Park name change seconded
Absolutely, _________ Park needs a name change. I for one have been trying to find out for years how the name got changed from Wonderly to that made up name, which I refuse to utter. Having grown up in the Wonderly Farms farmhouse, at 427 East Drive, my family felt a kinship with Wonderly Park. Living only a few short blocks away, I and my six brothers and sisters spent a good part of our summers at Wonderly Park. We swam in the wading pool, took tennis lessons, did arts and crafts, competed in tetherball tournaments and played on the Wonderly Park summer softball team. Yes, we had a softball team. The only team I remember us playing was that team on the other side of the world, the Shafor Park team. Mind you, there was no Gardner Pool so we didn’t have a reason to head north to Shafor Park. But, I digress. No one I have asked remembers when or why the name of Wonderly Park was changed. I just remember moving back to Oakwood with my family in 1991 and having someone mention, oh okay, I’ll say it, Orchardly Park, and me responding, what park? When I found out they meant Wonderly, I was saddened to find the wonderful park of my childhood had lost its identity. Wonderly means something. Like you said Lance, it’s named after Jacob Wonderly of Wonderly Farms. It’s part of our community history. Orchardly is made up and means nothing. In this year of our Centennial, it’s time to return to our roots, and change the name of our beloved little park back to Wonderly.
Patty Van Schaik
Oakwood
Kudos for Orchardly Park
Dear Mayor Cook, Mr. Klopsch, Mr. Byington, Mr. Castleman and Mr. Duncan,
Thank you for the new play equipment and splash pad at Orchardly Park, It was cool seeing the new stuff being built. I apprecieate how hard you have been working to get this park ready for opening day. I love the splash pad and the big red climbing thing. I think the new park is awesome. I love it.
Delainie Sims
Fourth Grade
Oakwood
Orchardly Park non-existent word
Lance Winkler’s proposal to change Orchardly Park’s name based upon a non-existent word elevated to proper noun status does present the question; are the ‘naming’ powers smarter than a fifth grader?
I suspect those who agreed upon the name were still under the influence of Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction of language in which first order communication is through the spoken word, thus, if it sounds good it must be good and on the seventh day we rest and have martini’s.
Language is indeed a living thing dependent upon common usage and, much like the planning commission, has a group of curators who decide for all of us what is offically dictioned and defined through the most recent release of lexicons on Amazon.com. While it is almost certain OMG, BRB, BFF, etc., will soon, if not already, be included, much to the curiosity of linguists centuries from now, into our commonly accepted usage, there are serious doubts ‘orchardly’ would rise to the level of a word with any expanded meaning beyond the presumed root, ‘orchard.’
Winkler does make a solid case for naming the park after the Wonderlys, who were real people because I live in their 1872 farm house and have preserved the builder’s white wash initials on my foundation walls, though well concealed from property maintenance inspectors.
This leads to a response to Matthew Adkins’ sentiments in the same July 1 issue of the Register regarding environmental concerns of traffic, noise, pollution, Kettering residents using the park, playground equipment, and the enlightening observation that “Like all things, this park, too, will soon age and grow obsolete.”
Adkins’ asks what the city planners (an oxymoron) will do when the next update to the park comes in 18 years which is, putting this in one perceptual context, about a whole generation away or approximately 476,000 Windows Vista updates from Microsoft. Adkins hopes the next design change will revert back to a green Earth-friendly format if a glacier doesn’t occupy the lot by then; Glacier Park is already taken. What Adkins fails to mention in his environmental concerns is Oakwood was ahead of its time in absorbing surrounding farmland into its municipality.
However, if the floor is open to critique and suggestions on the entire park issue the next time a change is in the plans, I move that the Wonderly Farm House and the original property (all 128 acres including the peach orchards) be returned to me, in trust for the Wonderly family descendants, per the 1872 survey, and I be allowed to secede from the City of Oakwood as soon as I re-tap the well head and install a septic tank.
Max Skeans
Oakwood
See Orchardly Park Master Plan in photo gallery >
OSEF thanks community for generosity
As a parent, grandparent, neighbor, alumni or friend, you make a difference in the lives of Oakwood students. Thank YOU to all the many generous donors who made the Oakwood Schools Education Foundation’s Grants Endowment Fund Campaign, Visions for Tomorrow, a success!
The Oakwood Schools Education Foundation
Worried about Oakwood overdevelopment
My family and I are new to Oakwood, and I am writing to the Register to share some reactions and observations to some of the changes that are happening in the city. First, my family and I feel very blessed to have found Oakwood! We moved to this area from North Carolina for work-related reasons, and we love it here. Oakwood is a beautiful city, and it has a charm not often found in other areas. I am so impressed with the school system and the safety of the city. These were important factors to me since we have two young children, and we have found others’ reports of good educational experiences and safe neighborhoods to be true. We have also found Oakwood to be a friendly and welcoming city. Nearly everyone, including neighbors, parents of our children’s classmates, teachers, and people in the DLM has been kind and helpful. There have been times since we moved here that I have actually felt like pinching myself to make sure I was not dreaming! I know that may sound silly, but Oakwood is really one of those towns that supposedly “doesn’t exist” anymore. That’s why I ‘m writing this letter—because I feel that decisions are being made in Oakwood that will shatter the existence of Oakwood as we now know it.
Oakwood is facing choices and changes that could forever alter its future, our future, and the future of our children who may decide to raise their children in Oakwood. In April, when I was out on the River Park soccer field watching my son’s practice, I was so saddened to learn that the beautiful wooded area behind the field was soon to be destroyed. I know now that there was a good bit of community/citizen protest about this, and I am still not sure how it happened that these protests were overridden. However, I am greatly concerned that Oakwood would not be more protective of such a natural area that provided a beautiful entrance into the city from Dayton. The week after I learned about the upcoming “development” of the area, the bulldozing started. One day later, I passed by and saw a displaced deer in a nearby yard, looking puzzled, standing near the traffic whizzing by on Fall Hills Avenue. The deer looked back at the previously wooded area she called home, and then she went on walking toward another yard with some trees.
As I was driving down East Dixon Avenue last week, I saw another heartbreaking sight. Another deer was meandering down the grassy median, walking toward Shafor. It was early, and there were walkers and joggers out. I slowed in my car and all those around stopped and watched this deer make his way safely across Shafor. No doubt, he came from the Sugar Camp site. He, too, was evicted by the ugly concept of “improvement” and is looking for another patch of trees in which to settle.
In addition to defacing a beautiful and natural part of our city and destroying the natural habitat of many helpless animals, developing this wooded area will bring more traffic and people into Oakwood. A natural consequence will be congestion on our roads and in our schools. Is this part of the city plan?
I now know that there is another proposal for “development” facing Oakwood citizens. The retail area near Volusia is supposed to create convenient and “upscale” shopping for us. What about the increased traffic? What about the fact that this will bring non-Oakwood citizens into an area that is directly adjacent to an Oakwood neighborhood, a neighborhood where parents now feel safe in letting their children play outside by themselves? Any benefits to our economy and any benefits in terms of convenience of shopping are greatly outweighed by a reduction in community safety and a compromise regarding the integrity and charm of our city.
In summary, I am worried about Oakwood. Specifically, I worry that we are not fighting hard enough to prevent overdevelopment of our beautiful community. Keep in mind that once certain changes take place, it is impossible to go back. (Do you think Sugar Camp will ever be a mini-forest again?) A city does not get destroyed overnight. It happens slowly, one step at a time. A forest destroyed here, a shopping area erected there, and a few extra parking lots along the way. If we are not careful, Oakwood will be just like Everywhere, USA with a McDonald’s and a WalMart on the corner. We, as citizens, must insist that our leaders make more preservation-oriented decisions for Oakwood if, indeed, we want to preserve our lovely city.
Regina D. Shillinglaw, Ph.D.
Recycle at OCC Pool
Dear OCC Pool Members,
Recycle at OCC Pool Dear OCC Pool Members, Please help our community. Please help the Oakwood Pool recycle. I asked about starting recycling at the pool. This week, recycling at the pool started. You can do your part by putting everything recyclable in the trashcan that says recycle by the snack bar. I’ll help by taking one bag of recyclables with my Mom from the pool every week.
Thank you for helping our environment.
Richard A. Roediger
Age 5? years
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July 8, 2008
Volume 17, No. 28
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