Cloverdale group aims for lighted ball field

CLOVERDALE-- A group of parents and community members talked about a desire to add lights to the baseball field at the Cloverdale School Board meeting Monday.

The Light the Field committee is taking the first steps to eventually pay for lights on the boy's baseball field.

"As you know, there were no lights on the field after it was renovated. Lights apparently were not in the budget," said Mike Selig, a member of the group. "We feel as though it is a serious safety concern."

Selig, who said he works as a prime general contractor, said his group was only looking for the board's approval, not any funding.

"We're going to take the fundraising into our own hands through numerous fundraisers over the next two years," Selig said. "We don't ask that the school add any financial support to the project, all we ask is that the board back us."

Board treasurer Tony Hacker asked that the group include upkeep in their cost estimates and that they try to include a board member in their organization. He said the person he had in mind wasn't present, referring to Dave Brinkman, who was not at the meeting.

At the same meeting, Cloverdale High School principal Sonny Stoltz gave a presentation on school safety and an update on the high school. Stoltz said Cloverdale has a nine-person safety team in place, making it one of the largest in the state, and can help train others.

As a part of that, members of the group have received training from the Indiana Safe Schools Academy.

"We've received training in everything from bomb search training to terrorist threats to bullying," Stoltz said.

Stoltz said all Cloverdale schools would be given 800 MHz radios as a gift from the Putnam County Mercy Management Task Force to allow them to directly contact dispatch, as well as each other.

Stoltz said this was beneficial because of the small number of officers on staff at the Cloverdale Police Department.

"We're finding ourselves not in a position to have an officer readily available," Stoltz said. "With the 800s, we have contact with the Putnam County dispatch at our fingertips."

Stoltz said this past week had been School Safety Week at Cloverdale, and there had been presentations on a variety of safety issues, with a focus on bullying. He also said the schools were looking for a more comprehensive approach to bullying.

"We're looking for a program that fits our school corporation because bullying is a problem, but it's been around for years," he said. "Twenty, 30, 40, 50 years ago, bullying was here, but I think it's more prevalent now because of the media.

"We're attacking it before it attacks us, so we're happy about that," Stoltz said.