The first question during the Northwestern Community Recreation Fields annual spring walk-around was where the best place was for the bleachers at the soccer field.

Members of the Northwestern Youth Athletic Association said at least for practice, parents liked them where they were.

The annual walk-around by members of the Northwestern Recreation Commission and NYAA was joined this year by Constables Barry Betz and Bob Yeager, who keep and eye on the fields as they patrol the school and by Northwestern Lehigh Operations Director Arthur Oakes.

They made a list of items needing improvement.

In other matters, the pile of infield mix has to be replenished.

Lynn Township representative Justin Smith has taken over the job of deciding the best way to care for grassy areas.

He said a deep-core aerator will use the material dug up to spread and level the area.

Brush at the lower playground has grown too big and either needs severe cutting back or total removal.

Oakes said removal would let it be planted to grass and require less maintenance.

Jon Bond, an artist from Kempton, will be asked if he wants to paint the mural on the Potato Building.

Jim Hughes, field maintenance person, will be asked to mulch the lower playground.

For the first time in many years of doing the walk-around, there was no graffiti painted at the pavilion.

Stakes and rocks were placed where most of the snowmobiles entered the fields. The number of machines was noticeably less after the lower corner of the field was blocked off.

Oakes said he did crack filling at Tamaqua where he worked before coming to Northwestern. He said the cracks in the basketball court should be blown clean and filled three-quarter full with hot material. Seal Master did the work he was familiar with.

Oakes said they could rent the machine from Seal Master and do the work themselves.

Three storage sheds are planned for baseball, with one of them shared between two fields that are close together.

Betz said the only charge for the constables keeping an eye on the fields is if the recreation commission wants to prosecute someone and then the fee would be for the constable's time at court.

For the most part, people would just be chased out of the fields. There is a lot of "hanging out" in the parking lot outside the fields as well as inside.

Darryl Schafer said the constables have to be given a memorandum of understanding so they know to what extent they are authorized to take steps if they see a problem.

"We are doing it as a concerned citizen," Betz said. "We can call the police if needed. Most problems are right after school."