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Blackburn College shuts down pool
The Blackburn College pool
is officially closed.
Blackburn College’s Board
of Trustees made the decision
during it’s June meeting. The
board voted to approve it’s latest
budget, which included no
money to operate the pool.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t have
much of a choice,” trustee John
Lapp said. “We had to make some
tough budget choices, and we just
couldn’t justify keeping the pool
open when we had to make several
cuts.”
Construction on the pool began in
the early 1970s and was completed
by students in the Work Program in
1980. The pool has never been used
extensively by Blackburn students.
Ironically, when the pool was completed,
it was discovered it was too
small to use for competition.
Lapp was one of the biggest supporters
of the pool. When the possibility
of closing the pool was first
announced last January, Lapp made
every effort to see if the pool could
be saved.
“There are a number of alumni
who wanted to see the
pool continue to operate,”
he said. “We will have to
spend some money on the
pool each year, even if
it’s closed. Unfortunately,
there was no way to keep
the pool open from a financial
standpoint.”
Earlier this year, Blackburn
received a lot of publicity after
announcing it was suspending its
football program. The elimination
of the 20-year program brought
mixed reaction from both the college and the community.
Source: Macoupin County Enquirer,
June 26, 2009 |