Track and field forever changed

A thumbs-up, thumbs-down assessment of newsmakers here and beyond:
Ed Driskill, Waynesboro’s longtime high school track and field coach, is one of the good ones. Personable, quick to smile and laugh and throughout a storied career always had his athletes in mind in whatever he did. Driskill wasn’t just a coach on the field of play, he was a coach in the event of life, stirring many former athletes, both of recent and far-flung past, to contact this newspaper when word of his retirement got out. All the notes and words-on-the-streets were generally the same and echoed sports columnist Jim Sacco’s take: Next year won’t be the same without Driskill. So now comes the time to put the ball into the high school and school board’s court. Now is the time to name the nicest track-and-field complex this side of Harrisonburg after the coach who, for 38 years, devoted his free time to young athletes in the River City. Waynesboro, much like every other high school out there, has pined for a coach in the same vein as R.E. Lee boys basketball sage Paul Hatcher. The kind of coach who stays there forever and, in Hatcher’s case, has a gym named after him that he still coaches in. Sad part is, Waynesboro had it right under their noses the whole time with Driskill. A nice guy who, by no means, should finish last. Chase Hughes, who coached both with and against Driskill, started a petition a few years ago to get the facility named after Driskill. Maybe it’s time the school board does more than just take a look at it. Maybe it’s time to get those signs ordered: “The Ed Driskill Track and Field.” That has a nice ring to it.
Cast into doubt by Tuesday’s election is the future of the Wayne Theatre renovation project. The council’s new majority, Frank Lucente, Tim Williams and Bruce Allen, have been open in its opposition to investing city money in the effort. So far, $300,000 already has gone to the Wayne and city officials have agreed to another $700,000 based on adherence to performance incentives. The latter investment, however, is far from secure. Lucente and Williams last year opposed that agreement and Allen surely will join them. Wayne Theatre Alliance officials have said that without city money, the project could die. That would raise a litany of questions about what becomes of the millions of dollars in private donations as well as federal money landed for the project. We supported the initial $300,000, but, like the council’s conservative bloc, we question the prudence of pouring more city money into the theater. The question for us is about return on investment. Tax breaks for the Town Center offer the city the allure of assured revenues for decades to come. The surge in retail life in the west end is evidence of the soundness of that cost-free investment. If the Wayne fails to transform downtown in the fashion that its supporters insist that it can, the city’s money will be lost to the wind and hollow hype. Not less significant is the testimony of the people: Lucente and Allen won more than 60 percent of the vote Tuesday in no small part because of widespread angst over investing taxpayer money in the Wayne. We will be seeking answers in upcoming days about what becomes of the project. Of prime importance is determining a course that ensures taxpayers’ money has not been invested in vain. This might require that theater backers be prepared to pursue the remainder of money needed for the project through private means. That strikes us as a feasible alternative, particularly considering the considerable private support already acquired for the Wayne. The responsibility for securing the theater’s future, in other words, rests not upon the city but on those who for so long have championed its merits.