‘We Did It For Kids’ Builders Will Open Post Falls Pool Today To Give Children A Place To Play

Health clubs, move over. There’s a new pool in town, and this one wants kids.

“We did it for kids. Kids don’t have anything and now they do,” builder Kevin Bettis said Friday as he watched his own two children jump into the indoor five-lane, 25-yard pool he built. The pool on Idaho Street and 12th Avenue opens today to the public.

“We’re not catering to the health club set,” said Judy Alling, the pool’s manager. “People can come here and swim for just a day if they want.”

The pool’s cold green water glistened Friday under the new lights and freshly painted white cinderblock walls. Alling said she hoped the water temperature would climb above 65 degrees by today , but the 100,000 gallons may take a few days to heat.

Bettis said he’s dreamed of building a community pool for 16 years. He shared that dream with Allen Goodall after the physical therapist hired Bettis to build him a therapy pool for his clients.

The two men plunged into the project last fall, pared plans a bit as prices rose and overcame misfortune. A winter storm toppled the building’s half-built roof in January, then, two weeks ago, one of the pool’s workers was killed in a traffic accident.

The construction cost Bettis and Goodall about $500,000. The builder said he hopes people in the community will follow through on their pleas for a pool and pay to use the facility. Alling said she’s sold 125 memberships so far but needs to sell 700.

“I don’t think any of us got into this to get rich,” Bettis said.

Two hydraulic lifts by the shallow end of the pool will help people in wheelchairs enter the water. Bettis also built a waiting area with tables, snack machines and video games.

The pool will open today at 5:30 a.m. with lap swimming. After a morning of swim lessons, Alling will take out the blue and white lane lines and open the pool all afternoon for play time.

“And that’s how it will always be around here,” she said. “This one’s for the kids.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo