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Parent urges Woodford County to require reduced‑impact balls for 5‑ and 6‑year‑olds; court asks league and parks to review
Summary
A Versailles parent asked the fiscal court to adopt an emergency ordinance requiring reduced‑impact baseballs for five- and six-year-old T-ball players; the county attorney said league policy typically sets ball type, and the court elected not to adopt an ordinance but asked parks and the youth association to consider switching immediately.
A Versailles parent pressing the fiscal court to act on youth-sports safety said she had provided a draft ordinance and urged immediate action before the season began.
“Your policy already gives you the authority to act,” parent Elizabeth Novelli told the court, arguing that five- and six-year-old players are at elevated risk from hard baseballs and that reduced-impact safety balls are widely recommended. Novelli said the parks department’s field-use policy requires organizations to “demonstrate due care to the well-being of youth,” and she asked the court to adopt an ordinance with an emergency clause to require age-appropriate safety equipment.
County Attorney (unnamed on the record) responded that league policy — in this case the Woodford Youth Baseball and Softball Parents Association — generally sets game rules such as which balls to use, while the parks department controls field-use agreements. He said the county could not be advised to rush an emergency ordinance on the spot but that the fiscal court could ask the association to switch to soft safety balls immediately. “I am comfortable with the fiscal court taking a position if they wish to do so to ask that the parents association switch immediately,” he said.
After extended discussion — and with the judge and several magistrates noting the safety concern — the court did not adopt an ordinance or pass an emergency measure at the meeting. Judge Executive James K said he would communicate the court’s concerns to Parks Director Rich Pictor, the parks board and the youth baseball association and urged prompt, thoughtful action. Novelli had said she also provided supporting medical research and that many parents were unaware the league was using hard balls at the youngest ages.
No formal directive was passed; the court characterized its next step as conveying concern and asking the responsible association and parks officials to address the issue urgently.
