Month: April 2025

The ‘Hideout’ as referred to by the senior class of Ralston Highschool is a collection of treehouses found in the woods of Ward 2. It is unknown just how long these treehouses have been around but it is passed down from Graduating Senior class to Rising Senior class every summer. Due to this, the Hideout has become a living part of the history of Ralston as students leave their mark on the space: some with words or initials etched into the wood of the treehouse, others draw on the interior walls, and more leave small things behind (a battery powered lamp for late nights, a really comfortable bean bag chair Jerry always sleeps on, a bookcase where yearbooks are often placed by the departing class). This area is seen as sacred to the students of Ralston as it is a relic passed down through generations. Some of the graduated students that still live in the city help current students with the Hideout’s upkeep, as well as keeping an eye on it to make sure no one disrespects the space. It is not uncommon that only a small group in the senior class actually know where the treehouses are in order to keep them well maintained, though it is a trend that has only begun in recent years after a Senior in 2020 tried to light the treehouses on fire out of pure boredom. Thankfully only one of the houses suffered damage and it was only to a ramp leading up inside and was quickly replaced.  

The Hideout is a spot most people in town remember fondly from their senior year, a small hideaway amidst all the stress and pressure about graduating and going to college. The parents of rising seniors are happy that their child has somewhere safe to go when they need a break instead of ending up in the worse parts of town.

Ralston celebrated Earth Day yesterday, this marks the 53rd annual Earth
Day celebration in Ralston. The festivities focused mainly around city hall park with hundreds of attendees. Parents, children, and families flocked to participate in trash cleanup efforts and arts and crafts projects using recycled materials.

Later substantially fewer families and childrens, but still a substantial number of people stuck around to listen to the mayor’s address regarding the new energy proposals they had and would work on in the coming year. Across the island/city people were celebrating in their own ways, there were a number of neighborhood “trash walks” and the various parks and natural areas saw more admittance and attendance than ever before breaking last year’s records. This event, this day has shown the commitment of the community to the betterment and benefit of the earth.

The Ralston Waste Disposal Agency has informed us of some statistics regarding the cleanup effort of Ralston’s citizens. The RWDA says that the beach cleanup committee cleaned up an impressive 543 pounds of trash from Ralston’s beaches. The RWDA also mentioned another 467 pounds of garbage from the neighborhood cleanup effort. One manager at RWDA jokingly stated, “We’d actually like you to consider cleaning up less next year, hehehe, we can’t handle all this crap at once.” The positive spin on this is to make a resolution to stay cleaner overall to reduce the workload on the good men and women of the waste disposal industry.

Dear Mayor,

Thank you for inviting me into the Ralston community, I am super excited to contribute. What the Ralston citizens need is socialization with other members of the community and the perfect way to install this idea would be weekly weekend art sessions. These sessions would be taught outside in a public space by other local artists including myself. The event would be for all ages and donations for the local artists would be optional. The artists teaching that day would also have the opportunity to display their pieces while the session is in place. This would be a great opportunity for the artists to gain more exposure and the events would greatly help small businesses that are located near the event.

The main obstacles are funding and supplies. Unless local places in the area wanted to donate supplies like foldable tables and chairs, there needs to be funding for the art supplies, furniture, and paying the artists for their time. Artists within the community are targeted most with this proposal as well as families with children.

The new Ralston Lakeside Park is a shining gem on Ralston Department of Parks and Recreation’s Crown. The Mayor cut the ribbon, officially opening the park on August 15, 2025. Just recently, a Trunk or Treat Event was held there by the local elementary school. Some Ralstonians are missing the larger golf course, but the majority agree that this is a much better use of space. The whole town is excited for the possibilities this waterside park presents for the summer time. The area is still being assessed to see where public swimming holes can be designated. Other activities Ralstonians can look forward to being available in the park are are canoeing, frisbee golf, and going down slides. Safe to say, the council made the right choice in eliminating 2/3s of the golf course. The bird population in Ralston is returning to a healthy level ever since such a big area of natural habitat was recovered.

The above ground basketball court in Ralston is one of the greatest ideas for this town that this community has ever come up with. It is a basketball court on top of the school that students use during recess and physical education class. There is of course a fence around it so the children can’t fall off the roof and there must always be an adult up there to monitor the students. This basketball court has helped extremely energetic students get their energy out so that they can focus in class. This makes it much easier for teachers to keep the kids’ attention in a world where social media is destroying our ability to stay focused.

It is worth mentioning that the court has also had the opposite effect on kids. Some children still have the energy from playing when they come back to the classroom. They behave even more out of control than before. Some students are also more exhausted when they come back to class. But this is only 20% of the students. The majority have no problems with the basketball court.