PAXTON – When the Paxton Park District closed the skate park at Coady Park a month ago, Tom DePasquale reacted like a rebel without a cause – until he realized he had a cause worth working for with others.

At first, the 17-year-old PBL High School senior jumped the fence of the locked facility. He broke city ordinance by skating on downtown Paxton streets, sidewalks and parking lots.

But after having his skateboard confiscated by police on multiple occasions, DePasquale decided he needed a new approach.

He became a political activist.

"I figured that's not the right way to do this," DePasquale said. "We have to go through the system to get the park back opened up for good."

So he started a petition to reopen the skate park.

He circulated it through PBL High School, collecting almost 200 signatures.

He and 10 others, including other skateboarders, went to the Aug. 16 park board meeting and presented the petition and their case.

Earlier, the park board had decided to close the skate park until Jan. 1 after a fight broke out at the facility – DePasquale was punched by a 38-year-old Paxton man.

This time, commissioners voted unanimously to reopen the facility.

"I know most of the other kids are like me," DePasquale said. "This is the only thing we have to do. So I had to get the park back open for all the little kids who like to come up here and skate."

In its decision, the park board stipulated that DePasquale and other skateboarders would have to clean up the skate park before the lock on its gate would be removed.

DePasquale was joined by sophomore Dustin Roemer and freshmen Corey Allen, Ben Bahler, Camden Perkinson, Logan Richardson and Austin Slade in cleaning off graffiti and reattaching fence ties.

"We decided we're going to take (the graffiti) off and fix the park up now and make sure it stays like a good place for everyone to come out," DePasquale said.

The park board lived up to its end of the bargain, and ordered the skate park reopened, Recreation Director Mark Prina said.

PBL High School Principal John Rawdin had listened to complaints from skateboarders about the skate park closing.

He had urged them to work in a civil manner to get what they want.

"They were very upset," Rawdin said. "There's really nothing else in town for those kids to be involved in. This is their release, their vent, like a football player goes out on the field or baseball player. But these kids aren't going to do that. They're skaters."

The park board had also received complaints from parents whose children play in the PBL Junior Football League. They said some skateboarders often used foul language during practices at Coady Park.

Rawdin is working with the skateboarders to clean up a tarnished public image.

"I tell them, 'All that people see is the negative of what you've done in the past,'" he said. "I said, 'You've got to change the way people perceive (you).'"

Paxton police have agreed to increase patrols around the park during its peak-use hours.

Roemer said the skateboarders get a bad reputation because of the actions of "little punk skaters" or nonskaters who simply loiter at the park.

"When you're a skater, you're (thought of as) a bad kid in the town," Roemer said.

Though they feel they have been treated differently because of the way they dress or because they smoke, the skateboarders have been willing to work with the park district to reopen the skate park.

DePasquale said he is going to actively prevent vandalism and vulgarity in the future.

"We care about this park," he said. "We're definitely going to take way more care of the park now."