A controversy regarding the rights to use a park in Statesboro’s Whitesville Community was, at least temporarily, settled earlier this week by a pair of bolt cutters. Children lined the chain-link fence, eager for a ride on the swing-set, as a group of Whitesville residents manually removed a steel lock Monday barring them from the community playground and green space.The move to reopen the park, which has been closed to the public for more than one year, was done without the consent of the Whitesville Community Residential Development Organization, which continuously has cited safety hazards for sealing the area. “The park has been, ever since last summer, left alone and locked,” said Carrie Howard, president of the Board of Directors for the volunteer organization – the group is entrusted with overseeing the management of the park.