No Easy Answers About Returning to ‘Normal’

All over the world, organizations are having to make decisions on trying to balance COVID-19 precautions, with the resumption of normal life.

In Fayetteville, like in so many places, it’s a tough balance.

The city council there held a special meeting to decide whether or not to allow summer select baseball tournaments to proceed as they have done for years at Fayetteville’s ballpark (part of tournaments that are actually happening all over Fayette County from La Grange to Flatonia).

The games will bring lots of players and fans from the Houston, Austin and Waco areas.

Tournaments start June 19. By a 3-2 vote the council voted to allow the games to proceed, with special social distancing precautions like no ticket booth, no concession stand and extra benches.

Voting to allowing the baseball games were Scott Marshall, Ronnie Pflughaupt and Steve Pavlicek. Voting against allowing the baseball games were Bradley Girndt and Yvonne McCowen.

Mayor Carl Marino, who did not have a vote, expressed his concern about allowing the games to proceed.

“Fayetteville has 262 residents and the average age is well over 65,” Marino said. “I’m hearing about coronavirus cases spiking. I don’t want to put lives in danger.”

Marino said one resident presented an informal poll he had taken in town asking people’s opinion of hosting the tournaments. “He had 120 signatures and he said every single one of them said no to the baseball because of the pandemic,” Marino said.

But Marino admitted the “poll” was certainly not scientifically done, “you never know how the question was asked, who was asked,” he said, but nonetheless that information told him there’s at least a big chunk of the Fayetteville residents against the tournaments.

Additionally, Marino said the ballpark received a large grant earlier this year so any lost revenue from games wouldn’t have a negative impact on the ballpark’s bottom line.

But Marino said he also understands the arguments from the other side.

“We’ve got a lot of weekenders that come to Fayetteville from other places,” Marino said. “They could be as much of an issue as baseball players.”

Pflughaupt said in addition to precautions being taken at the field, local restaurants are offering to-go meals at the ballpark to keep vistors out of the local restaurants.

County leadership was going to leave this decision up to the city.

Marino said, both County Judge Joe Weber and Emergency Management Coordinator Craig Moreau told him they were both okay with whatever the Fayetteville council decided.