Get out and vote

Voting is important. Whether we are electing a new president, mayor or members of the city council, make sure you exercise your right to vote.

Whether we are updating our Board of Education team, voting is important and making sure your voice is heard is important.

I wish I could vote in Colfax on Tuesday.

Colfax-Mingo has a plan in place to update its athletic facilities and eventually its school but a 60 percent be yes vote is needed for the plan to put in place.

This is something the community needs to get behind. Why wouldn’t you want nice things?

And the pictures I have seen for what the plan will look like definitely looks nice.

Colfax-Mingo is looking to do a complete overhaul with its athletic programs. And it is needed.

The Bond Referendum includes a new 1,200 seat stadium that will be used for football games, soccer matches and track and field meets. The stadium includes an eight-lane track.

A new 1,000-seat competition gym also is in the plans. And the seats go all the way around the gym floor, which I think is awesome. And spacious.

The rest of the upgrades include a three-mat wrestling room, a new weight room/fitness center, a new parking lot and a new practice field.

Vote yes on Tuesday.

I have been covering Colfax-Mingo athletics for the past five years. There is nothing with the current set up. The facilities work and they have created some fond memories.

But why not make them better. And don’t worry, the new facilities won’t be allergic to memories.

Covering Colfax-Mingo has allowed me to get out to a few of the other schools inside the South Iowa Cedar League.

I have been to Lynnville-Sully and Belle Plaine for conference track meets. That can’t happen at Colfax-Mingo because the current set up doesn’t include a track that can be used to host meets.

So essentially that setup is taking money away from the district and community.

Lynnville-Sully’s outdoor facility was built within the past five years. They use it for football and track and field only that’s a lot more than what Colfax-Mingo gets out of its facility.

If the bond passes, the school can host its own annual meet and be included in the SICL’s rotation to host the conference meet.

Vote yes on Tuesday.

My duties at the paper also include covering the Baxter Bolts. Baxter is a smaller school than Colfax-Mingo but they have an eight-lane track, two competition gyms and a fitness center that is open to the public.

All of that would be at Colfax-Mingo with a simple yes vote on Tuesday.

Having two competition gyms near each other would allow for a bigger volleyball tournament, a wrestling tournament that doesn’t have to use the cafeteria and possibly all levels of high school basketball on the same night.

Vote yes on Tuesday.

I have been to the gyms of some of the schools inside the SICL. Colfax-Mingo is the largest school in the conference when it comes to boys basketball, but the competition gym is on the wrong end as far as size goes.

These upgrades need to happen. And the kids deserve them. Hopefully it passes with flying colors.

Vote yes on Tuesday.

The current weight room and wrestling room are located in a building behind the school that looks older than my parents. The wrestling room has a little more than a mats worth of space.

And with girls wrestling taking off and being a complete success at Colfax-Mingo, that’s enough room to conduct a worthwhile practice. I don’t know another Class 1A wrestling program that has a three-mat wrestling room. Wouldn’t be cool to say you have the only one?

Vote yes on Tuesday.

Parking can be a mess at Colfax-Mingo. The parking that is currently available for football games includes what spaces exist on the side of the building, a little bit of room by the baseball and softball fields and the front parking lot.

A new parking lot behind the school that is close to all of these new toys would be so much easier for everyone.

Vote yes on Tuesday.

Contact Troy Hyde at thyde@newtondailynews.com