According to chippewa.com, Gerry Jacobson, president of Chippewa, Wisconsin *'s Northwestern bank, has arranged with the bank's board of directors for the bank to donate $27,000 toward the cost of replacing the ramps at the city's skateboard park.

William Faherty of the city's Parks and Recreation department said that would cover almost half of the $55,000 needed to replace the current ramp, which was built in 2000 *, heavily used, and is now well used and worn out.

This story begins when Jacobson stopped to speak with a group of young skateboarders who were skating on bank property in the city. When he asked why they weren't using the city's skateboard ramp *, they told him that the current ramp was junk after years of heavy use, and that they had spoken to city officials about the subject, who had said that nothing could be done.

"When we talked to those guys, they don't care about us. They only care about the baseball players," one boy told Jacobson.

The skaters would like to try out different skateboard structures when the park is rebuilt, including steps and a railing, as well as a picnic table and bench --specifically for skateboarding.

Faherty told SkateboardDirectory.com that the ramps were expected to be purchased from Woodward * Ramps, which are manufactured by Playworld Systems. The town expects to get ramps built with a steel frame and skatelite *, and are also considering covers to protect the ramps from the elements in the winter.

The park slated to be upgraded measures about 50x100 feet. The nearest other skatepark * is about 15 miles away in Au Clair, and is a private, for pay skatepark run by the local YMCA. Menomenie, about 45 miles away, runs the nearest free public skatepark *.

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