DIGEST OF LAWS RELATING TO LOCAL PARKS AND RECREATION

Another very important accomplishment of the CCC days was a digest of the laws relating to local parks and recreation activities in every state and the territories of Hawaii and Alaska. This book was prepared by a CCC staff lawyer, Roy A. Vetter, and was published in 1940. Roy advised on the many legal matters that began cropping up every day once the CCC got under way, providing the legal opinion needed to make administrative decisions. He was a hard worker, and we were very fortunate to have him on our staff.

Secretary Harold Ickes wrote the foreword for the Digest of Laws, explaining why it was a necessary and important publication: "Everything that a public agency does has its basis in legislation. In the past, government agencies and other bodies responsible for or interested in promoting the park and recreation movement have been impeded to no inconsiderable degree by the lack of any reference source to the laws relating to the subject matter. This digest is intended to fill that need."

Roy Vetter's preface stated that, "This digest is the result of an effort to bring together in a single volume an abridgement of the general laws of the several States and Territories relating to local parks and recreation. It reflects an examination of the laws enacted through the 1939 legislative sessions.

The book is written in such a way that an administrator can use it without too much specific legal advice, and it includes legal citations so that the reader can find the complete text of the laws. No doubt many of these laws have been changed and new ones have been enacted. Still, I feel certain that the book, as printed in 1940, has many references that would be of help today to a planner or an administrator trying to work out a park program. There is no question, however, that a book of this kind ought to be brought up to date every few years to be of real usefulness, and, to the best of my knowledge, that is not being done.