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SPRINGDALE - The City Council on Tuesday gave its blessing to the construction of a Miracle League ballpark, a miniature, rubberized diamond for children with disabilities.

Planned for the Randall Tyson Recreational Complex, the ballpark needed the council's consent since it's being built on public property.

Sponsored by Springdale Rotary Club and The Miracle League of Arkansas, the ballpark is being financed through in-kind services and charitable donations. The hope among fundraisers is that the park, the first of its kind in Northwest Arkansas and the second in the state, will be ready by fall 2010.

SPRINGDALE — The Springdale Rotary Club has initiated plans to construct a Miracle League baseball field for children with disabilities at Tyson Park, and the club president said he hopes to have construction completed by fall 2010.

The Miracle League baseball field will be completely flat and made out of recycled tire product to prevent injuries and accommodate children with wheelchairs or walking devices. Any 4-year-old child or older with any kind of diagnosis is welcome to play in the league, said Blake Hanby, president of the Springdale Rotary Club.

SPRINGDALE — The rules are simple: Everyone bats, everyone gets on base and everyone makes a run.

It's baseball in The Miracle League, a sporting league for children with disabilities. On Monday, members of Springdale Rotary Club met at Rotary Family Park to kick off a fundraising campaign for such a league in Northwest Arkansas.

Rotary members are teaming with The Miracle League of Arkansas in Little Rock, a nonprofit organization formed in 2004. League play began in the capital city in 2006. More than 300 people with disabilities now take part.

"This program brings our park program and our wheelchair program and meshes them together," said Brian Moore, president-elect of Springdale Rotary. "We'll have kids in wheelchairs playing at this park."

The club built Rotary Family Park, a part of Randal Tyson Park in Springdale, in the 1990s. The club also is a leader in the international Wheelchair Foundation, providing thousands of wheelchairs to people in developing countries since 2002.