters talk to their parents to get them interested to donate money. We should also go to a city council meeting to talk to commissioners about this idea. We could go to meetings and talk to city representatives about the indoor park. We also could take out a city loan and build the indoor skate park. Then we could charge a couple dollars to enter the park. After a couple of years we could pay off the loans and still charge money to get in to keep the building maintained and to pay for electricity and other necessary items.

I hope that the local skaters in Lawrence will consider this idea and unite to make a skate park for year-round use.

Julian Cole-Nieves,

Southwest Junior High