Jul 18, 2008 7:06 pm US/Eastern
Connecticut Teenagers' 'Field Of Dreams' Torn Down
Town Officials Demolish Make-Shift Wiffle Ball 'Stadium'
GREENWICH, Conn. (CBS) ―
A 'Field of Dreams' is now a dream dashed for a group of teenagers in Greenwich, Connecticut. After they took a vacant lot and built it up into a waffle ball field, the town said "Game Over."
There's no crying in baseball, but there are no rules for waffle ball, especially when you are watching your home field being demolished.
Up until Friday, a field used for casual good fun was Justin Currytel's field of dreams, and many of his friends as well. A place where their parents once played, that had become a vacant lot filled with dense brush.
"If you build it, they will come…" That's how 'Fields of Dreams' plays out on the big screen.
But there is no Hollywood ending for a community in Greenwich. Sure - they built it, and they came – just as the movie goes, but there was nothing pleasant in this case.
"These children were five to six and grew to twelve and the neighbors were accepting, and then it grew too big," said Lin Lavery of Greenwich Selectman.
Which included tournaments on the weekend; kids from all over the area coming to play in their little stadium.
"Now all of a sudden you have 40 to 50 cars congesting the streets," said Lavery.
The controversy erupted last week when neighbors in the area went to town officials to complain about the parking, traffic, noise, security and how the teens never got permission to develop the lot.
And this week, town officials told the kids their stadium had to come down. They say it wasn't to punish the kids, but for the kids it's hard not to see it that way.
They say as it stands now the field is a liability. The kids don't see the alternative being any better.
"I guess we're just going to wind up playing on the dead end street. They say this is a liability? I think playing on the concrete is a liability," said Justin.
The kids have been offered the use of another field in town for the remainder of the summer. But they say it's not the same. It wouldn't be their home field.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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