To The Reader’s Forum:

How about thanking the people who have put on the Gus Macker and Street Jam for Jamestown and the surrounding area these many years. It is very easy to second guess their decision to cancel this year’s Street Jam and criticize them for attempting to make changes. Unless you have been involved in putting on something like this you have no idea the amount of very hard work that is required.

I understand this because I have been working with www.barnyardclassic.com and the Barnyard Classic 3 on 3 Tournament since it started nine years ago.

Our first year we had 34 teams from the Jamestown and Warren area. Since that time and with a lot of work from about 64 volunteers we now must limit our June 25 one day tournament to 100 teams. These teams (ages 6 through 18) come from New York, Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. Some drive for three hours to play and have been doing so for multiple years. Because of our rural setting 10 miles from Jamestown, we have had it easier than the people at The Resource Center. They must contend with parking, and blocking off streets as well as many other problems that we don’t have to deal with. Few people give them credit for having made this work for so long. There have been so many negative comments posted that it makes one stop to wonder if the people of Jamestown area are at all grateful for those years. I am sure any changes that the Resource Center attempted were done to try and make this huge task a little more manageable. If a few of those who are so quick to criticize had offered to help even once, then maybe this event could have been staged differently this year. Let’s all hope that they are able to revive this great annual event that has been enjoyed by so many and once again join with the Barnyard Classic in providing our area youth a quality basketball experience.

Rick West,

Russell, Pa.