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By GINA THACKARA; Times Leader Staff Writer
Sunday, April 17, 1994 Page: 3A QUICK WORDS: GROUP GETS MONEY
FLOWING FOR POOL
FORTY FORT — Borough residents will have to pool their resources and come
up with $13,000 if they want to splash in the Forty Fort Municipal Swimming
Pool this summer.
Youngsters and adults went door-to-door Saturday morning distributing
leaflets to the more than 2,000 borough households. The leaflets explain
donations are needed to make repairs to the borough pool.
“We’re here because we want a place to swim this summer,” said 9-year-old
Chris Lynn. He and four friends took handfuls of letters to put on doorsteps
and in mail slots.
Lynn is helping the Friends of the Forty Fort Pool, a group of 10 residents
working to keep the pool in operation.
The group also plans to solicit funds from 150 area businesses this week.
The Friends of the Forty Fort Pool plan to find a contractor to perform
pressure tests on several pipes, work on underground leaks and sandblast and
paint the pool’s interior.
At a recent council meeting, borough engineer Chris Borton estimated
repairs to the pool will cost at least $20,000.
“We’re hoping to raise at least $6,500 from this campaign,” said Friends of
the Forty Fort Pool member Bob Kopec. “We have pledges of matching donations
from the Forty Fort Lions, the Kingston Rotary and the Forty Fort-Kingston
Kiwanis clubs, so we only have to come up with half of the money.”
The Friends of the Forty Forty Pool hope to complete all of the major
renovations this year before the pool’s scheduled opening at the end of June.
Kopec said he volunteered to spearhead the fund-raiser because he spent
summers there as a youngster and later worked at the pool as a lifeguard.
The pool was built in 1936 as part of a Works Projects Administration
project and is one of the oldest municipal pools in the county.
The borough already has $7,000 left from a 2-year-old legislative
initiative grant. Council members spent part of the original $10,000 grant
last year to patch large sections of the pool’s walls and purchase a chemical
pump.
“It’s an elderly pool, but a good pool, and certainly worth working on,”
said council president Joseph Bilbow. “We certainly don’t have enough money
left in the grant to do everything that needs to be done, so we’re asking the
community for help.”
TIMES LEADER PHOTOS/TONY MACAREO
Richard Lynn, 10, of Forty Fort goes door-to-door to help the Friends of
the Forty Fort Pool raise funds for pool renovation. Lynn was among a group of
youngsters and adults who distributed letters Saturday. The borough engineer
says repairs to the Forty Fort Municipal Swimming Pool will cost at least
$20,000.