Skate or die! This phrase was the title of two skateboarding video games on the Nintendo Entertainment System. I reckon the sentiment for some skateboarders in Starkville is skate or be bored, but you can’t just skateboard anywhere without risking the cops running you off. This is one reason why local skateboarders are holding a fundraiser for a town skate park tomorrow at the Starkville Community Market (on the corner of Lampkin and Jackson).
The fundraiser will feature music and contests. Ledet and the Bears, a new band that reminds me of early Elvis Costello, will open at noon, followed by Squirlock Holmes at 1 p.m. A hot-dog eating contest will begin at 2 p.m. Throughout the event, there will be skateboarding and perhaps a skateboarding contest. The Jarheads, the final musical act, will start playing between 3 and 3:30 p.m. Raffle prizes include skateboards and T-shirts sent by Tony Hawk himself. Donations of $3 are encouraged, and food will be sold.
The proposed skate park will be built at one of three locations in Starkville: the Sportsplex, Moncrief Dog Park or George Evans Park.
“There’s no design picked out (for the park),” skateboarder and MSU student Nathan Herring said, meaning whatever money he and his friends can raise will push the project forward.
There is obvious demand and need for the park. At the last fundraiser held for the park in January, about 100 people came with their boards, skateboarder and MSU student Tony DiNolfo said. Many local skateboarders are kids looking to have fun and express themselves.
“I think a lot of kids choose the skateboards because it’s more of an individual thing, something they can express themselves through, versus like being part of a team sport and like listening to a coach,” DiNolfo said. “Kind of why I started skateboarding when I was little. I got sick of playing baseball and football.”
But the freedom that should come with skateboarding is severely lacking in Starkville. Many skateboarders utilize a limited amount of stairs, ledges and the like on campus, but police routinely run the skateboarders off. When I asked Herring and DiNolfo how many times they had been chased off by authorities for skateboarding, they laughed.
“We would probably get kicked out like once a week,” Herring said, recalling his high school days when he would skateboard on campus with friends.
The police suggested the skateboarders move to the area where Russell Street and Highway 12 intersect. Herring said they started to build quarter pipes and ledges there, but then the skate park project took off. 
“We stopped work on there in the hopes we could get something through this (project),” DiNolfo said.
Thieves had begun taking some of their stuff from the location, anyway.
Whenever the skate park is built, local skateboarders will finally have a safe place for their hobby with no threat of uniforms breaking up the action. Scott Polley, bassist for Ledet and the Bears, worked at a skate park on the Coast. He gave me the impression it was a success when it was open, with few injuries sustained.
“Like when I worked at the park, everybody would stick to what they were doing, and they’d be good at it before they start going on to the next thing,” Polley said, referring to the lack of kids getting hurt by trying advanced tricks.
But injuries will always be a part of skateboarding. DiNolfo showed me a scar on the back of his head and talked about an ankle that often gives out due to an earlier injury. The larger point is  injuries are a part of any sport, and the potential for injury is decreased with skate parks where more experienced skateboarders can serve as mentors.
“I know if I am at a skate park, and I see some little kid trying to do something really stupid, I’m like, ‘Dude, calm down. You shouldn’t do that,'” Herring said.
If Starkville builds a good skate park, people from all over the state, Alabama and other places will visit, Herring said. DiNolfo backed up this statement with his experience in the Memphis metropolitan area. DiNolfo lived in Horn Lake, which had its own skate park, but he and his friends would drive 45 minutes or even a few hours to visit other parks.
Skateboarders typically don’t like to be told what to do – which isn’t that different from the majority of Americans, really. You can support their freedom of expression by donating to their cause tomorrow.