Boosters President defends group, park

To the editor,
First of all, I would like to thank Raleigh Timmons for his letter to the editor in last week's paper. Secondly, I want to address District 1 Supervisor Mark Johnson's true-or-false statements in his campaign advertisement.
Johnson's ad stated that the county's taxpayers had subsidized the Orange County Boosters Club for more than $100,000 in the past five years. The only money the county has given the Boosters is the registration fee they collected for the Boosters. This was done as a convenience for participants in Boosters sports. This was not taxpayer money. We asked the county for an accounting of county revenue related to the Boosters. According to the county's financial department, the only money the Boosters had received was the registration fees. The Boosters did receive $10,000 from the county in 2008 to help offset operation cost, use of the fields for soccer and other uses. Other than that, the county hasn't provided a dime to help the Boosters with the construction of Booster Park.
Does Johnson have a vendetta against the Boosters? This is not the first time he has made such statements without challenge. It is not fair to the Boosters to have these types of accusations without recourse. The Boosters are in the 40th year of providing sports for the youth of Orange County. In the history of the Boosters, no child has ever not played a sport because of money.
Furthermore, we believe the county has already decided to let another group have the park and provide them with $30,000 for start-up costs. These individuals have not put the time and labor into building the park, but allegedly, they have convinced the board of supervisors they can do a better job. There's other land in the county that was slated to be a park so let them have the land and do as we did. Then, we'd have two parks.
In closing, I would like to thank Teri Pace for all of her support of the Boosters. Teri's children actually played at the park and she knows other board members were provided misguided information. It's sad to say but I don't think all of the board members can say they have ever been to the park. In addition, I don't think any of them are well informed of the Boosters' history and the job the Boosters have done over the last 40 years except Teri Pace.
The Boosters have a proven track record for 40 years. Show me documentation where the Boosters have received compensation amounting to more than what was due them by previous agreement with the county. Once again, the Boosters have only received registration funds due them.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once stated that "To answer your critics is to lower yourself to their standard," but this time I felt the public needed to know the truth.
George C. Shifflett Jr., President
Orange County Boosters Club