City seeks money for Little League

By: Sharon McBrayer | Morganton News Herald
Published: October 12, 2008

Morganton --

City officials have been beating the bushes trying to get financial pledges to help pay for a southeast regional Little League headquarters.
Little League's requirements to relocate include a 5,000-seat stadium, four additional fields and an administrative headquarters. Morganton is in competition with Greenville, S.C. and Warner Robbins, Ga. to get the southeastern regional headquarters.
Morganton Mayor Mel Cohen said he and others have been talking to banks, local industries, foundations, large corporations and utility companies such as Duke Energy to try to get pledges to help build needed facilities and those pledges will be included in a final proposal to Little League, due Oct. 25.
The city has received a lot of local pledges from people, foundations and businesses, he said.
"The response is tremendous," Cohen said. "But it has to be a lot more than it is."
County commissioners agreed in September to commit to give $100,000 over a five-year period to the effort. Earlier this month, Commission Chairman Wayne Abele said he would be willing to ask commissioners to strengthen its financial commitment to the project.
Cohen, along with City Manager Sally Sandy, Abele and County Manager Ron Lewis, traveled to Raleigh last week to beg the state for money.
The group met with N.S. Secretary of Commerce Jim Fain and Billy Ray Hall, president of the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center.
Cohen said it's unclear whether the state will give any money to the project.
"I can't report any funding or no funding," Cohen said. He said there's always the possibility of money available but whether the city would get any is another story.
"It's a guessing game," Cohen said. "But we surely are going to work on it in the next several days."
He wouldn't say how much money he's trying to get or how much money it will take to attract Little League to the city.
Cohen said the city still needs to do some paperwork and get facts and figures together.
With the economy steadily declining and the loss of jobs and industries the area has experienced in recent years, getting Little League to locate to the area would be a shot in the economic arm, he said.
"We need this stimulus package for our community and county," Cohen said.
Little League is expected to announce its decision on a location for the headquarters in November.

City seeks money for Little League

Share This:

More from this channel:

Reader Comments

Deal of the Day

Most Popular

More Ways to Connect

Reader Photos» Browse More

Things to Do