LOYALSOCK TOWNSHIP, LYCOMING COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — A local pool has created some new rules for swimmers. This comes after years of incidents involving young people.
This week, the township began enforcing some new rules to cut down on the problems they’ve been having with teens. The Parks and Recreational Department says they want everyone to have fun while staying safe.
“Just trying to keep the minors to have somebody that’s accountable for them for their behavior because we’ve been having a lot of trouble with that,” said Shannon Lukowsky, Parks and Recreation Manager, Loyalsock Township.
Shannon Lukowsky says these problems have been going on for years. A few weeks ago, two juveniles got into a heated argument that turned physical at the pool. The Montoursville State Police were called and both were charged with harassment. That’s when the Loyalsock Township Parks and Recreation Department decided to enforce some new rules.
“If you’re 12, 13, 14, or 15 then you have to be signed in by a parent or guardian unless you have a pool pass. If you already have a season pool pass we have that information on file,” stated Lukowsky.
If you’re 16 or 17 then you need a school id or driver’s license when you sign in or have a guardian sign for you. They also added another security guard.
“This year we thought we’d just start off by just by doing weekends, then we had to add them everyday, now we’ve had to add a second one. So we just added the second one about two weeks ago. So we have two there every day,” Lukowsky added.
They also had a training sessions with the lifeguards with tips on how to handle difficult situations.
“We just kind of let them know that we have our managers, we have our security guard, we have people there that will back you up if you have issues,” said Lukowsky.
Just within these last two weeks of having added security, Lukowsky says they’ve noticed significantly fewer problems with youth at the pool.