Mayor Sherwin Rader, Bell County Circuit Court Clerk Colby Slusher, Rob Lincks of the Bell County Chamber of Commerce, and State Representative Rick Nelson were among the guests at the ribbon-cutting ceremony at Pineville’s new splash park on Monday.

According to Pineville City Clerk Ina Robbins, the park was installed to give small children of the community a fun way to cool off, since the pool itself is four feet deep at the shallow end, and many of the little ones can’t swim.

The funds for the addition were supplied to the city via coal severance money, which is collected from taxes on coal mines in Eastern Kentucky.

“I’m thankful that we’ve got coal severance money and we’re allowed to use it and thankful that our representative (Rick Nelson) was helpful and beneficial to us, to give us the coal severance money. I think the children of the community will benefit and enjoy this for years to come,” remarked Mayor Rader.