Tahlequah city councilors voted 3-0 Monday night to take no action on a proposed skateboard ban in Norris Park.

Prior to the vote, the council listened at length as several members of the audience spoke in opposition to the proposed ordinance. Ward 3 Councilor Maurice Turney suggested the tabling action.

“It’s unfortunate that Mr. Spears isn’t here tonight,” Turney said. “I think we need to have a full council here to vote, and I think we need some time to reflect on the things that were heard tonight.”

Mayor Ken Purdy announced at the opening of the discussion that Spears was “regretfully out of town” and read a letter from the councilor that called for protection of an invaluable resource – Norris Park – and suggested continued support for a skate park, provided skateboarders heeded the ban and refrained from vandalizing Norris Park.

City Attorney Park Medearis, also listed on the agenda as a sponsor of the ordinance, was also not in attendance.

One member of the audience, Jeremiah Easterling, became agitated when he returned to the podium to speak for a second time about the ordinance and took offense that the council was asking the skate boarders to refrain from vulgar language and act responsibly when Assistant City Administrator Kevin Smith tried to fight with him at Norris Park and called him a “punk” and “fish hook,” referring to Easterling’s lip piercing.

“You made your point with the police department,” Purdy told Easterling in an attempt to stop his comment. “There’s two sides to every story and I’m not going to ask Kevin to make any statement tonight.”

Easterling continued to speak about his exchange with Smith, as he returned to his seat in the back of the council chambers and Purdy said, “It’s against the law to disrupt a peaceable assembly.”

Smith, when asked after the meeting, said he didn’t try to get Easterling or any of other skateboarders to fight. He said he did call Easterling a punk and fish hook, but only after Easterling allegedly threatened him. “He said he would crush my throat with his skateboard,” Smith said. “Did I think he’d try it? Yeah, there was a chance.”

Smith said he was in the Norris Park area trying to address concerns of business owners in the area concerning the condition of the park. He said he called the police department and Police Chief Steve Farmer was also in the area attempting to respond to business owners' concerns. Smith said he, Purdy and Farmer received an e-mail about the concerns earlier that day.

On his first visit to the podium, Easterling said he’s been skateboarding for eight years and banning skateboards from Norris Park won’t stop the vandalism problem.

“I’ve fixed the gazebo more than once,” he told the council. “I’ve picked up trash. I’ve painted the gazebo.”

He suggested installing monitoring and surveillance equipment in the park.

“They [vandals] won’t do it if they know they’re being watched,” he said.

Jered Burright said he has skateboarded and has children who do now, and all the police do is drive by Norris Park real slow and attempt to intimidate people.