GRANTS, NM – Grants High School and Grants Cibola County Schools made an announcement this week stating that the GHS football field will be closed to the public. This was after community members lit fireworks on and around the GHS football field and left pieces of fireworks both on the field and the track.
Director of Facilities and Operations for GCCS Ronald Triplehorn spoke about the events leading up to this announcement, “On Tuesday, we got a call that there were individuals lighting fireworks on the field, as soon as [Football Coach Steve Brown] got here, there was no one here. There’s not really any damage that we found so far to the field, it was just trash everywhere.” According to Brown, he picked up at least a trash bag full of this firework litter on Wednesday.
Brown said, “I don’t know if they were lighting them on the field… It was everywhere.” The school received another call on Thursday stating that the individuals were lighting fireworks again on the field. On Friday, the football team cleaned up again. Triplehorn said, “So, it was on Tuesday night that we had fireworks out here, then we had them again on Thursday night out here doing fireworks. So, we came out Friday and there was trash here again, so [Brown] just had the team pick up the trash, because they wanted to practice.”
Triplehorn said, “Our major concern is that we’ve kept this open to the public… But right now, with people using it incorrectly, we will just be shutting it down.” Triplehorn went further saying that without closing it off to the public, the district could risk causing damage to the field which could cost thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. He said, “I understand that the community likes to use our facilities for their health and whatnot… But unfortunately, a few bad apples have ruined it for the rest of them.”
He spoke further about how much time it is going to take to clean up the field. Triplehorn said, “To get this stuff up, we’re talking probably about 10 to 12 hours with the sweeper to get it cleaned up.” Due to the size of the pieces, it’s difficult for the sweeper to pick up. Triplehorn said, “There’s no damage, if there is, [it is] probably just a little char spot in the turf… But the cleanup and the blatant disregard by someone to come out and treat our facility like that.” They stated that the earliest they can begin cleaning the field is near the end of July.
Triplehorn stated that he and GCCS Superintendent Lane Widner met and decided to close the facility. Triplehorn said, “We are going to close it down for a while so people will appreciate what they have.” Brown stated, “We want this to last years and years for the kids, it needs to be there for them.” They both also stated that the gates were left open that night, and that they will have to think about closing them at night in the future.
When asked if they took any photos of the trash left over from the fireworks on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday the district said they didn’t take any. Brown said, “That day that we came out here and all this was out here, we just cleaned it, and I didn’t think to take a picture of it.”
Triplehorn stated for at least the remainder of the summer, the school will keep the facility closed to the public. He also stated that when school is in session the facility will also be closed to protect the students. Triplehorn said, “I don’t have a good ETA. I’m going to say it’s going to be at least a few months that it’s going to be closed. Just to remind people that it’s a privilege it’s not a right to have access to it, even though it is taxpayer money, we still have to be stewards of the taxpayer’s money, and if we are ruining our facilities and having them pay more taxpayer money to fix them, then that’s not a good use of taxpayer money.” (sic.) Law enforcement will still be able to use the facility for training purposes, and the City of Grants and Village of Milan can request to use the facility for events. All other individuals will not be allowed to use the facility. GCCS made a statement that they will be changing all of the locks to the field.