Expensive prank: East Hampton school board members and administrators learned last week that cleaning up the
graffiti painted on the new synthetic track at the high school will cost approximately $40,000.
Joseph Vasile-Cozzo, the district’s AD, reported the damage to East Hampton police Oct. 10; a dugout, some storage buildings, portable toilets and benches were also damaged.
The district is hoping an insurance policy will cover most of the resurfacing costs. Even so, there’s a $5,000 deductible and repairs may need to wait for warmer weather in the spring.
"The community’s pretty upset about it, and there’s a police investigation going on," Vasile-Cozzo said. "We’re hoping to build pride in our community and our school, and we’re hoping they will find whoever did it."
Calling it a career: Victor boys and girls tennis coach Bill Coleman has declared it "game, set and match" for his career effective this month, ending a vocation that began in 1964.
Coleman, 73, founded the school's boys team in 1964 and coached varsity or JVs for all but two seasons since. He had a similar stint with the girls after launcing that program in 1975.
"It's been a privilege working with young people all these years," Coleman told The Finger Lakes Times. "I wish I could do it for longer, but it is time to hang it up. It's time to leave it up to a younger person."
Coleman said the era of specilaization has been one of the big changes in the sport over the years.
"I have three kids that take lessons from pros, and they work and play year-round," Coleman said. "In the old days, I had good athletes that never had a lesson in their life. Victor went from being a farming community to an affluent community where they can afford lessons."
