Meanwhile in Montana:
HOW TO GET YOUR OWN PARK
Any city, no matter how against the idea the
bureaucracy may be, can have a skateboard
park. If we can do it, so can you.
If you're traveling through Montana, there's
only one skateboard park in the state, and that's
Libby Skateboard Park, located in Libby.
The whole idea dates back five years to when
the city and schools banned skateboarding. We
went to the city council, parks board, and school
board meetings, but we were denied the possi
bility of a park for ourselves.
Mrs Hammond had a small plot of land that
had been home to multiple ramps for
years and donated it to us.
We did raffles to pay for the materials,
and then we, the skateboarders and par-
ents, built it. It took about a month to
complete our skatepark, which opened on
June 6, 1993.
The park is a non-profit corporation with
the members being the owners as well.
Members have keys and can skate any
time between 10 am and 10 pm, except
for those under sixteen years of age, who
have to skate when there's supervision
there. The supervisors are the skaters over
fifteen that have taken a simple safety test.
The old excuse, "We can't afford insur-
ance, has been bypassed because the
people who skate the park own the park..
In the event of a lawsuit, they would only
be suing themselves. It's a catch-22 that
means you don't have to have insurance.
Libby Skateboard Park Incorporated is a new
idea for what has always seemed like a no-win
situation, and it works. You don't have to worry
about skaters thrashing the park, because you
give them a chance to own it. It is also fenced to
keep the riff-raff out.
The park was designed by Josh McAlister and
me, Randy Johnson, to be exactly what we, the
skaters, wanted. It's all in cement. There are
curbs of all heights, a manual pad, banks, hips,
fence, port-a-potty, garbage can, and there is
soon to be light. For just $25 a year or $3 a day
(with a parental signature for minors), anyone
can become a skateboard park member/owner,
with all the rights and privleges that includes
We would like to thank all those who helped
make this possible but that would fill the maga-
zine, so a short thanks to Mrs Hammond, the
parents, the kids, the cement men, Consolidated
and Thrasher for letting us do this.
If you'd like more information on the park, or
if you plan on visiting Montana sometime soon,
write to Libby Skateboard Park Inc, 185 Airfield
Rd, Libby, MT 59923.
-Randy Johnson
Clockwise from top left: Homegrown homeboy Chris
Baird is just punk enough to yank this frontside railer.
NASA submitted this stroboscopically-induced photo
of space cadet Joey Mars nosegrind nosesliding. Juice
and Rich play gas station in some free duds. Juice
demonstrates his American Ninja abilities by zooming
the bucket. A dusty double set gets stuffed by Mark
Valdez. A rare look at the suburban mating ritual
known as the pit. Juice, the life of the party as usual.
This photo of the bass player from the band Plankton
should inspire you to start your own band.
No, not really, I just got mad and yelled, so he
decided to make his own. Thus, John Doe was
born, and it is still alive and kickin'. With John
Doe, Rich made sure everybody in the world saw
our little scene and realized it's not much differ-
ent than their own. This town, as Nate Kor puts
it, is "The asshole of the United States." But
guess everybody needs an asshole to get the
shit out of their system.
In 1989 we got our skatepark, one of the only
free skateparks in the country, hell, on this big
old planet. But don't let me fool you, it's not that
great. It has a four-foot mini that goes up to six,
a slider bar that is gone now because somebody
ripped it out of the ground, and a fun box with a
handrail. In its day it used to be packed from
noon till the floodlights turned off at 10:00 pm.
Those were the days before vibing, and when
someone said "Yeah" to you, it made everything
alright. Unfortunately,
those days are gone.
Now the park is used
only by neon-colored,
Oakley-wearing, ex-
jocks who have just
recently taken up the
sport of rollerblading.
Oops, sorry faggots, 1
mean in-line skating.
The parking lot is now
used to sit in your car
and get high while
listening to the wind
blow. But once upon
a time, we could real-
ly have fun being out in the sun with our friends
trying to improve ourselves and each other with
out the help of any illegal substances.
All in all, Cheyenne is just like any town, every.
body wants to get out, but they still end up with
themselves anywhere they go. Only a
few people still skate here, it's not the
same as it was. Now the Fugitives are all
gone, either married with kids, or playing
in a band in Laramie. Most of them still
skate once in a while when the sun is out
and they get the urge. And as for Team
C, most of us have been in jail or have
fallen in life, but who hasn't? Some of us
still skate, but not with the same pas-
sion as we did when we were sixteen or seven-
teen. It's a crazy town and a crazy world.
If you want to know more about Wyoming.
write or send videos to John Doe 'Zine, 916
Cottonwood Dr, Cheyenne, WY 82001.
62
STY
M