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Woman Looks To Make Roller Skating Dream A Reality

ELKTON, Md. (AP) -- Del-nita Outlaw was asleep last August when she was awakened by an eerily realistic dream.

"I had opened a roller-skating rink at the site of the old Walmart on East Pulaski Highway," the 33-year-old Elkton resident said. "I was talking to all of these kids and they were laughing and having fun."

When she woke up, Outlaw's husband asked her what was wrong.

"I think God is telling me to do something for the kids," she said.

For the past five months, she has been trying to make that dream real. The only problem is that Outlaw has no experience in starting her own business.

"I took it as a call to action," she said. "I want to help get our kids off of the streets and doing something fun and
positive. I'm prepared for the challenge to make this a reality."

Outlaw's project, the E-Skate Family Fun Center, will be located at the currently vacant Elkton Boulevard warehouse property because the owners of the old Walmart building already had plans for it, she said.

Her plans call for a 17,500-square-foot complex complete with a party room, concession stand, concession seating, video arcade parlor, bleacher seating and a 9,000-square-foot skating floor.

"We will even have a smaller, separate skate floor for the younger kids who may not want to venture out on the main floor with the bigger kids," she said. "What more do kids want nowadays than loud music, food, video games and a place to hang out with their friends?"

Outlaw said she wants to focus attention on building community and common respect through healthy exercise.

"Roller skating is recognized and recommended by the American Heart Association as an aerobic fitness sport," she said. "It's a great way for kids to hang out with their friends and exercise without them necessarily thinking about exercising."

Originally from Philadelphia, Outlaw moved to Elkton five years ago and said she has grown to love the community.

While the Christiana Skating Center in Newark supplies many of the same envisioned services, Outlaw said she wanted something in the county that would help bring Elkton's and Cecil County's community together.

"We want to bring everyone together and give the community a place where families can have fun together and where parents and teens alike can congregate," she said.

Outlaw pictures teens skating together on the floor while parents talk in the bleachers.

"If the parents want to lace up their skates and relive part of their childhood, they can do that, too," she said.

Outlaw said the project will be for the community, from the community, and will utilize local contractors, architects and employees.

"We've already got Mark Clark from the Clark Design Group in Elkton to help with the architecture and artistic renderings," she said. "We have contractors standing by when we get the necessary funding and the building's landlord has been very supportive of the project."

She added that she hopes to hire local teens and residents to run the skate center on a day-to-day basis once it is built.
Despite her best efforts and intentions, Outlaw said grant programs have been unresponsive.

"This project isn't about Del-nita Outlaw, it's about the children of our community," she said. "We can't put a cost on our
children's happiness. If I can help get 200 kids off the street and into a roller rink to have some good, clean fun, then I'll be happy."

Outlaw said she would welcome any support that would help make her vision a reality. More information on the project can be found at www.e-skatefamily.com.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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