COLUMBIANA Seeking funds for athletic complex

The track is open to the community, if walkers' shoes are correct.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
COLUMBIANA -- Even as school officials tout a 1-percent income tax for district operations, athletic boosters continue a grass-roots effort to fund an athletic complex.
Boosters are seeking donors and a sponsorship program is one of the group's efforts. Donors can sponsor a yard of turf for $10, a meter of track for $25, a spectator seat for $100 or an event area such as the high jump or pole vault area for $250.
Superintendent Patricia Hura said the first phase of construction on the Ward Athletic Complex is completed: A rubberized track surrounds a field that will be used for soccer and middle school football.
In future phases of construction, athletic boosters hope to fund locker and restrooms, concession stands, bleachers and lighting, she said. Projects will progress as money is available.
What's being used
Hura said the new track is being used in some physical education classes and will be the site of the district's track meets in the spring. The combination soccer-football field can't be used until the sod has firmly taken root, she said.
Community residents are invited to walk on the new track, but must wear proper footwear, Hura said. Anyone wishing to use the track must wear tennis shoes; no street shoes or cleats are allowed, she said.
According to information provided by the boosters, the athletic complex is named for John Samuel Ward who, in 1979, donated to the schools the 41 acres on which the complex is being built.
The first phase of construction -- which includes state-mandated water wells and a storm-water retention pond -- was funded from four sources: $200,000 of the money borrowed for the new high school construction; $165,000 from the sale of the old high school to Heartland Christian School; a state recycling grant of $52,631, received because the rubberized track material is made from recycled tires; and a $185,000, 10-year agreement with the Coca-Cola Bottling Company for exclusive sale of Coke products on school grounds.