.bmp)
.bmp)
MARIPOSA-This is a mountain town where there's a Bible verse painted over a pizza parlor door and a local politician keeps a cardboard cutout of John Wayne holding a Winchester rifle in his office as proof of fealty to the NRA.But a proposal to bring "Paintball for Jesus" to public land has some people riled."I'm sorry, maybe I'm missing something in my upbringing as a Methodist, but Paintball for Jesus?God help us all.Seriously,this teaches bad habits of shooting each other,"said Mariposa County Supervisor Brad Aborn,71,the John Wayne fan who is a former Vietnam War Navy helicopter pilot.Church youth leader Jeff Tomerlin contends, however, that paintball is the perfect ministry.His church, New Life Christian Fellowship, wants to play paintball on 15 acres of county land."I really wanted to do something for the youth where they could see godly adults acting as mentors.We thought about going the skateboard route,but none of us are skateboarders,"said Tomerlin, 45.After church on the third Sunday of every month, a group of teens and adults from New Life cook up a big meal of hot dogs, give testimonies about Jesus in their life, suit up in camouflage and grab donated paint-shooting guns ("markers" in paintball terms).They have affectionately nicknamed their paintball and Jesus games PBJ.Tomerlin hopes the lessons of discipline and teamwork that families pick up while playing will have the sticking power of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich."They learn life lessons like depending on each other, and they learn that sometimes if you go out on your own you get hurt. It can sting when you get hit."Most of the time, the paintballers use Tomerlin's backyard. Sometimes they play on nearby ranch land, with permission, when the ranchers aren't running cattle.The merits of paintball as a character-building church youth activity became a cause of public debate when the church went looking for a more permanent home for the games.Tomerlin asked Supervisor Bob Pickard whether he knew of any available land.Before he broke his ankle during a game and his child went away to college,Pickard played paintball-a shoot-and-duck sport involving spherical gelatin capsules containing dye propelled by bursts of compressed gas.He thinks it's fun.Pickard, owner of High Country Cafe and Health Food, immediately thought of a parcel often referred to tongue-in-cheek by Mariposans as the Field of Dreams.It's county-owned and the site of a future regional sports complex. About $40 million from now at an unspecified date, a swimming pool, baseball and soccer fields and other recreational opportunities are envisioned on the land.But for now, it's a shrub-dotted hillside north of town off Highway 49."They needed a place to play. We have this land sitting there. I thought it was a no-brainer," Pickard said with a rueful laugh."But the people who don't like the idea really don't like the idea."
To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah...
