Stadium dug up

on schedule

By BECKY BROOKS

Enterprise Editor

clydenews@bizwoh.rr.com

Bishop Stadium is inching closer shovel by shovel to the July 1 deadline where the field must be prepared for Mondo Turf to come into the project.

Clyde High School athletic director Bob Bishop said Friday the earthwork to remove the dirt and grass field is making headway.

"Right now we feel we're ahead of schedule," he said.

Bishop added that the ground should be ready for the first level of stone this week and drainage tile to be installed under the new artificial grass.

One of the biggest concerns has been the rain, he admitted. Heavy rain can literally swamp the project.

The first phase of the $600,000 artificial turf project has involved a lot of volunteer labor, he said. Freshman through varsity football coaches and several players have been putting in man-hours on the project.

Bishop added that Don Ott, Ron Hall and Rob Lee have also assisted with excavating work and equipment.

Last week, Clyde City Manager Dan Weaver reported that the city dump trucks also have been assisting the high school and Flier Football Foundation by hauling away the dirt to us as fill at the old city dump.

"Out at the high school, Maumee Bay Turf Center of Toledo was shocked to see city trucks hauling dirt," Weaver said during last week's council meeting. Maumee Bay of is the company preparing the football field for the artificial turf.

Weaver commented that the local school district and city work well on projects together. "It's a positive for the community," he said, noting apparently that is not a common occurrence in other communities.

Although the stadium turf project is on schedule so far, Bishop also reported last week that officials have encountered on change order already.

There will be an additional expense for installing asphalt in the area behind the two endzones. Originally, plans called for the areas to be left as grass, but once work began it was determined that the grass and turf elevations would vary by over a foot, Bishop explained. The news asphalt areas therefore will be dedicated to the pole vault and high jump, he said.