More on turf fields: The Watertown Daily Times is the latest paper to follow up on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission investigation into whether turf fields throughout the country contain potentially harmful lead.
The paper reported there is no indication the field at Watertown High School or approved fields at General Brown and Carthage do, or will, contain excessive amounts of lead. Officials at St. Lawrence University, Canton, however, say samples from their nylon turf field are being examined.
"Our nylon fiber field was installed in 1999," said Lisa M. Cania, associate vice president for university relations. "Our facilities management folks are on top of this and are awaiting the results. But they have assured me that any lead that may be on the field is separated in an encapsulated form and can't be released into the atmosphere."
The university is scheduled to replace the turf in 2009.
General Brown Superintendent Stephan J. Vigliotti Sr. said the surface the district plans to install is FieldTurf, a polyethylene fiber, and not the nylon AstroTurf being condemned at Cicero-North Syracuse High School and two schools in New Jersey.
Rinky dink: The closing of the New Roc City ice rink in New Rochelle is sending youth leagues scrambling for ice time, a situation that will have ripple effects on the 2008-09 high school season.
Access to prime ice time may be a thing of the past since Hommocks Park Ice Rink in Mamaroneck, Ice Hutch in Mount Vernon and other area rinks are running at close to capacity.
"There's only a finite number of rinks. ... If you have practices late at night, it's going to affect them in school. Mamaroneck is a competitor. You think they're going to give us good ice time?" Lex Ramondelli told The Journal News.
Byram Hills also played home games at New Roc, and Rye Town/Harrison practiced there twice a week. Cappelli Enterprises is expected to start a $50 million conversion of New Roc into a a shopping center, company executive Joseph Apicella said.
End of an era: The Hobart and William Smith Colleges Board of Trustees voted yesterday to drop Division I lacrosse at Hobart, sending the program back to Division III. They cited the "challenges inherent in recruiting talented student-athletes at the Division I level without athletic scholarships."
Reclassifying programs usually have to wait two years to become eligible for postseason play, meaning Hobart could not return to the NCAA Division III tournament until 2011. The Statesmen made the move to Division I in 1993 after a long run of success at the lower level.
