Mr. Willie A. Green Offers Help in Rising Crime Rates in Shelby!!! Proposed Sports Complex Provides Opportunity available Nowhere Else in Cleveland county!!! Potential to save young lives!! –No gossip report forwarded by Robert A. Williams

Editor’s Note: We have obtained and provide below a letter Mr. Willie Green had written to Shelby Police Chief Jeff Ledford. This common sense letter should be considered by ALL of Cleveland County, not just the City of Shelby. Discrimination and the results of discrimination are killing people in Cleveland County. It’s time to make the deal and build the sports complex. ASAP!! The lives saved may be your own. Or you child’s life!!!

Mr. Green’s Letter:

“Chief Ledford,

In a recent article in the Shelby Star on July 7th titled “A look at lives lost to gun violence in Shelby” the article states the following “A disturbing trend has emerged in Shelby this year…. The number of homicides is up, and more young people seem to be involved…. More and more, officers are investigating cases involving 15 to 18-year-olds.” And the parents and community are asking the question why is this taken place and what is going to be done to stop it?

During my due diligence for building my sports facility, one of the most disturbing things I was told by the young boys and girls in the county and even some adults is they have nowhere to go in Cleveland County to participate in organized sports and pick-up games. They feel they are not welcomed at the YMCA because the gym floors are now used for indoor soccer in most cases, and the YMCA don’t want those young boys running around shirtless and working out to loud music. City Park gym is now being used for pickleball for seniors during the hours where the kids normally play basketball, Holly Oak Park gym can’t accommodate multiple games for different ages and the $8 million sports complex at McBrayer Park is only for soccer games and practices. As it relates to our young women, there are very few programs available to the low-income and minority girls in the county. And thus, we wonder why we are now witnessing the number of incidents and violence among that population.

The Carolina Athletic Sports Academy (“C.A.S.A) sports facility I am wanting to build on my 16 acres located on Earl Rd will have multiple basketball/volleyball courts where a free and affordable play will be available for all ages, we will be able to have youth volleyball, basketball, dance, karate and gymnastics for our young girls and boys. While also providing sports training, weightlifting with certified trainers in the name of health and wellness and we will also have programs to help students with their educational needs such as tutorial programs, ACT/SAT prep and college recruiting for our student-athletes. It is also my intentions to have a Post-graduate Prep School football and basketball program that will bring student-athletes from across the country and give a second chance of getting the exposure and receiving a college athletic scholarship. Those student-athletes will be taking college classes at CCC and playing football and basketball against other Prep Schools, Jr Colleges, and Division II & III colleges and we will be hosting travel ball tournaments on weekends that will bring millions of dollars in economic impact to Shelby and Cleveland County from those travel ball teams staying in our local hotels, eating in restaurants and shopping at our local retail businesses. Travel ball sports has become a $15 billion industry, and with the top-caliber athletes we have in Cleveland County, our county should be hosting travel ball event each and every weekend as opposed to our athletes traveling to other cities to compete.

I have a plan to address a number of concerns and issues as it relates to our youth and young adults and our county as a whole, with your support for my sports facility, we can start taking a proactive approach of keeping guns out of the hands of our young community population that is being pushed to join gangs because they don’t feel welcome. I look forward to your response and your support of my sports facility so that I can help your efforts to help our kids and help our community.

Willie A. Green”