The road has been long and tedious, but the New Martinsville Parks and Recreation Department has finally received the go-ahead for its refurbishment of the miniature golf course at Bruce Park. The course is certainly in need of some help. So is the park.

This project, according to Parks Director Beverly Gibb, is the project that will get the (miniature golf) ball rolling, so to speak. She says this improvement will be the beginning of great things for Bruce Park, and the entire New Martinsville parks system.

We hope she is correct.

In recent years we have seen some deterioration of our parks. We understand that budgets are tight and costs go up. Really we do.

However, a little elbow grease isn’t too expensive-particularly if it comes from volunteers.

We know that there are volunteers at our parks, from time to time. However we think perhaps more residents need to get involved, even if it is on a non-organized basis.

It doesn’t take much effort for a person to pick up a piece or two of trash or at least prevent the litter in the first place.

It doesn’t take much effort, in fact we hope you would find it enjoyable, to utilize the parks a bit more. Take a walk, fly a kite, take the kids to a playground, operate a paddleboat, or have a picnic. Most of those things are even free.

We do indeed hope this golf course project is the start of many more great things to come at our parks.