A petition is being circulated by POOL (People Organized against Only Lakes), a Carbondale-based group of deep-thinking community activists. To call POOL an organization goes too far--they don't even have a website!--but "Poola" Bradshaw and company have a good idea, and growing support among town residents. Here's the petition.

A Po(o)litical Issue

It is an affront to the standards of the Carbondale community that no public outdoor swimming facility for children and families exists within the city limits. Therefore, we, the undersigned residents of Carbondale, in order to establish a more perfect community, do hereby petition the Carbondale City Council, Carbondale Park District and Carbondale School Districts 95 & 165, Southern Illinois University, and any other governmental body, private organization, or individual with an interest in the matter to join in forming a task force to construct an outdoor swimming school with a diving board and a water slide in town, so children and parents can ride their bicycles--and not have to drive out to Cedar Lake (which gets too warm by July anyway). We urge the people of Carbondale and its government to pool its resources to bring this goal about.

name, address, email

Copies of the petition will be circulated at various locations by various people over the next few weeks. POOL believes that 5000 signatures before Spring Break next year would be impressive. There's a city-wide election for mayor and city council on April 1. Perfect. Poolhaps it can be put on the ballot.

Stop by Carbondale Greyhound, 402 S. Illinois Ave to sign or circulate a copy.