Fire destroys city landmark; Arson suspected in blaze at Coggshall stone house.
Byline: Anna L. Griffin FITCHBURG - A fire that ripped through the stone house at Coggshall Park, one of the city's best known landmarks, cut through the roof and second floor, leaving only smoldering stone pillars as evidence that anything was ever there. Investigators from...

Panel ponders ban on smoking in parks.
Byline: Anna L. Griffin LEOMINSTER - The city Recreation Commission is seeking legal advice on whether it can ban smoking at public parks and playgrounds. "They decided at the meeting to seek legal counsel," said Judith Sumner, director of the Recreation Department. The...

Conviction of the heart: implementing leave-no-trace principles in outdoor recreation: here is a model for teaching students to respect the outdoors.
A record number of Americans are rediscovering the benefits of outdoor recreational pursuits. In 2004, nearly 277 million recreational visits were recorded by the United States national park system (Haney, 2006). The increased use of recreation areas has become an issue in the United States. Evidence of recreational impacts...

Skateboard park under repair; Work for paving starts Monday.
Byline: Shirley Barnes TEMPLETON - The skateboard park in Templeton Center will close for a few weeks, starting Monday, while improvements are made to the asphalt surface as a first step toward meeting safety requirements of the town's insurer. The Templeton Lions Club has donated...

Parks maintenance seen as a challenge; Financial situation obscures future.
Byline: Nick Kotsopoulos WORCESTER - The city's top parks official says "new approaches and policies" need to be developed to meet what has become a serious fiscal challenge of maintaining 60 parks and 35 playgrounds. Robert L. Moylan Jr., commissioner of public works and parks,...

Theme parks: creating memorable playgrounds by building on a theme.
On the night of May 6, 1856, a steamboat named the Effie Afton was making its way up the Mississippi River from St. Louis when it hit the Rock Island Railroad Bridge, which linked Rock Island, Ill., and Davenport, Iowa. The Rock Island Bridge was the first railroad bridge...

City's Green Hill master plan was hit out of bounds.
Byline: Nick Kotsopoulos COLUMN: POLITICS AND THE CITY As popular and well-used as Worcester's parks and playgrounds are, when difficult fiscal times hit the city, the parks and playgrounds are unfortunately among the first to face the budget ax. It started in 1980...

Preserving "nature's artistry": Torrey Pines during its formative years as a city and state park.
The City of San Diego ... stands alone among the cities of a world in having within its confines a singularly outstanding example of Nature's artistry .... This is Torrey Pines Preserve. GUY FLEMING, Superintendent, Southern Division, California Division of Parks, 1942 (1) In the...

Council panel endorses plan to streamline work; Cut standing committees from 20 to 10.
Byline: Nick Kotsopoulos WORCESTER - The City Council Rules and Regulations Committee last night unanimously endorsed a plan to reduce the number of the council's three-member standing committees from 20 to 10. To achieve that, the committee recommended consolidating some subcommittees and eliminating others. ...

West Boylston town meeting is tomorrow; 51 articles include $19.9 million budget and grant to hire two firefighters.
Byline: Patricia A. Clark WEST BOYLSTON - A fiscal 2009 budget of $19,996,233, acceptance of a grant to hire two new firefighters, and increased funding for summer recreation programs will be among the issues taken up by voters at the semiannual town meeting tomorrow. The...