Luke Bycroft, director of the Iola Recreation Department, explained the decision not to re-admit patrons free to the pool once they have left its environs because of abuses of the practice in past years.
“Most people who left the pool had done so for ‘recreational purposes’ over the dike that we did not approve of,” and then wished to return to the pool, Bycroft said. “Unfortunately, those few people have ruined the policy for the general public.”
Bycroft also said the return of previous users was difficult to monitor and the practice of stamping hands also had been “sorely abused.”
The new policy is bound to irritate those who are honest, Bycroft said, for which he apologizes.
Susan Lynn,
Register editor
