Misleading headline

Pickleball, tennis players clash on courts
When we first read this misleading headline about 6 AM Sunday morning, we did a double take and our eyes opened wide!  Images of pickleball and tennis players brawling on the courts flooded our imagination.  We visualized wildly swing racquets and paddles; tennis and pickleballs flying and maybe even a hair-pulling melee, too.

Luckily, nothing of the sort happened.  A newspaper headline writer sadly failed to consider the context of their choice of words,  What really happened was that a group of polite tennis and pickleball players presented different opinions to Fredonia, New York, elected officials and Staff during a village board meeting.  Whew!

The June 18 article appeared in the "Observer,' a newspaper serving the Chautauqua County community of Fredonia, population 11,000.  At issue was co-use of existing tennis courts by pickleball players.  Apparently, village Staff used some asphalt paint they had on hand and paid down wide yellow pines such as those seen in roadways.  Fredonia Mayor Athanasia Landis commented the lines are not following pickleball standards (light blue and 2.5 inches wide).

Fredonia-Pomfret Recreation Director Thomas Battaglia relayed he would work with the Department of Public Works to change the color of the lines, "We will examine, yes, a different color, no problem; the next lines will be thinner, yes, no problem, but it’s going to be something that everybody’s got (to get used to)."

Apparently, this statement allayed concerns of the tennis player(s) on hand.  Presumably everyone went home happy.  So much for a "clash on courts".

Here's the article link:

http://www.observertoday.com/news/page-one/2017/06/pickleball-tennis-players-clash-on-courts/