PORT ANGELES — On a sunny, dry Wednesday afternoon, about 30 young people lingered around the Port Angeles skate park, taking turns defying gravity in the deep concrete bowls.
Jon McBride, 15, a sophomore at Port Angeles High School, zipped around the inside of the one of the bowls on his skateboard, building momentum, and then launched straight up the wall, several feet into the air, returning to earth with a graceful slap against concrete.
“I didn’t think I was going to land it,” he said with a relieved smile on his face.
The boys, and some girls, say they’ve been taking care of the park, keeping out graffiti and bicycle riders who would gouge the smooth lips of the bowls.
Meanwhile, city and law enforcement officials are beginning to talk about closing it and banning some young people because of complaints of vandalism, bicycles in the park, fights and other disturbances.
“There’s been a lot of problems, quite frankly,” Port Angeles Police Chief Tim Riepe said Tuesday.
