People sit above a section steps without railings at the Marshfield High School grandstands. - World Photo by Lou Sennick

Q: I want to know why Marshfield doesn’t use some of the money from Nike to put hand rails up the middle of the stairs at the football stadium. It is dangerous as I have watched people almost fall coming down. Someone is going to get seriously hurt and possibly sue. Some of these people have been season ticket holders for years and deserve safety.

A: Marshfield athletic director Greg Mulkey responded by saying the issue is an interesting one.

“I’ve never been approached by any of our football attendees regarding this issue,” he said. “I’d be happy to visit with this person and pass it onto our maintenance supervisor.”

Coos Bay Superintendent Bob De La Vergne went a step further, saying it is an issue that needs to be addressed, whether or not the money the School District received from Nike is involved in the expense.

“We want it to be safe,” he said of the football  stadium. “It’s a maintenance issue. If we need to fix it, we need to fix it.”

Even though home schedule for the current football season is done, the stadium will be used again during track season next spring.

“It’s a good idea,” De La Vergne said. “Watching people struggle going up the stadium does concern me. It’s very important that we address the problems with access. I will talk with maintenance people to address this issue soon.”

The Coos Bay School District received a little more than $150,000 from Nike for royalties from the sale of items relating to the late Steve Prefontaine featuring Marshfield High School name and/or logos.

To date, the School District has used some of that money to purchase a digital readerboard near the intersection of Seventh Street and Golden Avenue, to buy some weight room equipment and to purchase equipment for the school’s new FM radio station.

De La Vergne said a concept of splitting the remaining $117,000 between the different schools, with input from the community on how to use it, has been discussed, though not finalized.

Suggestions have ranged from putting a roof over the south grandstand at Pete Susick Stadium or making a bust of Prefontaine to putting in a new playground at an elementary school and hiring new teachers, De La Vergne said.

“We’re looking at multiple things,” he said.

Marshfield Principal Travis Howard did not respond to a request for comment on the issue.