TTHHEE TTAATTTTOOOO BRISTOL PRESS MAKING A PERMANENT IMPRESSION SINCE 1994 VOLUME 8 No. 8 Park boss: Bristol will soon have a skate park BY MIKE NGUYEN will be a good alternative for ty on Chippens Hill. “It shouldn’t be much to will stay open until as late as in seeing the skate park. The Tattoo the town’s extreme athletes, The dimensions of the park maintain unless someone 10 p.m. on weekends. Teens, said Swicklas, “are who currently have to resort to eyed by the city are about 80 by wrecks the place,” Swicklas Otherwise, the park will most the voice of the city.” Skaters, bikers, and board- going to other town’s municipal 120 feet, or about half the size said, since the park will be likely stay open from dawn to And if a skate park is a bit ers won’t have to trek to neigh- parks or to the streets and of a regulation football field. made mostly of concrete. dusk. extreme for your taste, the park boring towns or resort to prac- vacant lots of Bristol to ride for The skate park would One detail that still needs to Swicklas said he hopes to department also plans an ice ticing on curbs and city streets free. include such equipment as a be worked out about the skate have some supervision or rink next winter. in Bristol much longer. The park director said he half pipe, a banker ramp, grind park is its supervision. schedule at the park because The outdoor rink is expect- The city plans to build a new was spurred to propose a skate rail, tube kink, a large square Swicklas said park commis- he’s worried that people on ed to be built within the same skate park within the next year park after reading the papers ramp or tabletop, ramp bars sioners haven’t decided on bikes, skateboards and inline time frame as the skate park, or so, though final approval and seeing that other commu- and a big, 20-foot ramp, whether the skate park will be skates using the park simulta- and will be open during the hasn’t been given and a loca- nities — such as New Britain Swicklas said. supervised or left alone with neously could be a problem. months of December through tion not yet determined. and Farmington — had added The park superintendent “no restrictions.” Asked what young people February. The park board recently skate parks to their own recre- said there will be room for He plans for the park to run could do to keep the project The next step for the skate approved the proposed skate ational offerings. expansion, too. three seasons of the year, “pret- moving along through govern- park is to win approval by the park and put it on a list of Details on the proposed The overall plan, he said, ty much from April to ment circles, Swicklas said capital improvements project future building projects slated Bristol skate park are still a lit- makes Bristol’s future skate November” and leave it open teens could write in to newspa- committee headed by Mayor for completion by 2007. tle sketchy, but the park depart- park “a little bit better than seven days a week. pers, call councilmen and Frank Nicastro. It will decide But Park Superintendent Ed ment estimates it will cost as average” when compared with If it’s decided that the park attend public meetings and which city projects are carried Swicklas said he expects the much as $150,000. the ones in other towns. will be supervised, he said, it voice their continuing interest out in the fiscal year that starts skate park to be built this year Swicklas said he’s consider- July 1. or next year. ing three spots in Bristol that The panel is likely to meet A lot of people in the town could hold the skate park: soon so young people who would use it, he said. “It’s a Casey Field, Page Park across want to see a skate park should growing sport.” from Bristol Eastern High make sure the mayor and City Swicklas said the skate park School and the Roberts proper- Council hear from them soon. Tom Cruise Skeleton captures winked at me American By KAISHI LEE The Tattoo spirit “You’re so lucky!” my friend gushed. “Me? Hello, I’m going for ‘Vanilla Sky,’ not Tom Cruise,” I By JACQUI MOREAU answered. The Tattoo It was “Vanilla Sky’s” interesting trailer, “LoveHateDreamsLifeWorkPlayFriendshipsSex” that sent my heart The eight-spiked shoes, a flutter, not the blown-up poster of Cruise with his tousled hair. mandatory helmet, face shield, My horoscope read: There’s luck this week but you’ll need to do and chin guards indicate the your homework if you are to get the most out of it. danger of the sport. The ath- I took a gamble, cut out two New Paper mastheads and won letes travel as much as 80 miles one of 188 exclusive invitations to the gala premiere in Singapore per hour on a metal sled down of “Vanilla Sky,” with Cruise, Penelope Cruz and director Cameron a mile-long track – on their Crowe in attendance. stomachs. Then, reality sank in. What is this? It’s called skele- Oh my God, I was to be in the same movie theater as Jerry ton. It’s like a winter version of Maguire, Ethan Hunt, Ron Kovic — and his current muse, Spaniard the X Games. Cruz (that’s the spoiler). Skeleton is one of the most Ok, I’m not jealous. I’ve never been a prepubescent obsessive dangerous and unique Olympic fan of Hollywood celebrities (charismatic Elijah Wood is an excep- events in history. So why hasn’t tion). Hollywood is a haven for tarted-up actors posing their slen- anyone ever heard of it before? der frames cat- Skeleton was founded in a like, and purr Swiss town called St. Moritz in for the cameras the late 1800s. and give fleet- The metal frame of the sled At the movies ing waves a la apparently reminded the towns- Queen people of a skeleton. Their nick- Elizabeth II. name hasn’t died after over 100 Newspaper hype announced the stars’ whirlwind Asian tour years. and added to my anticipation of catching this blockbuster. Skeleton made its Olympic debut in 1928, but it wasn’t So at 7 p.m. sharp on the night of the premiere, the stars Joe Keo / The Tattoo walked a long red carpet -- Cruz in a low-cut evening gown flash- seen again until 1948. ing her pearly whites -- waving enthusiastically, giving hearty hand- The sport again lay dormant, shakes, chatting up with fans who had queued for ages and sign- this time for over 50 years, but ing autographs on teddy bears, posters, cameras and bags. is alive again in Salt Lake 2002. How to be heard at City Hall In fact, it’s expanded: it’s not Cruise was undeniably charming and down-to-earth for a good just for boys anymore. hour and 45 minutes. Want your voice heard on the skate park or [email protected] Hordes of adolescent fans screamed and almost crashed the The United States shocked other issue? You can send email to Mayor Frank [email protected] the world as Americans Jim barricades. Nicastro and all six City Council members. [email protected]. The girl beside me started crying. Shouts of “Tom Cruise, Shea of the men’s team, and Nicastro’s email address is: The next City Council meeting is at 7:30 p.m. Tristan Gail of the women’s marry me!” and posters with “My Mom Says Ure Invited 2 Dinner” [email protected]. on Tuesday, March 12 at City Hall. Council made me awestruck. team each won gold medals in The councilors’ email addresses are : meetings are open to everyone. At the beginning skeleton. Based on Spanish director Alejandro Amenabar’s 1997 “Abre [email protected], of each meeting, there is a public comment peri- Los Ojos” (Open Your Eyes), “Vanilla Sky” revolves around David In the sporting world, skele- [email protected], od when anyone can speak to city leaders about ton is on the cutting edge … just Ames (Cruise), a young, dashing and freedom-loving New York [email protected] issues that are important to them. City publishing magnate with an unquenchable thirst for success. like America. He is a Casanova snowboarding through life, without giving a thought to his responsibilities or consequences of his actions. Julie (Cameron Diaz), his sometime girlfriend, is clearly besotted with him. At a party, David meets and falls in love with the girl of his School ‘mission’ is impossible dreams, Sofia Serrano (Cruz), a Spanish dental assistant. Sofia’s boyfriend, Brian (Jason Lee) is a writer and David’s best friend and client. David begins wooing Sofia with his wit and By KATIE JORDAN school are kind of a giveaway. the importance of “respect for self and oth- charm but she refuses his advances. The Tattoo Maybe this mission statement was made ers.” Julie becomes jealous and takes David for a drive the next day. up years ago by bright-eyed young faculty Teenagers as a rule often have issues She crashes the car into a tree and dies. David survives the crash Does anybody else hear the theme song members who really hoped for a bright with their self-esteem, but if you looked but is facially scarred.