DANVILLE — Forty-seven-year-old Isaac Wyatt just experienced his first taste of playing paintball recently at the Paintball Barn in Attica, Ind.

And he literally had a blast.

“I think it’d be a great thing to have here,” Wyatt said.

He said young people need another recreational activity here to help them stay out of trouble.

“They can take their frustrations out …,” Wyatt said.

Wyatt hopes to organize a local group to open a paintball park.

“I’d like to kick it off in the spring,” he said.

Lots of questions remain, however, about funding, a location and other details.

Paintball is a game in which players eliminate opponents by hitting them with pellets containing paint, called paintballs, usually shot from a carbon dioxide or compressed-gas powered paintball gun.

“This is not unique,” Public Works Director Doug Ahrens said of the paintball park idea.

A group came forward with this suggestion several years ago, but nothing materialized, he said. As with other similar recreational ideas, like the dog park, “we don’t turn anyone away,” Ahrens said. But city officials advise residents to organize a group on their own and seek donations.

Due to the city’s ongoing fiscal constraints, it cannot help with funding, but it can be a partner and assist with identifying sites and possible grant funding.

Ahrens said the previous group discussed using vacant city lots in a common area where structures had been torn down.

“We have not done any research as to whether the city would be able to become involved in that,” Ahrens said about lots for a paintball park.

“If there are vacant properties that we are aware of or can control and if they are zoned properly, there’s no reason (they) can’t be used,” he said.

If there is a fee charged, however, the park would lend itself to a private-type facility, he added.

Ahrens can’t envision a paintball park in an existing city park, simply because of the potential danger to other park users. He sees the site being more remote. He said some communities use a trail or other areas for multi-purposes, such as closing it off on a weekday for a period of time like 5-9 p.m., to permit paintballing.

But the paintballs leave paint splatters behind.

Ahrens said he’s been to paintball parks and agrees, “they are a blast.” Most are in more of a natural-type, woods setting, but some are fenced in with netting, he said.

Wyatt said the closest paintball parks are about 45 minutes away. He said he’s also heard there’s a paintball park in Ogden.

Wyatt said if people are interested, he’d like to hear from them.

He envisions an outdoor range in the city, or even at Kickapoo State Park, with it having age restrictions and parental consent waivers.

The youngest in his group when he played paintball in Attica was 13. He adds that the facility was busy. The cost was $35 for three hours of play and renting the equipment needed.

He said maybe there could be sponsorships to purchase the air guns and other gear needed to protect a person’s head, eyes and chest, or persons could bring their own.

“I think it’d be a great thing,” Wyatt said.



FYI

Persons interested in starting a paintball park in the city may contact Isaac Wyatt at his e-mail address iwyatt@yahoo.com or drop off your name and phone number at Lake Forest Apartments’ community room, 2320 N. Vermilion St.