?Maxine and Milo Steele Pool? goes to council

    The Washington Parks Board, in a 2 to 1 vote, decided Tuesday to recommend to the Washington City Council that the city dedicate the swimming pool at the Washington Aquatic Center in the memory of Milo and Maxine Steele. The Steeles had established a swim team in Washington and coached the team for 30 years.

    Kevin Caldwell cast the one vote against the motion because he felt it didn?t go far enough, falling short of renaming the Washington Aquatic Center the Washington Steele Aquatic Center, as requested in a petition signed by over 700 people

    The motion as voted for by park board members Don Pfeiffer and Fran Stigers is to recommend renaming the pool the Maxine and Milo Steele Swimming Pool but leaving the aquatic center?s name the Washington Family Aquatic Center. The aquatic center includes the property and other structures besides the pool itself.

    For the last several months, a group of former swim team members and parents of former swim team members have been advocating the renaming of the aquatic center. They have spoken at park board meetings, spoken at city council meetings, circulated the petition, written letters to the park board and written letters to the editor.

    ?It was very interesting to read those letters in the Journal,? said Brad Koehler, an organizer of the effort to rename the aquatic center.  ?Everybody had their own take and they were all great observations.?

    Neal Lampkin, a former member of the Community Y Board, said at the Tuesday meeting that this is a situation in which the city has absolutely nothing to lose but has something to gain.

    ?I know how hard Milo and Maxine worked and I know that many successful people came out of that group they worked with,? Lampkin said

For the full story, see the June 3 edition of The Washington Evening Journal